Quest for Identity in Expatriate's Perspective in Bharati Mukherjee's Desirable Daughters

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Quest for Identity in Expatriate's Perspective in Bharati Mukherjee's Desirable Daughters Bharati Mukherjee, a prominent Indian novelist, as an immigrant reflects her expatriate sense in her novels. She has established herself as a powerful member of the American literary scenario. Her works reflect both her pride in her heritage of India, and her celebration of embracing America. Ray aptly comments, "Like many post-colonial authors she craves for the identity of many Asian-American women who suffer owing to the complex issues of racism, sexism, violence, high social expectations and pressures, poverty, cultural adjustment, lack of family support, and traumatic stress disorders related to refugee experiences" (281). Born in Calcutta in 1940, she married her fellow-student of the University of Iowa, Clarke Blaise and settled in Canada with citizenship. She found herself discriminate in the country. The fourteen years of her life in Canada were the toughest period in her life. Although it was challenging she was able to write her first two novels. Then she migrated to U.S.A. in 1980 and got citizenship in 1988. Her writing career began with The Tiger's Daughter in 1971. Within a short span, she published eight novels, collections of two short stories and some literary essays. The other seven novels are Wife(1975), Jasmine(1989), The Holder of the World(1993), Leave it to Me(1997), Desirable Daughters(2002), The Tree Bride(2004), Miss New India(2011). But her short story collection The Middleman and Other Stories(1988) brought fame and glory to the novelist. She was awarded the National Book Critics Award of America in the same year. Some of her other works of art included Days and Nights in Calcutta(1985), Darkness(1985), The Sorrow and the Terror(1987). Her novels present fascinating study of the problems of displaced persons in West as well as East. She

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