Topic > The Alienated Self in Anita Desai's 'Fire on the Mountain' younger generation, she is the only novelist who shows some sort of resemblance to Arun Joshi. But Arun Joshi still has a gap to fill, to acquire Anita Desai's reach. Engaged in writing novels, she is very practical in her craft. The search for himself in his novels and his obsessive existential concern are highlighted in all his novels. The emphasis is on his search for true identity, the sense of loneliness he feels and how he expresses it through images, symbolism, structure and narrative techniques. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay For Anita Desai, freedom implies freedom in toto, as the nexus of ideas that form the background of her conception of human life. Perhaps there is nothing truly new in these ideas, but Anita Desai continues to work in her novels with one significant difference. In his novels there is the recognition that freedom is one with creativity and that only pure freedom can make the world happy. Yet no theory of human nature is new. Anita Desai underlines the responsibility of an action that appears even banal. Our highest purpose fails miserably without positive action and then we come up with some possibility, lack of purpose or cross-purpose. The madness of Anita Desai's heroines echoes the same thing. Their voices end in madness and again in an action that appears half accidental and half voluntary. In most of his novels he has a philosophical formulation, but not the age-old philosophical problems. It simply, but adequately describes some phenomena of human life, such as the problem of taste, the question of nature and the origin of values. His preferences can be listed according to different colors of vision, which seems very important for telling us what this or that man is or what men or women are in general. He designs the situation and creates such individuals without any recourse to ideas of beauty. Rather they have an integral relationship with what the individual essentially is or is becoming. In this regard we have his characters based on existential psychoanalysis. The most significant part of his novels are the dialogues or monologues. Today my focus is on one of his most important novels, "Fire on the Mountain" in which he highlights the truth that "A life of undiluted reality or undiluted illusion means tragedy." .In Fire on the Mountain sends us a very valuable positive message in the context of our contemporary society. It gives us the opportunity to try to find a balance between reality and illusion and to make our lives more meaningful. Nanda Kaul and Ila das are characters whose existential problems are unresolved. Nanda Kaul feeds on illusion. But when he receives the tragic news of Ila das' rape and murder, his illusion turns into reality. In contrast, Ila das deals with real life. Nanda Kaul, an old woman, has had too much of the world with her and longs for a quiet and retired life. His hectic past now seems like a decidedly disgusting candy box. She desperately wants to avoid the family obligations around her. He wants to free himself from any suffocating and irritating involvement. So he retreats with determination to Carignano, his house in the hills, Kasauli, where he hopes to live a period of reduced and radiantly single life. She screams in agony: “Have I done enough and had enough? I don't want anything else. I don't want anything. Can't I be left with nothing?” Nanda Kaul's cry is nothing but aI cry in the desert, a prayer shot into the empty air that goes unheard and unanswered. Physically he manages to retreat from the hard life of duties and responsibilities, irritations and annoyances, dubious joys and certain sadnesses. It cannot even escape the past, nor help the present nor predict the future. Apparently she's all alone. Her past keeps her stuttering in her memory and these memories create uncontrollable feelings in her consciousness. Even his past is not free from disturbances. There is Raka, her great-grandson, and Ila das, her old friend and classmate. Raka's arrival makes no difference to Nanda Kaul. He considers her an unwelcome guest, an intruder. Raka also feels no less unhappy, like a caged bird, a wild animal tamed and domesticated. They live separately, despite living under the same roof. There is a strange living together, resenting and avoiding each other's presence. If the old woman loves to live alone, the young Raka wants it no less but with a certain difference. Yet his arrival at Carignano has created a situation for Nanda Kaul from which he cannot escape. Anita Desai describes their loneliness in these lines: "If Nanda Kaul was a recluse out of revenge for a long life of duties and obligations, her great-granddaughter was a recluse by nature..." So it seems they are an awkward couple, nor of belonging to each other. Then we have Ila das, a piano teacher turned social worker who also breaks into Nanda Kaul's loneliness. His voice is enough to disturb Nanda Kaul's life. Indeed, Ila das is a noble soul who struggles against the adversities of life. He is aware of the facts of life that misery and suffering are inevitable in life. So always keep smiling. Ila das simply tries to stop Preet Singh's daughter's disastrous wedding. For her good intentions she is attacked and raped under the cover of darkness. The telephonic news of his death causes the death of Nanda Kaul. This tragedy leaves Raka completely alone. For Nanda Kaul the past, present and future are all in ashes. He tried to create a fantasy world of the past, a world of happy families, love, wealth and good mood. Suddenly the news of Ila das's death tears the curtain and reveals the hidden reality. The fabrication of fantasy serves no purpose. The hidden reality is enough to force Raka to escape and seek thrills by setting fire to the mountainside. Ila dies leaving her fantasy, while Nanda Kaul sees. Nanda Kaul finds how senseless the compromise between external and internal experiences is. Everyone is struck once again by the lack of waste of human potential. Nanda Kaul's attempt to pinpoint the pattern of events in human existence appears to be a futile exercise. She tries to detach herself from the world, but the world clings tenaciously to her. She is tired of her past and therefore moves to a new paradise. But the past, including the memory of her husband's infidelity, continues to attack her. He resents Raka but cannot deny her. He wants to take Carignano away from her but he doesn't. He detects Ila das's voice but cannot remove her. When he takes pity on her, he feels that he should invite her to stay with her, but he doesn't. When Ila das dies an unnatural death, Nanda Kaul succumbs to the shock of this news and Raka remains the only survivor. The mountain fire, alluded to so often in the novel, symbolizes the eternally imminent danger that can overwhelm anyone at any moment. We're not even sure he'll leave Raka intact. Human existence is never certain, it is never at the mercy of chance, and it cannot escape the truth that is death. So in short it is absurd, futile and meaningless. Self-realization is not the main goal of fantasy in Fire on the Mountain,.