Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee: Negotiating Diasporic Identity, Gender, and Cultural Hybridity

Abstract
Bharati Mukherjee’s Desirable Daughters (2002) explores the intertwined lives of three Bengali sisters—Tara, Padma, and Parvati—against the backdrop of migration, cultural heritage, and gendered expectations. Set across India and the United States, the novel investigates the complexities of diasporic identity, the tension between tradition and modernity, and the negotiation of selfhood in multicultural spaces. Through myth, memory, and personal narratives, Mukherjee presents a nuanced portrayal of immigrant women navigating social, familial, and personal pressures. This article critically examines four core dimensions of the novel: (1) cultural heritage and family myth, (2) diasporic identity and hybridity, (3) gender, agency, and tradition, and (4) belonging, alienation, and home. By analysing the sisters’ divergent experiences and the narrative strategies employed, the study highlights Mukherjee’s critique of essentialist notions of “Indian” and “American” identities, her attention to female agency, and the complexities of negotiating life across continents. Ultimately, the novel demonstrates that identity is dynamic, multifaceted, and continually reconstructed in the interplay between culture, migration, and gender.

Keywords: Diaspora, Identity, Hybridity, Gender, Migration, Indian-American, Cultural Heritage, Belonging, Patriarchy, Memory