Identity Crisis and their Tragic Destinies in Anees Salim’s The Small Town Sea

Abstract

The postmodern familial structure is deeply shattered due to the emotional distance between family members. Traditional cultural values are fragmented by giving rise to strained and fragile relationships within the modern nuclear family. Parents serve as the primary source and the foundation of identity and emotional grounding for their children. When this foundation gets collapsed through death, abandonment, neglect of the emotional instability and moral confusions and pave way to negative influences. Mainly, orphan children from minority communities get affected severely as they face social exclusion, limited opportunities and isolation. Anees Salim, being an Indian writer shed light on the lives of orphan and abandoned children by the parents in the society. The novel The SmallTown Sea exposes the struggles faced by the thirteen years old protagonist, after the death of his deceased father and remarried mother. This paper explores how the lack of nurturing environment leads to severe loss of identity in the abandoned child’s life.