The Traumatized Psyche in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices

Abstract

Childhood experiences can create a mark in the character and attitude towards life of an individual. One reflects on what he sees around him, what he is told off by others and his experiences. It is based on all these that one creates his Identity. For women even this Identity is induced by others – family and society. She is said what is right and what is wrong and indeed given a manifesto of life. She tends to follow it knowingly or unknowingly and it is at a later stage that she starts her Quest for Identity. This paper throws light on the life experiences leading to trauma in Tilo, the protagonist in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices. Tilo is unaware that she is being controlled or trapped into a pool of mysteries. Though she attains nor is awarded the identity of The Mistress of Spices, she is bound by a number of rules restricting her wishes and desires. This paper reflects on how the identity and mystical power she attained becomes a bane to her. The story reveals the traumatic experiences the protagonist had to undergo while she helps out the people around her using her mystical power at the same time failing to fulfill her desires. She is an epitome of the normal women who has the same flesh and blood of a human but whose desires and wishes never find an outlet. The paper reveals her experiences from childhood to adulthood, the trajectory of her Identity through names and situations – from Nayantara to Maya, who is torn between the sensual pleasures and her mystical and healing powers.