JNROnline Journal Journal of Natural Remedies ISSN: 2320-3358 (e) Vol. 21, No. 7(S1). 2020 ISSN: 0972-5547(p) EXPLORATION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY IN MARGARET DRABBLE’S JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN Author R. ANTO SINDHUJA Ph.D Scholar (Reg. No:18121274012021), St. John’s College, Palayamkottai Manonmaiam Sundaranar University, Abishekapatti Co-Author Dr. D. NALINA PALIN Assot. Prof of English, St.John’s College, Palayamkottai Manonmaiam Sundaranar University Abishekapatti ABSTRACT The contemporary women seek social identity and fight to attain a greater position in the society. This struggle can be seen in the lives of the protagonists of Drabble’s novel. Margaret Drabble is a post modern writer. Her works are the great fiction of the individuals’ growth and development in the society. Her novels usually end with its protagonists’ attainment of wisdom and triumph. Her protagonists struggle for their identity in the society. In the novel Jerusalem the Golden Clara Maugham’s quest for the social identity has been depicted clearly. The novel has been portrayed in the postmodern aspect. In her every work and character the readers can sense the strong feminist view. She sketches the characters as searching for their position in academic level and in the society. According to Drabble, one becomes relevant to others by living with external rhythms. This is how relationships in the society are formed and this helps human beings to lead harmonious life. This paper deals with the efforts of Clara Maugham, the central character of Jerusalem the Golden who seeks her social identity. Key Words: Post modernism, Feminism, Social identity. Women know their massive strengths; they strive to pinpoint their self-identity. Women fight ferociously not only for individuality but also fight to identify their position in the society. As a result women attain almost all the positions in the society. Women expose themselves as strong workers, excellent home makers, shinning stars, powerful leaders, creative artists, inventive scientists, leading entrepreneurs etc. Women play important role in the society. Drabble’s protagonists strive to explore their self-identity, their role in the family and also they explore their positon in the society. This paper throws light on the search for the social identity by Clara Maugham, the protagonist of the novel Jerusalem the Golden. Post modernism gives voice to the insecurities, disorientation and fragmentation of the twentieth century western world. The Narrative Techniques of postmodern works are, fragmentation, paradox, and unreliable narrator. Post modernism gives way to multiple interpretations the style which emerged in the post World War II era. Postmodernism is at once a continuation of and a break away from the modernist stance. Postmodernism does not easily or directly convey a solid meaning. Feminism is another major theory in her novels. Most of her novels deal with female characters; the life, the struggle, the development of the women.NeeruTandon, the topper and gold medalist obtained Ph.D in Indian English Literature from Kanpur University. She is a feminist. She says in the introduction to Feminine Psyche: A Post-Modern Critique, “Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements and moral philosophies. Many focus on analyzing what they believe to be social constructions of gender and sexuality. Many focus on studying gender inequality and promoting women’s rights, interests and issues” (1). Margaret Drabble was born in Sheffield on 5 June 1939. She studied at the Mount School, a Quaker boarding school in York, and read English at Newnham College, Cambridge. After she 61 Journal of Natural Remedies Vol. 21, No. 7(S1), (2020) leaves the University of Cambridge she started writing. She got married to the biographer Michael Holroyd and lives in London and Somerset. Her sister A.S.Byatt is a novelist and critic. She became an actress and worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon before her first novel, A Summer Birdcage. Her other novels include The Garrick Year ; The Millstone, winner of the Mail on Sunday, John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, in which a young academic becomes pregnant after a casual relationship; Jerusalem the Golden, The Waterfall, The Needle's Eye, The Realms of Gold, The Ice Age. The Radiant Way, A Natural Curiosity and The Gates of Ivory, The Witch of Exmoor, The Peppered Moth, The Seven Sisters, The Red Queen, The Sea Lady andThe Pattern in the Carpet. Her most recent novel is The Pure Gold Baby. Margaret Drabble is also the author of biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson. She is a former Chairman of the National Book League from 1980 to 1982, and was awarded the CBE in 1980. She received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973, and holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Sheffield, Manchester, Keele, Bradford, Hull, East Anglia and York. Her latest books are the memoir, The Pattern in the Carpet, in which she looks at her own life, the history of games and the delights of puzzling and A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman, a collection of short stories. The Bible says, “A sewer went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the way – side; and it was trampled down and the birds of the air devoured it.” “Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.” “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and chocked it.” “But others fell on good ground sprang up and yielded a crop a hundred fold”.(1004) The life of the protagonist is paralleled to this parable. Clara believes that her ancestry or her community has great impact in her life. As some seeds which fall on thorns are scorched by it, the women belong to certain community are not satisfied with it and so they suffer. Some of them struggle to come out from thorny group and search for good ground, some struggle to change their community into good ground. Saul McLeod in his ‘Social Identity Theory’ says that social identity has three levels; categorization, social identification and social comparison. At the first stage an individual categorizes people in order to identify oneself, then in the second stage a person spots oneself in particular group and in the final stage an individual compares her own group with other groups. McLeod’s first stage of social identity theory is social categorization. An individual categorizes people or objects into particular groups in order to understand the social environment or quality. He says, If we can assign people to a category then that tells us things about those people and as we saw with the bus driver example, we couldn’t function in a normal manner without using these categories; i.e., in the context of the bus. Similarly we find out things about ourselves by knowing what categories we belong to. We define appropriate behavior by reference to the norms of groups we belong to, but you can only do this if you can tell who belongs to your group. An individual can belong to many different groups (web). The second stage is social identification. In this stage an individual adapts the identity of the group one has categorized. For example if an individual has categorized oneself as a writer, then that individual adapts the identity of a writer and begins to act as a writer. There will be an emotional significance to one’s identification with a group and one’s self-esteem becomes bound up with group membership. The third stage of social identity theory is social comparison. In this stage an individual, after identifying oneself in a particular group compares that group with other groups.“The final stage is social comparison, once we have categorized ourselves as part of a group and have 62 Journal of Natural Remedies Vol. 21, No. 7(S1), (2020) identified with that group we then tend to compare that group with other groups. If our self esteem is to be maintained our group needs to compare favourably with other groups”(web). Drabble believes that an individual’s behaviourcan not be judged too harshly. They reflect what they have seen and experienced from their surrounding and environment. Most of Drabble’s protagonists strive for social identification. In the second stage a person adapts, the identity of the group, one has categorized. This social identity is gained from their surroundings i.e, family members, friends, relatives and colleague. In this novel Jerusalem the Golden Clara belongs to the Northam family and she never finds satisfaction as a member of the Northam family. She sees the Denham family as superior. So she wants herself to fix in that family and she is ready to do anything to join in that family. Mary Hurley Moran says that “Just as poor environmental conditions can impede the growth of a plant, so unhealthy familial and social conditions can deflect a person’s proper development” (39). Clara feels barren and infertile in her native soil with her undesirable family heritage. So she attempts to plant herself in a new family in London. She also tries to get away from her roots, but this connection is blood relation, it is so basic and so she can not get away from her own family psychologically. She is terrified that she will begin to follow the footsteps of her ancestors as she declares “I will never get away, the apple does not fall far from the tree”(202). Just to come again, in social identity theory the group membership is not something foreign or artificial, but it is a real, true and vital part of a person.