Nagaland as the Home for Existential Dread: A Critical Study on the Select Stories of Temsula Ao

Abstract

The North Eastern states of India are known for their myths, cultural tradition, folklores and nature which found their expression in many forms of literature. Though this region is gifted by Mother Nature with abundant resources and unblemished beauty it also witnesses bloodshed, violence, turmoil and conflicts in the names of ethnicity, race and national identity. People of this region suffer from various forms of oppression and they are not in a position to find solutions to the problems they face. Their helplessness and lack of political power or support make them vulnerable to oppression and violence. Temsula Ao, the emerging English writer from the Naga community brings out the sufferings and pain of this region through her writings. Violence, which has become the part of their day to day life, is the primary theme of her works and she portrays the significant impact of violence on the people of Nagaland which deprives peace, harmony and other fundamental requirements of coexistence. People are forced to give up their socio-ethnic practices, food habits and culture. The trauma, humiliation, exclusion and discrimination experienced by the marginalized tribes of this region remain the primary cause for the youth joining the armed rebel groups. People are caught up between the nation state and the rebel groups and suffer because of both the elements. This paper focuses to analyse the affliction, disillusionment and trauma experienced by the ordinary people in the conflict zones of Nagaland through the select stories of Temsula Ao.