DISSOLVING BOUNDARIES : THE IMMIGRANT WOMAN IN CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI’S FICTION

An outstanding author of Indo-American ancestry, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni expertly weaves her stories around the issues of diaspora, identity crisis, culture, and the struggles of women in a patriarchal society. Because she is an Indian author who came to a foreign nation, she has a distinctive viewpoint on the daily struggle encountered by immigrants to fit into the new culture without abandoning their own traditions and cultures. It becomes increasingly difficult for her immigrant women characters to fight patriarchal beliefs at home and racial discrimination outside. Banerjee's heroines travel from ignorance to experience, realise who they truly are, and shed the outer layers of expected performance and identity to lead more independently and blissfully in a convoluted, drawn-out tale. Her best-known books, including “The Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, The Vine of Desire, and Queen of Dreams, The Palace of Illusions”, focus on women who are continually negotiating for a new place in a foreign country while maintaining their traditional roots in their home country. This essay analyses how these women characters navigate the many obstacles they must overcome by carefully adapting into the new culture and building new identities for themselves.