Marginalized in Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness in the Light of Louis Althusser’s “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus”

Abstract

This article proposes to research the people who are considered peripheral and dwelling only on the margin of a modern developed Indian society based on their portrayal in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The word marginal generally refers to the state of being not regarded as a part of a main group or situation. The principal characters of Roy’s stunning humane fiction The Ministry of Utmost Happiness- Anjum, Saddam, Tilo, Musa, and others do not belong to the mainstream class of Indian society and are neglected, pushed over on several occasions and almost broken by the society in which they live in. It is possible to explore the complex process of marginalization with the theory of Loius Althusser’s “Ideology and Ideological state apparatus”. He has presented ideology as a system of delusion that acts on behalf of the ruling class. Considering Roy’s, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness with Louis Althusser’s” Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus” proves every aspect of human life is badly affected by ideology. His theory shows how the Ideological State Apparatus legalized the domination of the lower-class people.