Contextualizing Gora: caste, politics and the nation

This study by using the New Historicist method will look at the novel ‘Gora’ as a product of its time and not in isolation. The various characters of the novel will be studied including the protagonist Gora to unravel the larger historical context rather than dealing with the text from a literary perspective. Keeping in view the importance of the novel both from the point of view of societal and political perception, the present study will deal with the ideas of caste prejudices, nationalism, women's issues, etc. with which Tagore was concerned in very many ways. The novel will be viewed as a narrative of intellectual awareness which uncovers an interface between the notions of orthodox Hinduism and the Brahmo Samaj. The study will try and look at the idea of negotiations and reconciliations in relation to the idea of the nation vis-à-vis caste and the aspiration of the outcastes for self-determination.