Diaspora, Displacement, and Psychological Disintegration: A Critical Analysis of Female Identity Crisis in Bharati Mukherjee's Wife

Abstract

This paper examines the psychological trauma and identity crisis experienced by the female protagonist, Dimple Dasgupta, in Bharati Mukherjee's novel Wife (1975). Through the lens of diaspora studies and feminist literary criticism, the study explores how migration from Kolkata to New York precipitates Dimple's mental disintegration. The paper analyses the intersecting factors of cultural displacement, patriarchal marriage structures, social isolation, and linguistic alienation that culminate in her psychological breakdown and ultimate act of violence. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Edward Said, Salman Rushdie, and feminist critics, this analysis reveals how Mukherjee portrays the gendered experience of immigration and the devastating consequences of failed assimilation for immigrant women trapped between traditional expectations and modern American life. The research demonstrates that Dimple's tragedy represents not merely individual pathology but a systemic failure of both patriarchal structures and the assimilation paradigm to accommodate women's needs and agency.