Diasporic Consciousness in Bharati Mukherjee’s Wife

Abstract

This research paper explores diasporic consciousness through Bharati Mukherjee’s novel Wife, which follows Dimple Dasgupta, a young Indian woman navigating the complex realities of immigration in the United States. It discusses how migration heightens issues of identity crisis, cultural displacement, alienation, and gendered oppression. The novel depicts the emotional and cultural confusions faced by immigrants, balancing inherited traditions with assimilation pressures in a foreign land. The analysis shows Mukherjee’s portrayal of diasporic consciousness as a fragmented state characterized by alienation, identity struggles, and cultural disturbance. Dimple’s attempt to reconcile her expectations of marriage, self-identity, and freedom with patriarchal constraints and racial marginalization reveals gendered aspects of the diaspora.