JOSEPH MACWAN’S THE STEP CHILD AND RICHARD WRIGHT’S THE OUTSIDER: COMPARISON OF SUBJUGATION ACROSS THE BOARDERS

Abstract

The subjugation of the Dalits in India and the Blacks in the USA has been the result of slavery imposed on them. Out of these traumatic conditions, African American writers started their revolt against this dehumanization through the words. Dalit writers also began their protest through their literature. Their writing is not just for literary satisfaction but the manifestation of their angst against marginality. The literature that was produced by writers, who themselves had experienced at first hand, the oppression and subjugation, issued out of the cores of their bleeding hearts. Joseph Macwan’s the Stepchild presents the painful voice of the Dalits from Gujarat, an Indian State. From the beginning of the novel, the Dalits suffer due to their caste. They protest and in return they have to suffer more. Teeha, a brave Dalit, cannot resist against the power of the Upper Castes. His untimely death puts the novel among the marginal novels. Their marginality can’t be removed. In The Outsider, the same plight is discussed by Richard Wright. The lives of Blacks are depicted with such a painful dilemma out of which they want to come. Here also in The Outsider, Damon’s murder alarms for the very fundamental questions. He can hide his real identity due to his intellect. But at the end, he is victimized and made a prey of the Communist party. His existential quest is due to his being marginalized. The names under which suffering is imposed and the reasons for which marginality advocated may be different. But subjugation, with any name, for any reason, is imposed on the inferior groups by the superior communities for centuries. The paper tries to explore those reasons, focuses on its impacts and suggests reconciliations as the texts suggest some hopeful solutions.