Orientalist Representation in Sarah Macdonald’s Holy Cow

Abstract

This research entitled “Orientalist Representation in Macdonald’s Holy Cow” casts light on how the orientalism has relegated Indians into degraded level even in the postcolonial period. The nonwestern characters in Macdonald’s Holy Cow are subjected to various traumatic experiences. This travelogue presents Vivek, Harilal and Keval as a representative nonwestern people. The Sikh character in Keval is referred to as "the Great Hermaphrodite" and a "hairy man-woman." Indians have own life style, culture, civilization and attitude to native people. Macdonald portrays the troubled relation between the non-west and west. The entire regional culture and geography of India appears to be an exotic land caught in the turmoil and tension created by the conflicting interests of various power centers. The zone of India looms as the defeated, polluted, strange, and static world. Most of the youths in this travelogue are found humiliated, defeated, and resigned to their lives due to systematic marginalization of west.