2016 Advisor Dr. Shivani S. Verma Assistant Professor

223 Pages·2016·1.43 MB·English

THESIS
ON
AN ASSESSMENT OF WOMEN CHARACTERS AND THEIR
ROLES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUANCED THEMATIC
PATTERNS IN THE NOVELS OF BHARATI MUKHERJEE

Submitted for partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
Award of degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN
ENGLISH
By
NABASREE DATTA

2016
Advisor
Dr. Shivani S. Verma
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Foreign Languages
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences
(Formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute)
(Deemed to be University)
Allahabad-211 007, India

I.D.NO.10PHENG1O2
DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINAL WORK

This is to certify that the thesis entitled ‗An assessment of women
characters and their roles in the development of nuanced thematic
patterns in the novels of Bharati Mukherjee‘ submitted by Nabasree
Datta (I.D.No.10PHENG102) in the Department of English & Foreign
languages, Chitamber School of Humanities & Social Sciences of Sam
Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences (Formerly
Allahabad Agricultural Institute-Deemed University), Allahabad, India for the
award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English is a record of the
bonafide research work, carried out by her under my personal supervision and
guidance.
The thesis, in my opinion, is worth of consideration for the award of the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in accordance with the regulation of the University.
The results embodied in this thesis have not been submitted to any other
University or Institute for the award of any degree or diploma.
The assistance and help received during the course of investigation have been
duly acknowledged.
Date:28.04.2016
Place: Allahabad
[ Dr. (Mrs.) Shivani S. Verma ]
Assistant Professor
Department of English & Foreign languages
Chitamber School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture,
Technology & Sciences (Formerly Allahabad
Agricultural Institute-Deemed University),
Allahabad, (U.P.) 211 007, India.

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CERTIFICATE OF ACCEPTANCE OF EVALUATION COMMITTEE

The thesis entitled ‘An assessment of women characters and their roles in the
development of nuanced thematic patterns in the novels of Bharati Mukherjee’” has
been prepared and submitted by Nabasree Datta (I.D No.10PHENG102) in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
English of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences Arts & Culture of Sam
Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences (Formerly Allahabad
Agricultural Institute-Deemed University), Allahabad India.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sl. No Name Evaluation Signature
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Dr. (Mrs.) Shivani S. Verma Satisfactory /
(Advisor) Non satisfactory
Assistant Professor
Department of English & Foreign Languages
SHIATS, Allahabad.

2. Prof. (Dr.) G.S.Zaman
(Member) Satisfactory /
Dean, CSH&SS Non satisfactory
Chitamber School of Humanities & Social Sci.
SHIATS, Allahabad.

3. Dr. Ashish Alexander Satisfactory /
(Member) Non satisfactory
Head & Associate Professor
Department of English & Foreign Languages
SHIATS, Allahabad.

4. Dr. (Mrs.) Nishi Tripathi Satisfactory /
(Member) Non satisfactory
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
SHIATS, Allahabad.

5. Dr. Apsara Stanley Satisfactory /
(Member) Non satisfactory
Assistant Professor
Department of English & Foreign Languages
SHIATS, Allahabad.

The Thesis has been examined by the Evaluation Committee and found acceptable.

Date : (Chairperson)
Evaluation Committee

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DECLARATION

I , Nabasree Datta, (I.D.No.10PHENG102), hereby declare that the
thesis entitled ‗An assessment of women characters and their roles in
the development of nuanced thematic patterns in the novels of
Bharati Mukherjee‘ submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in English in the Department of English & Foreign Languages,
Chitamber School of Humanities & Social Sciences of Sam
Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences (Formerly
Allahabad Agricultural Institute-Deemed University), Allahabad, India, is
my original work and it has not previously formed the basis for the
award of any degree, diploma, fellowship or other similar titles.

Date: 28th April 2016 ( Nabasree Datta)
Place: Allahabad I.D. No.10 PHENG 102

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

`
First and Foremost I would like to express deep sense of gratitude to my
mentor and supervisor, Dr. (Mrs.) Shivani S. Verma, Assistant Professor,
Department of English & Foreign Languages, Sam Higginbottom Institute of
Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad for her invaluable guidance,
keen interest, constant inspiration, constructive criticism and incessant
encouragement throughout the tenure of this study. I am extremely indebted to
her and I consider myself immensely fortunate for getting an opportunity to
work with her.
I am sincerely thankful to Dr. Ashish Alexander Head & Associate Professor,
Department of English & Foreign Languages, SHIATS, Sam Higginbottom
Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences for his healthy encouragement,
constructive criticism, with a conviction of purpose, and valuable suggestions during
my research work.
With an exorbitant sense of humanity, I express my sincere thanks to
Dr. Nishi Tripathi, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Sam
Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences for her keen interest
and innovative and excellent help that made this thesis to be completed successfully.
I feel immense pleasure in expressing whole sense of gratitude to
Dr. Apsara Stanley, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Foreign
Languages and all my dear teachers, faculty members of the Department of
English & Foreign Languages, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture,
Technology and Sciences for valuable suggestions, constructive criticism, with
uninterrupted guidance.
I am thankful to my parents for their wish that made me to take up this
challenge to pursue the final step of academic journey which is a wonderful
opportunity to explore. Dear Ma, thank you for your kind blessings,

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inspiration, unlimited patience, constant support. Babu you were always in my
mind and that gave me the invisible mental strength and I know now wherever
you are definitely you are keeping track of my fate. Thank you all for that. I
love you all.
I sincerely acknowledge the all-round support, inspiration and help
extended by my dear elder sister Dr.(Mrs.) Hira Bose, Assistant Professor,
Department of English & Foreign Languages and respected brother-in-law
Dr. Dipak Kumar Bose, Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural
Extension and Communication, SHIATS, Allahabad, My lovely nieces,
Dishani and Himani whose company relaxed me a lot during all the stress
here in Allahabad. Thank you all.
Ahana, dear daughter, and Dr. Sanjib Ray, dear husband, Associate
Professor & Head, Department of Zoology, University of Burdwan, Burdwan,
West Bengal, really I cherished your company in the whole course of travels
and your inspiration, support and sacrifice immensely helped me to travel this
extra mile of academic journey.
I am indebted to my mother-in-law, brother in-laws, sister in-laws,
cousins, nephews, nieces friends, relatives, family friends and all the well
wishers for their inspiration moral support and all the best wishes which helped
me a lot to complete this academic journey.
Finally I am thrilled to thank almighty God for giving me ample
strength, courage and patience to complete the work.

( Nabasree Datta)

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ABSTRACT
Liberty and censure became an integral part of the lives of Indian
women who refused to buckle themselves under the pressure and
succeeded in changing their own lives and lives of those who were
dependent on them. In literature, it was being portrayed by majority of
writers, among them, Bharati Mukherjee, became the live example of a
free woman who through her novels, portrayed the struggles of immigrant
women for achieving their identity. Bharati Mukherjee provides readers
to take the challenge boldly against the traditional frame work of the
society and to turn her way towards a new consciousness of her own
worth and place in the society.
Bharati Mukherjee is an Indian-born American novelist who
started her writing career only at the age of three. Mukherjee achieved her
fame with the novels like, The Tiger's Daughter, Wife, Jasmine, The
Holder of the World, Leave It to Me, Desirable Daughters, The Tree
Bride and Miss New India. This famous novelist achieved many
prestigious awards during her splendid creative and professional career.
At the age of globalization, immigration becomes a burning issue
for most of the immigrant writers where the world is shrinking in to a
global village, the differences melt into similarities. Culture and groups
outside the dominant ideology try to find out ways to put forward their

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diversity. In the earlier times, the main purpose of immigration of the
third world people was only depending on their vocational problem. But
in the present time vocational problem mingles with the desire of
avocation for the purpose of crossing the boundaries of native land. But
in the cases where cultural dissimilarities are much sharper in terms of
racial, linguistic and religion, the predicaments get hopelessly complex
for immigrant to cope with the new circumstances. The adjustment
problems of the immigrant women in an alien society and their phobic
mental condition due to political, gender and racial biasness become vital
issues in the novels of Bharati Mukherjee. The women characters of her
novels are very familiar and the novelist has very successfully portrayed
them in the pre-existing context which really inspired the researcher to do
her research with the purpose that the study would be a modern work in
the field of literature and would render into helping hands for the
researcher to do their research in this area.
Therefore, this study is significant in the context of age of
globalization and immigration. The major objectives of the research are
as follows:
1. To find the thematic patterns in the novels of Bharati Mukherjee.
2. To study the influence of oriental and occidental culture on the women
characters in her novels.

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3. To explore the role of female characters in the development of the
story.
In order to obtain the objectives, researcher considered first seven
novels of Bharati Mukherjee, and methodically explored thematic
patterns, considering both the major and minor themes. Moreover, the
influence of cross cultural conflicts in the immigrants‘ life and their sense
of identity crisis were critically analyzed, and finally, role of women
characters in the development of nuanced thematic patterns were
explored in the research work.
The thesis is arranged in five chapters where the first chapter
introduces the novelist, Bharati Mukherjee, emphasizing her family back
ground, academic and professional carrier and literary canon, back
ground of the research topic, the major objectives and very brief outline
of the context and plot of each of the novels. The second chapter is
oriented to find the brief story line, the themes and thematic patterns in
the novels. The third chapter is based on the influence of native culture in
the lives women protagonists who settled in foreign land and illustrates
the conflicts of Oriental and Occidental cultures that provide the altered
shapes of the women characters in her novels. The fourth chapter is
dedicated to explore the role of female characters in the development of
each of the story. The fifth chapter is about conclusion that displays the

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