DISLOCATION AND NOMADISM IN MUKHERJEE’S THE TIGER’S DAUGHTER

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze dislocation and nomadism in Bharati Mukherjee’s novel, The Tiger’s Daughter. Its chief objective is to observe how Tara Benarjee Cartwright, the protagonist of the novel, cyclically wanders like a nomadic from one geographical and cultural space to another in identity crisis. To survey how Tara becomes a drift, and a nomad space, the research paper applies post-colonial insights, with special focus on Homi K. Bhabha’s conception of post-colonial character as the theoretical tool. She is an Indian-born American who travels to America after her marriage and experiences the anti-Indian attitude in America. When she comes back to India, she experiences anti-American attitude in India. The principal finding of the paper is that Tara’s cyclic wanderings, desperate search for permanent settlement make her homeless. Tara finds solace neither in India nor in America. Tara experiences travel, migration and displacement, the typical experiences of identity crisis. It is assumed that researchers intending to explore Mukherjee further in the post-colonial dimension can take this paper as a reference.