DEVOURED IDENTITIES: THE POLITICS OF FOOD AND GENDER IN ANITA DESAI’S FASTING AND FEASTING

Abstract

The research paper is an attempt to examine the subjugation of identity and hence the perturbed experience of the protagonist and various other characters due to power politics in Anita Desai’s Fasting and Feasting. In the novel, the character’s involvement with food becomes a means of expression of their emotional state of mind. Thus, by studying the food behavioral patterns of a character we can infer the deeply embedded associations and internal anguish that the character has gone through. The novel explores the dichotomic theme of hunger and plenty which is reflected in characters like Uma, Arun and, Melanie. The researcher has identified and analyzed the food behavioral patterns of these characters to anatomize the politics of food and gender. From Uma’s imposed fasting to Arun’s obtrude feasting, the novel is a testimony of how consumption patterns mirror the socio-cultural struggles of an individual. The author in the novel indicates how food consumption is gendered and logicized culturally. In the research paper, food and food consumption will act as a lens to the character's social, cultural, and psychological needs.