Unbalancing A Fine Balance: Narrating Social Disability and Institutionalized Injustice

Abstract

This paper examines the demonstration of institutional inequality and power politics producing conditions of social disablement within the Indian historical context portrayed in Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1995). Guided by Iris Marion Young’s “Five Faces of Oppression” (2008), the research interprets social disability not as an individual anomaly but a social condition caused by institutional laws, societal structures, and uneven power distribution across caste, class, gender, and religion. The study argues that disability is not solely physical or mental, but a metaphoric condition that disables every otherwise able individual due to ingrained prejudices and institutional structures, taking away respect, freedom and agency from those on the margins. Following the path of a qualitative, interpretive method and close textual reading, the study portrays how exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence shape the lives of the underprivileged Dalit, Muslim, Sikh, and female characters amid the 1947 Partition and the 1975 Emergency period. The study calls for critical dialogue in Disability Studies and South Asian literary criticism toward social justice and inclusivity. Thus, by foregrounding voices on the margins, it brings forth the wider perspective of justice that the participation, security, and recognition are the fundamental needs, rather than optional goods.

Conflict of interest:

The authors have declared no potential conflicts of interest and falsification/fabrication of data with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.