Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 11

primarily responsible for meeting their children's daily needs. In the 21 st century, due to political, cultural, and most of all, social developments, a variety of mother roles has emerged and made it impossible to define Motherhood exclusively. Several feminists and sociologists have differentiated between the act of giving birth, which implies the biological aspect of Motherhood , and the rearing of children, which means the sociological part of Motherhood . They argue that while the first is biologically possible for all women, the latter lies in their personal choice ( Maxwell, 3 ). Thus, they have tried to emphasize that, Motherhood is related to more about upbringing and care of a child than giving birth. Martha Joy Rose makes this new idea of Motherhood more explicit by saying, “to reiterate, mothers are defined as those performing mothering labor within social constructions of motherhood: their individual perspectives and experiences as well as a framework of fluid and varying gender differentiations and the oppositional constraints imposed upon them” ( Rose, 30 ). Thus, motherhood can be defined with a more fluid identity where anyone, who ensures a child’s basic needs and safety, can occupy the place of mother. Sarah Ruddick expands the periphery of Motherhood by asserting that, like women, men can also perform the duty of a mother. She said, “A mother is a person who takes on responsibility for children’s lives and for whom providing child care is a significant part of her or his working life” ( Ruddick, 40 ). Rothman also goes beyond the concept of Motherhood based on gender, biology, or genetics by establishing the idea of the family based on “more than genetics, more than lineage,” towards “families made interracially, interculturally, internationally, gay and lesbian, as alternative kinds of families” ( Rothman, 19 ). As a mother, she expresses her dream of a world based on communal feelings regardless of discrimination. In her Book of Life, she asserts, “The world that I live in, and the world that I want for my children, is not a world of scattered isolated individuals, and not a world of walls. It is a world of communities, of social solidarity, of connectedness between individuals and between communities, a world in which people and communities grow from and into each other” ( Rothman, 233 ). Hence, it can be seen that the renowned scholars of motherhood studies have challenged the pre-existing assumptions of Motherhood and introduced it with much fluidity. Considering their definition of Motherhood , a plethora of variations in mothers can be found which include typical mothers, single mothers, childless mothers, child-free mothers, LGBQ mother, and so on. Arundhati Roy is one of the world’s prominent writers who guides her pen to sketch the social evils and exceptional problems of society. She dreams of a world of equality that will free from subjugation and oppression. As a conscious observer of the age-old social norms, Roy could easily understand the inner mechanism of the patriarchal world that held women subordinate and less powerful. Along with representing numerous sociopolitical problems prevailing in the post- modern world, she also deals with gender role issues, which gets its clear expression in her second most striking novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. In this novel, she delineates transgender issues with other political issues prevailing in India. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness achieves its specificity by representing Motherhood in a different light. In this novel, she showcases some mother figures who fall beyond the norms of the established archetypical concepts of Motherhood . By introducing these non-traditional mothers, Roy tries to establish the idea that, for becoming a mother, one does not need to have any biological interconnectedness. Moreover, by representing queer mothers like Anjum and Saeeda, and a childless mother like Tilo, Roy has dismantled and challenged the fabricated, age-old patriarchal conception of Motherhood. This study will represent the diversity of maternal images created by Roy in the novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, and match those mother figures according to the above-mentioned categories of mothers. II. D iscussion Erma Bombeck writes in her book Motherhood: the Second Oldest Profession that, “Motherhood is not a one-size-fits-all, a mold that is all-encompassing and means the same to all people … No mother is all good or all bad, all laughing or all serious, all loving or all angry. Ambivalence runs through their veins” ( Bombeck, 10 ). This assertion of Bombeck suggests the diversity of Motherhood prevails in the contemporary world as present-day mothers are going through a time of transition. Arundhati Roy, the writer, and social activist, concentrated on penning down maternal issues with diverse topics such as India’s nuclear weapons and American power giant Enron’s activities in India. While talking about her principles of writing, she stated, addressing the audience at Sharjah International Book Fair, “I have never been particularly ambitious. I am not a careerist; I am not trying to get anywhere in a career. It is more important to engage with society, to live it, to have different experiences” ( The Indian Express , 2012). Her social engagement leads her to scrutinize the exceptional and hidden issues and the problems of society. She has dealt with the sensitive issues like gender roles and motherhood. Roy has become successful in demonstrating her efficiency in walking beyond the circle. This mastery of dealing with almost untouchable issues gets its strong expression in her second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, where she focuses on the dynamic representation of maternal images, most of which fall outside the traditional conception. Volume XXII Issue XI Version I 32 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals A Diversity of Maternal Image in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness