T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

liberation too. Malamud's universalism that defines his work,grows out of a deep encounter with the speclfic terms of humanexperience as it occurs for the blacks, whites and other groupsof people. He engages such issues to find the essentialhuaanity rhat lies ber~eath. Mukherjee's perspective is not sowlde-ranging since she deals with only one aspect, namely, theproblem of immigrant identity, particularly Asian-Indian, in awhite world. Since the vision of these two writers are totallydifferent, their approaches are at variance with one another.Malamud's response to the human condition is sensitiveand is born oi a compassionate understandlnq. Llfe for him is adrama of moral Issues, whlle words like conscience,responslhilrty, love, suffering and compassion have anIntrinsic value. He recognizes that man is a compound of goodand bacl, who yet has the potentiality to change for thebetter. Malamud's Interest in fiction is on man in the processof changing his fate, hls life. Hls protagonists struggle for a'new llfe' whatever be thelr gullt-rldden past. Suffering andcompassion become instrumental to this process oftransformation to new life.Malamud proves t.hrough his investigations into the humanpsyche that man has sufficient physical and spiritual staminato foil the deterministic forces of society and to flnd avlable system of values. Initially, Malamud's characters are