“Transgender Marginalization and Exclusion”: A Study of Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Abstract

Transgender, third gender, (Hijras) are considered as neither man nor woman and are being subjected to social exclusion and alienation from time to time. These people are shunned by both family and society equally, and face severe identity crisis as they could not define themselves in the conventional male and female boundaries. In every society, they are marginalized and forced to live a life of an “other.” Their education as well as public space is restricted or they themselves choose to live a life of seclusion due to certain limitations. The author will analyse some major Transgender, third gender, (Hijra) characters in the novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and try to locate their alienation within gender specific literary discourse. As we read the novel, we find that these characters are mostly torn between two worlds- male- female, love-hate life-death and so on. They sometimes seek to avoid desire altogether. As language and desire are complementary, their attempts to remake themselves through ‘naming’ and ‘re-naming’ turns out as a heroic but unsuccessful exercise. Such characters either endure the pain of social stratification or try to locate their identity in the complex social, and gender taxonomy, cultured by dominant class from various prevalent and divisive socio- religious discourses. There is a complex history behind the segregation of this under class group, ranging from religious doctrines to the social mythical narratives. Since, it is not possible to cover the whole spectrum of their suppression from Adam’s creation to the present time in this research paper, the author will only give a brief account of the plight of Hijra community in India as portrayed in the novel, keeping in mind the key texts related to gender studies in order to explore the problems they face in day-to-day life.