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Pigeons at Daybreak Anita Desai

Siti Aina Mardhiah Zulkipli Saidatul Nadhirah Yusof


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Synopsis:
Pigeons at Daybreak by Anita Desai describes the love between human throughout one's life. Otima Basu contributes all her love to her husband Mr. Basu. Despite ignorance and rebuke, Otima still cares about her husband every single minute, I'll bring you your inhaler. Don't get worried, just don't get worried. Mr. Basu cannot breath after hearing the news that there is no electricity tonight, and He is angry with his wife, Youll manage, he spat at her, but I? (223, Other Voices, Other vistas) Otima is just trying to pacify Mr. Basu; however, after the abuse from his husband, she still tries her best to help him.
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When Mr. Basu was lying on the terrace, he

reveals his love toward his grandson, he had


taken his daughter Charus son by the hand to show him the pigeon roosts on so many of the Darya Ganj rooftops. Mr. Basu loves his grandson and thinks about him even though he

is very close to the heaven. In the end, the


pigeons at daybreak mark the end of Mr. Basus life.
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Anita Desai
Daughter of a Bengali father and German mother. Born in Mussoorie, India Describe her work as an attempt to reveal the truth that is nine-tenths of the iceberg that lies submerged beneath the one-tenth visible portion we called Reality

Psychoanalytic Criticism
Freud's model of the psyche: Id - Unconscious part of the psyche / desires, wishes, and fears. Ego - mostly to partially conscious part of the psyche that processes experiences to balance the id and superego. Superego - operates "like an internal censor [encouraging] moral judgments in light of social pressures"

Reader Response Criticism:


Louise Rosenblatt (Literature as Exploration, 1930) asserts that the reader and the text must work together to produce meaning. Efferently: only interested in new information. Aesthetically: reader experience the text.
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Application of the theory (Psychoanalytic Criticism)


Otima Basu Id: To live a new and better life. Ego: Her love and responsibility towards her husband. Superego: Indian culture Evidence: Nothing to interest you, she said but tore herself away from the entertainments column for his sake. (p. 88)

Application of the theory (Reader Response)


The reliance of man on woman.
We can see throughout the story how dependant Basu is on his wife. Evidence: One of his worst afflictions, Mr.Basu thought, was not to be able to read the newspaper himself. (p. 87)

Sexual desire
Otima need to fulfill her sexual desire. Evidence: The fan needed oiling, it make a disturbing clicking sound with every revolution, but who was there to climb up to it and do the oiling and cleaning? Not so easy to get this things done when ones husband is old and ill. (p. 89)

Ungrateful towards life.

The caged parrot represents Basus ungrateful attitude towards what he has.
Evidence: letting the green chili fall to the floor of the cage where other offered and refuse chilies lay in a rotting heap. (p. 88)

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Pigeons at daybreak
Symbolise the starting of Basus new life (afterlife) With the death of her husband, Otima is finally free from the burdened life and it is also the starting of her new life. Evidence: Then, with a swirl and flutter of feathers, a flock of pigeons hurtled upwards and spread out against the dome of the sky- opalescent, sunlit, like small pearls. (p.91)

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References
Bressler, C.E (1994). Literary criticism: An introduction to theory and practice. United States of America: Prentice Hall Inc. Pigeon at daybreak. (n.d). Retrieved on February 25th, 2012 from http://enga1s1012.wikispaces.com/Pigeons+at+Day

Siegel, K. (n.d). Psychoanalytic Criticism. Retrieved on February 26th, 2012 from http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#psycho

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