Cry, The Peacock
Publisher- Orient Paperbacks.
Price: Rs. 50
ISBN: 81-222-0085-0
Author: Anita Desai
Pages: 218
Part- 3
Edition: Hardcover
Volumes: 9
Published: 9thprinting-2001
As a novelist, Anita Desai began
her career with Cry, The Peacock (1963) which carved a niche
to be the first psychological novel in English Literature winning Sahitya
Akademi Award. Cry, The Peacock is mainly concerned with
the theme of occurrence of displacement after marriage – a major cause of
disharmony between husband and wife relationship. Desai looks in to the reasons
for displacement after marriage and illustrates how such two extremes, two
incompatibles get married and how their union leaves an agonizing effect
on family. Part one of the novel begins with Maya’s
psychological tension with death of her pet dog Toto – bad sign of her
fortune. The background of Novel is set in Delhi and Luck now. Delhi is
the place where Maya lives after marriage. There is cultural diversity in Delhi
sharing its borders with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana. Desai
presents different temperament of husband and wife to be responsive to the behavior
patterns which cause severe problem of loneliness and
alienation leading to agonized end- death. Desai uses imagery, symbol
simile, metaphor, alliteration, allegory, anastrophe, antagonist, aphorism,
irony, periphrasis, oxymoron, unity and other figure of speeches to reflect the
effect of poetry. Sunday Telegraph ,U.K. says- a poetry novel . Has a
great sense of place.
The novel is a story of young, hyper sensitive,
motherless, lovelorn, Maya (who spends her maiden days under extreme love and
care of her father) and her husband Gautama- friend of his father. Cry,
the Peacock is in fact, the’ cry’ of Maya for her husband’s love -
physical, mental and emotional. Maya compares her agony with peacock justifying
the ‘title’ of the novel. Cry for ‘mating’ of the peacocks in the wild
signifies desperate desire to give and get ‘love’ even on account of death. Maya is nature, art and literature lover -poetic and energetic while
Gautama is - an advocate by profession , realistic, insensitive, rational, detached and philosophical who is never able to realize the
emotional and sensitive world of Maya. Maya bored with Gautama’s official work
and monotonous life in Delhi gets frustrated, depressed and hysterical. It is a
cultural shock for her to be physical alone; alienated even after marriage and
as a result she becomes nostalgic. Gautama never understands and appreciates
her wife’s wishes, fear, hopes and expectation. Hence, Maya feels lost in her
thoughtful world- rejected, dejected and deserted -trying to find what the
meaning of human life is? She co-relates her problems with nature,
pets, arts, literature, astrology, plants, animals and people around her to
find solution of displacement after marriage.
Maya has the mind frame of certain death in her fourth
year of marriage as per the prophecy of priest astrologer –Albino. Thus,
alienated from all side, Maya is frightened and suffering from loss of
identity, existentialism nostalgia, rootlessness. As a result, she becomes
severe patient of Megalomania, Schizophrenia, Hallucination and other psychic
disorders. Gradually, the matrimonial thread gets weak and breakable-Maya has
no hope; no possibility to save her married life. Maya experiences herself like
a leaf flying in the storm without knowing where to find rest and solace.In
this severe climax of agony, Maya kills her husband and commits suicide.
Name of the novel and characters are
symbolic. Peacock cries out sensing a danger or threat to communicate each
other for joy, calling out for a mate's attention to inform the danger with
vivacious sounds. Mating of the peacocks in the wild signifies desire with
death. Intellectual detached ‘Gautama’ is related to Gautama Buddha
whereas meaning of Sanskrit word ‘Maya’ is strong desire for
worldly pleasure - an illusion whose controller is Lord Krishna. Those who
surrender to Krishna are able to surmount illusory energy.
Work
Cited
Desai,Anita. Cry, The Peacock. Delhi,Orientpaperbacks,2001.Print
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