A Critical Analysis of Anita Desai's Where Shall We Go This Summer

Women's writing continues to occupy a place of importance for more reasons than one. It projects the responses of more than half of humanity and reflects a consciousness constructed by gender. Women's writing has questioned the existing viewpoints which are essentially patriarchal. All women's writing need not necessarily be feminist. But feminist interpretations can emerge through absence and negation. The sufferings of Indian women, marital disharmony, existentialism, anger, dual tradition are the major themes of feminist writing. Female quest for identity has been a pet theme for many a woman novelist. Marital discord recurs as the theme of the novels of Anita Desai. Her novels, with a touch of feminist concern, portray the failed marriage relationship which often eads to alienation and loneliness of the characters. Her novels, like, Cry the Peacock, Where Shall We Go This Summer,Voices in the City,and Bye-Bye Blackbird also deal with the theme of marital disharmony.