Politics of Transgression in the Novels of Arundhati Roy

Politics and literature can be seen as complementary to each other. The political conditions shape an author and the literature of the time, and influential literature is able to bring about political changes with its affective power. The aim of literature has been considered differently at different times, but no one can deny its effect on social and political thinking and the mind's working. Starting from Addison, Steel, Swift, Pope, Tennyson, Dickens, Ibsen, Brecht, and George Orwell in English Literature to Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghose, Mulk Raj Anand, Khushwant Singh, Bapsi Sidhwa, Shashi Tharoor, and Salman Rushdie in Indian English Literature, almost all have acknowledged the political potential of a work of art and negotiated it very aptly. Arundhati Roy is one of the activist writers of the present time who writes with a strong political accent. As a matter of fact, she has written only two novels, and others of her writings belong to the critical essay genre on various social-political topics. However, her fiction is no less political in its address. She has underlined multiple forms of injustice imposed upon the powerless section of society. She never misses her mark in pointing out the political aid gained by the powerful to justify their authority. Her novels vividly portray subordination and depict the transgression strategy adopted by the powerless to answer back. Her novels are the novels of dissent. The present paper aims to provide an analysis of transgression politics as exercised by the subaltern. It will also try to assess the strength of transgression in addressing prejudice and discrimination prevalent in society and seeking social justice for marginalised people.