IDENTITY CRISIS IN SECOND GENERATION INDIAN IMMIGRANTS: A STUDY OF CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI’S FICTION

Abstract

The role of these second generation Indians is central to the discussion of continually changing sensibilities of diasporic community. These generations suffer from double marginalization - first because of their ethnicity, and secondly due to generational differences. The complexities of their distinctive identity require particular note as they indicate both the challenges posed by the fragile cultural roots and possibilities for successful integration in the host community. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s fiction offers the resolution of this dilemma in the form of the amalgamation of oriental ethics with the occidental ethos. This paper is an attempt to study the evolving life of the various Indo-American characters, their identity crisis and their final transmutation towards a remixed synthesis of its own as explored in her novels.