Literary analysis reveals acute identity conflict and alienation among homosexual protagonists, highlighting the psychological toll of legal prohibitions.
Key Points
To examine the homosexual psyche and assess the psychological effects of heteronormativity, legal prohibition, and social stigma through the literary works of Shyam Selvadurai.
Conducted close literary analyses of the protagonists Amrith and Shivan in the novels Swimming in the Monsoon Sea and The Hungry Ghosts.
Contextualized literary characterizations using published legal frameworks, social records, and survey-based secondary data concerning LGBTQ+ communities in Sri Lanka.
Observed the contradictory coexistence of formal legal prohibition and informal social tolerance, exposing protagonists to recurring fear, shame, invisibility, and identity conflict.
Identified pathways of self-recognition and psychological resistance in protagonists despite institutional pressures from colonial-era criminal statutes, political systems, and family structures.