Funny Boy: Dismantling The System Of Carnal And Racial Autocracy

Abstract

The horrific ethnic clashes between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka during the early 1980s are the backdrop for Shyam Selvadurai’s novel, Funny Boy (1994). Selvadurai is a Sri Lankan-Canadian writer. Six chronologically related stories that center on the subaltern core character's gender, sexual orientation, and race make up the novel. Arjun Chelvaratnam, also known as Arjie, is the main character. He comes from a Tamil minority household and is subjected to strict and oppressive rules from his patriarchal family, which prevents him from engaging in his passion of cross-dressing. These rules are contrasted with a string of tragic ethnic conflicts that occur throughout the nation. Because of his non- traditional sexual orientation, Arjie feels sexually uncomfortable in his own family and faces political limits due to his race. This research seeks to investigate Arjie's battle to liberate himself from the constraints of gender and desirability and accept his emerging[1] sexuality. Michel Foucault's concept of power is also referred to in order to obtain theoretical insight into the process of gendered "othering" and to provide critical opinions on the marginalization of the third gender as a power discourse in society.