A Critique of Modernity and Modern Values: Comparing the British with Indians in 'Bye-Bye Blackbird'

Abstract

This paper intends to deal with Bye-Bye Blackbird by Anita Desai by presenting the critical gaze of diasporic Indians over modern British society and the ways these maladjusted Indians feel a sense of uneasiness and discomfort in an alien land dominated by modern values. Basing the theoretical framework on criticism of modernity, the study focuses on how Indian immigrants position the British and themselves in relation to modern values. Whereas they associate the British with privacy, isolation, coldness and lack of close and intimate social relations, a mechanical and standardised pattern of behaviours, they identify themselves with a set of social norms which incorporate warmth, affection and close relations along with spontaneity and non-mechanical acts. The central point of attention concerns the impression diasporic Indians have by observing attitudes of the British toward traffic, nature, social relations and technology and by comparing these attitudes with theirs.