AIDS DISCOURSE IN NIKITA LALWANI’S ESSAY “MISTER X VERSUS HOSPITAL Y”

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is considered as a stigmatized epidemic that afflicts its patient(s) with maligned and
marginalized status (in a South Asian subcontinent). However, through the present position
paper, the problem is not only addressed humanely, but it also invites maximum social
attention and action via literature. Besides, medical advancements to cure the disease,
industrious literary oeuvre, too, tend to change the attitude of public towards this medical
cum-social problem. Contemporary writers approach prevalent traditional AIDS discourse
with a counter discourse in order to bring awareness in public. The existing qualitative study
is an attempt to analyze the nature of counter discourse introduced by Nakita Lalwani, a
contemporary Indian writer, in her narrative, “MISTER X VERSUS HOSPITAL Y”. The
research is carried out in the light of Norman Fairclough’s (1993) Critical Discourse Analysis
(CDA). Select passages related and relevant to the counter narrative are analyzed, bearing in
mind the expressive, relational and experiential signification of the vocabulary used in the
text. The work is significant due to its positive and substantial approach toward HIV/AIDS. Itworks towards the emancipation of stigmatized and marginalized patient(s) of AIDS. As
Critical Discourse Analysis is associated with introducing and suggesting social change;
hence, the study infers that if writers continue to counter the traditional discourse of HIV/AIDS
in their literary endeavors, it is much likely to bring in awareness for alleviation (if not
eradication) of the said problem. It also recommends that the severity of the disease can be
mitigated through caring and sharing of ideas, by giving the HIV positive with basic human
rights, and by offering them with viable roles and responsibilities in a society they live in.