Maya In Cry The Mhacock Summary

INTRODUCTION

Indian women novelists project woman as the central figure by giving a distinct dimension to their image in the family and society. Their insight into the woman’s reactions and responses, problems and perplexities and the complex working of their inner selves and their emotional involvement and disturbances enabled these novelists to succeed in presenting the predicament of women most effectively. The existential struggle to establish one's identity, to assert one's individuality, fight to exist as a separate identity, cultural conflicts, the social and economic changes, the problem of the expatriates and immigrants and the personal relationships especially between man and wife are some of the common themes that appear in the

While unattained sexual satiation which leads to despair and agony is suggested through Maya in Cry, the Peacock by Desai, we find Mukherjee's Dimple engaged in sexual fantasies with glamorous heroes from sports and cinema. Her knowledge of the possibility of greater happiness with a different man ruins her attainable happiness with her husband Amit. Her sexual mechanism with Milt Glasser is part of her defense mechanism, a part of her concept of assimilation. On the other hand Maya fails to attain sexual fulfillment with her husband. This sexual frustration leads to her intellectual alienation from her husband. She takes refuge in “furious pillow-beating, kicking, everything but crying.” (P.9)Sexual act which is a revitalizing force lacks in her life and makes her sterile. Gautama callously remains immune to the demands of her soul and body despite his practical wisdom and experience. Maya’s honest appraisal of herself that her face lacks the charm to capture the entire attention of Gautama brings in more pain. She gets depressed eventually giving up the efforts to enchant him and force him to share her troubled mind. Maya's volatile temperament defeats the very purpose of her all-consuming love and her heart gets crushed with the depres¬sion. Both for Maya and Dimple sex acts as an alienating