Anita Desai is one of the astounding Indian novelists, short story writers, and entertainers that revolutionized the perception the world had on the Indian life and culture through the early 1900s. Like in most of her works, "Royalty" is a study of the Indian life focusing on the struggles of middle-class Indian women in contemporary India as they rise above the societal limitations imposed by the patriarchal culture. It is incredible to note how Anita Desai's work characterized a new literary tradition of Indian writing in English, which can be said to be stylistically different and comes across as being less conservative than the typical colonial Indian literature and concerns such issues as hybridity, and shifting identity, both of which will be explored extensively in this paper (Tandon, 2008). "Royalty" is set amidst changes in the country that serve to validate the importance of familial bonds and explores the tension that exists between the various generations.
‘ Royalty" is about the self-idolized character Raja who tells in great depth about his trip by a train while being driven from the station to Rave and Sarla's home in New Delhi (Gopal, 1995). After rejecting what he terms a poorly made omelet offered to him by the ragged and sooty host, he is represented with an overflowing basket of fruits, by a stranger who is certain that Raja is the rebirthed version of his grandfather. Desai uses this wonderful anecdote to bring to light the complexities of an expatriate individual living off his friends from his school days. These friends are cowed to a great extent by his public presence. The comedy part of the book comes from different cultural habits, and from the different values natives. The bitter truth is that Raja disrupts his host's social life by delaying their summer retreat to the Himalayas. It is not until the family cook leaves in a rebellious manner, forcing Sarla to produce her inadequate meal that Raja is finally forced to move out and onto greener pastures.
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Anita Desai is known for her outstanding styles of writing that depicts modern literature. One of these styles that she builds on extensively in Royalty is symbolism. This short story evokes characters, events, and moods with recourse to the sufficient use of visual imagery and details which compares to a large extent with the modern sensibilities of such modernist writers as William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf (Zahan & Aneja, 2017). The origin of this short story is rooted in images. There are so many images which remain in the mind of the reader that tend to be often forgotten. These pass through the character's life as they vanish. But important to note is that not all of these images are forgotten. There are individual images, certain characters and certain words that the reader does not lose easily. This is because these aspects stay with the reader, and as they eventually come together, the reader begins to see what the connection is between them. This is the one aspect of modern literature that Desai significantly embraces. When one starts to read about Raja, they might easily regard the character as an arrogant snob visitor that thrives at the expense if the comfort of his hosts (Sharma, 1991). Thus, the immobility and frustration of Raja as the central character. Raja visits a family that is about to take a vacation of the city and does not appear to be in a hurry to end his visit. At this point, one might wonder what the theme is in the book because all through is the encounter of Raja as he moves from one host to another making his presence greatly felt.
Important to note about this work is that any noble characters do not populate it. Raja, the protagonist in the short story, is just an ordinary academic; a poet. In Sarla's eyes, he may be the one who opened their eyes and made them see the Lodi gardens in a way they never saw it themselves. He may have portrayed this place as a place of magic, enchantment, of pleasure so immense and costly that it could never be exhausted. But compared to the typical legendary or heroic pieces of literature, Raja is an ordinary person typically doing or describing nature in any way a poet would do. Literary speaking, Desai's protagonist is marked by a specific positivity and has been criticized as being swept away by social and historical forces rather than being able to face and control them (Mishra & Phil, 2014). The author claims that the characters who appear like losers, or victims show kind of heroism through their survival. It is also correct to point out that in this regard, coming through an experience of life with one's heart and mind intact, without compromising oneself, then that is a heroic act that needs to be celebrated. Another critical aspect to note is that despite the heroic nuances of these survivals, more particularly Raja's encounters visiting friends and colleagues, they are often met with tragic endings. This kind of writing is atypical of the early forms of writing that had existed before the modernism age in which most plots revolved around extraordinary characters (heroes or villains) whose lives and encounters were marked with extraordinary acts that were either disastrous or beneficial for a large community of people. Desai focuses on individual actions of her characters and how these characters, in the end, meet their tragic ends, and even if these ends were to be victorious, they would only benefit or be felt by the individuals themselves.
As earlier mentioned, this work, like the most works of modern literature, builds a great deal on sensibility and realism when it comes to describing plots and acts. Rather than relying on symbolism for the reader to understand the plot and interpret the scenes for themselves, Desai builds on vivid descriptions to portray the moods and thoughts of her characters. She depicts the reaction of Ravi as a great shiver running through the house like a wind blowing that was not a wind so much as a stream of shining light. It is correct to point out that female authors during the modernism era were more sensual and portrayed a lot of emotions by building on vivid imageries as much as they could (Bharat, 2015). This might as well have been one of the most notable differences between modernity and realism as far as literature was concerned. While realism builds on symbolism to communicate ideas and emotions characters must have felt; modernism emphasized on imageries mostly displayed through the thirds person to introduce the reader into the world of facts and opinions they would otherwise not have known.
In conclusion, it is essential to point out that as one of the leading female writers of modern literature in India, Anita Desai does a great job in following in the footsteps of her colleagues the likes of Virginia Woolf in talking about the issues facing the current society. She does so by building on stories typical to the daily life in the community rather than in heroic plots and themes that would appear superficial. Her simple style of writing also follows through this writing technique by combining symbolism and imagery, ensuring that the reader has enough room to make their judgments, but in doing so are not limited to information or left in vague suspense of information.
References
Bharat, V. (2015). Cultural Allotropy: A Study Through Some Indian English Novels . Partridge Publishing.
Gopal, N. R. (1995). A Critical Study of the Novels of Anita Desai . Atlantic Publishers & Dist.
Mishra, R. K., & Phil, M. D. (2014). Othering syndrome at work: Anita Desai in custody. International Journal of English and Literature , 5 (5), 101-105.
Sharma, K. (1991). Symbolism in Anita Desai's novels . Abhinav Publications.
Tandon, N. (2008). Anita Desai and Her Fictional World . Atlantic Publishers & Dist.
Zahan, S. S., & Aneja, A. (2017). Unit-3 Re-Covering the Body . IGNOU.
