• Ravi Bhatt
• Parvanshi Sharma

The present paper invites a semiotic analysis of one short story “They Eat Meat”at two levels: semantic order and semiology order. An attempt has been madeto bring out the organization of the syntactic artifice in the narrative. The significant order of signs has been analysed through the linear progression of events embodying deep existential strains where the identity of a tribal family comes into question. Performance of such a task requires the breaking down of the narrative into sequences incorporating many ensembles and further sub-ensembles wherever needed. The paper is divided into two main parts followed by a conclusion. In the first part, the linear progression of the events in the narrative is analysed alongwith the important ‘signs’especially reference to food habits as semic codes as they appear in human situations. In the second part, different incidents lying at the different parts of the text are related to bring out the thematic concerns. In the narrative, identity crisis arises when the mainstream society of modern India look at the tribals and discriminate with them on the basis of their petty native food habits. At the surface level, the story “They Eat Meat” seems an engrossing tale of a tribal family (Santhals) who are recently been shifted from their rural habitant in Ranchi to the urban Vadodara and glorifies their struggle in getting themselves adapted to their new surroundings. However, at deep level, this glorification is soon questioned when this adaptation gradually converts into humiliation.

Semantic, Semiology, Semiotic, Sign, Syntactic, and Tribals

"Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar's "They Eat Meat" A Study of Food Habits as Semic Code"", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no.946-954, June-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDT06150.pdf

"Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar's "They Eat Meat" A Study of Food Habits as Semic Code"", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no. pp946-954, June-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDT06150.pdf