Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Anita Desai or Majumdar is an Indian novelist and educator working as a Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1978, she was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award by India's National Academy of Letters for her novel Fire on the Mountain. In 1983, she won the Guardian Prize in the UK for her novel The Village by the Sea. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London. Her three novels, Clear Light of Day (1980), In Custody (1984), and Fasting, Feasting (1999) were shortlisted for the Booker Prize in the respective years. Her first novel was Cry, The Peacock which was published in 1963. The novel tells the story of a girl facing existential depression, psychological discontent, and the fragility of sanity. The novel explores subjects like conjugal disharmony, absence of personality, idealism, and a feeling of aimlessness in life in a patriarchial society. The novel looks at the restrictions placed on women. The protagonist’s fight for independence and self-expression draws attention to the limited roles and expectations for women in her social environment.
Themes of Cry, The Peacock:
The novel discusses the psychic tumult of the protagonist and highlights the impact of unfulfilled expectations, cultural norms, emotional solitude, and fear of death. The book explores a variety of subjects, including human introspection, the impact of suppressed emotions, and the fine border between sane and crazy. In a patriarchal society where a woman feels suffocated and restricted in her efforts of self-exploration, Maya, the protagonist suffers an existential crisis. The novel delves into her quest for the meaning of life in a world that seems heartless.
Those who have read A Song of Ice and Fire or, have seen the Game of Thrones series, may compare Maya’s character with that of Cersei Lannister.
Characters of Cry, The Peacock:
Maya is the protagonist of the novel. She is a sensitive, young, married girl who is haunted by a childhood prophecy of a fatal disaster. She is the daughter of a rich advocate in Lucknow. Being alone in the family, with her mother dead and her brother having gone to America to carve his own independent destiny, she gets the most of her father’s affection and attention. Gautam is her husband who used to work as an assistant to her father. Gautam is a good and loyal friend of her father. Since her father trusts him completely, he arranges for Maya’s marriage with Gautam. However, the couple suffers conjugal disharmony. Though Gautam is loyal and responsible, he is twice the age of Maya and his view of the world is completely different from that of Maya. Gautam’s mother is a wise elderly woman who tries to help Maya. Arjun is Maya’s elder brother who goes to America for higher studies and settles there. Rai Sahib is the father of Maya who is a successful reputed lawyer. He loved his wife and after her death, he devoted himself to his kids. However, Arjun, his elder son goes away to America and he devotes all his affection and attention to his daughter Maya. Gautam’s younger sister is a compassionate woman who visits her at times. The albino seer was an astrologer whom Maya met during her teenage. He tells her that within four years of her marriage, someone will die that will ruin her married life. Maya believes that she will die. Toto is Maya’s pet dog.
Summary of Cry, The Peacock:
The novel portrays the psychic tumult of a young and sensitive married girl Maya, who is haunted by a childhood prophecy of a fatal disaster. She is the daughter of a rich advocate in Lucknow. Being alone in the family, with her mother dead and her brother having gone to America to carve his own independent destiny, she gets the most of her father’s affection and attention and, in her moments of affliction, exclaims to herself: “No one, no one else, loves me as my father does”. The excessive love Maya gets from her father makes her have a lop-sided view of life. She feels the world to be a toy made especially for her, painted in her favorite colors and set to move according to her tunes.
Rai Sahib, her father spends all his quality time with his caring daughter. He always tries to fulfill her daughter's wishes no matter what it is and always takes care of his daughter. The mother of Maya died a long time ago, and since then her father has been everything to her as he has taken care of her like a mother.
Gautam, an assistant and friend of Rai Sahib is a promising lawyer. He is a trustworthy friend of Rai Sahib and respects him but he is a bit arrogant. As Rai Sahib grows old, he wonders what will happen to his daughter after him and thus, he begins to look for a suitable match for her. Though Gautam is younger than Rai Sahib, he is an aged person, about twice as old as Maya. Yet, he is unmarried because he spent most of his time making his career. Rai Sahib notices that Maya is comfortable with Gautam and though Gautam is too old for Maya, he trusts him that like he cared for his daughter, Gautam too will take good care of Maya. Thus, he marries Maya to Gautam.
The thinking of Maya and Gautam is very different because of a huge difference in their age but still, Maya’s father married her to Gautam. Gautam is a spiritual person whereas Maya is a materialistic woman and he fails to satisfy her in bed as he is much older than Maya. Before marriage, Maya used to be a delighted and passionate woman but after marriage, her life is like hell because Gautam neither takes care of her nor gives her proper attention. She is neither able to get company from him nor physical, or sexual satisfaction. She even takes initiative in love but Gautam’s response to it is astonishingly cold. Maya believes in a life of total absorption and involvement. Gautama preaches to her the need for detachment. Because of their temperamental differences strolling together does not prove to be a wonderful affair and conversation seems to be hopeless because they are not able to know each other and grow areas of common interest for establishing meaningful relationship with each other.
Gautam’s mother and sister visit their home once a week or sometimes once a month and whenever they visit Maya’s home, she gets some relief from her loneliness and sadness. To get rid of her loneliness, Maya begins caring for a dog whom she names Toto. During her loneliness, Maya often reminisces about her past and how her father used to love her. Whenever she gets a chance, she complains to Gautam that he doesn’t love her and says, “No one, no one else, loves me as my father does”. When Gautama, a busy, prosperous lawyer, too much engrossed in his own vocational affairs, fails to meet her demands, she feels neglected and miserable. Seeing her morbidity, her husband warns her of her turning neurotic and blames her father for spoiling her. However, the reason for her depression is not the excessive love of her father. Rather she keeps brooding over the prediction by the albino astrologer of death either for her or her husband within four years of their marriage. The terrifying words of the albino seer continue to haunt Maya as she feels that her fate and the time have come, and four years, it was now. It was now to be either Gautama or her.
One day, her pet dog Toto dies which makes her completely gloomy but for Gautam, it’s not a big deal because he believes it’s just a dog that she can easily replace with another pet dog. This further pushes Maya into depression. As the season of monsoon comes every single peacock cries and dances in the rain to attract male peacocks. When she observes a peacock crying, she recalls the albino seer's talk about the myth surrounding the peacock’s cry. Listening to the cries of peacocks in the rainy season, she realizes that she should never sleep in peace. She remembers the albino seer said that her life would be like that of a crying peacock who would never get her mate. She begins feeling the immense fear of death as the fourth year of her marriage comes close. However, the disenchantment and arrogance of Gautam make her realize that it would be better if Gautam died instead of her. Maya suffers from headaches and experiences rages of rebellion and terror. As she moves towards insanity, she sees the visions of rats, snakes, lizards, and iguanas creeping over her, slipping their club-like tongues in and out. Her dark house appears to her like her tomb, and she contemplates the horror of all that is to come. Maya compares those lizards in her dreams with death. She begins contemplating the words of the albino astrologer that since the albino had predicted death to either of them, it may be Gautama and not she whose life is threatened. She makes up her mind that even if she was meant to die, she would transfer her death to Gautam. She remembers how Gautam is detached and indifferent to life, it will not matter to him if he misses life. In her depression, she begins thinking of the word ‘murder.’
A strong dust storm rages the town that afternoon and when Gautam returns home, Maya asks him if the dust storm caused any problem to him. Gautama is so much lost in his work that Maya finds him oblivious to the dust storm. This further affirms Maya’s wish to transfer her death to him as he is oblivious to life and happenings. Maya asks him to accompany her to the roof of the house to enjoy the cool air, he accompanies her, lost in his own thoughts. Passing out of the room, Maya catches sight of bronze Shiva dancing and prays to the Lord of Dance to protect them.
As they climb to the roof, Maya sees a cat suddenly speeding past them in a state of great alarm. They walk towards the terraced end, Maya looking enraptured at the pale hushed glow of the rising moon. As Gautama moves in front of her, hiding the moon from her view, she, in a fit of frenzy, pushes him over the parapet to “pass through an immensity of air, down to the very bottom”. Maya takes a sigh of relief as she not only gets rid of the fear of her death but she also frees herself from her arrogant husband who was not fit for her from the start of their marriage. Afterward, the mother and sister of the late Gautam come and realize what just happened. However, they find Maya in a haphazard condition and realize that she has lost her mind. They send Maya to her father’s home. Her father sends her to a mental hospital for her mental health care and the novel ends.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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