Narratives of Dissent: Politics and Protest in Arundhati Roy’s Non-Fiction Writings

Abstract

This paper explores the role of Arundhati Roy’s non-fiction as a site of political dissent and protest in postcolonial India. Moving beyond her celebrated debut novel The God of Small Things (1997), Roy has consistently intervened in public discourse through essays, speeches, and activist writings. Works such as The Algebra of Infinite Justice (2001), An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire (2005), Listening to Grasshoppers (2009), and Walking with the Comrades (2011) illustrate her refusal to separate literature from politics. Her essays protest against globalization, neoliberal reforms, militarization, religious nationalism, environmental exploitation, and the silencing of marginalized voices. By employing a style that fuses lyrical prose with sharp political critique, Roy challenges both state authority and global hegemonies. This paper argues that Roy’s non-fiction writings between 1998 and 2016 constitute a narrative of dissent, one that positions her simultaneously as a literary figure and a public intellectual. It further examines the reception of her writings, including praise for her courage and criticism for her radical stances. Ultimately, Roy’s non-fiction corpus reveals the possibilities and limits of political protest in literature, underscoring the power of words in shaping resistance.