Published Paper Details:

The current paper discusses the relation between 'memory' and 'migration' as cited in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Before We Visit the Goddess. Divakaruni's novels majorly focus on the immigrant experience and present how the shift in America's commitment to multiculturalism caused a surge in the number of immigrants. While the immigrants benefit on the economic front, they are always preoccupied with memories of their home and homeland. These memories often glorify the home land i.e., the past. This glorification of the past is often a reaction to the shortcomings that immigrants experience in the present. Immigrants, therefore are in constant engagement with their past. However, a few who immigrate often choose to assimilate into the core culture of the adopted land. But, Divakaruni's novels provide ample scope to explore how immigrants cannot disengage with their past. The past and the present are intertwined. Divakaruni's novels add another dimension to this argument where the present occurrences and their effect on the human psyche aids in getting a clearer picture of the past. The current paper aims to explore the relationship of 'memory' and 'migration' under this light. Primarily it aspires to understand the impact of memory on the immigrant within the multicultural context of the United States. By doing so, the paper attempts to decipher whether memory plays an enabling or disabling role in the lives of immigrants in a multicultural scenario. This paper therefore aims at exploring the politics of memory as presented in Before We Visit the Goddess. The selected text centres around the lives of three women who have been separated by 'migration' and but remain connected to each other through 'memories.'