THE PARADOXES OF VOICING AND SILENCING: RE-READING MITRA PHUKAN’S THE COLLECTOR’S WIFE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CROSSING CLAUSTROPHOBIC BOUNDARIES, CONFINEMENT AND CONTROL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/gkfvxd61Keywords:
Silence, Voice, Control, Confinement, Claustrophobic, BoundariesAbstract
North-east has faced political tensions prevalent in various parts of the enclosed marginalized land. The characters in The Collector’s Wife feel entrapped and a recurrent plot device of confinement (both physical and psychological) is interwoven through the protagonist, Rukmini’s life. In Northeast, expression of ‘voicing’ and ‘silencing’ has undergone major paradoxical positioning because of the politics of language and situation. This paper shall reflect on how Phukan tries to portray Parbatpuri as a place of entrapment, and how the characters are silenced under various circumstances. Even when they try to voice out their problems, they are controlled and confined under the political situation. From the confined and claustrophobic spaces, how the characters try to voice themselves and try to cross the social, political boundaries of society, shall be studied in this paper.
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