International Journal of Advances in Interdisciplinary Research Vol. 2
Issue 10
Pages: 13-14
Original Research Article
ISSN 2348 0696
Akilandeswari, 2015
Open Access
INTERNAL CONFLICTS IN ARUN JOSHI’S THE FOREIGNER
Akilandeswari K
Department of English, Sri Ganesh College of Arts and Science, Salem -14, Tamilnadu, India.
Abstract
External conflicts in the world may be projected through various mode like history and
media but the internal conflicts can be projected efficiently only through literature. The
psychological novelists illustrate the conflicts within and without human mind. Arun Joshi‟s
protagonists have internal conflicts and their life seems to be the labyrinth and they are stranger to
the society. They survive without any ambitions and generally undergo the economical suffering,
the social stress, the dissolutions of the old values, and internal psyche issues. As a consequence
the protagonist has cynical attitudes towards the society and their personal life. The alienations in
the novels of Arun Joshi have the clash and conflict between the socio-cultural and psychological
pressures. The conflicts arise because of the social maladjustment and emotional insecurity.
Conflicts, Internal Sufferings, Isolation, Stress, Psychology, Cynical Attitude and Emotional
Insecurity.
Keywords
External conflicts in the world may be
projected through various mode like history and
a precarious life and as a result antagonism is growing
between man and technology.
media but the internal conflicts can be projected
Sindi was born in Africa to an Indian father and
efficiently only through literature. The psychological
an English mother, brought up by his Indian uncle, get
novelists illustrate the conflicts within human mind.
his education in England and America, yet he senses
Arun Joshi‟s protagonists have internal conflicts and
always a nowhere man and he states, “My foreignness
their life seems to be the labyrinth and they are
lay within me and I wouldn‟t leave myself behind
stranger to the society.
They survive without any
wherever I went…” (TF 35). Psychologically, Sigmund
ambitions and generally undergo the economical
Freud has scrutinized and written about the „Self‟. The
suffering, the social stress, the dissolutions of the old
self incorporates Id, Ego and Superego, visible in the
values, and internal psyche issues. As a consequence
form of Consciousness, Sub consciousness and the
the protagonist has cynical attitudes towards the
Unconsciousness. The psychological state of mind
society and his personal life. The alienations in the
concerned with the internal and external conflict with
novels of Arun Joshi have the clash and conflict
the environment in which people can grow. The
between
estrangement or alienation takes place due to
the
socio-cultural
and
psychological
pressures. The conflicts arise because of the social
characters internal conflicts and frustration.
maladjustment and emotional insecurity.
In Indian- English literature The Foreigner has
In The Foreigner, Arun Joshi very delicately
been hailed as one of the most undeniable existential
handled some thought- provoking, crucial issues like
works which illustrates the mental sufferings of the
rootlessnes, aloofness, aggravation, expedition for a
man. In this novel, Sindi Oberoi, the protagonist‟s
better alternative and identity-crisis highlighting the
journey into the dark, baffling and uncharted vicinity
magnificent cultural heritage and perpetual moral
of the soul explicates some perennial problems of
values. “The Foreigner is the study of Sindi Oberoi‟s
human existence. Sharma rightly points out:
character which is not a study of individual but it is a
The novel is an enactment of the crisis of the
representation of the suffering of whole modern
present in the story of Sindi Oberoi. He is a
mankind” (Mangalatomar 309). His reputation has
perennial outsider, an uprooted young man
been progressively rising since the publication of his
first
novel
The
Foreigner.
The
living in the latter half of the twentieth
technological
century who belongs to no country, no
innovations play a vital role in the society, it leads to
people and finds himself an outsider in
a
*Address Correspondence at Head & Assistant
Professor, Department of English, Sri Ganesh College
of Arts and Sciences, Kamaraj Nagar, Ammapet,
Salem-14, Mobile No: 8124060084
Mail id: [email protected]
Sai Yaashitha Research Publications
Kenya, Uganda, England, America and India.
His rootlessnes is rooted within his soul like
an ancient curse and drives him from crisis to
crisis. (10)
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Int J Adv Interdis Res.
International Journal of Advances in Interdisciplinary Research Vol. 2
The lacking of the parental love and
affection from his very childhood molds him broken
and anchorless. He is a born foreigner and is an alien
everywhere physically as well as metaphorically. Sindi
does not know anything about his birth, parentage,
society. Sindi‟s state of mind is impulsive since he is a
Pages: 13-14
ISSN 2348 0696
Akilandeswari, 2015
Works Cited
Joshi, Arun. The Foreigner. Noida: Orioent Paperback,
2010. Print.
Mangalatomar.
“Alienation
In
Arun
Joshi‟s The
Research Journal of English
Language and Literature. 2.1 (2014). 309. Print.
Foreigner.”
and relatives hence he becomes psychologically
abnormal personality and isolated himself from the
Issue 10
Sharma, Siddhartha . Arun Joshi's Novels: A Critical
Study. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Dist,
cynical. He feels that he is alienated from the society
2004. Print.
wherever he goes thus he continuously drifting from
one place to another in order to find the peace of
Thakur, Kajal. ed., Man-Woman Bonding In Socio-
mind nevertheless he is destined to failure. As
Cultural Indian Concept. Maharastra: Laxmi
Madhusudan
Book Publications, 2014. Print.
Prasad
aptly
remarks,
“They
are
singularized by certain existentialist problems and the
resultant anger, agony, psychic quest and the like”
(qtd. in Thakur 13).
In The Foreigner, the protagonist endures
from a sense of anguish at the futility of human
existence. He confronts the darkness of the soul
which has been provided by industrialization and
mechanization of the modern life. The novel flashes
light on the crisis modern youth like Sindi Oberoi
who is a persistent stranger, an uprooted young man
and foreigner. Modern youth‟s are crushed between
western and Indian culture and this perplex state is
root cause for their internal sufferings.
Citation: Akilandeswari K (2015), Internal Conflicts in Arun Joshi‟s the Foreigner, Int J Adv Interdis Res, 2(10): 13-14.
Received: September 16, 2015|Revised: October 13, 2015 |Accepted: October 14, 2015|Published: October 18, 2015
License: Akilandeswari K (2015) This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original author and source are credited.
Sai Yaashitha Research Publications
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Int J Adv Interdis Res.