T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

another for being alone. And we've learnt mat n o w xmj&Mdiscoverea comoassion". (1967,162)whether one learns to pity in the sprrit of compassion or not,one realises ~ t s inescapable need.The solitariness of the transgressor works up on hispsyche (hereafter'he' refers to 'she' also) by comparing thestates of those who have transgressed and those who have not.he criminal loses his fitness to llve and hls heart isembittered. He compromises wlth hls gullty consclence after andeven during the punlshment with the satlsfactlon that he hassuffered for his transgression. But there may be no redemptionIn his llfe after thls mechanical punlshrnent. He agaln commitsanother crlme and goes to prison. The mechanical punishmentthus fails in one Important aspect: it never takes lntoconslderatlon the vlew that the crimlnal 1s as much affected byhls crime as hls vlctlm 1s-hls transgression 1s a double-edgedweapon affecting himself and hls vlctim.Above all he is a crlrnlnalltransgressor first before hisOwn consclence. All the herolheroine transgressorsof Malamudand Mukherlee who compromise with thelr consclence becomedlslllusloned and consequently are at the mercy of theirconscience accepting lts accuslng flnger. If Malamud isconcerned more with the psychological account of transgressionthan with transgression as such, Mukherjee's insistence is not