Identity Constructions and Gender in Daisy Hasan’s The To-Let House

Abstract

This paper is a detailed Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the novel The To-Let House that represents the indigenous struggles, the politics of identity and the construction of a ‘woman’s identity’ amidst the unsettling environment of violence in the historical context of the North Eastern part of India. The paper would analyse and explore the underlying discourse operating in the novel and investigate the core theories and its impact through the conscious choices of the ‘language in use’ by the author. Daisy Hasan’s The To-Let House is primarily marked with the identity constructions and its gradual evolution. The author not only just unravels the struggles that the characters undergo but also counterfeits a sense of identity instituting it towards one’s self identity. The characters in the novel are unable to affiliate themselves into any one particular cultural identity; rather they constantly are struggling within themselves inwardly, in the midst of the violence surrounding them outwardly. This weakness and inability to assign an identity turns out to be a strong narrative that constructs a powerful discourse highlighting the nuances of ‘belongingness.’