Keywords
identity, power, modernity, social expectations.
Abstract
Shyam Selvadurai’s Cinnamon Gardens (1998) reconstructs colonial Ceylon as a site of layered tensions where modernity, reform, and tradition coexist uneasily. This paper re-examines the novel through postcolonial and intersectional feminist frameworks, arguing that Selvadurai exposes colonial modernity as structurally contradictory: while it promises progress, it simultaneously sustains hierarchies of class, gender, and sexuality. By focusing on Annalukshmi’s pursuit of autonomy and Balendran’s repression of queer desire, the novel foregrounds the lived realities of individuals negotiating rigid social expectations. Incorporating textual analysis, this study demonstrates how Selvadurai destabilizes dominant historical narratives and re-centers marginalized experiences. Ultimately, the novel reveals that modernity under colonial rule produces not liberation, but reconfigured forms of constraint.
