Journal of the English Literator Society
The Journal of the English Literator Society (ISSN 2455-393X) is a peer-reviewed, international, and indexed online publication dedicated to literary and cultural studies. Published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September, and November by Magnus Publishing, the journal adheres to rigorous academic standards while maintaining an open-access model on the World Wide Web. The journal promotes critical literary analysis while examining cultural significance, connecting textual study with socio-historical perspectives. It enriches scholarly discussions on how literature both mirrors and influences cultural identities, traditions, and evolution across regions and eras. Editor in Chief: Dr. L. Santhosh Kumar Established: December 2015 Frequency: Bimonthly
Auteur Theory in the Context of Indian Cinema: From Classical Narrative to Digital Spectacle
After the introduction of AI, VFX, and virtual production technologies, the classical evolution of auteur theory in Indian cinema is posed in contrast where the very essence of auteurism accentuated the singular creative vision of a filmmaker to the considered digitally mediated redefinition of authorship through technologically aided narratives. This paper engages in a critical exploration into the junction of classical auteurism and digital cinema with S.S. Rajamouli and Shankar as prime representatives of Indian digital auteurism. However, they showcase the very degree to which digital modulation provided the director supernatural control over the representation to conjure almost entirely new worlds while still beholding an individualistic artistic touch. This research is framed into analysis of the question: Does AI and VFX makeup make the directorial authority arise or retreat? In as much as some advocate AI as an extension for a thought of creativity, others hold that algorithmically driven decision-making contests the notion of singular authorship. Engaging with auteur theory (Truffaut, Sarris, Bazin), Barthes’ "Death of the Author”. This paper orientates Indian cinema to the worldwide discourse on digital auteurism. The study concluded that digital auteurism is represented in the case of Indian cinema as a hybrid technology that intensifies rather than replaces directorial authority.
Sugantha Kumar L, Dr. Nelsonmandela S, Dr. Suneesh K S, Dr. Poovarasan G
The Digital Auteur: Reimagining Directorial Vision in the Era of VFX
The concept of the auteur has traditionally positioned the film director as the primary creative force responsible for shaping a film’s artistic identity. Originating from the writings of French New Wave critics such as François Truffaut and André Bazin and later expanded by Andrew Sarris, auteur theory emphasised directorial vision, thematic consistency, and stylistic individuality. However, the rapid advancement of digital filmmaking technologies, including computer-generated imagery (CGI), visual effects (VFX), virtual production, and artificial intelligence-assisted tools, has significantly transformed the nature of cinematic authorship. This paper examines the evolution of auteur theory within the context of contemporary Indian cinema and proposes the concept of the "Digital Auteur" as a framework for understanding directorial authorship in the technological age. Through an exploration of key Indian filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Guru Dutt, and Mani Ratnam, the study analyses how distinctive directorial identities continue to emerge despite the collaborative and technologically driven nature of contemporary filmmaking. The paper argues that modern auteurs increasingly function as visual architects who employ digital technologies not merely as technical tools but as extensions of their creative vision.
Re-reading Female Consciousness and Patriarchal Rationality in Anita Desai's Cry, the Peacock
This paper examines the representation of female consciousness in Anita Desai's debut novel, Cry, the Peacock (1963), with particular attention to whether Maya's psychological collapse is best understood as pathology or as a coded form of resistance to the structures of patriarchal rationality. Drawing on Michel Foucault's theorization of madness as a socially constructed category, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar's concept of the 'madwoman' as a figure of literary rebellion, and Elaine Showalter's feminist historiography of mental illness, the paper argues that the novel does not simply document one woman's breakdown but opens a much more uncomfortable question: what counts as reason, who decides, and who suffers the consequences of that decision. Desai's deployment of stream-of-consciousness narration, symbolic imagery, and a structurally fragmented narrative amplifies Maya's interiority in ways that resist reductive psychiatric readings. The paper also reads the novel in relation to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's reflections on the silencing of the female subaltern, situating Maya's story within the wider context of postcolonial Indian womanhood. The study concludes that Desai's novel performs a radical act of literary witnessing: by giving Maya's 'irrational' voice narrative primacy, it challenges readers to reconsider the binaries of sanity and madness, reason and emotion, submission and agency.
Eternal Waters, Mortal Towns: The Paradox of Immortality in Mamang Dai's Poem Small Towns and the River
This research paper explores the thematic dichotomy between human transience and natural permanence in Mamang Dai's poem, Small Towns and the River. As a prominent voice from Arunachal Pradesh, Dai utilises the landscape of the Northeast, specifically the town of Pasighat and the Siang River, to meditate on the inevitability of death and the endurance of nature. The study examines how the "small town" serves as a site of stagnation and human anxiety. The river is personified as a living, immortal soul that carries the wisdom of ancient civilisations. Drawing upon the indigenous beliefs of the Adi community, the paper further investigates the poet's pantheistic worldview, where life and death are viewed not as a direct progression but as a cyclic return. By analysing the metaphors of water, sunlight, and ritual, this paper argues that Dai finds a resolution to the dread of mortality through a spiritual communion with the environment. Ultimately, the work concludes that in Dai's poetic universe, living in harmony with nature is synonymous with walking with the divine.
Enhancing Paragraph Writing Performance through Flipped Learning and Process-Oriented Writing Instruction among First-Year Engineering Students
The study investigates the impact of integrating flipped learning with process-oriented writing instruction on first-year engineering students' paragraph writing performance. The study adopted a qualitative-dominant mixed-method research design and was conducted within a compulsory Communicative English course at a technical institution. Fifty first-year engineering students participated in an eight-week instructional intervention. Instructional content was delivered before class through videos and model paragraphs using a flipped learning approach. At the same time, classroom sessions emphasized process-oriented writing activities, including brainstorming, drafting, peer feedback, and revision. Data were collected from students’ paragraph writing samples, classroom observations, and learner reflection journals and analyzed using thematic analysis and rubric-based writing assessment. The findings reveal clear improvements in paragraph organization, coherence, and idea development, along with increased learner autonomy, higher engagement, and positive perceptions of the instructional approach. The study concludes that integrating flipped learning with process-oriented writing instruction is an effective strategy for enhancing paragraph writing skills among first-year engineering students in higher education.
Differentiation and Relational Anxiety: A Bowenian Perspective on Angel’s Self-Patterns and Recovery in Redeeming Love
The present paper focuses on the psychological background of the main character, Angel, in Francine Rivers's novel Redeeming Love through the prism of Bowen Family System Theory. Angeadolescence was defined by childhood neglect, sexual exploitation, and aloofness. This provides a literary excerpt of the long-term effects of emotional trauma. Bowen and his major arguments in Family Systems Theory are emotional cut-off, differentiation of self, family projection process, intrapersonal and multigenerational transmission and triangulation. This paper analyzes the role of Angel's familial experiences in deeply influencing her relationships in adulthood, namely her self-pattems, insubordination and the causes of the intimacy elusiveness towards Michael Hosea in her marriage. Through theoretical synthesis and discussion, this paper will conclude that Angel has a split personality, indicating weak differentiation, based on relational anxiety and adjustment disturbance of childhood. She gradually heals psychologically by emulating Bowen and his idea of growing differentiation, which explains emotional stability, health, and relationships. The study incorporates literature and systems psychological analysis, resulting in a blend between the two. The paper also illustrates how Redeeming Love depicts the enduring effects of family life on adults' identity development and attachment patterns.
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of the English Literator Society
Biopolitics, Control, and Resistance in Vonnegut’s “2BR02B” and Jeong’s “The Flowering”
Science fiction has increasingly moved beyond technological imagination to engage deeply with social structures, institutions, and cultural anxieties. Drawing on ideas from Gerlach and Hamilton on science fiction and Luckhurst’s concept of cultural history, this paper examines “2BR02B” and “The Flowering”. Both stories show how power can control human life, but in very different ways. Vonnegut’s “2BR02B” presents a society in which people must die so that others can live, showing how extreme systems can become when everything is controlled by logic. On the other hand, Jeong’s “The Flowering” depicts a world in which people are constantly watched and controlled through data, yet resistance remains possible in unexpected ways. This paper argues that both stories engage with biopolitics, in which human life is managed and controlled by systems. At the same time, they also show different responses to such control, one leading to tragedy and the other opening a small door for hope. In a way, these stories do not feel completely fictional, which makes them more powerful and uncomfortable to read.
Exploring Tribal Resistance and Indigenous Epistemologies in Indian Cinema through Kantara and Joram
Indian cinema is emerging as a powerful tool for telling stories that not only challenge the dominant discourse of development and modern progress but also highlight the tribal struggle for resistance. This paper compares two films: Kantara (2022) and Joram (2023), both of which portray the struggle of tribal people to resist forced displacement and the loss of their culture. Kantara portrays the struggle of tribal people using myths and spiritual relationships with nature to highlight the strength of tribal thought as a form of resistance. The film blends myths with divine concepts to highlight the weakness of modern law and the legitimacy of tribal thought. Conversely, Joram portrays the harsh reality of forced displacement and the violence of development using realistic narrative techniques to make the struggle of tribal people visible. Through an in-depth analysis of both films, the paper will demonstrate that they highlight the strength of tribal people’s voices in resistance. Although the films have different narrative styles, they both highlight the power of tribal people’s voices in resistance. The research paper is based on the theories of Subaltern Studies and those of diversity and plurality of knowledge. It is also informed by other important research works on tribal displacement (Pattnaik, 2013; Joseph & Beegom, 2017), tribal life depicted in cinema (Kumar, 2024; Varughese & Mukherjee, 2024), etc. The research argues that both Kantara and Joram are highly effective counter-narratives that challenge the conventional, state-endorsed notion of development.
Navigating Multiple Worlds: Intersectionality, Identity, and Artistic Agency in the Life of Arundhati Devi
In this essay, an intersectional analysis of the life and work of Arundhati Devi (April 29, 1924 – October 16, 1990), who was a renowned Bengali actress, director, singer, and cultural personality, will be provided based on archive documents displayed at the exhibit "A Star Named Arundhati" (Tarar Naam Arundhati) organized at the IIC Experience, Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex, New Delhi, in October 2025. The essay provides an intersectional analysis of the various roles Arundhati Devi performed during her lifetime, including bhadramahila (cultured middle-class woman), wife and mother and actress and film director. It is argued that any biographical account of a female artist's life should always take an intersectional perspective, focusing not only on the career path but also on emotional labour, domestic duties, cultural context and gender relations.
The Evolving Role of Cambodian Teachers: A Qualitative Study on the Shift from Instructor to Learning Facilitator
This qualitative study examines the evolving role of Cambodian teachers within ongoing reforms that promote learner-centred pedagogy and active facilitation. Drawing on an interpretivist approach, it explores how eighteen primary and secondary teachers from urban (Phnom Penh) and rural (Kampong Thom and Ratanakiri) contexts understand and enact the shift from instructor to facilitator. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, and were analysed thematically using both deductive and inductive coding. Findings show that while policy increasingly emphasises facilitation, implementation remains uneven and shaped by cultural and contextual factors. Teachers expressed diverse interpretations, from guidance metaphors to surface-level adjustments, with clear urban–rural contrasts. Major barriers included rigid curricula, limited training, and hierarchical norms, though supportive leadership, peer collaboration, and intrinsic motivation enabled change. The study underscores the need for localised professional development and culturally responsive reform, offering insight into teacher identity and reform processes in post-conflict, resource-constrained contexts, with implications for policy, training, and comparative research.
Intersectionality of Race, Class, and Gender: A Study of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus
People of colour face oppression in all areas of human experience. However, social scientists and literary critics often treat the various categories of oppression as mutually exclusive experiences. Such single-axis analysis of oppression misunderstands or ignores the experiences of whole groups, particularly those of women of colour. The paper aims to analyse the interlocking oppressions of race, class, and gender in the lives of marginalised people of colour, and to analyse Venus (1996), a play by Suzan-Lori Parks, through the theoretical framework of Intersectionality. The paper employs a qualitative, interdisciplinary method that combines Feminist theory, Black Feminism, and Critical Race Theory in literary analysis. The key findings establish that an intersectional approach to the study of the lives of women of colour contributes to an in-depth analysis of the interlocking oppressions in terms of sexism, scientific racism, colonial dynamics of imperialism, and also calls for a need for a resurrection of History.
Fragmented Protagonism: Collective Character Structure in Savi Sharma’s Everyone Has a Story
Recent trends in Indian popular fiction reveal a gradual movement away from single-hero narratives toward stories structured around multiple central figures who share narrative attention. In Everyone Has a Story, the progression of events unfolds through four interconnected yet independently sustained character arcs, none of which dominates the textual space. This balanced distribution of narrative focus enables parallel development and creates structural symmetry within the novel. Such an arrangement enhances reader engagement by offering varied points of identification and sustaining momentum through alternating perspectives. The organization of chapters, the proportional presence of dialogue, and the careful transitions between character trajectories collectively contribute to a sense of equilibrium that binds the text together. Rather than privileging individual heroism, the novel advances through shared narrative authority, reflecting a contemporary storytelling tendency within Indian mass-market fiction. By decentralizing protagonism and maintaining structural coherence across multiple arcs, the text demonstrates how collective character design can function as an effective narrative strategy in shaping modern popular narratives.
Collective Guilt and Moral Disengagement in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer: A Social, Psychological Interpretation of Cinematic Responsibility
The research deals with Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer (2023) as a cultural space where the film has been thought of as a mediator of historical collective guilt and moral disengagement, as a medium to consider the concepts of collective guilt and moral disengagement through the lens of two social psychological models present in the film Oppenheimer.’ The research paper emphasises the film as a means of dramatising the inner struggles of J. Robert Oppenheimer, while also echoing the negotiation with societies that confront trauma and complicity in the era of mass destruction. This study relies on textual analyses of cinematic practices and discourse analyses of critical reviews and audience reception. For example, it demonstrates how Oppenheimer filmmakers highlight the theme of collective guilt, while also presenting the audience with strategies of moral disengagement and revealing the Janus-faced nature of the media's role as both remembrancers and rationalizers. Therefore, by making the film and previous cultural products create a thematic axis around nuclear anxiety and relating the problems of the film and previous cultural products to current global challenges like climate change and artificial intelligence, the paper explores how the film's strength lies in its ability to reactivate social psychological controversies around innovation, authority, and morality in society. As such, the study will contribute to the emerging field of inquiry in the social sciences and the humanities: media memory studies and cultural trauma studies.
Ecosophical Reflections on Human-Animal Affinity in Tagore’s “Subha” and Premchand’s “Two Bullocks”
Rabindranath Tagore and Premchand are always considered to be the pioneering figures in the literary and cultural renaissance of modern India on account of their tremendous contribution. Both stories, set in the typical Indian background of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are remarkable studies of the deeper aspects of human and animal nature. Tagore’s “Subha” is built on its protagonist, Subhasini, which means ‘soft spoken’. Defying her name, she was dumb and additionally, was deaf too, making her existence a curse for her parents and family. The proximity between human beings and animals is beautifully reflected in “Two Bullocks” by Premchand. This story illustrates the loyalty between the owner and his bullocks. When the bullocks were sent away by their master, they revolted silently and did not touch food. After a series of adversities, they helped other animals and a kitten escape from the cattle pound and finally fled to their owner’s house, where they were welcomed, tears in their master's eyes. The prime objective of this paper is to explore the ecosophical interdependence between human beings and animals, drawing on these two stories.
Rewriting Authorship: AI-Generated Literature and the Postmodern Death of the Author
The sudden proliferation of artificial intelligence in literary production has radically disrupted the traditional notion of authorship, originality, and creative agency. In this paper, I will return to Roland Barthes's classic essay “The Death of the Author” to argue that AI-produced literature represents the most tangible manifestation of poststructuralist theory to date. By engaging with the ideas of Michel Foucault’s “author-function,” Jacques Derrida’s theory of textual instability, and Walter Benjamin’s theory of mechanical reproduction, I will argue that AI does not merely kill the author but rather distributes authorship along algorithmic, institutional, and interpretive lines. By comparing and contrasting the poetics of Romanticism with AI-produced literature, I will show that artificial intelligence reconfigures authorship from a singular origin to a hybrid, procedural one. In doing so, AI represents not the “death of the author” but rather the “birth of algorithmic authorship.”
Mythical Realms Reimagined: A Study of the Select Works of Rick Riordan
Mythology has long been an integral part of storytelling, weaving a complex tapestry of characters, themes, and narratives that have captivated audiences across generations. From ancient Greek and Roman traditions to Egyptian and Norse mythic systems, mythology continues to influence contemporary literature. This paper examines the evolution of mythological perspectives in Rick Riordan's selected works, with particular focus on the treatment of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythologies in Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. Through close textual analysis informed by relevant theoretical perspectives, the study demonstrates how Riordan reproduces and reinterprets ancient mythological themes in modern settings while preserving their philosophical depth. By reimagining heroism, disability, cultural inheritance, and fate, he transforms mythology into a dynamic cultural framework for empowerment, ethical reflection, and identity formation in contemporary young adult literature.
Myth, Memory, and Trauma in Nation-Building Narratives
Nation-building is not only a political process but also a narrative act. It is fundamentally cultural and psychological. Nations are constructed through shared myths, collective memories, and narrative traumas. It is also true that Nations are imagined, remembered, and mythologised into existence through stories. Stories transform different acts into different ideas. Those stories also transform violence into destiny and suffering into sacrifice. This paper examines how myth, cultural memory, and trauma intersect within nation-building narratives. Drawing upon Benedict Anderson’s theory of imagined communities, Jan Aleida Assmann’s work on cultural memory and Cathy Caruth’s trauma theory. The paper argues that National stories often use painful past events to bring people together and make them feel united, as these stories connect people and make them proud of their nation. While myth provides sense and symbolic continuity, trauma interrupts history and leaves lasting pain that cannot be easily explained or resolved. The paper claims that nation-building narratives operate through selective remembering and strategic forgetting. It is converting historical violence into a foundational myth of unity, generating counter-memories that challenge official national histories. By theorising this tension, the article demonstrates that nationhood is sustained not only by shared memory but also by managed trauma.
From Homosocial Triangle to Queer Relationality: Gender Performativity and Anti-Essentialism in The Song of Achilles
The classical epic genre has historically been a significant site for the construction of heroic masculinity grounded in martial excellence, bodily exceptionality, and homosocial relations structured through rivalry, conquest, and the exchange of women. Homer's Iliad presents Achilles as a quintessential warrior whose identity is constructed through violence and honour. Although his relationship with Patroclus has often been made marginal or de-sexualised in classical reception, despite the emotional intensity of Achilles' bond with Patroclus, the epic remains uneasy with a heteronormative reading of the Iliad. Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles intervenes at this fault line by reimagining epic heroism through the language of intimacy, vulnerability, and care. This paper argues how the novel queers the Homeric tradition by centring the erotic and affective relationship between Achilles and Patroclus while exposing the patriarchal logics that underpin heroic masculinity. Drawing on Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's theory of male homosocial desire and Judith Butler's concepts of gender performativity and anti-essentialism, the paper identifies three interrelated interventions. The story reworks, or better, refuses, Sedgwick's homosocial "erotic triangle" by not placing women in the mediation between the men. As an alternative, it proposes an openly acknowledged erotic bond between the two men. At the same time, Briseis and Thetis' functions involving the masculine rivalry are disruptive, not stabilising, providing for queer kinship networks or as agents of patriarchal enforcement. By applying Butler's concept of gender as a "stylised repetition of acts", the paper demonstrates that Achilles, being the "greatest of the Greeks", does not express an innate masculine essence but rather the effect of repeated performances required by militarised culture. In contrast, Patroclus's care-centred role as a healer embodies an alternative masculinity rationalised through relationality and ethical responsibility. Through an anti-essentialist reading of fate and prophecy, the paper argues that Miller reframes identity as contingently produced through choices and relations, even as imperial structures foreclose sustained queer life.
Food, Faith, and Maritime Culture: Culinary Traditions of Muslims in Kayalpattinam
The paper examines the culinary traditions of the Muslim community in Kayalpattinam, a historically significant coastal town in southeastern Tamil Nadu, India. The study investigates how centuries of maritime trade networks, regional ecology, and intercultural exchange have shaped the community's distinctive foodways. Employing a qualitative research framework, this study integrates historical documentary analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, examination of indigenous community narratives and oral histories. The study documents both everyday and ceremonial food practices of the Kayalpattinam Muslims. The finding reveals that Kayalpattinam’s culinary landscape exhibits a remarkable cultural synthesis reflecting the integration of diverse culinary influences from Arab, Sri Lankan, Maldivian, and Southeast Asian maritime traditions. Analysis of signature dishes, festival-specific confections, and wedding cuisines reveals a sophisticated process of culinary localisation, particularly through the utilisation of indigenous palm-based ingredients and the development of adaptive household food production strategies. The study concludes that food functions as a vital maker of identity, social cohesion, and cultural memory, preserving the town’s maritime heritage within contemporary culinary practices.
Teaching Young Readers to Speak Through Silence: Language Anxiety in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction
Young Adult (YA) fiction is rapidly emerging as one of the most effectively engaged literary spaces for adolescent readers, particularly those facing anxiety, trauma, and identity issues. Among these affective struggles, linguistic anxiety-the fear of speaking, of judgment, or of failing at language- remains under-theorised in literary studies. This paper argues that young adult fiction performs a quietly pedagogical work by rendering silence, hesitation, and broken speech not as lack or failure but as meaningful states of emotional and linguistic survival. Drawing on narrative analyses of selected young adult novels, including “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio, and “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo, this paper demonstrates how storytelling modes such as interior monologue, fragmented speech, and narrative silence naturalise linguistic vulnerability. Drawing on theories of affect, narrative studies, and language ideology, the paper shows that young adult literature trains young readers to reinterpret fear of speaking as a legitimate emotional state rather than a personal failure. As silence becomes a site of healing and voice-building, contemporary young adult literature emerges as an alternative affective classroom that teaches young readers how to inhabit speech without shame.
Gendered Citizenship, Religious Identity, and Political Structuring: Re-Theorising Feminist Subjectivity in Why I Am a Hindu Woman
The article discusses Why I Am a Hindu Woman by Nivedita Menon, using feminist political theory, intersectionality, and postcolonial citizenship studies to argue that religious identity is not culturally inherited but rather politically structured. Implementing the concepts of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989), feminist nationalism (Mohanty, 2015), state-gender theory (Rao, 2018), and decolonial feminist thought (Tuck and Yang, 2012/2018; Whyte, 2018), the article argues that the category “Hindu Woman” is created as a political subject through intersections with institutional power, nationalist discourses, and gendered governance. Instead of validating religious identity as an essential inner self, Menon's article reveals its connection to the law, majoritarian fears, and nationalist movements. The article argues that the State-Religion-Gender Triad is a conceptual framework to explain the construction of feminine subjects in majoritarian regimes. By using Menon’s piece within the existing debate on issues such as secularism, citizenship, and feminist resistance, the article contributes to feminist political theory. It maps the identity-formation debate in post-colonial democracies.
Contextualizing Transnationalism in Indian English Literature: A Study of A Suitable Boy and The Shadow Lines
This paper examines the manifestation of transnationalism in two landmark Indian English novels: Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy (1993) and Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines (1988). Through a comparative analysis, this study explores how both authors negotiate the complex terrain of national boundaries, cultural identities, and historical memory in the postcolonial Indian context. While Seth's novel anchors itself primarily within the geographical boundaries of newly independent India, it nonetheless engages with transnational forces through cultural exchange, political discourse, and the looming question of Partition. Ghosh's narrative, conversely, explicitly foregrounds border-crossing, memory, and the artificiality of national boundaries. Drawing on scholarship in transnational studies, postcolonial theory, and South Asian literary criticism, this paper argues that both novels challenge the rigidity of nationalist discourse and reveal how personal narratives transcend geographical and temporal borders. The analysis demonstrates that transnationalism in Indian English literature operates not merely through physical migration but through imaginative mappings, historical consciousness, and the perpetual negotiation between local and global identities.
Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of the English Literator Society
Healing Through Kinship: Male Friendship and Identity in Easterine Kire's Bitter Wormwood
This paper analyses the quality and strength of friendship between Mose, the protagonist, and Neituo in Easterine Kire’s Bitter Wormwood. She is considered the first Naga poet to publish in English and the first Naga novelist to write in English. In her novel Bitter Wormwood, the characters change drastically, offering a glimpse of what Nagaland was like then and of how their relationship transformed during the Naga freedom struggle. In this book, we see the friendship between Mose and Neituo as they exchange tones in wartime, share small acts of kindness, and understand the landscapes they find themselves in. This work represents their companionship with Mose and Neituo, as they used to share experiences during the war. The heroes also show skill in facing tragedy gracefully rather than becoming bitter. Throughout the story, their friendship and experiences of historical events in Nagaland are depicted. Bitter Wormwood places more emphasis on social realism rather than heroic archetypes and foreshadows the ordinary existence of people in the Nagaland pious community. Patience, as in the case of Mose and Neituo, is a nexus between individual healing and social fortitude, thus a conduit to healing. A close textual analysis reveals the emotional system that represents a stable affective scale and describes male friendship in the context of a violent historical environment.
Copyright (c) 2016 Journal of the English Literator Society
Integrating LSRW Skills in Teaching Self-Introduction: A Task-Based Approach
This study examines the integration of LSRW (Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing) skills in teaching self-introduction in English Language Teaching (ELT) contexts, particularly for higher secondary students. Drawing on task-based language teaching principles, this research demonstrates how structured self-introduction practice builds vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and communicative competence. By implementing student-centered activities tailored to diverse learner abilities, the study provides evidence of practical improvements in language proficiency and real-world communication. The findings suggest that LSRW-integrated pedagogy enhances learners' confidence and functional language use through authentic communicative tasks.
Windows and Mirrors: The Role of Multicultural Narratives in Shaping Empathy in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
In contemporary multicultural and global societies, children and young adults are increasingly exposed to cultural diversity in their everyday lives. Literature written for young readers plays a significant role in shaping their understanding of themselves and others. Multicultural narratives in children’s and young adult literature introduce readers to diverse cultures, identities, and lived experiences, thereby fostering empathy and social awareness. This paper argues that multicultural literature is essential for fostering empathy, reducing prejudice, and promoting inclusive attitudes among young readers. Drawing on empathy theory, reader-response theory, and social learning and identity theories, the study examines how multicultural narratives influence both the emotional and cognitive development of children and adolescents. The paper also discusses the dual function of multicultural literature: affirming the identities of marginalized readers while expanding the perspectives of readers from dominant cultural backgrounds. In addition, challenges such as stereotyping, lack of authenticity, and limited integration of multicultural texts in educational settings are examined. The study concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective practices to maximize the empathetic and educational value of multicultural literature. Overall, the paper highlights the role of children’s and young adult literature as a powerful tool for promoting empathy, cross-cultural understanding, and social inclusion.
Artificial Intelligence and Ethical Paradigms in Adolescent Cinema: Implications for Mental Well-Being and Digital Health
This paper examines the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethical considerations, and mental well-being in children’s and adolescent literature as depicted in six seminal films: The Iron Giant (1999), Big Hero 6 (2014), WALL-E (2008), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and Next Gen (2018). Through close analysis of these narratives, the study explores how these films address critical ethical dilemmas, including the moral programming of AI, human-AI emotional bonds, and the psychological impacts of technological dependence. Furthermore, the paper investigates the representation of mental health issues, grief, identity formation, and digital culture, particularly in young audiences. The findings reveal the potential of these films not only to entertain but also to educate adolescents about the socio-ethical implications of AI in a rapidly digitizing world. This study aims to contribute to the discourse on digital health literacy and the role of AI-driven narratives in shaping adolescent values and well-being.
Changing Revered Spaces of Rural Tamil Nadu in Perumal Murugan’s “The Last Sacrifice” and “Magamuni”: A Spatial Analysis
The paper examines the transformation and reconfiguration of rural spaces in Tamil Nadu through a close reading of Perumal Murugan’s short stories “The Last Sacrifice” and “Magamuni.” Drawing on Spatial Theory, particularly the theories of critics such as Henri Lefebvre, Robert T. Tally Jr., and Nigel Thrift, the study examines how Murugan portrays rural space as a site of tension between continuity and disruption. The paper also analyses how religious practices and ritualistic beliefs can seep into secular, neutral, everyday spaces in rural Tamil Nadu, revealing how spatial boundaries are constantly negotiated through symbolic power. While “The Last Sacrifice” illuminates the negotiations of power and belief systems within ritualized rural settings, “Magamuni” portrays the psychological and material displacements that accompany the breakdown of traditional social frameworks. Together, these narratives show how Murugan’s fiction maps the evolving textures of rural existence, capturing both the resilience and vulnerability of communities confronting transformation. The paper argues that such literary representations provide valuable insight into the lived realities and spatial imaginations of contemporary rural Tamil Nadu.
The Role of ChatGPT in Teaching Writing Skills in Language Education
Conventionally, language acquisition techniques have proved effective, based on structured classroom approaches and face-to-face instruction. Although these methods are effective, they consume significant time and resources. Thus, such approaches restrict expandability and adaptability to meet the needs of diverse learners. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based applications has altered the paradigm. Unlike traditional methods, ChatGPT uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to provide fast, customized responses on grammar, style, and coherence. It has high-order language-processing abilities, allowing learners to refine and revise their writing. It is consistent with modern ELT theories, which focus on the implementation of technology in the classroom that would promote learner autonomy. This research examines the potential of ChatGPT in the instruction and revision of writing skills, comparing it with traditional systems and recent teaching methods. The study takes a conceptual and comparative approach, using the existing literature and pedagogical theories to examine the role of ChatGPT in writing instruction.
Illustration of Jyotish, Astrology, and Shakun Shastra in Maharshi Valmiki’s Shrimad Valmiki Ramayan
The massive tree of the Indian knowledge system has numerous widespread and intense branches of ancient beliefs and practices. Religion, science, Ayurveda, palmistry, astrology, philosophy, classical dance, classical music, mathematics, medicine, surgery, jyotish, architecture, yoga, vastu-shastra, and literature are its leaves. Diverse spheres of wisdom corresponding to the above-mentioned domains are its fruits. Maharshi Valmiki was a great astrologer and a foreseer too. He was ‘trikaldarshi’ as he could see past the present and the future. His knowledge of ‘Jyotish vigyan’ was unparalleled. My paper focuses on the depiction of Jyotish along with various planetary positions and their effects on human lives, as written in Shrimad Valmikiya Ramayanam.
Recipes of Resistance: Food as Cultural Archive and Postcolonial Identity in South Indian Literature
Food is not only basic; it is an account of cultural echoes, defiance, and identity. This paper investigates how culinary narratives in South Indian literature act as a framework to explore social hierarchy, postcolonial hybridity, and gendered exploitation. With a thorough reading of texts of Shoba Narayan’s Kitchens of Gratitude, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, and Krish Ashok’s Masala Lab, the paper studies how food functions as both a plot of revolt and nostalgia. Kitchens and recipes, frequently set aside as domestic spaces, are redefined as cultural war fragments where caste, class, and colonial settlement bisect. The paper argues that the culinary projection in these texts describes above tradition and taste, acting as a device to conserve shared memory and confronting presiding histories. In Kitchens of Gratitude, food sets off a language of connection and acknowledgement, indicating Bangalore’s cosmopolitan cultural frame. Roy’s narrative in The God of Small Things confines food to caste ordering and restrained love by making use of culinary metaphors to analyze social injustice. Ashok’s Masala Lab, while scientific in tone, recovers the cultural importance of South Indian cooking, combining humor with a postcolonial declaration of identity. By gathering the views of postcolonial theory, cultural studies, and memory studies, this paper brings out in what way food narratives represent the expanding dynamics of South Indian identification. It argues that culinary literature is not just about recipes but also opposition, recollection, and the recovery of the suppressed.