Smart Moves Journal IJELLH (International Journal of English language, literature in humanities)
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Gender-divide and a Turbulent Society
Get PDFThis article is a translation of a research article by N Shankar Narayanan that has been cited below. This translation has not been published in any journals, book or magazine and it is the original translation of the article written by the author. The author of the article has consented for the translation and publication of the same.
Women have always been at the receiving end when a society is tumultuous, in spite of the scientific and technological advances it boasts of. jfdk; [“Thaganam”] (2001) is a Tamil novel by Andal Priyadarshini portrays such concerns. A 21st century family may not survive the financial burden it poses if both the husband and wife do not take up a job. It becomes a necessity that the act of a man opposing the idea of a woman taking up a job , just as a mental perception that is bent on being patriarchal. In such a society, the idea of man proving himself to be one, only if he gets a job, needs to be eradicated. By breaking such a social construct, a society should tame itself to focus only on the fact whether the family fetches enough money while the husband and the wife takes up a job. The resultant of such a social construct can be observed when a working woman consents to marry a man who earns more than her. Further, a society should also question when a woman does not receive the same wage that man gets for the same kind of job. Both the gender should formulate ways, together to fight sexual harassment at work. Finally, in a turbulent society, a woman can lead her life peacefully only if punishment for sexual abuse and harassment are made severe in court of law and sex education being given properly to the members of the society
Sensuality and Spirituality in Hozier and the Romantic Tradition: A Comparative Study of “Take Me to Church” and “The Garden of Love”
Get PDFThis research paper explores the lyrical and thematic connections between contemporary musician Hozier and English Romantic poets, with a focus on the interplay between sensuality and spirituality. Using William Blake’s “The Garden of Love” and Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” as central texts, the analysis traces a shared literary lineage in which institutional religion is critiqued and the body is reclaimed as a site of divine experience. The study argues that Hozier continues the Romantic project of transforming spiritual authority into a more personal, sensual, and rebellious form of transcendence
Reimagining the Past: Trauma, Memory, and Nostalgia in Select Partition Narratives
Get PDFThis research paper explores the psychological, cultural, and narrative aftermath of the 1947 Partition of India through Kamila Shamsie’s novel Salt and Saffron, situating it within trauma and memory studies. It integrates theoretical perspectives on collective memory, postmemory, vernacular trauma, and routine violence as developed by scholars such as Maurice Halbwachs, Marianne Hirsch, Ananya Kabir, and Gyanendra Pandey to examine how inherited trauma is transmitted across generations through myth, silence, and storytelling. Through close textual analysis, the paper demonstrates how Shamsie encodes historical trauma into family legends such as the “not-quite-twins,” and how diasporic characters like Aliya navigate identity crises shaped by fragmented genealogies and cultural estrangement.
Textual quotations highlight how the novel’s narrative form—characterized by nonlinear structure, anecdotal recollection, and matrilineal voices—mirrors the disjointedness of traumatic memory. The study underscores the feminist dimension of memory transmission, particularly through female figures such as Dadi and Mariam, whose silences reflect the gendered burden of Partition. Ultimately, the paper argues that Salt and Saffron functions as a literary archive and counter-memory, challenging nationalist amnesia and emphasizing literature’s role in ethical remembrance. By fusing theory with literary evidence, the study asserts the novel’s capacity to transform inherited trauma into a site of reflection, resistance, and cultural continuity
Burning Boundaries: A Critical Study of Multicultural Tensions and Social Stratification in Perumal Murugan’s Pyre
Get PDFThis research paper critically examines the representation of multiculturalism in the select works of Perumal Murugan, specifically One Part Woman (2014) and Pyre (2017). The study explores how Murugan’s narratives engage with the concept of multiculturalism, particularly in the socio-cultural context of Tamil Nadu’s Kongu region. Multiculturalism, in this context, refers to the acknowledgment and negotiation of cultural, ethnic, and caste-based differences within a dominant socio-political framework. Through a close reading and discourse analysis of the texts, the paper investigates how Murugan portrays caste dynamics, inter-community relationships, and cultural stratification as both limiting and shaping individual agency. The analysis foregrounds the tension between traditional norms and the aspirations of marginalized voices, revealing complex layers of identity, resistance, and exclusion. By employing a qualitative methodology, this study offers a nuanced understanding of multiculturalism as a lived reality in rural Tamil society, and how literature becomes a potent site for contesting hegemonic narratives. This inquiry contributes to broader discourses in literary studies, postcolonial theory, and cultural sociology, shedding light on the intersection of caste, culture, and community in contemporary Indian literature
Spiritual and Physical Union in John Donne\u27s Poetry
No full textJohn Donne, a central figure of the metaphysical tradition, is renowned for his intricate blending of intellect, emotion, and sensory experience. His poetry often grapples with the paradoxical nature of human existence, where the spiritual and physical realms are inseparably intertwined. This study explores Donne’s fusion of spiritual and physical love, focusing on how he portrays the body and soul not as opposing forces but as complementary aspects of a unified human experience. Through a close reading of selected poems—including “The Ecstasy,” “The Good-Morrow,” and “Holy Sonnet XIV”—and drawing upon established literary criticism, the analysis demonstrates how Donne employs metaphysical conceits, theological references, and vivid erotic imagery to bridge the gap between sacred and sensual desire. His treatment of love transcends the conventional dichotomy of the holy and the profane, framing physical intimacy as a pathway to spiritual fulfillment. The study highlights Donne’s innovative approach, showing how his poetic voice challenges the rigid moral binaries of his time while anticipating modern discussions on the integration of faith, love, and embodiment. Ultimately, Donne’s work exemplifies the metaphysical ideal of harmonizing the corporeal with the divine, reaffirming his enduring significance in both literary and philosophical discourse
Trauma and Recovery in Anuradha Roy’s The Folded Earth: A Psychoanalytic Study
Get PDFThis paper applies Judith Herman’s theory of Trauma and Recovery to the novel The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy in order to understand how the protagonist, Maya, deals with her traumatic experience. Maya loses her husband, Michael, in a mountain accident, and she is left alone to deal with the trauma of loss. Herman’s theory, a triad framework comprising the three stages of safety, remembrance and mourning, and reconnection as part of the process of recovery from trauma, offers a viable platform for a scholarly examination from a psychoanalytic perspective. The novel is structured around Maya’s retreat to the Himalayan hill town of Ranikhet. This structure is reflective of Herman’s roadmap to recovery from trauma. Maya’s relocation and emotional withdrawal represent the first phase. Her gradual engagement with new relationships, particularly with Diwan Sahib and Veer, and her internal confrontation with Michael’s memory reflect the second phase. Betrayal and the reactivation of grief through her discovery of Veer’s complicity in Michael’s death becomes the third phase, which also complicates the recovery process. The analysis conducted in this paper shows that the novel The Folded Earth emerges as a narrative that focuses on trauma’s lingering aftershocks and the fragile, often non-linear, paths toward healing in both personal and socio-historical contexts
Irrawaddy Dolphin, the Evanescent Beauty of Marine Life: An Ecocritical Study of Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide Emblazoning SDG 14 and Blue Humanities
Get PDF“But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” – Rachel Carson. Unknowingly, human beings have waged war against nature when, out of a sense of supremacy, they disrupted the harmony with nature by creating the most developed and powerful human civilization, violating and destroying nature mercilessly. The anthropocentric approach makes human beings insensitive to other lives on this planet. Uncontrolled anthropogenic activities are responsible for the decline of Mother Earth’s atmosphere. Consequently, in the 21st century, with frequent natural disasters and calamities, nature is fighting back against all the injustices and cruelties done to her. Therefore, climate change has become a global issue that poses a significant threat to human existence. Hence, to address the crises of the present world, in 2015, the United Nations declared Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2015-2030), which include 17 global objectives concerning the well-being and harmonious co-existence of human beings and nature. The 14th goal of the SDG is for “Life below water” to protect marine ecosystems.
The Irrawaddy dolphin, or Orcaella dolphin, is an oceanic dolphin. The oceans, rivers, and lakes of Southeast Asia are the original habitats of this dolphin, but in 2005, Cambodia declared it an endangered species. This species is protected in our country under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. Ocean life will lose its ecosystem in the absence of this species. The celebrated Indian novelist and environmental activist Amitav Ghosh foresees the need for the protection of “Life below water” by placing the Irrawaddy dolphins at the centre of his adventurous novel The Hungry Tide (2004). Piyali Roy, an American marine biologist of Indian descent, comes to Sundarbans to research the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. Under the guidance of a local fisherman, Fokir, Piya undertakes her journey in search of dolphins. She envisages different challenges during her research, yet she does not yield. Eventually, her love and care for dolphins won out when she could turn her dream project into a reality. This paper aims to study how this novel contributes to ecocritical concerns by exploring the assorted perspectives of environmentalism, the human-nature relationship, sustainable approaches, and Blue Humanities
Reflections on European Modernity and its Impact on Premodern Sensibility and Society
Get PDFThe idea of literature as a record of collective human consciousness is a departure from the Eurocentric enunciation of realism and individualism. This proposition reflects an artistic reaction whose implications pose challenge at philosophical and epistemological planes against all those concepts, ideas and notions that went into the making of European Enlightenment and Humanism. Of all the great Latin American writers, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s writing can be read as a critique of the values of Modernity and Enlightenment, which the paper intends to explore, in opposition to which postmodern, poststructural and postcolonial thoughts have developed their critical discourses. In the novelistic form, involving a very nuanced reaction against European art and thought, Marquez has tried to capture a vanishing Premodern human sensibility in a mode that is both comic and tragic, fantastic and realistic. He allegorieses the loss of an organic mode of life which could not survive the moment it came into contact with the outside world. At a symbolic level, it suggests alienation and death of the ethnic communities and racial groups, disintegration of the native culture and indigenous pattern of life, which the paper will discuss, in the age of globalisation and growing integration of the world. The whole experience is so cataclysmic that it generates a deep sense of remorse and nostalgia in the reader. Marquez not only makes one conscious of the rupture at the level of human perception, his narrative contains element of parody of the discourse of progress, European scientific and psychological thoughts
Between Dharma and Desire: Psychological Androgyny in the Plays of Mahesh Dattani
Get PDFThis paper examines the plays of Mahesh Dattani, renowned contemporary Indian dramatist, through the lens of psychological androgyny, with special focus on the conflict between dharma defined as duty and collective ethical code—and individual desire, or the striving for self-expression and authenticity, within a modern context. By employing Sandra Bem’s theory of psychological androgyny, the study argues that Dattani portrays such characters through his plays, who embody a blend of masculine and feminine psychological traits. These characters act as ethical agents who subvert patriarchal and heteronormative expectations. By analysing selected plays such as “Bravely Fought the Queen” and “Dance Like a Man”, this paper argues that psychological androgyny is a catalyst for ethical agency, allowing characters to reinterpret dharma through the lens of emotional integrity and self-awareness. This paper contributes to literary and cultural criticism by situating psychological androgyny as a critical framework for understanding Indian dramas, ethics, and gender identity in a rapidly changing society
Character of a Progressive Woman in Anuradha Roy’s All the Lives We Never Lived
Get PDFAnuradha Roy presents Gayatri, the protagonist in All the Lives We Never Lived, as a bold progressive woman. The story revolves around her quest for peace and happiness in life. She chooses her dreams over her family to fulfil her desires. In our patriarchal society, a man is usually not questioned as much for dereliction of family duties and responsibilities as a woman is when she happens to shy away from taking care of her family and children. It is perhaps because man dominates society, and woman is relegated to the submissive and subservient position in family and society. Modern-day women writers, such as Anuradha Roy, often take on issues and social situations where women are assuming new roles to bring about change in the social status of women. In All the Lives We Never Lived, Gayatri’s revolt against her husband is born out of her husband’s domineering nature