The Gneiss Impact In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Oleander Girl

Abstract

Diaspora has always been debated in the light of migration as the search for better prospects, education, marriage or to heal wounds, break downs in life, forge new boundaries and create a new identity. America is always viewed as the land of opportunities with, “Silver Pavements and Golden Roofs”.

This article titled “The Gneiss Impact” signifies the crossing of boundaries by the protagonist Korobi in search of her biological father. The search which begins with this minuscule idea undergoes a sea of change due to the surfacing experiences and results in self-realization, self-fulfillment, and self-constructedidentity. Identity therefore as Thapan believes, “is not a finished product, it is rather a social construction … The representation of identity, therefore, is an ongoing process, since immigrant identities are continually transformed by the journey, the subjectivities being recomposed in different spices and sites of experience” (Thapan29).Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an acclaimed writer and currently teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston. Her active involvement in organizations, MAITRI, DAYA, and PRATHAM, which helps battered women testifies her drive to provide the clarion call to women to rise above situations. Through Korobi, in Oleander Girl she addresses the misconception of society that men are adventurers and a woman’s spaces are the home

and kitchen. She also underscores the need to break away from the psychological barriers of caste, creed, and religion.