In literature, “stream of consciousness” is a narrative technique used by a writer to tell his/her story. This is a phrase first used by William James to characterize the unbroken flow of thought and feelings in the human mind. In literature, the writer presents the thoughts, memories, and feeling of a character as it is. The story develops in the form of thoughts and feelings that take place in the characters’ minds. A human mind is a place where there is a flow of unrelated thoughts and feelings at a single moment. Therefore, such novels also present a flow of unrelated thoughts and feeling at times. Such a novel presents past and present incidences at a time. The story develops in the form of thoughts, memories, feelings, and past associations that create the world of the novel.
The Binding Vine is a stream-of-consciousness novel because it is told from the consciousness of the main character, Urmi. In other words, this novel presents the story in the form of thoughts, feeling,s and memories that take place in the mind of Urumi. About the death of her daughter, about her grief, nobody tells us it is through her thoughts and memories we come to know. Her memories and thoughts move forward and backward through the different incidences that happened in her life. Anu’s death reminds Urmi of Baiajji’s death, and Baiajji reminds her of her girlhood days in Ranidurg. From her conversation, interior monologue, and her thoughts, we know about what happened in her life. Her childhood was a happy one, but she missed her parents and held Inni her mother, responsible for sending her away.
Apart from the stream-of-consciousness technique, the interior monologue mode of narration is also used in the novel. Both are similar, but there are differences between the two. But both techniques can be used in a single novel. In the interior monologue, the characters express their thoughts and feelings by talking to themselves.