Predicament of Anjum in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Abstract

Recent developments in gender studies and feminism have deconstructed the notion of gender and sexuality as innate, fixed, and stable categories. It has also questioned the binary division of sexes and the association of masculinity with male and femininity with female beings. With this development in the background, queer theory revisits the concepts of gender identity, gender expressions, and gender performance. It focuses on the constructed nature of these concepts and advocates recognition beyond established social and medical norms. For the first time in Indian English novels, we have an intersex person as the protagonist of the work, The Ministry of Umost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. As a marginalized person, Anjum faces various challenges. The novel depicts her journey from Aftab to Anjum and the crisis she faces in her perception of gender and the gender role she is expected to perform. In this journey, she faces the dual war: the conflict within her and the conflict with social norms and the structure of society. She exerts her agency and embraces transsexuality at the cost of family ties and social acceptance. Her suffering does not end there. She remains an outcast and alienated from society. The novel has also shed light on the mentality of parents when they find their child to be different and deviant. The present paper delves into the character of the intersex in the light of queer theory, and it tries to explore and subvert the gender dynamic that suppresses and victimizes the marginalized.