Signs of Marginal Frame of Mind in Mahesh Dattani’s Clearing the Rubble

Abstract

Mahesh Dattani is a Sahitya Akademiaward-winning dramatist. His play projects the problems faced by the marginal and unvoiced community. He represents the unvarnished realities of the contemporary society in a realistic tone. The play Clearing the Rubble dig deep into the marginal mentality that prevails in the mind of the people and also the efforts of marginal people to enhance their social status. Dattani expresses the marginal feel through various signs with beautiful metaphorical expressions. The existential crisis of the marginal people is also highlighted in the play through the marginalized characters created by the playwright. The inner feeling of the marginal people and their feel of marginality is well expressed by the dramatists. His radio plays are mapped out in such a way that the audience feels the pleasure of experiencing a drama on stage. The mental and physical pain ofpeople in a world of injustice due to the impact of marginalization is set forth by Dattani in his play Clearing the Rubble. The BBC radio broadcasted the play on the 17th of January 2002 at 2.00 p.m. The play was written as a remembrance of the earthquake that affected Bhuj in the year 2001. The play discusses the prefixed marginal feel in the mind of the people, their struggle to overcome the feeling of marginality through education and money. The paper analyses the signs and symbols by Dattani to denote the marginal mind, gender discrimination, and the search for identity.