Deferred Dream in Shrestha's "Father Has Not Come Yet"

Abstract

The social and political revolution is often associated with ideas like liberty, equality, justice, and progress. However, in many cases, the fulfillment of these aspirations in the post-revolution phase turns out to be simply political rhetoric perpetuatingthe same underlying social-political structures, and only changing the political actors. This article examines the relation between the political revolution and the subsequent social transformation through a structuralist reading of “Father Has Not Come Home” by SiddhicharanShrestha. This study employs the analytical framework of structuralism conceptualized by Ferdinand de Saussure, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Roland Barthes. Following a qualitative interpretive approach, the study employs a close textual reading of the poem to explore how language and structure produce meaning. It reveals a gap between the promises of revolution and the experience of people, interrogating the common belief, that revolution always leads to social change and freedom. It argues that political revolution is an incomplete process, which does not necessarily bring desired change in people's lives. In this context, the structuralist reading helps understand the deeper meaning of the poem, in relation to disappointment after revolution.