Published Paper Details:

Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace (2000), set in late colonial Burma during the upheavals of World War II, has frequently been viewed through the prism of nationalist awakening, with Arjun's trajectory interpreted as a move from imperial devotion to anti-colonial conscience. Such interpretations, however, tend to prioritise intellectual transition while ignoring the institutional and emotional roots of his previous loyalty. To fill this gap, the current study examines how Arjun's loyalty is fostered by military discipline and maintained by affective attachment. Drawing on Michel Foucault's concept of disciplinary power and Sara Ahmed's theory of affective economies, the study contends that Arjun's affiliation with the British Empire is influenced by professional ethos, institutional regulation, and an emotional stake in honour and recognition. His wartime disillusionment is thus interpreted not as a sudden ideological conversion, but as the collapse of a disciplinary-affective framework that had organised his sense of self. This work contributes to postcolonial literary scholarship by focusing on the formation and destabilisation of colonial-military subjectivity, providing a more nuanced understanding of imperial devotion and its fragility.