Published by: Abhinav Publication Abhinav National Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in Arts & Education SENSE OF ALIENATION: ANITA DESAI’S CRY, THE

Anita Desai is one of the most powerful and distinguished Indian English novelists. She has an extraordinary sharpness and penetration of vision. Her writings have drawn world-wide critical attention. Anita Desai has added a new dimension to the Indian English fiction: the exploration of human psyche. She is endowed with searching psychological insight and often peeps into the inner recesses of the psyche, rather than merely presenting the outer spectacle of the world; the creative field of imagination is her unfailing reserve. Cry, the Peacock, Anita Desai's first novel, has been described as a trendsetter in the field of psychoanalytical realism. It explores the inner world of the main protagonist, Maya, and demonstrates her fear, insecurity and strange behavior. Through her, she depicts a world of alienation, loneliness and suffering. Maya is described as a hysterical character whose impending tragedy is suggestively foreshadowed, time and again. This paper is an effort to portray the alienated characters in Cry, the Peacock