The Overflow of Contained Emotions in Anita Rau Badami’s The Hero’s Walk

Abstract

In this article, Anita Rau Badami's second novel, The Hero’s Walk (2000), is analysed through the perspective of the field of affects. This analysis examines how the author, through the imagery of water, presents the non-physical reality of feelings and emotions. Water is the most receptive of the elements, a source of continuous, intimate and transitory metamorphoses. In the form of storms, floods, and other types of natural phenomena related to this element, it is possible to observe how Badami makes use of a metaphorical conceptualisation of intense emotional states related to the psychological trauma that arises from the loss of a loved one. For the purpose of analysis, several important sources in the field of affect theory and water symbolism will be considered. Special emphasis will also be placed on the body (and the house as an integral extension of it) as a receptacle for contained emotions in the processing of pain.