Vision Factor

  Subaltern Characters in the Novel “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness”         The marginalized and subaltern communities in the control of powerful elites of the society is actually a desire. A craving for power and subjugation is quite clear with making some people excluded of basic civil rights, and in fact to be considered to be mere creatures. It is shown clearly in the novel by Arundhati Roy as “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness showcase the existence if a vast range of people in Indian culture who are supposed to be treated or just ignored. This social psychology is persistent and in fact rapidly raising its part as religious extremism is taking the society by storms. The public sentiments can be raised against a community for the sake of getting political gains. The cow slaughter incidents with Muslims is one such big example and Roy has a clear stance on it.        Roy has said in one of her interviews tha...

  The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a literary rebellion by Arundhati Roy on the predefined norms and culture of Indian society. One that is highly influenced by the colonial psyche and a contempt to make so many individuals and communities as marginalized or subaltern, as term that Gyatri Spivak used to describe the post-colonial ethics and rules in India. Roy is not satisfied with surface value of ‘Secularism’ and ‘Shining and Incredible India’, when so many people are suffering within its geographical boundaries. Secular and Marxist by heart, she wants a social justice for all classes. She cannot bear the consequences of having a subaltern state due to an unspecified gender identity like Anjum. He as Aftab had to stop attending school at the age of nine as his/her gender identity was not defined as per social but subaltern rules. Later, she had to leave the music classes as sound of gender discrimination keeps on mongering in his ears like he-she-he-she-he-hehe…!! She crie...