Paper Details

Name: Poonam Kimta Chauhan
Country: India

Year: 2015
Volume: Volume-2, Issue-2 (July-December)
Page Number: 7-15

The journey of protagonist of The Thousand Faces of Night Devi’s relational life starts from her parental home where she is a pampered child and enjoys much attention, warmth, and love there. She lives with her parents in a happy consanguineous relation. She comes from an affectionate and protective family that adheres to the prescriptive words of the Mahabharata, “the goddess of prosperity herself always resides in a person’s daughter” and according to the Dharmashastras, “one should regard one’s daughters as the highest object of tenderness” (qtd. in Prabhu 247). As Devi grows up she becomes increasingly dreamy and lives in an imaginary world conjured by her grandmother. She links every situation of her life with that of her childhood stories. Devi weaves romantic dreams about love, marriage, and a husband, “I dreamt often of a god-like hero, a hero who flew effortlessly across the night sky, and who guided me gently when he saw my own desperate desire to fly with him. I also had recurring nightmares, in which the weightless, smooth gliding I now craved was brought to an abrupt halt, mid-flight. He or I, he and I, would come hurtling down, down, and in a chill of fright I would wake up” (46). In this dream, Devi experiences subconscious apprehension and fear which are an indication of her future life where she strives to sustain and maintain her relationship with Dan, Mahesh and Gopal.