PANDEMIC AND THE LITERARY CONVALESCENCE: A STUDY OF BRICK LANE BY MONICA ALI

Abstract

Where sickness looms and where sickness breeds, the virus of the powerful plays upon those in penury. The sordid side of all pandemics is that while the weak and ailing are struggling to survive and the hegemons are making profit. Such catastrophe lays bare the ground for introspection and gives birth to an awakened community.  Apart from the sick and the poor, pandemic has victimized women as well. Women have been in a lockdown like situation under patriarchal and the cultural politics. Long before pandemic confined them to their homes, women have been living in isolation amidst the suffocating walls of their houses. This is a testimony to the resilience of women suffering stoically in isolation. Woman’s body ailing due to the patriarchal oppression, are the best site for play of man’s power politics. Sick patriarchy brings in the politics of culture and tradition to achieve its hidden motives. A community of awakened literati emerges after a period of resilience that tries to introspect the reasons behind the suffering of women. Their ardent quest compels them to revisit literary works from a feminist angle and unravel the tools used by patriarchy to justify their subjugation.  The pervasive nature of gender bias becomes obvious as we go through the pages of literature.  The paper discusses the novel Brick Lane by Monika Ali to reveal a community of women who are the sufferer.