Blurring the Line: Deconstructing the Human/Non-Human Binary in Dhruba Hazarika’s Luck

Abstract

This paper explores the hierarchical relationship between human and non-human entities in Dhruba Hazarika’s Luck, through the theoretical lenses of Claude Lévi-Strauss’s notion of binary opposition and Jacques Derrida’s deconstructive methodology. It argues that the stories in Luck destabilize the rigid binary of human/non-human by revealing their interdependence and fluidity. Drawing from posthuman animal studies, the analysis shows how Hazarika’s narratives blur the dividing line between species, allowing characters—both human and animal—to flow into each other’s categorical space.

Through close textual readings of all nine stories in the collection, the paper demonstrates how animals are not merely symbolic or peripheral, but central to the thematic structure of the text. Hazarika constructs complex human-animal encounters that question anthropocentric assumptions and foreground a more integrated view of beings within the natural world. In doing so, Luck offers a literary space where the notion of human superiority is unsettled, inviting a rethinking of identity, agency, and subjectivity across species lines.