Where Shall We Go This Summer Essay

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In the novel “Where Shall We Go This Summer”, Desai presents an intense identity crisis of central character Sita, a sensitive woman in her early forties. The novel is divided into three parts namely “Monsoon (67)”, “Winter (47)”, and “Monsoon (67)”. The section division refers to the present and the past of the novel thereby the childhood and the adolescent age of the protagonist Sita. The structure also refers to the world of reality, the world of fantasy and again the world of reality. Unable to live in the strife-torn life she is in the throes of identifying herself with the past, represented by her childhood on Manori Island. The past becomes a psychic residue of her personal unconsciousness and her obsessive preoccupation which in turn gives her the strength to leave her …show more content…

is a record of the post-war state of reality characterized by a sense of muddle, confusion, meaninglessness, persuasive horror and fear. The only thing that represents tradition is Sita’s memory of the past and her conviction that the past still continues to exist. The present or the reality, however is not religious enough to retain the glory of the past, hence it is the root cause of her isolation, loss of identity and breakdown of her relationship with her husband and children in the family. The suffering of Sita is caused by factors which are psychical in origin. Her unconscious inclination to preserve and uphold traditional values in the chaotic life of modern city civilization is the root of her unhappiness and loss of identity. The values she represented are rejected in modern life by her own family members. The world presented in the novel deviates from institutional values, dogmas and old certainties, nor it is surrounded by magic or illusion, as Sita thought earlier. As Shakespeare in Macbeth says, “Life is nothing more than an illusion. ... It is a story told by an idiot; full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of

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