Cultural Evils and Family Crisis: Testing Faith and Identity in Rohinton Mistry’s Family Matters

Abstract

Rohinton Mistry’s work always deals with the complex relationship between the family, religion, tradition and the identity of the individual. Family Matters (2002) is an Indian Diasporic novel that examines the suffering of an elderly Parsi man who led his life with economic, political and religious turmoil. This particular work of Rohinton, i.e Family Matters, is a suitable example of Cultural turmoil or evils in which socially inherited practices, prejudices, customs, ideologies and behavioral patterns become destructive when they are treated with undeniable tradition. This paper stands as the central stigma, where he exposes how cultural beliefs play a pivotal role when the self is detached from compassion, logic and dignity. This study focuses mainly on the patriarchal society and ageing, racial and religious purity, gender restrictions and the economy. It also examines the Parsi community’s disquiet, which mainly focuses on their demographic decline and the survival of their culture. This paper is widely interpreted from postcolonial and social perspectives. It simply brings out various observations such as tolerance, compassion, dignity and human responsibility. On the other hand, this paper deals with an identity crisis both in culture and individuality.