Domestic Space as a Site of Cultural Preservation in Padma Viswanathan’s The Toss of a Lemon

சுருக்கம்

Padma Viswanathan’s The Toss of a Lemon (2008) presents the household as an important site of cultural preservation, where traditions, memories, values, and social practices are transmitted across generations. Through the life of Sivakami, the novel portrays domestic space not merely as a private setting but as a living cultural environment shaped by food, ritual, clothing, marriage, widowhood, caste practices, and family relationships. Everyday domestic activities become ways of learning and preserving cultural knowledge. The kitchen, in particular, becomes a space where food practices and social customs are passed from one generation to another, while rituals and clothing communicate religious and social identity. Marriage and family relationships further reinforce cultural values and community structures. Viswanathan does not present tradition as completely fixed. Sivakami’s adherence to inherited practices exists alongside her gradual responses to social change, especially through her son Vairum’s education and his questioning of established beliefs. The domestic sphere therefore becomes a space where tradition is preserved, negotiated, and transformed. This paper argues that the household functions as a living cultural archive in The Toss of a Lemon, preserving collective memory through ordinary practices while allowing new ideas to enter family life.

திறவுச்சொற்கள்

• Domestic space
• cultural preservation
• cultural memory
• tradition
• caste
• and gender