27th Annual Student Research Conference
How Many Realities Do You Live In?: The Usage of Realism Inside The Shadow Lines
Kayleen M. Green
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
The Shadow Lines is a work full of complex characters and time that weaves itself together. As each character speaks, the reader sees the world through a different lens which creates many layers to this densely rich novel. The author, Amitav Ghosh, is successful at presenting these unique perceptions through his usage of realism. Realism is defined as, "the tendency to view or represent things as they really are". But as the reader soon discovers, each character lives in a separate reality that was formed by events, people, and emotions, and therefore what is real to them, may not be to another character. Ghosh discusses the power of memories and their effects inside our realities as well. In this paper, I will explore the various ways in which Ghosh presents many aspects of life to be subjective and how one person's reality is different from the next.
Keywords: Realism, Relationships, Post-colonialism , Indian literature , Amitav Ghosh
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 110-4
Location: VH 1236
Time: 8:45