“Human beings often claim to understand events when they manage to formulate a coherent story or narrative explaining what factors caused a specific incident to occur. Stories assist the human mind to remember and make decisions based on informative stories. Narrative writing also prompts periods of intense reflection that leads to more writing that is ruminative. Contemplative actions call for us to track the conscious mind at work rendering an accounting of our weaknesses and our strengths, folly and wisdom.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, (Dead Toad Scrolls)
That is why narrative technique is very important to understand the style of the author. How the author represents the event is important to see. Here we see the narrative technique of the novel "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" by Arundhati Roy.
Narrative technique of "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness"
The novel is very complex to read. Roy uses many references of true events in her novel. If you are not aware of real events you won't be able to understand the novel. It is also divided into five major worlds (places) where all the things happen, but the events are broken in between. The story of Anjum connects all the events of the novel. But to read the original novel is very hard. We can read the interpretations and understand the novel.
"The narrative starts at the unusual setting of a necropolis, to depict the long litany of necropolitics created by the corrupted pseudo-democratic setup of India,under the clutches of globalization, materialization, industrialization, westernization and the other long list of existing political scams. By the order of structure, the novel starts with the story of Anjum, a trans-woman, precisely a woman trapped in a man‟s body. The time gap is adjusted to tell the story of Anjum right from her birth to the events that led her to the first setting of the graveyard. Through this part of the narrative, Roy molds the one half of the dystopian sphere by etching the caste craze, media politics, gender politics, globalization, islamophobia etc. that rules the democratic India, which cracked the whole set up and demolished the “the ministry of utmost happiness”. The when Anjum and her party on the process of molding the utopia within the necropolis reaches Janata Mantar, the conjoining point of the novel, Anjum falls into a rabbit-hole, and the readers are tangentially taken into another dystopian half, to bring out some characters from that side into the fabrication of the utopia in the necropolis." (Ann Theres Joy)
The novel has an omniscient narrator, and it has multiple points of view. The narration is changing from first person to third person Narration. Novel begins with the Jannat; setting of the graveyard, then it moves to Shahjahanabad, Delhi then to Khwabagh or the House of Dreams to the Jannat Guest House. From there it goes to Jantar Mantar. And lastly it shifted to Kashmir. Covering all the events it ends with the exposure of the letters of Revathy. Here you can see board work on characters(complexity) of the novel by Sir,
Political Issues in the Novel
Arundhati Roy is an amazing writer of this present era who possesses defiant and reformative voice. In comparison to other women writers, Roy is less moving in her books. Her plays include the harsh reality of life. Arundhati Roy never showcases any kind of hesitation to articulate or write on any kind of wrongful issue. As a writer, Roy has never been agog to draw up fairy tale, romance, or fantasy rather than unravelling the suffering of mankind. All her books outline religious, war, political, nationalism, capitalism and the plight of people in this hour of crisis. Arundhati Roy always try to create a healthy environment for the disadvantaged people. Roy raises questions on the patricentric society, social stigmas and the authority of political power. Her works are the reflection of her outrage, discontentment and compassion. Roy states in an interview with Kathy Arlyn Sokol(Kyoto Journal).
The novel includes many political events such as land reform, 2002 Riots in reaction to Godhara train coach burning, Kashmir insurgency, reference of Una flogging of Dalit-chamars by Cow-Vigilantes also it illustrates the sufferings, pain and the rights of the LGBT community in contemporary India. The novel also deals with many social and political events occurring in India. We have seen these events in the class,
This frame is about the episode in the novel when Anjum and Zakir Mian travel to Ahmedabad, Gujarat during 2002 Riots in reaction to Godhara train coach burning in which 56 pilgrims died.
In the novel Saddam Hussein (Daya Chand) refers to Una flogging of Dalit-chamars by Cow-Vigilantes.
This frame has a reference to 'Revathy' / 'Comrade Maase'. She is mother of Udaya Jebeen (the second). She abandoned her baby at Jantar Mantar as she was born of rape by six police-men and she wanted to dedicate her life for Moist movement.
Gender Issue in the Novel
As Danish Suleman writes in the article, since ancient times the culture has been split into the weak and dominant, where vulnerable people are subjected to the dominance and flattery of society's authoritative class and hence become the perpetrators of paranoia. In society they have no name and life. Their identity is at stake, or they live with a decapitated uniqueness. They are the miserable species in this world who have no experience, thus are the perpetrators of deep lowliness and feel always terrified to be insulted. This study addresses transgender abuse and identity crisis at the root of the gender identity issue. Gender identity insinuates a person's identity due to the level of feminine or masculine characteristics in an adult that conforms to the traditional concept of society as a male or female. A person's gender identity is a psychological component of an individual's sexual orientation. In an article, “Let Us to Live: Social Exclusion of Hijra Community”, Hijra (Eunuch) or Transgender has been identified by Sibsankar Mal (2015) as “an umbrella term to signify individuals who defy rigid, binary gender constructions and who express or present a breaking and blurring of culturally prevalent stereotypically gender roles”.
We have two genders in our thoughts, minds, everywhere. And apart from that third gender community people didn't get a place in society. They have to fight for their rights. This problem is discussed by Roy in this novel.
Environmental Concern in the Novel
In the novel "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" various environmental issues are raised by Arundhati Roy. Issues ranging from Indian vulture crises, deforestation, dismal condition of migrants and quarry workers, predicament of captivated zoo animals, deficient health facilities, scum-laden rivers, mushrooming slums, mounting poverty, speedily increasing dumping grounds, unplanned urbanization, unrestricted consumer indulgence, enslavement of Adivasi (tribal) girls and genetic modification have been comprehensively studied.
She writes to inspire action and encourage her readers to participate in the process of nation-building and for creating a more sustainable planet (Syed Wahaj).
We see a dung beetle is portrayed as earth saver here. With the point of nature Roy includes insects, birds, animals and they are playing a pivotal role in their life which are connected with human life and their actions and activities affect them. The important aspect was about Vultures.
Researchers have expressed concern over use of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac in cattle since it was approved for veterinary use in Spain in 2013, as the drug is toxic to vultures who may consume it via dead cows. Now, modelling by Rhys Green, a conservation scientist at the University of Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues suggests that the drug could cause populations of that country’s Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) to decline by between 1–8% each year (Rachel Becker).
Vultures are friendly old birds. They are the cleaners of earth and they are now dying because of this diclofenac.
References
Becker, Rachel. Cattle drug threatens thousands of vultures. Nature (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.19839
Joy, Ann Theres. “Seaming a Shattered Story: Roy’s Narrative Patterns in the Ministry of Utmost Happiness.” Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, vol. 6, no. 12, Dec. 2018, pp. 20–23.
Mal, Sibsankar. 2015. “Let Us to Live: Social Exclusion of Hijra Community”. Asian Journalof Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 5(4): 108-117.
Mohsin, Syed Wahaj. “Environmental Concerns in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: A Critical Study.” Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, vol. 8, no. 6, Dec. 2017.
Roy, Arundhati. 2011. “Like Sculpting Smoke: Arundhati Roy on Fame, Writing and India”Interview by Kathy Arlyn Sokol. Kyoto Journal, November 5, 2017. Retrieved from
https://kyotojournal.org/conversations/arundhati-roy-on-fame-writing-and-india/
Suleman, Danish, et al. “Political and Gender Issues in Arundhati Roy’s ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.’” Indonesian Journal of Cultural and Community Development, vol. 5, 2020, https://doi.org/10.21070/ijccd2020288.
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