Violence for Self-respect: Quintessential Shillong in Dhruba Hazarika's A Bowstring Winter

Set in the Northeast Indian city of Shillong, Dhruba Hazarika's novel A Bowstring Winter presents a unique character who maintains his self-respect by unleashing savage brutality on others, compulsively attacking those people who insult him. If Kharkongor remains peaceful whenever he feels disrespected, then it appears to damage his dignity. The present essay aims to scrutinise this peculiar aspect of his personality through an analytical perspective derived from theoretical works that establish a causal relationship between self-esteem and violence. In so doing, Kharkongor's thought-process would be exposed, a cognitive mechanism that deems it rational to injure others every time he detects a possibility of suffering humiliation. Further, this investigation seeks to accentuate the fiction's portrayal of Shillong's distinct socio-cultural tradition and the Khasi community's spiritual beliefs that dominantly impel Kharkongor to harm others for the sake of his amour propre.