In Search of Sustainable Peace: An Examination of Violence in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy-Man

Ice-Candy-Man is a novel by Pakistani writer Bapsi Sidhwa which explores the intricacies of human relationships during times of conflict through the eyes of an eight-year-old Parsee girl. This paper will show that the narrative of the novel brings forth the phantom ever-present enemy that, like latent sleeper cells, becomes active when there is no other entity to fight against. The novel is a probe into the 1947 partition that erupted the volcano of repressed religious strife. Setting the narrator, Lenny Sethi, into the neutrality of the Parsees, the novel highlights the friendly relationships between people of different religions and sects that turn into painful enmity. The violence incited by the British in their attempt to divide Indians provides key insights into the roots of communal and national conflicts, thereby indicating possible sustainable peacebuilding methods. The phenomenon of a third-party “Cracking India” is especially relevant in the current political environment of the subcontinent. Through a close reading of the text and examination of the violence, this paper will attempt to hew out pragmatic solutions that can be implemented in our societies, paving the way for achieving sustainable development.