Exile By Bharati Mukherjee Analysis

Bharati Mukherjee presented a theme of cultural clash in the novel, and the extreme of the pain that is experienced by expatriates; she weaves the story poignantly around her protagonist Dimple, the story moves swiftly around her protagonist, struggle, efforts of assimilation, experiences of communalism, un-belongingness, swinging mode of her psyche, and at the end the drastic disintegration of Dimple, that culminates in the final act of Americanization, (from Dimple’s perspective). The novel is the pictorial representation of the pain and trauma of expatriates, especially female expatriates, caught in between the nostalgia and frustration of realities. It explores the consequences of un-homeliness in alien land where expatriates spends their life as permanent alien residents.

Keywords: # Diaspora #Migration #Alienation #Exile #Home

Introduction:

Bharati Mukherjee is better known as a writer who has completely imbibed the culture of alien land, rejecting her hyphenation. She is considered as an immigrant turned citizen who considers herself completely absorbed in the American culture. But in the phase of transition, she faced the trauma of being cultural outsider, and racial

She does not trace her writing career amongst Indian writers she says her roots belong to North America, although she hails from India. She has made clear recognition about her American identity. In her essay “four- hundred- year-old woman” she says,

I am now an American. I am not an exile, not an expatriate, not a political or economic refugee. I am an immigrant. I have voluntarily settled in the U.S. with my husband and sons . . . Most importantly, I have made emotional social and political commitments to the country I have adopted. What can be more reasonable or more natural than . . . to write as an American writer on American and immigrant themes? (Mukherjee