Treatment of Marginalization as a Major Social Concern in Arundhati Roy’s The Doctor and the Saint

Abstract

The present research paper is a humble attempt to find out the elements of marginalization of depressed classes in the non-fictional work The Doctor and the Saint by Arundhati Roy. She has presented many examples with their evidences in this work to prove the backwardness and poor conditions of the weaker classes in the Indian society. Methodology and Approach: The present research paper is based on the nonfictional work ‘The Doctor and the Saint’ (2014) by Arundhati Roy as a primary text. It has employed the textual analysis approach to analyze the text of the novel.Outcome: Dalits were socially discarded before the independence as they did not have access to drinking water, schools and hospitals. After the independence also their situation has not improved enough to lead them into the mainstream. Ms. Roy presents many incidents of the marginalization of the depressed classes in various fields into this work. The subaltern classes have negligible representation in judiciary, businesses, media houses, television industry, bureaucracy and university faculties. However, they have excess representation as sweepers, where they have to do the menial jobs like sweeping streets, toilet cleaning and manhole cleaning. Conclusion and Suggestion: The present research paper suggests that the Dalits struggle into the society to get equal rights like a common man. Although government made many stringent laws to protect them from the violence and exploitation, yet their exploitation did not stop. As per the NCRB data a crime is committed against Dalits by non-Dalits in every 16 minutes. Despite the reservation in jobs, their vacancies remain vacant in various government sectors. More than 70% of their population does not meet the eligibility criteria to apply for the governme