Mukt Shabd Journal ISSN NO : 2347-3150

A Linguistic Study of Arundhati Roy’s Capitalism-A Ghost Story

T.R. PERSIA
Research Scholar (Full Time)
Department of English,
VELS Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Dr. T. SENTHAMARAI
Associate Professor,
Department of English,
VELS Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Abstract
The study of political discourse analysis covers a broad range of subject
matters. It deals with linguistic usage of a text in political spectrum. Arundhati
Roy’s writings directly address socio political issues in India. Her writings always
carry political loaded messages though her powerful use of language. Like many
of her works, Capitalism- A Ghost Story is politically aimed. This paper analysis
the language use of Arundhati Roy’s Capitalism-A Ghost Story.

Keywords: Political Discourse Analysis, Capitalism, Arundhati Roy, Racism and

Exploitation.

Introduction
Discourse analysis is a method of study and an approach to the analysis of
communication, either spoken or text. Discourse analysis focuses on the issues of
asymmetries, manipulation, exploitation, and structural inequalities in education,
media and politics. There are five main discourses; i) narrative, ii) descriptive, iii)
persuasive, iv) argumentative, and v) expository.
Discourse, as defined by Foucault, refers to: the ways of constituting
knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power
relations which inherit such knowledge and relations between them. Discourse is

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more than a way of thinking and producing meaning. It is also a communication of

thoughts. It is one of the four systems of language, the others being vocabulary,
grammar and phonology. Something as short as two phrases in a conversation or
as long as an entire extended essay are both examples of discourse and both show
various features of discourse. It is the way in which language is used to convey a
socially broad meaning. The written discourse refers to the skills such as logical
development, use of linguistic resources, and internal coherence of the sentence
used to churn out the exact meaning of the written text. Social discourse is the
open discussion and argumentative discussions regarding the norms and accepted
rights and wrongs of society. Social discourse is a discussion of sub cultural
lifestyle. Political discourse is the formal exchange of reasoned views as to which
of several alternative courses of action should be taken to solve a societal problem.
In any successful theoretical or policy solution to the problems that caused the
riots will need to examine the interplay between political, social, and economic
factors to capture the ‘full range’ of their causes and effects. She tells about the
denunciation of capitalist and power in India and struggles of poorest people. She
is political essayist. She constructed the essay very elegantly. Her writing has
analytical clarity and also writes about struggles and movements.
Approaches to discourse analysis are;
o Sociology (Conversational analysis)
o Sociolinguistics (Ethnography, Interactional Socio-linguistics, and Variation
Theory)
o Philosophy (Speech Act Theory, and Pragmatics)
o Linguistics (Structural, Functional and Socio-Semiotic)

Political Discourse
Political discourse analysis is an area of discourse analysis which is aimed
at political forums of different interests.

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The study of political discourse, like that of other areas of discourse

analysis, covers a broad range of subject matters, and draws on a wide range of
analytic methods. Perhaps more than with other areas of discourse, however, one
needs at the outset to consider the reflexive and potentially ambiguous nature of
the term political discourse. The term is suggestive of, at least, two possibilities:
first, a discourse which is it political; and second, an analysis of political discourse
as simply an example of discourse type, without explicit reference to political
content or political context. But things may be even more confusing. Given that on
some definitions almost all discourse may be considered political (Shapiro 1981),
then all analyses of discourse are potentially political, and, therefore, on one level,
all discourse analysis is political discourse.

Levels of Political Discourse Analysis

Fairclough has categorised Political Discourse Analysis into three levels of
interpretations. They are i) Micro level, ii) Meso level iii) Macro level
Micro level: Textual/linguistic analysis for example syntactic analysis, use
of metaphor and rhetorical devices.
Meso Level: “level of discursive practice” involves studying issues of
production and consumption, for instance, which institution produced a text,
who is the target audience, etc.
Macro Level: The analyst is concerned with inter-textual and inter-
discursive elements and tries to take into account the broad, societal
currents that are affecting the text being studied.
In this paper, Micro level of interpretation is applied since this paper aims
to analyse the language use of the author and its impact on the receiver.

Summary of capitalism
The essays are hard hitting and very hostile. From the analysis of the work
of third wave writers such as Roy, takes on an a public platform first as writing to

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attack incessantly on the current capitalistic practices and neo liberal economic
policies with great bitter criticism not only because they dominate the international
orders but also they affects their day today living of a conmen man . Roy says she
lives in capitalist dominant country by the capitalists.
In this essay, she further explained neo-liberal economic package, anti-
democracy and tiny minority. Taking Responsibility of minority people and
ownership of the Indian economy and political system is called neo-liberalism.
Indian authorities miss use the poverty and insult crush the people by using of full
power. Roy questioned how and why wealthy people are becomes wealthier, “why
1.2 billion, Indians one hundred richest people own assets equivalent to one-fourth
of the GDP followed by she listed the effects of neo-liberal development on India,
dead rivers, dry wells, bald mountains and denuded forest the ghost of 250,000
farmers who have killed by themselves and of the eight hundred millions of people
have been impoverished and dispossessed.” She describes Modi’s personal motifs
for being Hindu extremist a huge abuse of human rights. Roy supports for the poor
and marginalized people. She directly hits NGO’s for their funding to corporate
has hypocrisy.

Social issues
Some of the major issues and dominant characters on capitalism as Roy
stated in the book are listed below:
o Mr.Mukesh Ambani’s properties and shares of his companies’ worth of
$20billion.
o Global business interests that include petrochemicals, oil, natural gas,
polyester fibre, special economic zone, fresh food retail, high school, life
science research and stem cell storage service. He holds majority of share in
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL),Ambani gets 95% of shares from In total,
o He holds 27 TV news channels and entertainment channels and regional
language almost every.

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o Worldwide license for 4G broadband.

o Mr.Ambani also owns a cricket team.
o Tata, jundals, Vedanta, Mittals Infosys, Essar and other reliance owned by
Ambani’s brother Anil.

Language usage
She has used many phrasal verbs and connotation some examples are:
o You Can’t Live Without Us,
o The rules of the Gush-up Gospel, the more you have, the more you can
have.
o It’s dream come true for businessman- to be able to sell what they don’t
have to buy.
o The tapes were just an MRI that confirmed a diagnosis that people had
made long ago.
o In India we don’t call this war. We call it “Creating a Good Investment
Climate.” “opinion-makers”- it has to be “perception management”.
“Creating Happiness” film competition for young film students whom it has
commissioned to make films on sustainable development.

Analysis
This book directly attacks the affluent Indians who make impact on the
Indian economy, growth, politics, and bureaucracy. She includes the richest
industrialists, politicians and business people. As a social activist this attempt
shows her interest in social issues. Roy says that, the lands of many Indians are
handed over to corporate as privatization. She concentrates on problems which
affect every single state of India. She says “we hear about the ecological and
social re-engineering of central India only because of mass insurrection and the
war” to illustrate this as a global problem. To explain the domination of power,

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Roy says that capitalism is the real “gravedigger” which destructs the entire
society with power and money.
In Capitalism - A Ghost Story, Roy explains social issues with exclusive
terminologies to make sure of India’s condition. She accuses the formation of
society and bureaucracy with terms like “privatization”, “opinion-makers”,
“gravedigger” and “perception management”. She deliberately makes use of words
to loud out for the innocents and privileged people. In the essay, Roy encounters
the Ambani family and current politics of India. To quote from the text: “Global
business interest that include petrochemicals, oil, natural gas, polyester fibre,
special economic zone, fresh food retail, high school, life science research and
stem cell storage service. He holds a majorshare in Reliance Industries Limited
(RIL), Ambani gets 95% of shares from in total.” Above text explains that Ambani
has got everything under his shadow. The line “You Can’t Live Without Us”
sounds humorous for the word “Us” which stands for Ambani’s family and family
business. She made this comment on Ambani group to mean how they make
themselves invincible in Indian economy and politics. She emphasis that there is
no difference from East India Company and Reliance group in which they function.
To quote from the text: “It’s dream come true for businessman- to be able
to sell what they don’t have to buy.” The above quote is made to unveil the
business tactics of rich Indians and to explain the exploitation over poor.
Throughout the essay Roy has been attacking on the exploitation of capitalist that
made 250000 farmers to commit suicide for debt and making lands into industries.
She explained about the denunciation of capitalist’s power in India and the
struggles of poor people.

Conclusion
The paper has made an attempt to show the socio-political issues and the
usage of language. She has explained every single issue with vivid and powerful
language used in political context which aimed to trigger readers mind

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emotionally as well as rationally. Further she also calls for an action from the
readers. As a responsible writer she creates impact on the social issues. Roy uses
political language to create revolution and to motivate people to get equal justice.

Work Cited
- Fairclough, N. L. Critical Discourse Analysis: Papers in the Critical Study
of Language. London: Longman. 1995. Print.
- Foucault, M. The archaeology of knowledge and the discourse on language.
New York: Pantheon.1972. Print.
- Jon P. Dorschner, Review of Capitalism (A Ghost Story), Feb 2011. Print
- Marszal, Andrew, quoted in The Daily Telegraph, 6th February 2016.
Newspaper Source,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/12144154/Arundh
ati-Roy-caught-in-the-crossfire-of-Indian-judicial-power-struggle.html
- Roy, Arundhati. Capitalism A-Ghost Story, Haymarket books,2014. Print.

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