International Journal of
English and Literature

  • Abbreviation: Int. J. English Lit.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-2626
  • DOI: 10.5897/IJEL
  • Start Year: 2010
  • Published Articles: 281

Article in Press

Distortion of Nepalese Culture and Social Norms in Upadhyay’s Buddha’s Orphans

Ramesh Prasad Adhikary

  •  Received: 04 May 2020
  •  Accepted: 06 July 2020
This research article is mainly focused on how Samrat Upadhyayha has distorted Nepalese Culture and social norms in the novel Buddha’s Orphans. Nepalese culture and society are represented in a biased way from the western perspective. By using oriental stereotypes, the author has represented Nepal and the religious belief of Nepalese people in a wrong way. The characters of this novel like Bokey Ba, Kaki, Raja, Jamuna and Ganga Da are presented as irrational and badly conservative people who believe in witch doctors, not in the medical doctors. They are presented as impulsive and eccentric. The setting of this novel is represented as exotic, enigmatic and mysterious. Kathmandu valley and Nepalese people are not well described as they are real in Kathmandu. As a qualitative research, the researcher has taken the novel as primary text and the concepts from orientalism, and Foucauldian notion of representation are used as a tool to interpret the text. The researcher concluded that the novel is misrepresentation of Nepalese culture and society.

Keywords: representation, orientalism, misrepresentation, stereotype, culture