A Longing to Belong Home and Alienation in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss 2006 dramatizes the entanglement of personal alienation with collective histories of dispossession. Set primarily in Kalimpong during the turbulence of the Gorkhaland agitation of the 1980s, the novel foregrounds the fractured lives of characters who struggle to negotiate identity, belonging, and displacement across geographies and cultural contexts. This article interrogates the motif of alienation in Desai's narrative, situating it within postcolonial theoretical debates and the socio historical landscape of northern West Bengal. By analysing the trajectories of Sai, Jemubhai, Biju, and Gyan, the discussion illuminates how colonial legacies, globalization, and ethnic nationalism shape both psychic estrangement and quests for community. The article contends that Desai destabilizes romanticized notions of home, instead presenting belonging as contingent, fractured, and relational. Sangay Tenzin "A Longing to Belong: Home and Alienation in Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-9 | Issue-5 , October 2025, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd97439.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/english/97439/a-longing-to-belong-home-and-alienation-in-kiran-desai's-the-inheritance-of-loss/sangay-tenzin