Description:
The Partition of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan was a momentous event. It affected millions of people, changed the geography of the world and continues to impact the countries of the sub-continent, even today. Many writers from the sub-continent have portrayed the Partition and the political milieu surrounding it, in several languages, from several perspectives. Bapsi Sidhwa, a Parsee, Pakistani female writer has also portrayed the Partition in her novels. Sidhwa’s novels have been critiqued by a number of critics, from different angles, but still there is a scope and place for a fresh reading of her novels. The present study intended to investigate the portrayal of politics and ideologies in her novels, which led to Partition and its portrayal in them. The novels included in the present study are Ice Candy Man, The Crow Eaters and The Bride. The study was based upon the exhaustive analysis and interpretation of the texts from these novels in the light of a combination of critical approaches, especially Postcolonial critical theory and Feminism, with Marxism and New Criticism in the background. The study rejected the claims and contentions of critics, who adjudged her portrayal of the partition as Pakistani perspective on Partition. The study also verified the proposition that politics affects people, therefore their keen interest in it and as a result its portrayal in literature.