Strategic Use of Speech Acts in Fasting, Feasting, By Anita Desai

Linguistic skills of humankind make it superior in the ecological world. It shares a major part of its achievements as a race. Language has contributed immensely in the development and advancement of human civilization. The use of language has been seeking attention of all the scholars over a period as it has been creatively used as per the requirement of a speaker. What makes language so powerful or important? Is it the form of language or function of the language? As we can see that there is no conformity between form and function of the language. The sentence and the meaning of the sentence differ many a times. This feature of language was the focus of Pragmatic scholars. It was called language in context or practical use of language. Scholars like J. L. Austin and Searle made a huge contribution in understanding and studying this phenomenon of the language. J. L. Austin proposed that language works on three levels i.e. Locutionary meaning, Illocutionary meaning and Perlocutionary meaning. Whereas Searle made two parts of language use as Direct Speech and Indirect Speech. This paper studies the use of language at various levels and its obligation of context in the light of Speech Act theory. In "Fasting, Feasting," by Anita Desai The various speech acts performed by the characters, which act as a vital means of expression and communication throughout the story, are an intriguing aspect of the narrative. We can better understand the underlying intentions, feelings, and power dynamics in the relationships depicted in the novel by looking at the speech acts.