Rootlessness and Existential Uncertainty

A Critical Look at Syed Waliullah’s Tree Without Roots

Abstract

Syed Waliullah’s novel Tree Without Roots (1967), originally his own Bengali novel Lal Salu (1948) is an existentialist literature. In this novel, Waliullah examines an inner problem of the human mind, namely the existential crisis suffered by marginalized people. He shows how Majeed, the protagonist of this novel, suffers from an existential crisis and acute isolation. The readers are introduced to the ins and outs of Majeed’s character through the prolonged descriptions of what happened in his inner mind and outer world. Along with Majeed, we also discover other characters like Rahima, Amena, Khaleque, Kulsum, Tara Mian, and the poor villagers who have suffered from existential crises on different occasions. The themes of rootlessness and uncertainty of life are illustrated in this novel with different characters and incidents. In this study, we will try to explore how they suffered from an existential crisis and how it shaped their personality, life, and destiny.