Fragmented Selves: The
Psychology of Loneliness and Identity in Kiran Desai’s The
Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Dr. Rudrashis Datta
ABSTRACT
Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
stages a complex encounter between two modern Indian protagonists
whose inner lives are marked by persistent solitude even as they
navigate crowded diasporic spaces. This paper reads Desai’s novel
through psychological theories of loneliness and identity formation
to argue that Sonia’s and Sunny’s experiences are not merely effects
of circumstance but are constitutive of fragmented selves produced
by intersecting cultural, interpersonal, and historical pressures.
Drawing on foundational work by Robert Weiss, John Cacioppo, and
Baumeister & Leary, and on developmental and psychoanalytic
frameworks from Erikson and Bowlby, I trace how Desai dramatizes
both the subjective texture of isolation and the institutional
conditions that produce it. Ultimately, the novel suggests that
loneliness is simultaneously an interpersonal absence and an
identity-performing force: it both reveals and remakes the self.
Key words – Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,
isolation, identity formation.
