V15N52023 - Page 2

Nitisha Seoda¹  & Devendra Kumar Sharma^{2      
1,2} Department of English & MELs, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, India

 Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.06
[Article History: Received: 11 October 2023. Revised: 26 December 2023. Accepted: 26 December 2023. Published: 27 December 2023]
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Abstract

This study situates itself in the literary representations of the interplay of gender, class, color, race, postcoloniality, power politics, violence, identity, and the African self in a Bildungsroman. It focuses on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus as a Bildungsroman of woman, written from a postcolonial outlook. The narrative centers on the growth, development, and experiences of the female Bildungsheld, Kambili, who eventually attains epiphany, and explores her true self and identity. In other words, the study follows an eclectic approach, which further focuses on Kambili’s odyssey of encountering freedom by tearing out the different challenges, and insecurities during the process of subjectivization, objectification, and interpellation towards her journey of becoming in a political context of a military coup in Nigeria. As a result, the article emphasizes the confluence of history and literature, as well as Africans’ experiences in the postcolonial world in general, and accounts for Kambili’s becoming in particular.

Keywords: Gender, Female Bildungsroman, Patriarchy, Postcolonialism, Self

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Seoda, N. & Sharma, D.K. (2023). Poetics of Self in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus:  A Postcolonial Bildungsroman Study. Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.06

P. Sarojini    
Ph.D. Research Scholar in English, Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous), Salem. Tamil Nadu. India.

Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.04
[Article History: Received: 12 October 2023. Revised: 20 December 2023. Accepted: 21 December 2023. Published: 26 December 2023]
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Abstract

Identity and identity crisis are crucial aspects of a person’s mental and physical well-being. Identity is what sets an individual apart from others in society. An identity crisis can cause a person to experience confusion and uncertainty at various stages of their life. Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development is based on the ‘Epigenetic principle,’ which suggests that our environment and culture influence how we progress through the planned stages of personality development. Erikson’s eight stages describe how people develop emotionally and socially throughout their lifespan. In Isabel Allende’s novel, Daughter of Fortune, the protagonist Eliza Sommers undergoes an identity crisis. The paper focuses on this concept of identity and identity crisis and the mystery and troubled identity surrounding Eliza Sommers.

Keywords: Identity, Identity Crisis, Epigenetic Principle, Mystery, Erikson’s Theory.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Sarojini, P. (2023). Identity versus Identity Crisis: An Analysis of Erikson’s Epigenetic Principle in Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune. Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.04 

M. Aarthi Priya  
PhD Research Scholar, PG & Research Department of English, Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous), Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. 

Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.07
[Article History: Received: 12 October 2023. Revised: 20 December 2023. Accepted: 21 December 2023. Published: 25 December 2023]
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Abstract

Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, developed the idea of ‘learned optimism’ by embracing the idea that an optimistic outlook can be developed through learning. This article discusses the idea of learned optimism, its advantages, and how one may begin to transform their life and thinking. According to the analysis, optimistic personalities appear to have a greater success rate when it comes to reaching their intended goals, even when the pessimistic characters do amazing things in their lives. Both pessimists and optimists achieve things in their lives, but optimists are perceived as having accomplished more. Martin Seligman’s theory of learned optimism is analysed and contextualized in this paper, which aims to evaluate the optimistic and pessimistic personalities found in the characters in the selected short stories of C.S. Lakshmi. Seligman’s concept of learned optimism is well connected with the characters of Loki in “Once Again” and Anjana in “Trisanku”. The characters are also subjected to cognitive distortions of the three P’s: Personal, Pervasive and Permanent to develop themselves to be optimistic personalities through the concept of learned optimism. Seligman also proved that through learned optimism one can change from a pessimistic to an optimistic personality so that they can prevent themselves from depression and anxiety.

Keywords: Learned Optimism, Cognitive distortions, Three P’s, optimistic, pessimistic.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Priya, M.A. (2023). Optimist vs Pessimist: Indulging and Contextualizing Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism in “Once Again” and “Trisanku” by C.S. Lakshmi. Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.07 

Maria-Ana Tupan     
Alba Iulia University, Romania

Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.13
[Article History: Received: 15 November 2023. Revised: 10 December 2023. Accepted: 11 December 2023. Published: 24 December 2023]
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Abstract

Rosi Braidotti’s theory of “nomadic subject” (2011) has shifted the focus from traveller in the literal sense of the word to subject as a process; becoming subject entails a denial of universals in the construction of identity which is redefined as situated embodiment in the world, open to the heteronormativity of changing social codes and accepted modes of living or of conceiving otherness. Nevertheless, travel has always been associated with an explicit ethos, whether as a pious pilgrimage, educational world tour or the grand narrative of civilizing mission. Located on various maps, real or imaginary, civilizations are brought into contact by the huge number of migrants, the problems they raise including the relationship between third worlds and metropolitan cities/ countries, the migrants’ othering by mainstream populations, the migrants’ desire to be naturalised and the estrangement from their true selves as a result. By building simulation models, speculative fiction probes deeply into underground concerns which well up to the surface in postcolonial literature, being expected to produce cognitive enlightenment. Relieved from the material deprivations of the colonial past, the postcolonial subject is now caught in the process of identitarian reconstruction.

Keywords: self-construal, deconstruction of presence, world-building,  cultural narratives, multiculturalism.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Tupan, M. (2023). Troping Identity in Arkady Martine’s Space Opera: From Historical Realism to Quantum Anthropomorphization. Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.13 

Virender Pal      
Associate Professor of English, IIHS, Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra

Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.02
[Article History: Received: 15 October 2023. Revised: 12 November 2023. Accepted: 14 November 2023. Published: 16 November 2023]
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Abstract

Leslie Marmon Silko is an eminent writer among the Native Americans who is trying to resuscitate Native culture and reconstruct the identity of her people. In her novels like Ceremony and Almanac of the Dead, she has extensively written about the Native way of life. Her short stories are also an endeavour to construct the identity of her people. Due to her concern with the construction of the identity of her people, she often compares white institutions with the Native institutions. In her short story “Man to Bring the Rainclouds”, she compares the death rituals of her people with the Christian rituals and establishes that the Pueblo customs were deeply connected with the land. The current paper is a study of her short story “Humaweepi, The Warrior the Priest.” In the story, she compares the whites’ methods of educating the children to her people’s methods of educating the younger generation. She establishes in the story that the Pueblo way of educating the children was superior because it did not put any strain on the learner; rather the student learned everything without any stress or labour. Moreover, the Native system of education taught the learner about the importance of developing a bond with the natural world and hence trained the students to become eco-warriors.

Keywords: Leslie Marmon Silko, Native, Education, White.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Pal, V. (2023). Challenging the Episteme by Telling Stories: Learning without Limits the Native Way. Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.02