The Overflow of Contained Emotions in Anita Rau Badami’s The Hero’s Walk

An Analysis of Affects through the Imagery of Water

Authors

  • María Luz González-Rodríguez University of La Laguna

Abstract

In this article, Anita Rau Badami's second novel, The Hero’s Walk (2000), is analysed through the perspective of the field of affects. This analysis examines how the author, through the imagery of water, presents the non-physical reality of feelings and emotions. Water is the most receptive of the elements, a source of continuous, intimate and transitory metamorphoses.  In the form of storms, floods, and other types of natural phenomena related to this element, it is possible to observe how Badami makes use of a metaphorical conceptualisation of intense emotional states related to the psychological trauma that arises from the loss of a loved one. For the purpose of analysis, several important sources in the field of affect theory and water symbolism will be considered. Special emphasis will also be placed on the body (and the house as an integral extension of it) as a receptacle for contained emotions in the processing of pain. 

Keywords

Anita Rau Badami, grief, water symbolism, emotions and metaphor, the body as container, guilt, dirt

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Author Biography

María Luz González-Rodríguez, University of La Laguna

is an associate professor in the English and German Philology Department at the University of La Laguna. Since the beginning of her career, her research has focused on Anglo-Canadian literature, cultural studies, and, more significantly, Anglo-Indian literature belonging to the American and Canadian diaspora. Her publications deal with women's studies and the search for identity from both an individual and national point of view, applying different theoretical frameworks such as symbology, Jungian psychoanalysis, ecocriticism, and affect studies. As a teacher, she has taught various subjects in literature and cultures in English, such as American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, African and Indian. 

 

Published

19-04-2022

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