Evolving Sense of Moral Paradigms: A Detailed Study of Kamala Markandaya’s Novel A Handful of Rice

This world can be renamed as chaos because humans have been searching for answers to a host of perennial questions on this earth. Among those, the major disputed idea is morality. Considering morality has no objectivity, people start acting under self-righteousness. This tendency persuades people to indulge in immoral activities without any guilt or concern for the well-being of society. The paper aims to analyze the reasons for moral disagreements and evaluate the status of morality in the contemporary world by grounding the concepts of Russ Shafer-Landau, a 21st-century American philosopher. Moreover, it examines the status of morality by comparing the situations faced by the characters employed by Kamala Markandaya in the novel A Handful of Rice. The paper employs a conceptual analysis, complemented by close reading, to clarify and examine concepts such as moral objectivism, skepticism, and relativism. The close reading method facilitates the analysis of the restraints faced by Markandaya’s characters in their pursuit of righteousness.