StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
From this paper, it is clear that after reading the novel, one feels that the journey of Eric is not pilgrimage or tour, but a quest in search of his lost identity or roots in Mexican soil. The Zig Zag Way revolves around the travels of its central character, a young American named Eric…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.4% of users find it useful
The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai"

The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 31 May 2009 Search of identity in Anita Desai’s ‘The Zig-Zag Way’ Eric, the main character of the novel has portrayed as one searching for his lost identity or roots, confronts with a critical juncture and becomes passive. One sees Eric traveling abroad to Mexico and painfully realizes his incapability in protesting against the hard realities, which rooted out his familial relations. When Eric goes to Mexico in order to discover the history of his Cornish grandfather, a former miner of Sierra Madre, one sees him enchanted in the magic spell of Dona Vera, a hacienda baroness. The luxurious and magnanimous life of Dona Vera makes Eric suspicious, and he could find some connections between his stories, his grand parents and Dona Vera, that is, the relationship between the living and the dead. When Eric starts to Mexico with his girl friend his father reminds him that he was actually born in that country. Eric finds some relations between the silver mines and his past. It is a novel that attracted the attention of readers to its theme and treatment; and the same confounded critics from naming Desai as the post colonial writer. An overview of Desai’s novels will reveal the different techniques of her narration, keen observation of surroundings and its exuberant presentations. It is common knowledge that the novels of Desai are technically perfect and thematically rich. When one attempts reading of the novel, The Zig Zag Way in this light, one can perceive that this novel accomplishes most of these propositions. Critics and reviewers of the novel attribute it much imaginative coloring, and they perceive seven different reasons for travel: pilgrimage, quest, tourism, research, refuge/escape, employment or immigration. After reading the novel, one feels that the journey of Eric is not pilgrimage or tour, but a quest in search of his lost identity or roots in Mexican soil. The Zig Zag Way revolves around the travels of its central character, a young American named Eric. The other two prominent characters appear in the novel are the enigmatic Dona Vera, and the long dead Cornish miner’s wife, Betty Jennings. As the background of the novel has set in Mexico, readers are capable of getting a clear picture of the 20th century Mexico. The novel often brings the readers back to U.S. and England though its background is set in Mexico. From the descriptions of the novelist, one understands lost relations of Eric who is at present a native of Mexico. As he was a descendent of an American Cornish origin, Eric decides to seek for his identity. An analysis of Desai’s novels reveals to readers of the subject of solitude which she uses commonly. Majority of her characters are outsiders who lost their family ties and are destined to live in a foreign country. They are in their heartfelt attempt to recover from their present state of affairs. Critics regard it as Desai’s dual heritage as half Bengali and half German. It is the same identity crisis which readers feel with Eric, when he travels to Mexico. Desai’s characters often show the tendency of escapism, especially from the trials and tribulations of everyday life. One can also look upon Eric’s journey as an escape from his failure attempt, regarding his studies and unsuccessful endeavor in writing a novel. However he reaches premature domestic bliss his girlfriend, Em. Eric’s quest begins when Em offers him a vacation. His quest for the fulfillment of the identity or roots begins in Sierra Madre, where he inquires to find out more about his grandfather who was a Cornish miner. His grandfather was migrated to Mexico in order to work in the mines, before the Mexican revolution. The peculiarity of Mexico attracts the attention of Eric and he is bewitched with the heat, the strangeness and color of the country. It was one among the motivating factor that seduces Eric to persist his expedition. In her novel The Zigzag way Anita Desai enlightens that country, outlook, history, and tangled lives of three persons. The reader starts his/her journey with the male character Eric, an American educator. The author expresses the major theme through the meeting between Eric and his girlfriend and their journey to Mexico. The quest for searching self-identity reveals Eric’s enquires about his Cornish grandfather who worked in the mines. His searching takes him to reach the house of an eccentric person named Dona Vera. By marrying a Mexican man, she has developed a relation with the mines of Mexico. Anita Desai finds the title through the zigzag movement of workers in mines with heavy. In the web article entitled The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai, Houghton Mifflin gives considerable justifications for the theme of the novel The Zigzag Way. Mifflin remarks, “Learning that porters carried heavy bags up thousands of stairs in a zigzag direction to take advantage of air currents that helped them breathe, Eric ruminates on his own zigzag journey, his effort to enter the past.”(Houghton, 2006).The entire novel shows the zigzag journey of its hero Eric, who travels through his experience by searching his past. The entire novel divides into three sections and in the second part Eric’s searching is concentrating on the mysterious life of Dona Vera Rose. Here the hero Eric became abandoning and shocked by understanding the story of Dona. The third and final section the novel again moves back to past. Here the author reveals the mystery of the death of Eric’s grandfather. The novel ends with an encounter between a ghost from the past; and in this feedback section, Eric look back his own way. His quest for knowing his roots ends with a deep analysis of his past, present and future. Like other novels, Desai expresses her unique crafts through the presentation of human nature and psychology. When reaching the conclusion, one can infer that the quest undertaken by Eric in search of his roots was successful in one phase and failure in the other, especially when regarding the severe mental pain he suffers after the exploration. Eric wins in his attempts to find out his roots which began from his grand father. His keen desire to get revealed of Dona Vera’s character startles him with the realization that Dona attained all her present prosperity and richness by engaging in adultery. The present realization puzzles him, so that he feels it difficult to make up his mind to join with the situation. The great secret revealed to Eric after his quest is the murder of his father that obliterate him too much. Thus, one can see that when Eric wins in his quest, he also reaches in a self revelation of his present status of affairs and it makes him aware of the future. Though Eric’s quest is a success, there is something that remains in mystery to Eric and the readers. Works cited: Mifflin Houghton. The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai. 2006. Pacific Rim Voices. 31 May 2009. http://www.waterbridgereview.org/012005/rvw_zigzag_way.php Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1555412-the-zig-zag-way-by-anita-desai
(The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1555412-the-zig-zag-way-by-anita-desai.
“The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1555412-the-zig-zag-way-by-anita-desai.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Zig Zag Way by Anita Desai

The Rooftop Dwellers by Anita Desai

In her story "The Rooftop Dwellers," anita desai depicts the stratified social structure of Delhi through her protagonist Moyna, a woman struggling to emerge as a self-reliant professional.... In her story "The Rooftop Dwellers," anita desai depicts the stratified social structure of Delhi through her protagonist Moyna, a woman struggling to emerge as a self-reliant professional.... desai establishes Moyna as a strong feminist character through a number of literary devices, including such techniques as foil characters, symbolism, and metaphor....
3 Pages (750 words) Book Report/Review

The Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Hearings

hellip; The specific aspects of this legal definition to which anita Hill alleged that Clarence Thomas was in violation of was "repeated unpleasant, degrading sexual remarks," which were directed towards her while she was in his employ.... anita Hill articulated that her primary intent for coming forward was to expose Clarence Thomas as a contradiction and a sexist, whose character, based on her personal dealing with him, did not warrant him to sit in judgment of pertinent and crucial issues which would ultimately impact the lives of every American....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

The Body Shop Saga by Anita Roddick

The paper “The Body Shop Saga by anita Roddick” will look at promotion by Roddick the idea of a business with “soul,” that is, making profits with principles intact.... The first Body Shop, painted an appropriate green, opened in 1976.... nbsp;… The author states that the “business with principles” marketing strategy obviously worked....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Autobiography Anita and me

anita & Me tells the story of a nine year old girl who is discovering her life as she grows into an adolescent in a world completely new and alien to her.... She lives with her parents in a small mining town called Tollington, in the Black Country of England in the 1970s.... The… Meenas struggle of her confusing identity is well brought out when she says "I knew I was a freak of some kind, too mouthy, clumsy and scabby to be a real Indian girl, too 150)....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Youth Justice in Australia

80%2) “G” (zig zag) 75%3) “B” (The Smith Family) 70% Grading RationaleI was very impressed with “I” (Gold Coast) because it not only provided theoretical arguments for the success of its' programs, but also statistical proof such as lower offending rates for criminals graduating from the program compared with those who did not .... I gave “G” (zig zag) a high grade largely because of the initiative of the writer in visiting the site and interviewing the staff as well as reviewing the relevant literature, in order to get a first hand impression of its' service....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Film Reaction EthicsWag the Dog

Conrad Brean (DeNiro), a spin doctor, tries to divert the attention of the media from the sex scandal by making up a war story with… He also diverts the media attention to tales of Albania nuclear device placed in Canada close to the US.... Conrad Brean (DeNiro) diverts the attention of the media through creation of fictions about war stories....
1 Pages (250 words) Movie Review

Business Entrepreneur: Anita Roddick, the Founder of the Body Shop

This paper outlines leadership as the main feature of business and the example of anita Roddick who has firm beliefs and principles, coupled with a strong personality has served as the impetus for the company's success.... This paper describes Business Entrepreneur and the importance of leadership....
13 Pages (3250 words) Research Paper

Shirley Anita Chisholms Achievements

This research begins with the statement that Shirley anita Chisholm is credited for being the first African—American Congresswoman who represented a newly reallocated U.... .... House district located in Brooklyn, Network.... She was elected in 1968 due to her ancestry in Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us