Finding Hope in the Fractured Self: A Post-Structuralist Reading of Jerry Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom

This article seeks to explore Jerry Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom through a post-structuralist lens, whilst analysing the overall narrative and character dynamics. Central to this examination is the discussion of how language and meaning is decentralized through the character of Em; whose expressions and thoughts work as rhizomes that offer novelty of perspective. The paper also seeks to examine the fluidity of identity of the four major characters in the novel. By studying the novel within the larger framework of post-structuralism, with a particular focus on ‘becoming’, assemblage’, and ‘rhizomes’ by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the paper aims to understand the workings of interconnectedness within the text. The article also seeks to discuss how Em’s speech, though seemingly unstable, reveal an implicit wisdom when viewed through a post-structuralist framework. In Pinto’s attempt to bring mental health to light through literature, he also brings alive a story that is deeply moving at various levels. The novel speaks about the trauma that Em and her family went through because of Em’s mental health; this article seeks to study how in the midst of this darkness, hope shines through – in Pinto’s writing, the language of Em and the sheer grit of her family.