By
Dr. Vimala Chandrasekharan
Asst. Professor& Head, Department of BA English
Guru Nanak College (Autonomous), Velachery, Chennai -600042
ABSTRACT
Man lives in close communion with nature and hence every change of mood
in Nature affects the mood of man also. Man’s relationship with nature has been
expressed beautifully in the poems of Wordsworth, Keats, Frost and Shakespeare.
In the New Age literary theory Eco-criticism has found a prominent place which
examines and explores the bond between nature and man in literature. Classics
in Literature like Shakespeare’s plays and Romantic Age poetry are being
re-read in this context and eco-critical perspective gives a new dimension to
the critique. This Paper explores the Indian Writer in English Anita Desai’s
novel Fire on the Mountain in an eco-critical perspective and examines
the way Desai brilliantly manipulates nature imagery in her novel in the
depiction of the alienation of her protagonist Nanda Kaul who lives alone in
her house Carignano situated on the mountain ridge of Kasauli.
Key Words: nature, Eco-Criticism, bond, literature, nature imagery, alienation,
protagonist
Introduction
Man lives in close communion with
nature is a historical fact. That is why every change of mood in Nature affects
the mood of man too. When nature showers prosperity on man in the form of
fertile fields and abundant harvests man rejoices.Similarly natural calamities
like storm, earthquake and tsunami leave man depressed.Man’s relationship with
nature has been expressed beautifully in the poems of Wordsworth, Keats, Frost
and Shakespeare.Shelley’s “To a Skylark”, Keats’ “Ode to Autumn” and Frost’s
“After Apple-Picking” bring joy and excitement in our minds. The great playwright
Shakespeare also has drawn inspiration from nature for conveying his philosophy
of life through his plays. In the New Age literary theory Eco-criticism has
found a prominent place which examines and explores the bond between nature and
man in literature. Classics in Literature like Shakespeare’s plays and Romantic
Age poetry are being re-read in this context and eco-critical perspective gives
a new dimension to the critique. This Paper explores the Indian Writer in
English Anita Desai’s novel Fire on the
Mountain in an eco-critical perspective and examines the way Desai skillfully
manipulates nature imagery in her novel in the depiction of the alienation of
her protagonist Nanda Kaul who lives alone in her house Carignano situated on
the mountain ridge of Kasauli.
A note on Eco-criticism
The concept of Eco-criticism
deals with exploring the close relationship between man and nature. “The
presence of a bond between the human and the non human generally forms the
ecocritical basis of a text. Ecocriticism pleads for a better understanding of
nature, and it both interprets and represents the natural world” (Shodhganga,
Web).
The word "Eco-criticism" first appeared in William Rueckert's
1978 essay "Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Eco-criticism".In
Western Literature Association meeting in 1989 Cheryll Glotfelty whoat the time
was a graduate student at Cornell, used the term to refer to the diffuse
critical field that had been hitherto known as "the study of nature
writing." This concept was immediately supported by Glen Love, Professor
of English at the University of Oregon in his Past President's speech, entitled
"Revaluing Nature: Toward an Ecological Literary Criticism." (Michael
P. Branch & Sean O'Grady, Boise, Web). Nasrullah Mambroi observes that one of the main goals in eco-criticism is to study how
individuals in society behave and react in relation to nature and ecological
aspects. (Mambroi, Web)
Lawrence Buell’s The Environmental Imagination (1995) speaks of two waves of eco-criticism. The first wave
speaks for nature. This wave upholds the value of nature seeking the cultural
distinction between man and nature. “An interesting
focus for many eco-critics is the way that wilderness is represented in
literature and popular culture. This approach examines the ways in which
wilderness is constructed, valued, and engaged.” (Eco-centrism, Web) In the old
world literature wilderness has been represented as a threat or a place of
exile. But in contemporary literature wilderness has be treated as a pastoral
type of retreat devoid of the element of fear but viewed as a place of
sanctuary.
Dr. Patrick D. Murphy in his
book Transversal
Ecocritical Praxis: Theoretical Arguments, Literary Analysis, and Cultural
Critique “utilizes ecocriticism
and ecofeminism to develop his concept of transversal practice: an
interdisciplinary combination of theory and applied criticism. He begins by
explaining the necessity for cutting across disciplinary boundaries of all
kinds in order to address the ecological dimensions of culture and literature.”
(Rowman& Littlefield, Web)
Findings
and Analysis
Treatment of Nature in Anita Desai’s novels
Anita Desai uses nature imagery in her novels to depict the
moods of her protagonists. All her protagonists are nature lovers and they
understand nature as an extension of their self. They are conscious of the
trees, flowers and animals around them and often Desai uses the moods of nature
as symbols to express the moods of her protagonists. Maya in Cry the Peacock thinks about the papaya
trees with flowers when she craves for the intimacy with her husband. The
distress calls from the peacocks match with the distress in Maya and the sigh
from the drooping leaves of the trees in her compound becomes the metaphor for
the depressed mood of Bim in Clear Light
of Day. For the protagonist Adit in Desai’s Bye-bye, Blackbird, the lush green countryside of England
intensifies his nostalgia and for Nirode and Monisha in Voices in the City, they find it difficult to adapt to the city of
Calcutta with its heavy monsoons, overflowing drains and the high level of
sounds of traffic and rain which makes a stark contrast to the serene and
beautiful surroundings of their hometown, the Himalayan village Kalimpong. In
all these characters the distress in Nature seeps into their psyche and
unconsciously this becomes an element in causing identity crisis in them. Jasbir Jain
appreciates Desai’s skill in detailing nature:
The close
observation of nature, the minute details about plants and flowers, their
botanical names, their variations; the insects, worms, lizards, birds, the
animals… The recurring pattern between
hills and plains, between urban centres and Darjeeling, Kasauli and Kalimpong
also speaks for itself. There is, in her work almost a Joycean fascination with
external detail, as if she was looking for in the terra firma to enable imagination to take flight. (2-3)
Nanda Kaul’s Alienation in Fire
on the Mountain
Unlike Maya,
Monisha and Nirode who are all in the prime of youth, the protagonist in
Desai’s Fire on the Mountain
(1977)Nanada Kaul is an elderly woman, a great-grandmother who opts for a
secluded life in an isolated house, Carignano, situated on the mountain ridge
of Kasauli. The novel probes more into her adult life and the trauma she has
faced as a wife and a mother, than into her childhood. The novel is divided
into three parts – Part I Nanda Kaul at Carignano; Part II Raka comes to
Carignano; Part III ILA Das leaves Carignano. Nanda Kaul makes a conscious and
brave effort to keep herself distanced from her family members who have
disappointed her in many ways. In her interview with Jasbir Jain, Anita Desai comments
on Fire on the Mountain like this: “I
think the one which gave me something closest to satisfaction, in which I have
come closest to what I set out to do, and I don’t think I very often do, is Fire on the Mountain” (12).In Anita Desai’s novel Fire on the
Mountain the author treats Kasauli more as
a place of retreat than as a place of exile.
Nanda Kaul’s house Carignano reflects her mood
as it stands aloof on the hilly region of Kasauli, cut off from the rest of the
world. Or that is how she wants it to be. She wants to be away from all human
contacts as well as from her disturbing past: “She wanted no one and nothing
else. Whatever else came, or happened here, would be an unwelcome intrusion and
distraction” (3).
The book she reads, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, matches her moods, sometimes aggressive and sometimes
depressed. One of her favourite scraps in the book, When a Woman Lives Alonereflects her mental state:
‘When a woman lives alone, her house should be
extremely dilapidated, the mud wall should be falling to pieces, and if there
is a pond, it should be overgrown with water
plants… I greatly dislike a woman’s house when it is clear she has
scurried about with a knowing look on her face, arranging everything just as it
should be, and when the gate is kept tightly shut.’ (29)
She wonders
whether Carignano “would live up to that epicurean lady’s ideas of how things
should be” (31). Nanda keeps herself distanced
from her family membersand the bare garden in her house Carignano becomes the
symbol for Nanda’s aloofness and alienation. For Nanda the old house and its
barren garden is a projection of her own life, a life abandoned by others. The
garden of Carignano is also a projection of Nanda’s self that is bare and
empty.
Nanda
likes the house mainly for its isolated status and the plain house painted in
white with its uncared garden gives Nanda a crude satisfaction. She does not
wish to plant a tree, “Like her the garden seemed to have arrived, simply by a
process of age, of withering away and an elimination…” (33). Observes Dubbe, “The
garden is as lonely as its owner” (Dubbe, 30). Kamini Dinesh in her study of
the novel has made the observation that “through the description of the
mountain retreat Anita Desai has translated Nanda’s desolation into a physical
image” (90).
The house has many parallelisms with Nanda’s
life. Carignano has a colourful history before Nanda Kaul takes over it. It was
a place that breathed life when its previous owners of different temperaments
occupied it, andall of it died down to quietness when the last of the British
were shipped off, before India’s Independence. Nanda also has a similar past. She
considers her life in the clamorous atmosphere of her husband’s house asthe “ironic
bow to duty that no one had noticed or defined.”(20).Even though she has
performed her role as a wife, mother, and daughter-in-law dutifully, she
remains an alienatedself. Her commitment to her family is a mere discharge
of duty, a vocation without any emotional involvement: “It had been a vocation
that one day went dull and drought-struck as though its life spring had dried
up” (33).She has often felt the urge for
withdrawal, for inner space, for inner relaxation: “She had practised this
stillness, this composure, for years, for an hour every afternoon: it was an
art, not easily acquired” (25).
Nanda had gone through the trauma of her
husband’s infidelity for years. Her self-esteem does not allow her to beg for
his love and she watches his every movement from a distance. She cherishes one
personal moment of victory in her life when, years ago, she hadwatched her
husband entering their bedroom after dropping the ‘one’ guest, herself standing
in the garden among the shadows of the night, unnoticed by him: “That was one
time she had been alone: a moment of private triumph, cold and proud” (28).
Abraham Maslow’s theory Hierarchy of needs speaks about the need for
love, belongingness and self-pride which emerges in a person after the safety
need is satisfied and the thwarting of these needs can cause negative effect in
one’s personality (62-3). In Nanda’s life, these needs are thwarted by her
husband’s life-long affair with his colleague,that makes her ponder over the
meaninglessness of her existence and so she withdraws herself from the world
and longs for seclusion. Erikson says that the lack or loss of accrued ego
integration could result in disgust and despair. Nanda Kaul is a victim of
disintegrated ego which makes her turn away from life.
Eco-Critical Praxis in the novel
` Desai uses the five elements of
nature viz. earth, air, fire, water and sky (space) skillfully and
aesthetically in the novel as symbols. Since Desai has lived in Kasauli, as told
to Srivastava in her interview, she is very familiar with the flora and fauna
of the region. The alienated self of Nanda notices only such aspects in the
flora and fauna of Kasauli that matches her desolation. Thus in her distressed state Nanda wants to
be “a charred tree trunk which cannot harbour irritation, a broken pillar of
marble in the desert which cannot show annoyance or a lizard on a stone wall to
imitate death” (24).Her death-wish later becomes a reality when the novel ends.
She finds her own image in the mutilated worm, “she watched the white hen drag
out a worm inch by resisting inch from the ground till it snapped in two. She
felt like the worm herself, she winced at its mutilation” (23). Nanda’s love
for space reflects in her longing to imitate the eagle’s flight, just glide
through life, eyes closed, wings spread, in perfect control (21). Her longing
to liberate herself from all bondage is the call of her inner self, the
pathetic cry to free herself from all painful thoughts of her past. Her
anguish makes her see moonlight a symbol of funeral and she draws her own
parallel in the agitated flight of the lapwing she has seen in her garden (28).
Desai
poetically depicts Nanda’s tenderness for aesthetics in nature, “She went to
the window and looked out on the flushed ravine, the molten plains, the sky
filled with a soft tawny light in which the sun floated like a lighted balloon,
making the pine needles glisten like silk, like floss” (29).
This
tenderness for nature is later extended to her great-granddaughter Raka. Even
though Nanda is not happy about Raka’s arrival initially, as time passes her
presence brings a change in her life. Raka’s arrival once again kindles the
embers of love in Nanda Kaul. Nanda manipulates nature’s wilderness to capture
Raka’s heart when she accompanies her on long walks knowing well the child’s
great exploring spirit, her capacity to detach herself from others which Nanda
thinks, is an extension of her own self.
She weaves beautiful stories about her glorious past to draw the child
to her and she makes herself believe these stories of the illusory world.
Finally the shock of the brutal rape and murder of her long time friend Ila Das
leaves her completely devastated and Nanda cannot survive the shock.
When Raka announces about her setting fire on
the mountain forest with great excitement, Nanda Kaul doesn’t hear it. Desai
exploits the element of fire for its purpose as purgatory, annihilating and
finally liberating. It clears her of all the lies that she has been living on,
thus helping her to know the true nature of her life and Nanda undergoes expiation
of her sin of lying to herself. Nanda’s restless spirit traverses through the
ups and downs, gliding and soaring like an eagle, to eternity through her death
to its final liberation.
Conclusion
In her interview with Ramesh.K. Srivastava,
Desai makes clear her purpose when asked whether Nanda cherishes alienation for
its own sake: “Not for its own sake, but because it is imperative for her. Only
in such a state can her illusions survive intact” (223). Nanda’s
alienation in Carignano is self-opted, and it can be viewed as a brave attempt
on her part to retain her self-pride and also a vain attempt to run away from
her disturbing past.
Author’s Biography
Dr. Vimala
Chandrasekharan works as Assistant Professor & Head of the Department of BA
English in Guru Nanak College (Autonomous), Velachery, Chennai – 600 042. She
has presented and published several Papers at various National and
International Seminars. She obtained her Ph D from the University of Madras and
her Ph D Thesis was based on the Psychological Study of the Indian Writer in
English Anita Desai’s Novels. She is interested in Creative writing, Music and
Theatre. Her areas of interest include Shakespeare studies, Indian Writing in
English and American Literature.
Works Cited:
[1] Desai, Anita. Fire on the Mountain. Noida: Random
House India ,
2008. Print.
[2] Dinesh,
Kamini. “Fire on the Mountain: The
Contours of the Mind”. Creative Forum.
10.1-2 (January-December 1997): 89-96. Print. Note: Special Volume on Stream of
Consciousness in Indian English Fiction. Print
[3] Dubbe, P.D.
“Feminine Consciousness in Anita Desai’s Fire
on the Mountain”. Indian
WomenWriters: Critical Perspectives. 27-33. Print
[4] Erikson,
Erik H. “On the Potential of Women”.
A Way of Looking at Things:
Selected Papers from 1930 to 1980. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company. 1987. 660-669. Print
[5] Jain, Jasbir. “Work of Some
Length”. Stairs tothe Attic: The Novels of
Anita Desai. Jaipur: Printwell
Publishers.1987. 1-15. Print
[6] Maslow,
Abraham.” A Theory of Human Motivation”. Motivation and Personality. Motivation
and Personality. New
Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd. 2007. 57-73. Print
[7] Srivastava, Ramesh K. “Anita
Desai at work: An Interview.” Perspectives
on Anita Desai. 208-226. Print
[8] Shodhganga. <http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/6722/5/05-chapter%201.pdf> 09-04-2018
[9] Michael P. Branch, Florida International
University Sean O'Grady, Boise State University< http://www.asle.org/wp-content/uploads/ASLE_Primer_DefiningEcocrit.pdf>
09-04- 2018
[12] Rowman& Littlefield. <https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739182710/Transversal-Ecocritical- Praxis-Theoretical-Arguments-Literary-Analysis-and-Cultural-Critique#>
12-4-2018