Meaningless Existence in So Many Hungers by Bhabani Bhattacharya

Abstract

Abstract

The fictional world of Bhabani Bhattacharya depicts a meaningless existence of the human being torn between two worlds?the self and the society. The fettered self struggling for emancipation from the stranglehold of a chaotic society appears to be a dominant trait in Bhabani Bhattacharya’s novels. The individual struggles for self-liberation but is silenced by the buffets of societal values, falters and then puts up a faltering fight but never yields. Never gives in to the forces of evil. The struggle of the self for liberation culminates in a compromise, in an affirmation and an assertion of the right to live. This note of faith in societal values, and in man’s hope for survival despite all the bludgeoning of fate, lends grandeur and magnanimity to the Bhattacharya protagonist. The nobility of the individual in spite of all sufferings imparts an epic dimension to the self, be he Rahoul or Kajoli. Suffering and hunger ennobles and strengthens it. Rahoul says: ?In the agonies of war the soul would be cleansed? (9).