Rhetoric of Trans-Identity and Trans-Nation: The Trans-Gender Fault Lines in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Abstract

Purpose of the Study: The research paper takes a nuanced look into the idea of gender as a spatial concept and how the political groundings exist within the very spatiality. The paper reconnoitres Arundhati Roy’s delicate skill of employing her narrative The Ministry of Utmost Happiness to reflect the narrative of Kashmir and the entire nation, as she works on the intersection of the political and the social fault lines. Main Findings: The paper looks into the struggles of transgender identity and the challenges of falling out of the gender binary, especially in a country like India. The struggle has been dealt with, through an in-depth parallel between a person’s struggle and the insufficiencies, with reference to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, thus roping in a legal angle. Roy takes us to the treacherous politics of Kashmir, through the journey of a trans-woman from the utopian world to ‘Khwabgah’, the heterotopic premise of a graveyard, thus making the personal become political. Research Methodology: Both exploratory and the descriptive research methods are used for deriving the theoretical analysis and to extract the results. Methods for observations are primary and secondary sources. An attempt has been made to highlight the need of exploring alternative narratives in the current times of rickety media accounts. Implications of this study: The paper looks into how Roy sows hope amidst all the desolation of the subject matter that is bound to haunt but not leave the reader with a sense of hopelessness for humanity