Volume I Special Issue I September 2021

Name of Author : Mrs. Bipasha Majumder (De)

Title of the paper : Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: A Zoocritical Exploration

Abstract: Zoocriticism emerged in the present century as a new critical discourse within ecocriticism to challenge all kinds of violence done to animals and pain inflicted on them. In fact, a profound concern for all savage practices towards animals gives rise to this new field of criticism. Arundhati Roy, a distinguished figure in the contemporary Indian English fiction, may be said to be seriously concerned with ruthless destruction of animal community with the explosion of human population and her second novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, published in 2017, is one of a few works depicting the tragic plight of animal community with astonishing vividness. My endeavour in this paper is to explore the aforementioned novel from the perspective of zoocriticism in order to show how the ecocentric values of collective ethical responsibility and the claims of the animal community beyond ourselves receive a beautiful expression in this novel.

Keywords : Anthropocentrism, Biocentrism, Ecocriticism, Wilderness, Zoocriticism

DOI :

Page Number : 52-56