1. 4
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E- ISSN- 2320-5474, Aug-Oct, 2013 ( Combind ) VOL –V * ISSUE – 55-57
Introduction:
Where Shall We Go This Summer? (1975) is
Anita Desai's creative endeavour to probe the ennui-
ridden psyche of an educated and urbanized woman,
feeling suffocated by her humdrum metropolitan life.
The novel is"an epitome ofan irresistibleyearning for
purposeful life" (Ram 74). Hypersensitive and intro-
vert, Sita is out of harmony with her husband. She
seeks an authentic life and so, she escapes to Manori
island,herdreamland,wheresheexpectslifetoofferits
best to her. However, after gaining maturity, she re-
establishes her contact with the society she had ab-
jured and realizes that life must be lived, facing all its
odds. This enlightenment enables her to surmount her
alienational angst and subsequently, she starts involv-
ing herself actively with life and learns to laugh in the
end. The novel, thus, suggests integration, disintegra-
tion and reintegration in human life.
Exposition:
Sita,amarriedwomanofforty,withfourchil-
dren and pregnant for the fifth time, suddenly encoun-
tersaterribleexistentialproblem,findingherlifefullof
incertitude and tedium.As such, she becomes reckless
and rebels against her family and in her desperation,
decides to leave her home. The very title of the novel
alludes to the "angst and ennui of her anguished soul"
(Prasad 64), and is indicative of an escape, not only
from the summer, but also from the inner tension and
disharmonyofherpsychological self.Sita isunwilling
to deliver her fifth baby into this world where the cre-
ative impulse has no chance against the overweening
destructive tendencies. She has started apprehending
childbirth as yet another act of murder in a violent
world. Her mental state signifies "the boredom and
loneliness experienced by married women when they
feel ignored and unwanted" (Ram 74). Tormented by
the sporadic violence in the modern life, Sita wants to
Research Paper -English
Aug- Oct , 2013
Integration,DisintegrationandReintegration
in Anita Desai's Where Shall We Go This Summer?
* Jyoti Sorout
* ResearchScholarinEnglish,KurukshetraUniversity,Kurukshetra (Haryana).
Where Shall We Go This Summer? suggests thematically the process of integration, disintegration and reintegration in
human life through the depiction of the aching void in the life of Sita, who faces the loneliness as a woman, a wife and
a mother. Nevertheless, she realizes soon that the escape from obligations of life, its responsibilities and routine is not the
way to face and to vanquish the challenges of life. Her perception clears and finally, she experiences the unification of
sensibility and unity of being.
A B S T R A C T
Key words: Ennui, angst, disharmony, loneliness, existential dilemma.
escape to Manori island. Put symbolically, "Sita seeks
to escape essentially from the cannibalism that is op-
erative, unseen and unobserved, in contemporary city
life"(Sharma95).
Sita'sdisinclinationto deliverthebabysymbolizesher
desire to prevent the very cycle of experience and
existence that makes suffering and violence possible.
In Manori, she thinks as if"she had come on a pilgrim-
age,tobegforthemiracleofkeepingherbabyunborn"
(31). However, her "pilgrimage" to the island "ends in
an utter fiasco because of her inability to evaluate her
pastwithdetachment"(Prasad 71). Disillusioned,she
asks, "Where was the magic of the island that she had
promised herself, promised the children. Was this it?"
(31).
In fact, Sita's abnormal attitude towards her family,
society and life is the result of her unusual childhood
as a motherless, neglected girl. "Without an affection-
ate, understanding mother to look after her, she has
been a victim of emotional deprivation in her child-
hood"(Pathania41).Itleavesadeepscaronherpsyche
and a seed of insecurity is sown in Sita's life. Usha
Banderightlycomments:"Thisexperiencebreedsfeel-
ing of worthlessness and its consequent strategy is
rebelliousness. Sita cannot corroborate her father's
dubious ways. It seeps down her psyche as a bad
humanexperience"(107).
Lackofcongenialdomesticenvironmentaftermarriage
worsens Sita's condition. She comes to be afflicted
with a sense of void in her life, resulting in her loss of
identity and self-confidence. Her nostalgic return to
her childhood days implies her aversion to the very
notion of growing up and accepting the responsibili-
ties of the adult life. Actually, the island is "an evoca-
tive symbol of a lost paradise of Sita" (Naik 242), but
paradoxically,a retreatto theisland withits promiseto
renewalandregenerationimpliesatthesametimealien-

2. 5SHODH, SAMIKSHA AUR MULYANKAN
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0974-2832, (Print), E- ISSN- 2320-5474, Aug-Oct, 2013 ( Combind ) VOL –V * ISSUE – 55-57
ation whether it is personal as it was in the case of her
father or social as it is in her own case. Ironically, none
ofSita'sexcitementsissharedbyherchildrenincoming
totheisland.Theyviewthewholetripasakindofexile,
which their mother has led them into and therefore,
they write to their father to come and fetch them to
Bombay.
Sita's attempt to overcome her existential
despair stemming from her alienation from her family
proves inanewhen Raman,her husband,comesto take
thefamilybacktothecitylife.Enigmatically,whenthe
news of the likely visit of Raman reaches her, she her-
self experiences a "warm expression of relief, of plea-
sure, of surprise" (128) and demurely admits that she
lacks her husband's "greater capacity for accommoda-
tion." (128)ItisherethatSitagetsoutofherexistential
dilemma. She realizes that "in essence there can be no
runningawayfromreality"(Jain28).Shebeginstofeel
that gap of communication between her and Raman is,
afterall,not unbridgeable. Her decisionto accompany
her family to the city signifies that her sojourn to the
island has graduated her into acquiring a mature sen-
sibility. Things now fall into a proper perspective and
she finds an answer to her problem. Therefore, she
walks after her husband following his footsteps on the
sands of Manori.
Conclusion:
Herdecisionshowsherpositivegrowth.Usha
Pathaniarightlysays,"Sitahasresolvedherexistential
dilemma, has made choice and has thus saved herself,
Ramanandherchildrenfromdisintegrationandchaos"
(45).Theabilityto "connect"(Forster188)enablesher
to realize her place in the larger scheme of life. She
apprehends the reality that life is not meant to be
shunned, but to be experienced in all its vicissitude.
1 Bande, Usha. The Novels of Anita Desai: A Study in Character and Conflict. New Delhi: Prestige, 1988. Print.
2 Desai, Anita. Where Shall We Go This Summer? Delhi: Orient Paperback, 1999. Print.
3 Forster, E.M. Howard's End. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976. Print.
4 Jain, Jasbir. Stairs to the Attic: The Novels of Anita Desai. Jaipur: Printwell, 1987. Print.
5 Naik, M.K. A History of Indian English Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1982. Print.
6 Pathania, Usha. The Fiction of Anita Desai and Kamala Markandaya. Delhi: Kanishka, 1992. Print
7 Prasad, Madhusudan. Anita Desai: The Novelist. Allahabad: New Horizon, 1981. Print.
8 Ram, Atma. "A view of Where Shall We Go This Summer?" Journal of Indian writing in English, Vol. 9: 74-80. Print.
9 Sharma, R.S. Anita Desai. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1981. Print.
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