AN EXPLORATION THROUGH THE MIND OF XAVIER ITTY CORA FROM THE NOVEL FRANCIS ITTY CORA

 

T.D. Ramakrishnan's 2009 Malayalam novel Francis Itty Cora is one of his best-known works.  The book is a complex and innovative masterwork that explores a variety of subjects and the complexity of human relationships, mysterious history, and the human psyche. Known for his distinctive and moving writing style, T.D. Ramakrishnan is a well-known author in the Malayalam language.  Francis Itty Cora, Sugandhi Enna Andal Devanayaki, and Alpha are the works that helped him achieve fame. To engross readers in the depths of his narratives, he frequently explores complicated issues in his works and makes extensive use of rich symbolism and imagery. Ramakrishnan's writing is distinguished by his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to keep the entire story together. He easily weaves together the personal and the political, crafting stories that resonate with emotional depth and social relevance.

Francis Itty Cora is a book that offers a unique explanation of the character's mental condition by looking through his life journey. The main character's mental battle stands out despite the novel's concentration on so many other narratives and topics. Although the "Itty Cora Myth" is highlighted in the book, the author also touches on several other subjects, such as the Iraq War, world politics, sex, the Hypatian School, terrorism, Christianity, religion, cannibalism, various mathematical theories, and the history of various painters and their works. The novel examines the genesis of influential thinkers in mathematics, philosophy, science, spirituality, and religion as well as how their concepts have influenced advancement but also uncertainty.

Xavier Itty Cora, the main character of the novel, seeks his family's history while learning shocking mysteries about a covert worldwide cult.  In addition to exploring taboo topics like human sexuality and cannibalism, the book emphasises the similarities between many civilizations and communities throughout the world. The work has garnered attention for its provocative subject matter and historical allusions.  To craft engaging tales that span continents and move between the distant past and the present, Ramakrishnan deftly interweaves genuine historical and contemporary events and personalities. a challenging thriller with a startling epilogue

The protagonist of the book is Francis Itty Cora, a Kerala pepper merchant who founded a fascinating hidden religion in the fifteenth century and his great-grandson Xavier Itty Cora. The history of the eponymous Korapappan figure is the author's primary subject. Additionally, the story follows Xavier Itty Cora, a descendant of the actual Francis Itty Cora and connects their storyline. Francis Itty Cora founded a clandestine Hypatian mathematical school and was a significant figure in the Italian Renaissance. The true math genius who created his business and used his talent to extend it over the world is also a man with legendary sexual prowess.  In the novel's diegesis, T.D. Ramakrishnan weaves together several biographies and historical incidents. They cover Hypatia of Alexandria's life story, Atahualpa's reign as the final Inca ruler, Tupac Amaru Shakur's career as an American rapper, and a discussion of Nabanita Dev Sen's short fiction "Stand Back, Please, It's the Nobel" (she was Amartya Sen's first wife), Akiko Morigami (Japanese tennis player), Iraq War, Saddam Hussain, Donald Rumsfeld, mathematicians like Pal Erdos and Alexander Grothe, Fermat and his Theorem, painters like Raphael and Michael Angelo, and so forth are just a few examples.

The emails that Xavier Itty Cora and Rekha shared have provided information on the history of the Great Korappappan and his own experiences.  From the very first page of the book, the reader is made aware of the issues and emotional hardships the main character is going through.  Itty Cora decides to visit Rekha, Bindu, and Reshmi in Kerala, who runs a sexual institution known as the ‘school’, because he is experiencing trouble performing physical activities.  The school is a therapeutic facility where they combine music, history, and psychology according to the interests of their clients rather than being a typical institution that deals with sexual activities. A place where individuals may freely explore their mental and physical desires was established by Rekha and her friends. Itty Cora thinks that going to school will help him solve his difficulties. Itty Cora requests that Rekha gather details on his Kerala-born great-grandfather Francis Itty Cora. When Rekha questioned him about his decision to continue his therapy in Kerala, he spoke about his grandfather and his well-known lineage of sexual strength. He says that “Oh, because of my whore mother. Francis Itty Cora who is supposed to have been my great-grandfather went from Kerala to Florence in the 15th century. There he established the Itty Cora family. He excelled in the art of lovemaking and was famous all over Europe” (4).

 Both as a youngster and while serving in the army, Xavier Itty Cora encountered several difficulties. Itty Cora's connection with his mother is extremely troubling, and as a result of their interaction and the tales of his great-grandfather, Xavier became attached to sex and was an active participant in the physical process. Through his life experiences, sexual behaviour rose to prominence in both his conscious and unconscious mind. He freely confesses to Rekha his sexual urges and the circumstances that led to them. Freud claimed that individuals may try to conceal their basic sexual impulses from other members of society. These instincts are the main factor buried in the unconscious, according to Freud. He says that “Sexuality is the key to the problem of the psychoneuroses and of the neuroses in general. No one who disdains the key will ever be able to unlock the door.’ (105)

From the outset, it is clear that Xavier itty Cora's unconscious mind contains a complicated structure and extensive material. Since he was a little boy, Cora has struggled with loneliness and thinks he will always be by himself. Cora feels alone in his life and the feeling of loneliness is ingrained in his psyche. His sexual skills, which could hypnotise anybody, and his drive to learn more about his heritage were the only things in his life that he could link. He gets in touch with Rekha to learn more about his grandfather and to rediscover his sexual vitality. He says that “I am not coming to Kerala just because you promised to help me regain my virility. My history begins in Kerala. My great-grandfather Francis Itty Cora lived in Kunnamkulam. He died in Florence in 1517.” (6)

With the help of her friends and clients, Rekha attempts to learn more about Korappapan, his great-grandfather. Rekha also understands that to treat his physical hysterics, she needs to identify the underlying issue that caused it. “The Itty Cora myth" had a profound effect on Xavier Itty Cora's life and personality, and she thought she could use the information to heal him and restore his ability to have sex.

Rekha's inquiry, assisted by her friends, reveals the mysterious history of Itty Cora's Family. Direct descendants of Francis Itty Cora from eighteen families throughout the world make up this secret organisation; some of them still reside in Kunnamkulam, Kerala. The Cora family has a mysterious old document that was penned by Francis Itty Cora himself, and they perform bizarre rites in private that are never witnessed by anybody outside the family. Even in the last chapter, when it is reported in the press, this Cora myth reappears frequently. Cora, who is experimenting with different ways to restore his skills, lands in Peru and subsequently meets mathematician Hashimoto Morigami. She has already gathered some information on Francis Itty Cora from various sources and is hoping to obtain one of the family's secret books so she may continue researching "The Kerala School of Mathematics." The connection between Rekha and Cora is impacted by learning about the secret family.

After asking Cora the information regarding his great-grandfather as a reward, Morigami also made an effort to assist him with his impotence. However, her Japanese tactics also fell short in the face of Cora's mental obstruction, which entirely disabled his body. He says that “Unfortunately for Morigami she failed miserably with me. Though her Japanese-Peruvian moves created explosions in my mind, they failed to create even a ripple in my body. As she retreated admitting failure, she growled like a tigress, 'Fuck off you bloody devil! Bringing shame on the name of the great Francis Itty Cora.' I started sobbing, something I hadn't done in ages” (52). After a long time, Cora acknowledges that this remark brought tears to his eyes. The only thing that caused him to cry after all the brutality and horrific images of the battle was Morigami's remark about his failing ancestry.

To provide the groundwork for their experiment, Cora and Rekha chat about their life and childhood. In Brooklyn's streets, he was raised by his mother. His mother was part of an Italian drug ring, but he doesn't know who his father is. He recalls learning to steal, use this handgun, and smoke smokes from his mother. His mother was a prostitute and a drug addict. Because of her heartless behaviour towards him, Cora despises his mother. He is dismissed from school after confessing to trying to rape a classmate when he was 12 years old. Following that, he supported his mother by living as a pimp. His mother mistreated him for her amusement and showed no maternal concern for Cora. Cora admits in the email to Rekha that he shot his mother when she approached him while drugged up and nude. He says that “I was sent to a local school but was thrown out for trying to rape a classmate. Then I became my mom's pimp. She was sadistic, hitting and cursing me at a whim. I hated her. Dead drunk, she came to me one night - naked. I shot her dead” (2)

 Rekha is shocked by Cora's admission, but she soon understands the cause of his compulsive sexual behaviour. Her occupation was one of the key ties that bound him to his mother. Every son loves his mother dearly, but in the case of Cora, his father's absence and his mother's employment caused him to develop a disliking for motherhood and women. He just considered women as things to be used for sexual fulfilment. “All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair” (Albom, 105).

According to Freud's Oedipus complex, a child develops unconscious sexual cravings for the parent of the opposite sex during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. However, the youngster may have mixed feelings and bewilderment after seeing his mother have several sexual partners, which might affect his Oedipal wants. These images, which are ingrained in Cora's unconscious, have the potential to produce psychological flaws in his personality. Freud emphasised the role that sexual suppression and guilt have in determining a person's psyche. Because of internal difficulties and possibly repressive mechanisms brought on by his mother's occupation, Cora may have internalised social criticisms and become guilty and ashamed of them. For every endeavour in his life, Xavier Itty Cora suppresses his feelings of regret and remorse. Even now, he has no regrets about killing his mother. His objectification of women is rooted in his relationship with his mother.

The mirror stage and the symbolic order are two ideas that may be used to analyse Cora's psychological condition in this circumstance from a Lacanian viewpoint, which is informed by Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theories. According to Lacan's theory of the mirror stage, a baby's association with their mirror image helps them form a sense of self in the early months of life. As Cora may find it difficult to connect his mother's actions with his own identity in this situation, seeing his mother's activities may distort his perception of himself and lead to a fractured sense of self. The emergence of the ego and subjectivity, according to Lacan, happens as a result of language use and societal initiation into the symbolic system. The son's exposure to his mother's line of work may interfere with his comprehension of society's standards and the symbolic order, thereby making it more difficult for him to develop a strong sense of self. This knowledge was ingrained in Cora's unconscious since he was a young boy, which accounts for his antagonistic views towards rules, his inability to distinguish between good and evil, and his flawless behaviour. Both Freud and Lacan believed that Cora's experiences in this circumstance might have profound psychological effects.

Cora acknowledges that he felt fascinated by the sight of Iranian females who had lost everything in the Iraq war and that he had lost interest in ladies who wouldn't reject him. He enlisted in the army so he could rape an Iranian female, beat her with power, and watch her bleed. In his own words, “I joined the US military three years ago with a single aim: to go to Iraq and rape a full-blooded, beautiful, young Iraqi girl. To pin her down and bite her lips, cheeks, and breasts till they bled even as she lay desperately struggling under me” (2). After serving three years in the army, Cora receives the chance to fulfil his dream and describes how he ruthlessly consumed her as she bled to death. After this occurrence, Xavier itty Cora was unable to engage in sexual activity and was sent to a mental institution. He discovers Rekha's school to be a cure for his incapacity.

According to Freud, conscious ideas and behaviours can be influenced by repressed desires, unsolved conflicts, and prohibited urges that are present in the unconscious mind. Freud suggested that violent or aggressive behaviours may result from unresolved childhood problems, particularly those involving the Oedipus complex. Therefore, Cora's anger for his mother is what drives his tyranny of women. A man's urge to harm a woman may be tied to unresolved issues with his interactions with women, especially his mother. Aggression or violence against women may be a symptom of the unconscious impulses and suppressed emotions linked to the Oedipus complex. He says that “A person who feels pleasure in producing pain in someone else in a sexual relationship is also capable of enjoying as pleasure any pain which he may himself derive from sexual relations. A sadist is always at the same time a masochist” (Freud 38).

A person like Cora who desires to injure women has an identity that, by Lacanian theory, may be affected by cultural constructs of masculinity and power. He could view women as things to be dominated or controlled, echoing societal patriarchal norms and systems. These irrational thoughts and impulses might fuel destructive or aggressive attitudes towards women. Cora narrates the incident without any guilt or emotion, he says that

"A full-blooded girl with red checks. She pleaded for her father's life. We tied the old man to a pillar. Shiang, a fellow soldier, and I had chosen her as our prey for the day: the others moved on searching for theirs. From experience I knew that in these circumstances the victim usually freezes, becoming cold and unresponsive like a cadaver. A few cooperate readily and then demand money. But surprising us, the girl did neither; she tried to flee. My greatest desire was fulfilled. By the time I had overpowered her, I had bitten off half her left breast. I didn't realize that she was bleeding to death in my hands. I was still growling like a tiger”. 

Cora’s detachment from human emotions is evident from the lines themselves. The fact that Xavier Itty Cora is a cannibal is another noteworthy aspect of him. Itty Cora admits to Rekha that he began consuming human flesh as a coping mechanism for his inability to engage in sexual activity. He says,

Yes. I am a cannibal; there are many like me…. It is said that the consumption of human flesh causes many changes in the mind and body. It was that hope that spurred me to start eating human flesh. Some friends told me it would help me regain my vigour. It hasn't yet. But I can feel some changes in myself. My mind plays tricks sometimes... mixing memories with dreams, raising doubts about whether I am dead or alive... a feeling that my body is being digested in the guts of another. (4)

He doesn't react emotionally to eating human flesh in any major way. In the email written to Rekha, Cora defensibly describes the party where a group of people eats humans after killing them.  The unconsciousness of itty Cora who doesn’t show any remorse about eating human beings aligns with his attitude towards women.

The psychological state of a cannibal who has no regret can be investigated in terms of unconscious impulses, the dynamics of the human psyche, and the function of society standards from the perspective of Freud and Lacan's ideas. Unconscious urges that Cora has that are the result of her early experiences and unresolved issues might show out in many ways. When it comes to a Cora, things like suppressed aggressiveness, unresolved oral fixation or integration difficulties, or traumatic events have moulded the person's mentality and guided them in ways that are unfathomable to other people. Cora's life is not particularly important in terms of death. A typical human being would find it painful to be accountable for the loss of human life. They have regrets about their choice at least once in their lifetime, if not for the rest of their lives. However, this feeling of pity is suppressed in Cora's unconscious mind and absent from his conscious consciousness. He is unconcerned about being the cause of the loss of human life.

Xavier Itty Cora is unbothered by the gravity of what he has done, exhibiting no overt expressions of sorrow or regret for his deeds. However, he unintentionally suppresses his seated feelings, such as guilt, humiliation, or regret, keeping them from coming to the surface and coming to the forefront of his awareness. Carl Jung says that “The change of character brought about by the uprush of collective forces is amazing. A gentle and reasonable being can be transformed into a maniac or a savage beast. One is always inclined to lay the blame on external circumstances, but nothing could explode in us if it had not been there. As a matter of fact, we are constantly living on the edge of a volcano, and there is, so far as we know, no way of protecting ourselves from a possible outburst that will destroy everybody within reach. It is certainly a good thing to preach reason and common sense, but what if you have a lunatic asylum for an audience or a crowd in a collective frenzy? There is not much difference between them because the madman and the mob are both moved by impersonal, overwhelming forces.” (Jung 25)

His mental condition is one of detachment from the seriousness of their deeds, which may result in a warped view of reality and a lessened feeling of personal responsibility. Despite the absence of conscious regret, Cora's brain is likely experiencing deep emotional anguish that is the source of his inner struggle. As a result of the psychological pain, they are going through internally, the person may exhibit symptoms like excessive anxiety, bodily manifestations (tremors, fainting), unpredictable conduct, or unexpected outbursts. In Cora's situation, the mental agony he is going through in his unconscious is the cause of his sexual impotence. Lack of conscious regret might be a sign that Cora's mind is being shielded from the emotional repercussions of their acts by a sophisticated psychological defence system. Judith Lewis Herman says that “repeated trauma in childhood forms and deforms the personality. The child trapped in an abusive environment is faced with formidable tasks of adaptation. She must find a way to preserve a sense of trust in people who are untrustworthy, safety in a situation that is unsafe, control in a situation that is terrifyingly unpredictable, and power in a situation of helplessness. Unable to care for or protect herself, she must compensate for the failures of adult care and protection with the only means at her disposal, an immature system of psychological defences (Herman 117). If unresolved, hysteria and the lack of conscious guilt can result in long-term psychological anguish, damaged relationships, and general emotional instability. Cora lost his sole connection to the outside world due to his chaos. Cora went to great lengths, including cannibalism, to reclaim his sexuality. According to A H Maslow, “It is well known that sexual behaviour and conscious sexual desires may be tremendously complex in their underlying, unconscious purposes in one individual sexual desire may actually mean the desire to assure himself of his masculinity”(Maslow 23).

It is a complicated and intricate problem to explain sexual impotence after assaulting a female and ultimately killing her.  Unaware of it, Cora is feeling a great deal of remorse and humiliation for what he did, which has made him feel quite disgusted with himself. Due to the guilt and humiliation that are connected with sexual excitement, these strong feelings may seem like sexual impotence. Particularly in a sexual setting, the terrible experience of hurting another person or participating in their death can have long-lasting psychological ramifications.  Even though he expresses no remorse at all in the email to Rekha, he might experience mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other trauma-related diseases that could affect their ability to perform sexually.

Another cause of this condition is the worry that their behaviour would result in negative legal or social consequences.  However, because Cora was raised in a violent environment, he does not consider obeying the law to be important. He assaulted others while he was in the service as well. Even though Cora didn't adhere to social norms, he may have been judged guilty in his mind. Some people may unintentionally engage in self-destructive practises, such as sexual impotence, as a sort of self-punishment for their deeds. Due to their regret and shame, individuals could believe that they don't deserve sexual fulfilment or satisfaction.

The experience of seeing the conflict had a profound effect on Itty Cora as well. People may hurt others if they see the dreadful image of the conflict in their confused minds. Although Cora had already planned to assault the Iranian girl, doing so was unexpected. The girl was killed because he thought she would be submissive, but the girl's rejection turned him into a beast, rendering him blind. The result of the battle might be his complete ignorance of the girl's suffering. Individuals who are exposed to severe violence, peril, and loss of war have psychological trauma. Invading memories, nightmares, hyperarousal, and emotional numbness may occur as a result of PTSD. These signs can increase the risk of injury by causing erroneous thinking, poor judgement, and trouble controlling emotions. People might become desensitised to violence and suffering as a result of the brutality and tragedies of war. Over time, individuals could lose some of their empathy and start to see others more as things or adversaries than as fellow humans. Reduced inhibitions towards hurting others may result from this dehumanisation. Cora describes his first experience in torture saying that “I pushed my sharp nails up his nostrils and pulled till his face was splattered with blood. He howled in pain. I tugged at one of the chains that bound him, forcing him to fall at my feet, I cupped my hands and the blood from his nose streamed into my palms. I poured the blood into his mouth. Let Saddam's cur drink his own blood.” (10) Author describes the inhuman nature of Itty Cora with apt words and expressions.

The narrative skillfully explores the intricacy of the human mind while meticulously organising Xavier itty Cora's fractured mind. Itty Cora was ultimately killed by the Kunnamkulam Cora family because of his ancestry.  Cora was unable to untie the deep knots that had developed in his unconscious as a result of not being able to finish his emotional trip. The Novel skipped over the parts where they reveal the reason for his condition or how Rekha might be able to assist Cora. However, it clarifies the function of the unconscious and the impact of childhood memories on a person's unconscious mind. Through the figure of Xavier Itty Cora, the author deftly illustrates just how far the human imagination can go.