Existentialist Perspective: A Study of Bharati Mukherjee’s Fiction The Holder of the World

The present study explores and analyses the existential perspective in Bharati Mukherjee’s novel The Holder of the World; she tries to represent the fluid nature of immigrants due to frequent dislocations and relocations, which facilitate the characters to transform and assimilate into a new environment. The protagonist, Hannah Easton, discards nostalgic feelings and celebrates the latest opportunities in a liberal environment. Being a fearless, brave, and bold, spirited woman, she chooses her ways of life freely and accepts the consequences frankly. Bharati Mukherjee, one of the path breaking Indian American novelists and short story writers, has constantly made efforts to voice the immigrant experience of women. Hannah initially suffers from cultural shock, but being resourceful establishes her authentic existence by understanding the new environment utilising her full potential via free choices.

the first true feminist she had met in life. She had gained great things for women at a time when women were treated as mere slaves" (Stephen 15).
Bharati Mukherjee's characters in the fiction reveal tolerance, love, and harmony, where no community or sex is superior to another, and each individual has equal rights. They struggle to live with freedom and a search for the 'self' and existence. She projects her characters persistently struggling with their conflicting selves and the environment. She has also worked on various dimensions of pressures exerted by the complex nature and demands of the society in which modern man is inflicted. Her writings relate to Rogers assertion that: "the operation of inherent forces impelling each person to want to 'become' or 'realise' himself'" (qtd. in McDavid & Harari 87). The present work attempts to explore Mukherjee's novel The Holder of the World in context with existentialist philosophy and investigate the existential perspective where there is a tendency in the characters to work with freedom and to exist in their own way.
Existential philosophy emerged in the writings of Kierkegaard and Jaspers and the later contributions of Heidegger, Sartre, and others. There is no single existential philosophy; existentialism instead is more oriented towards understanding the nature and meaning of man's existence. It emphasises that man is not a readymade machine; preferably, he has the freedom to make vital choices and to assume responsibility for his existence. It lays stress on the subjective experience as a sufficient criterion of truth. As stated by John Macquarrie and others, man exists before he acquires essence, a definite individuality. The difference is between 'being' and 'becoming.' Other things also exist, but man differs from them in that he is free to become a personality. Strong men transcend the oppressive discipline of a dull society and create their own values. They commit themselves to a cause to change the culture and overcome life's complexities while weak men make vain efforts to escape from them.
The consciousness of the concept "'exist' that inspired the word 'existentialism' was first articulated by Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche was among the first writers to expose the intimate relationship between experience, practice and the world that came to play a central role in existential philosophy" (Cooper 31). The single factor for existential thinkers is freedom which is almost a synonym of existence. In the 20 th century Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, adopted Kierkegaard's perspective, and for him, human action occurs within a zone of freedom. Sartre's assertion that 'existence precedes essence' means that "man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world ─ and defines himself afterward. If man, as the existentialists see him, is not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself" names a distinctive, and systematically coherent, picture of the world shared by a 'family' of thinkers." Generally, "existentialists assert the uniqueness of the human situation in the world (i.e., they reject a theoretically reductive philosophical naturalism). This situation is characterised by ambiguity and estrangement, but also by a sense of freedom and responsibility for meaning" (qtd. in Crowell 15). Human beings are prone to a sense of estrangement or alienation from the world.
Martin Buber presented alienation, as the main subject, in his book I and Thou that the person who lives in an 'I-It' relation to the world lives in "severance and alienation," without a home, a dwelling in the Universe (58). The 'I' used for 'self' convey a deeply personal, subjective and familiar meaning while the 'It' is foreign and unknown, hence an alien presence. This estrangement is responsible for arousing the notion of existence and makes the name existentialism an appropriate one. Kierkegaard restricts the term "existence" to individual human beings where they are "infinitely interested in existing" and "constantly in the process of becoming" (253). For Macquarrie, existence means, "Man fulfils his being precisely by existing, by standing out as the unique individual that he is and stubbornly refusing to be absorbed into a system" (66). In its root sense, existence means 'standing out' or going beyond what he is in that moment or moulds one's life accordingly. Kierkegaard, in his works, calls the individual to come out from the crowd and bear the burden of his being upon himself. One should not seek help from theories and principles or the illusion of conventionality because the existence of each existent is 'distinct' and 'unique' from the existence of everyone else. The other more important aspect of existence is self-relatedness, which means the individual is the centre of everything and has to evolve his value system. It does not remain fixed or static keeps on changing with time.
For existentialists, "we have to start from freedom if we are to understand man'' (Roubiczeck 122). Freedom means acting entirely by our own free will. For Sartre, "freedom and existence are indistinguishable. One does not first exist and then become free; rather, to be human is already to be free" (qtd. in Macquarrie 177). Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Jaspers call the term 'the public' 'the herd' and 'mass existence' respectively that works autocratically and becomes a barrier to inhibit freedom. Existentialists believe that individuals do not get or leave a well-structured universe with a coherent design. In their dealing with freedom, people are responsible for their choices, life plans, and the world. The inescapable reality of death gives meaning to existence. It is also the source of existential or normal anxiety. Existentialists sometimes seem preoccupied with death. It is in facing death that an individual is most likely to come to an understanding of life. Frankl sees "death not as a threat but as urging for individuals to live their lives fully and to take advantage of each opportunity to do something meaningful" (qtd. in Sharf 176). Accordingly, death awareness can lead to creativity and living entirely rather than facing fear and dread.
The novel depicts the story of a strong character that utilises her potential to counter the restrictive perspectives of gender, class, and culture and accept new possibilities of selfhood. Hannah Easton, the protagonist, is exposed to a wide range of experiences in the alien land of Mughal India. She was born and brought up in an orthodox Puritan society where she has been trained to suppress her passions, but unsatisfied by her mechanical and The narration in the novel is similar to that of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850), where Hester Prynne, like Hannah Easton, tries to assert her unique and independent spirit by challenging the imposed rigid Puritan rules and crossing the thresholds.
Both of them face similar circumstances, and both transform themselves according to the required situation and condition. Hester Prynne's Scarlet letter 'A' represents 'Adultery' for the Puritan world, but she, with her consistent efforts, transforms the same letter 'A' into 'Ability' or potential, which enables her to assimilate and exist in the same old Puritan world Hannah's story is meant to suggest that there were passages to and fro from India even in colonial New England and that lives have been lived across cultures in all centuries.
Moreover, Mukherjee seems to be telling her readers that if we care to bring together the stories scattered in history, we will come to realise how intertwined lives are. To say merely American-Indian lover, and a Nipmuc woman drops her on the doorsteps of the Fitch family.
The little girl was brought up under the rigid norms of Puritan society. Hannah Easton, a sensitive and bold girl, imagines the vulnerable position of her mother as a widow in orthodox Puritan society and loves her "more profoundly than any daughter has ever loved a mother" (30).
Hannah grows up as an adopted child of the devout Puritan couple, Robert and Susannah Fitch, who try to insert in her all the conventional wisdom and housekeeping tips supposedly required for an agreeable bride. Hannah, a revolutionary figure like Jasmine, refuses to accept the imposed rules and regulations of Puritan society since she wants to shape her own fate. A human being's striving for transcendence (Kierkegaard)    World" (20). Hannah, searching for liberation, rebels whenever the situation demands and charts out her own path. In the beginning, she rebels against her husband "for having a bibi but within a few months, she willingly becomes one herself, suspending all morality, all expectations of conventional relationships" (Mehta 197). She justifies the existentialist belief that individuals do not enter or leave a structured universe with a coherent design. It is in their dealing with the freedom that they create their own world. Hannah chooses freely to exist in her own way. English married woman on the Coromandel Coast to pregnant sari-wearing bibi of a raja; a murderer, a widow, a peacemaker turned prisoner of the most powerful man in India" (271).
The love she got from Raja Jadav Singh strengthens her determination. She attains courage that enables her to face the 'holder of the world'-the 'Alamgir,' the Great Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Even Aurangzeb is fascinated by the personality of Hannah and hails her with a very precious title: "I call you Precious-as-Pearl" (270).
She ends up as Mukta, Bhagmati's word for 'pearl,' precious as a pearl in the court of Aurangzeb. Hannah frees herself from the confines of geographical and religious boundaries, social distinctions, cultural differences and linguistic hurdles and progresses to fulfil her quest for self-realisation. Beigh Masters recognises Hannah's potential and acknowledges her as a woman with a free spirit and having the extraordinary enthusiasm to progress in life.
Hannah rejects the stereotypical world of Puritans and emerges as a real fighter in life.
Malashri Lal's comment related to the protagonists of Bharati Mukherjee's fiction is very apt for Hannah Easton and Jasmine, as they are ". . . neither nostalgic for their personal past nor afraid of the unfamiliar present. The main strategy is adaptation without surrender". Also, women protagonists are ". . . confident, sophisticated, poised --who will not melt into . . .