Speaking the Subaltern in English: Language, Realism, and Social Justice in Indian Literature

Abstract

Aims: The study aims to interrogate the politics of language choice in Indian literature by examining how English, despite its colonial legacy, is appropriated, reshaped, and strategically deployed to articulate marginalized experiences.

Methodology: The paper adopts a qualitative, interdisciplinary approach, combining postcolonial theory (Spivak, Bhabha), subaltern studies (Guha), and realism as a socio-political aesthetic. Close textual readings of selected Indian English novels and narratives are undertaken to trace linguistic strategies such as code-switching, testimonial realism, and narrative fragmentation.

Outcome: The analysis demonstrates that Indian English literature enables a form of mediated subaltern speech, one that does not claim pure authenticity but foregrounds structural silences, ethical witnessing, and representational limits. English emerges as a language of resistance when reshaped by local idioms and lived realities.

Conclusion and Suggestions: The paper concludes that realism in Indian English writing functions not as mere mimesis but as an ethical practice that insists on social accountability. Subaltern speech, though mediated, becomes politically resonant rather than erased. Future research may extend this inquiry to digital narratives, regional-to-English translations, and comparative Global South literatures to further examine evolving modes of subaltern expression.