Bhumika Mahida: Thinking Activity : The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness

Thinking activity : The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Hello ,

I'm BHUMIKA MAHIDA , Here I'm going to write a blog on the novel , 'The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness' which we have discussed in our classroom , I have to write this blog in response to the blog https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/12/the-ministry-of-utmost-happiness.html which is assigned by prof. Dilip Barad sir , so let's begin …

Arundhati Roy :

Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961)[1] is an Indian author best known for her novel The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author.[1] She is also a political activist involved in human rights and environmental causes.

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Roy)

Novel Introduction :

The novel weaves together the stories of people navigating some of the darkest and most violent episodes of modern Indian history, from land reform that dispossessed poor farmers to the 2002 Godhra train burning and Kashmir insurgency.[3] Roy's characters run the gamut of Indian society and include an intersex woman (hijra), a rebellious architect, and her landlord who is a supervisor in the intelligence service.[4] The narrative spans across decades and locations, but primarily takes place in Delhi and Kashmir.

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_of_Utmost_Happiness)

Political issues in the

novel :

The novel ' Ministry of Utmost Happiness ' includes many political issues , there is reference of current political parties and their mysterious names , there is a reference of Anna Hazare movement which we have discussed in our classroom for this novel , also there is a reference of Godhra Kand , land reform, 2002 Godhra train burning . The reference of Emergency in 1975 is also mentioned by Arundhati Roy in this novel.

2.Gender Concerns in the novel

In this novel we can find very complications gender issues because the novel told by the Character of Anjum , who is a transgender woman and former sex worker who was born with both female and male genitalia. The Urdu word for trans gender is 'Hijra' , an identity that is very important to Anjum and the other trans women she lives with.

3.Environmetal concerns in the novel/Ecofeminist study:

In this novel Roy describe the transwoman Anjum.She is transgender woman . But first I want to introduce you with the word ' Ecofeminism '

' Ecofeminism '

Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism that sees environmentalism, and the relationship between women and the earth, as foundational to its analysis and practice. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecofeminism#:~:text=Ecofeminism%20is%20a%20branch%20of,humans%20and%20the%20natural%20world.)

In this novel the reference of Ecofeminism is for the character 'Anjum ' and also for the characters like Tillotama,Maryam Ipe,Revathy. In all this character we can see ecofeminism.

4.Narrative pattern in this novel

At the narrative technique level , the novel turned first person to the third person point of view . The novel starts with the setting of the Graveyard, then moves backward to Shahjahanabad, Delhi then to Khwabagh or the House of Dreams to the Jannat Guest House. Then it takes a shift to the urban Delhi or the city only to come back to Kashmir, to complete the dystopian sphere, but ultimately the two loose strands join in the Jannat Guest House, completing the utopian dream. In terms of the setting, this setting of the city can be seen as an evolution of the writer from a smaller canvas to a bigger one. In this novel Arundhati Roy uses varied narrative techniques like epistolary, stream of consciousness, pamphlets, news articles, hospital records, photographs, poems, addressed to an unknown character etc.

Here I've attached some video recordings for this novel by Department of English MKBU :