Resisting Familial and Social Constraints: A Look at Annalukshmi in Shyam Selvadurai’s Cinnamon Gardens

Adison F. Seaver
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor

Born into a powerful upper class and influential Tamil Christian family living in Cinnamon Gardens, a wealthy suburb of Colombo, well-educated twenty-two-year-old Annalukshmi Kandiah is ambitious and independent. In resisting cultural pressure and her family’s expectations to conform to the societal push for marriage, Annalukshmi is seen as rejecting her “duty” to family, class, and nation. Calling herself a “new woman,” rejecting marriage, and desiring a lifelong teaching career, she scandalizes her conservative family. Tracing the trajectory of challenges confronting Annalukshmi, in the world of 1920’s Ceylon, in Shyam Selvadurai’s novel, Cinnamon Gardens (1998), this paper will examine the ways in which the young feminist schoolteacher defies familial and social constraints for her personal freedom and chooses to follow her dream.

Keywords: Cinnamon Gardens , Shyam Selvadurai, Annalukshmi, Ceylon, Feminist

Topic(s):English

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA