Joseph-Ghosh-5/4

I’m currently mulling over two essay prompts:

1. eccentricity and the flight from reality in south asian fiction (are characters with strange hobbies and preoccupations reflective of a desire to avoid confronting a difficult reality?)

The erotic pleasure that Burnham gets from being punished(I found the whole of Chapter Thirteen to be rather bizarre, in format and action), the state of witchcraft in A Bend in the River(I may also use Naipaul’s ‘The Masque of Africa’ as a companion text), the reversal of words and other word games in God of Small Things, and the many eccentric characters in Midnight’s Children.

                          or

2. Name changing/fluid identities

I am thinking of these moments, among others: Kalua and Deeti changing their names to ‘Aditi’ and ‘Maddow Colver’(pp. 277),  Mamdoo-tindal  dressing as a woman(his alter ego Ghaseeti) and his belief that none of the women could ‘match the allure of his alter ego’)(pp.350),  the ‘single Siamese soul’ in God of Small Things, and the much bigger, All-India radio soul in Midnight’s Children. I am still working on this prompt in relation to A Bend in The River.