HARSHVARDHAN

UID- SM0120022

SUBJECT CODE- 103(ENGLISH MINOR)

The theme of alienation in Bye-Bye Blackbird

Alienation is the process where people become foreign

to the world they are living in. The concept of
alienation is deeply rooted in all the great religions and
social and political theories of the civilized age, namely,
the idea that sometime in the past people lived in
harmony, and then there was some kind of rupture
which left people feeling like foreigners in the world,
but sometime in the future this alienation would be
overcome and humanity would again live in harmony
with itself and Nature.

Sarah’s dilemma is not that of finding new roots but it is that

of up rootedness and hence deeper. She finds herself an alien
and a stranger. At the time of her departure, Sarah is sad to
leave her place, “It was her English self that was receding and
fading and dying, she knew, it was her English self to which
she must say good - bye.

In Bye-Bye, Blackbird, Anita Desai explores the

existential problems of adjustment, belongingness,
rootedness, exile, etc. Dev, Adit, and Sarah, the three
important characters of the novel, come to count their
reality in three different ways; but none of these is able
to do it completely. The question of being an exile in
one’s own land is raised through Sarah who has chosen
to marry Adit in order to fill certain gaps in her life. But
it is very doubtful whether she succeeds fully. However,
her life-affirming attitude and faith in making sincere
efforts for assimilation into an alien culture are clearly
perceptible in her decision to come to India with Adit
and Sarah also emblematizes the effort of reducing
tensions due to racial discrimination.
Sarah leads a miserable routine life with Indian
husband. Adit behaves like a typical Indian husband
who is least bothered about the convenience of this
English wife. This is clear from the following:
“…Wash up, Sarah, dear and go to bed and don’t mind
me when I fall over the cat...unable to part with the
warmth of shared experience and shared humour,
leaving Sarah to pick up empty cups and glasses and
full ash trays and yawn her way to bed…” (27)
Thus, a close textual analysis reveals decisive influence
of the socio-cultural, historical and economic factors on
the ultimate destiny of the characters in the novel. It
would be over simplification to say that characters are
merely passive products of their culture. The novel
deals with alienation of an English lady Sarah married
to Adit an immigrant from India. In the novel Adit faces
economic crises due to which he could not come back
to India immediately after his marriage. As a result
Sarah bows down her head of committing a mistake of
marrying an Indian in her own society. She is treated as
an out caste while in her own land. Adit in spite of his
adjustments—compromises he makes under given
circumstances, behaves at time like a typical Indian
male whereas Sarah in spite of being a women from so
called advanced west is quiet meek and submissive.
While, Adit and Dev has choice to opt for their natural
conditions, their true circumstances—Sarah has no
choice she surrenders to the decision of her husband. In
seeking her own self Adit is totally unaware of the loss
of self that his decision implies for Sarah. Once again
Desai draws our attention to the annihilation of self that
marriage involves for a female –a theme that she picks
up in her novel. Dev’s decision to stay in and Adit’s
decision to leave London symbolize the dialectical
character of the possibility of healthy coming together
of different cultures which can be beneficial for both.
Sarah’s dilemma is not that of finding new roots but it
is that of up rootedness and hence deeper. She finds
herself an alien and a stranger. At the time of her
departure, Sarah is sad to leave her place, “It was her
English self that was receding and fading and dying, she
knew, it was her English self to which she must say
good - bye.
Conclusion:
The study of novel shows that even though socially
Sarah is not very happy because of racial prejudice and
alienation from her people yet as a wife very sensibly
takes care of things. Most of Anita Desai’s couples
don’t pull well in marriage. Her social being may not be
satisfied. This alien women who understands her
husband, his family and country which she would
accept, once in India. Anita Desai very brilliantly has
brought to focus the exile and self - alienation of these
three characters in Bye – Bye black Bird. The uprooted
individuals Adit, Dev and Sarah have constant identity
crisis and suffer from exile, culture and social alienation
throughout the novel.