AN ANALYSIS OF INSTITUTIONAL DISCOURSE AND THE PROBLEM OF AIDS IN NIKITA LALWANI’S ESSAY “MISTER X VERSUS HOSPITAL Y”

Abstract

Social institutions afflict HIV/AIDS victims with libeled and disregarded status (in a South
Asian subcontinent). Besides, medical innovations to cure the disease, literary contributions,
too, tend to bring a shift in traditional approach toward HIV/AIDS. Contemporary writers
approach social institutions to extend a hand in offering a solution to the problem. The
qualitative study is an attempt to analyze the role played bysocial institutions, that is,
institution of family, health and marriage for emancipation of the AIDS victims in Nakita
Lalwani’s narrative, “MISTER X VERSUS HOSPITAL Y”. The research is carried out in the
light of Norman Fairclough’s (1993) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Passages from the
text relevant to the counter narrative are analyzed, bearing in mind the expressive, relational
and experiential signification of the vocabulary. The study carries significance due to its
optimistic approach toward HIV/AIDS. It works toward the empowerment of stigmatized
victim (s) by introducing counter discourse to the traditional institutional discourse on
HIV/AIDS. As Critical Discourse Analysis is associated with suggesting social change; hence,
the study infers that if writers continue to highlight the role of social institutions to combat the severity of the disease in their works, it is much likely to educate the public to work for
mitigation (if not eradication) of the nuisance associated with the stigma. It also recommends
that the severity of the disease can be moderated if members from social institutions adopt
constructive attitude towards the victims and provide them with healthy environment to combat
this medical-cum-social problem.