Sense of Cultural Alienation and Estrangement in Anita Desai’s ‘Baumgartner’s Bombay’

Abstract

The feeling of belongingness gives strength and confidence and makes one feel connected with the people and the place. There is probably no exact term to describe a feeling of not belonging anywhere. One feels isolated and alienated even amidst people. A sense of estrangement creeps in even when one is surrounded by people. It is a strange situation when one is forced to leave one’s native place as there is nothing left and is forced to flee to a place where he is not accepted for he doesn’t belong to that new place. The turmoil experienced by the individual in such situations and the variations in cultures across borders is well portrayed by Anita Desai in her 1988 novel, ‘Baumgartner’s Bombay’. The paper attempts to focus on the inner nooks of the internal psyche experienced by the protagonist Hugo throughout his life journey. A paradox of belonging to and not belonging is felt at the same time by the protagonist. Anita Desai portrays the cultural disparities and sense of estrangement with an authentic excellence