CHAPTER-V
REVEALING TWILIGHT
Infinite sky, enchanting clouds and eternal flights,
Unrolled wings and unshut eyes do rest a while
In endless Thinking and everlasting Learning.
At the onset of this study, it is asserted that creative artists are not
merely members but also representatives of the society. They cannot
shut their eyes to what is happening around them, become numb to the
sufferings of their fellow beings and be passive listeners or indifferent
observers of them. They can not become immune to the degradation of
values in society. It is a proven truth and time honoured reality that
most of the creative artists are profoundly concerned about the sufferings
and shortcomings of the society.
Like Mulkraj Anand and Bhabani Battacharya, Kamala
Markandaya is a humanist novelist believing in the betterment of the
human lot in general and social amelioration in particular. She does not
approve of art for art's sake. She has a firm conviction that literature
must be purposive and play a significant role in the betterment of
society. She believes that literature can be constructive and teach
humanity through the works of the writers. She considers her novels
part of what she calls the literature of concern or "socio literature".
Kamala Markandaya uses fiction as a vehicle for communicating
her vision of life. As a writer, she has a clear perception of life in rural
213
areas as well as in urban centres. She differs from other Indian English
novelists in many ways. She focuses on the family structure to establish
her themes in different novels. She is also different from her
contemporaries in that she depicts the realities of Indian life, vividly and
with a rare understanding.
Kamala Markandaya, in her novels displays panache of virtuosity
that orders and patterns her feelings and ideas, resulting in the
production of truly enjoyable works of art. She has a clear understanding
and a thorough grasp over all the finer aspects of fiction writing. To have
a clear view of Kamala Markandaya's artistic genius and her elite
position among the Indian writers in English, an overview of the growth
and development of Indian English novel provided in the introduction will
be very useful.
The introductory chapter entitled "Into the Dawn" shortly presents
an overview of the origin, growth and development of the Indian English
fiction. To present a comprehensible observation of the evolution of
Indian English novel, the contributions of the individual novelists have
been taken into consideration. A short account of the prominent Indian
English novelists, starting from the great trio Mulk Raj Anand, R.K.
Narayan and Raja Rao, through famous writers like Ruth Prawer
Jabvala, Kushwant Singh, Manohar Malgonkar, Anita Desai, Bhabani
Bhattacharya, Nayantara Sahgal and Shashi Deshpande to modern
writers like Chamman Nahal, Kamala Das, Shiv. K. Kumar, Santha
214
Rama Rao, Attia Hosain, Padmini Sengupta and Veena Paintal is given.
Kamala Markandaya's place of prominence and fame is set against all
these eminent writers. As a natural sequence to this a succinct
description of her life and works is given. In order to have an overall view
of her varied themes in her novels, an outline of all her ten novels and
their significance also has been provided.
Thus the first chapter of this study has introduced Kamala
Markandaya, offered an over view of her novels and touched upon the
salient features of her art. It also has indicated her perception of life that
emphasizes the overwhelming forces of destiny and also her concern for
society. In addition it has highlighted briefly the superiority of her women
characters over men characters, and also has establishes her interest in
the development of the mind and character of her protagonists leading to
the bildungsroman strain in her novels.
A study of Kamala Markandaya's novels shows a gradual evolution
and maturity of her art and genius. An analysis of how her works grow in
complexity and how new themes and characters are introduced is also
made. Her novels reflect an awakened feminine sensibility and they also
project the national image on many levels of aesthetic awareness. They
are uniquely reflective of the national consciousness in its multiple forms
with the characteristic sensibility of the modern, educated Indian
woman.
215
Kamala Markandaya's novels cover a wide range of themes.
Poverty and starvation, East-West encounter, cultural conflicts, freedom
movement, dislocation of rural life as a result of industrialisation and
religious tradition are important themes of her novels. Anyhow, hunger
and poverty and the East-West encounter prove to be the major themes
of her novels.
The plot construction of Kamala Markandaya is rather traditional.
The plots are well organised as in a classical play. The focus is always on
the main character, the plot is gradually revealed and the climax is
followed by a rapid denouement.
One of the significant aspects of Kamala Markandaya's novels is
her art of characterisation. She has shown an enormous adroitness in
portraying her characters. Her characters are well developed and lively.
Mostly women are the important characters of her novels. Another
significant aspect of her novels is her authorial interest in the formation
and development of the mind and character of her protagonists. This
bildungsroman strain is very obvious in her later novels.
Kamala Markandaya has got a flair for all the finer aspects of
novels. She is a brilliant story-teller who can make her novels absorbing
and highly readable. Likewise her narrative technique is highly
commendable. The narration in her earlier novels is simple and straight
forward. They are in the reminiscent mood. Then she shifts to the
216
tradition of the omniscient writer. In a couple of her novels she has
employed the stream of consciousness technique.
As an expatriate writer living in London, Kamala Markandaya's
command over English is enviable. Her English is remarkable for clarity
and simplicity and at times it is brilliant with poetic beauty. Her mastery
over all the finer aspects of fiction stands as clear proof for her
craftsmanship.
The second chapter under the title "Myriad Forms, Myriad Scenes"
analyses the thematic pattern of the novels of Kamala Markandaya. Her
novels encompass a wide variety of themes: the problems of the poor
miserable peasants of the rural world, hunger and poverty both in the
rural and the urban society, East-West encounter, the problem of
growing up and the tragedy of unavailing hopes. All the evils pertaining
to the Indian milieu like early marriage, unmarried mother, illegitimate
child, dowry system, double standard of morality for men and women,
discrimination of widows, evils of the Zamindari system, and the
perpetual problem enshrouding humanity like the humiliation of the
handicapped, prostitution and violence are a few to name. All these
themes clearly illustrate her deep and genuine concern for society and
the welfare of humanity. They also further serve to show Kamala
Markandaya's anxiety, apprehension, and the deeply felt pain to be a
helpless spectator of the miserable society of which she is a prominent
member.
217
Hunger and poverty is the main theme in Nectar in a Sieve and
A Handful of Rice. Though the settings in both these novels are different,
they genuinely exhibit the pathetic condition of the suffering humanity
due to hunger and poverty, and the evil effects it thrusts on the victims.
The theme of overpowering reality that blocks out the dreams and
shatters the hopes of the people is consistently present in the novels of
Karnala Markandaya. In Nectar in a Sieve, the villagers' hope of surviving
the draught, the floods and their struggles to endure and survive despite
the unstable economic conditions are rendered null and void and
ultimately they can not help but surrender to the dictate of the merciless
realities of life. In Some Inner Fury, the dream of the protagonist, an
Indian girl, to get married to her lover, an Englishman is doomed in the
strong current of reality due to the national movement for freedom. The
tide of reality easily sweeps away the aspirations of individuals. In
A Handful of Rice, it is just to get rid of rural poverty that the protagonist
Ravi goes to the city. His hope of finding a good job is crushed down by
the hard realities of city life, as the city is replete with unemployed
graduates. In spite of his labouring hard, he is not successful in earning
a better life. Ravi's dreams always remain dreams, defeated by the forces
of reality.
The Nowhere Man symbolically shows through the bitter
experiences of the protagonist, the shattered dreams of Indian
immigrants in alien countries. Two Virgins portrays the destroyed
218
dreams of an adolescent village girl who lured by the temptations of city
life, finally trades off her soul.
The East-West cultural clash predominates in Some Inner Fury,
Possession and The Nowhere Man. The same theme, though with a slight
variation, is also dealt with in A Silence of Desire, The Coffer Dams and
The Golden Honeycomb. These novels bring to light that the West has
been self-consciously superior and the East, self-consciously inferior.
Though individual relationships are feasible, political forces may, with
vested interest, keep barriers on the way.
The most striking feature of Kamala Markandaya's fiction is the
concept of cultural continuity in the commotion of social, economic
political changes in modern India. In all her novels Kamala Markandaya
explores the impact of change in terms of human psychology. The
quintessence of Kamala Markandaya's fiction consists of the context of
complex cultural values. This concern for individual consciousness and
its growth is the hallmark of Kamala Markandaya's fiction. The purposive
refinement of creative sensibility endows her novels with a certain
representative character that marks them out as a significant entity in
Indo- English fiction.
The third chapter entitled "The Way They Blossom", analyses the
characters of the novels of Kamala Markandaya, tracing the
bildungsroman strain in the portrayal of her characters. One of the most
important characteristics of Kamala Markandaya's novels is her interest
219
in the formation, growth and development of the mind and character of
her protagonists. This chapter analyses the novels Possession, Two
Virgins, The Golden Honeycomb and Pleasure City, so as to bring out the
bildungsroman strain in them.
The protagonist of Possession conforms to the role of the dunce,
who goes out into the world in search of adventure, undergoes varied
experiences, has grandiose dreams, commits foolish mistakes, suffers
painful disappointments and learns wisdom the hard way, acquires
maturity and responsibility, rejects commonplace life and resigns himself
to a life in the service of god. Two Virgins deals with the formation and
development of the protagonist Saroja, as she grows from adolescence to
maturity under the shaping influences of her environment, the incidents
that she observes and the experiences she undergoes. It is a
contemporary account of the mythic adolescent quest that leads the
protagonist from childhood into adulthood in society. It becomes clear
that Two Virgins also satisfies the norms of the bildungsroman.
The very subject of The Golden Honeycomb makes it a
bildungsroman. The novel projects the inner conflicts experienced by the
heir apparent of Devapur state Rabi, the protagonist, due to the various
exposures of the outside world he is subjected to and his revelation of the
miserable condition of the poor people. During his first tour around the
kingdom, he witnesses the draught affected countryside and learns
about the starvation and death of hundreds of thousands of people and
220
painfully observes that those who are living look like walking skeletons.
The protagonist's exposure to the miseries of the people is a revelation to
him. His sojourn with a slum girl in Bombay serves as his spiritual
crisis. In the end, like Siddhartha who later became Gautama Buddha he
rejects his princely role and resolves to be a popular leader. The growth
and development of the protagonist, the awakening, the learning and
change in the protagonist, his tutelage and training are strong features of
bildungsroman.
Pleasure City traces the evolution of the protagonist, a fisher boy,
from being an orphaned child to a responsible person. During this
developmental stage, he undergoes varied experiences. His brave rescue
of a foolhardy woman in the sea, against the fisherman's instinct and at
the risk of his life is the crisis that physically and psychologically boosts
him into a man's state. In the end, he realistically and rationally resigns
himself to the role of a useful citizen in Shalimar. Thus, Pleasure City
also qualifies as a bildungsroman.
The fourth chapter with the title, "The Soul of Life" examines the
prominence and significance of the women characters in the novels of
Kamala Markandaya. In her novels women play significant and
multifaceted roles. They have more depth and more richness than the
men folk.
Through her female protagonists, Kamala Markandaya reveals the
virtues and a potentiality of woman by showing that woman is not
221
inferior to man in any way. She stresses the need to believe in the moral
superiority of woman in upholding sanctity of the family. She has
presented new woman, a wonderful, improved race of traditional woman.
Her women protagonists have given a ray of hope and a goal to the
countless women who are groping in the dark and living in isolation and
frustration. She has opened a new vista for women by infusing a
crusading spirit into them for the welfare of humanity and the alleviation
of the human suffering.
In Nectar in a Sieve, Rukmani is the principal character. The
struggle of Rukmani is against the merciless whims of nature and the
incurable poverty of the family. The factors that distinguish her
greatness are her invincible optimism and the inflexibility of purpose in
the pursuit of the needs of life in the face of the worst odds. In Some
Inner Fury, the protagonist Mira knows well that character is destiny.
Premala is the archetypal image of doomed Indian womanhood. Both
Mira and Premala are more representative than individualistic in their
function. Sarojini, in A Silence of Desire, represents the conflict between
tradition and modernity. Like Rukmani, Sarojini also never raises a voice
of complaint against her husband, even at the face of his worst allegation
against her. In A Handful of Rice, Nalini's character is beautifully drawn.
She can redeem even a wayward husband like Ravi. Nalini is noble,
strong-willed and judicious. She emerges as the heroine of the novel
222
because she surmounts everything that is aimed at weakening her
integrity.
In Possession, Anasuya, a journalist, is the narrator. The English
woman Lady Caroline, though affluent, is unrefined. She tries to
transpose Valmiki, the unsophisticated artist, into the English
atmosphere. The protagonist's sensitivity is ruptured when Caroline
forces his separation from Ellie, whom he loves truly and whose heartrending sufferings he shares with an exceptional sympathy. Ellie reminds
him of his own mother. After Ellie, Annabel enters his life but she is
cunningly separated from him by Caroline. The world of Caroline is a
wasteland of spirit, and Anasuya is the witness of this drama of
destructive intrusion of a "patron" into the sanctum of a human heart.
The important woman character in The Coffer Dams is Helen. She
is the wife of Clinton, one of the founders of the dam. Unpretentious and
unpossesive, Helen is not another version of a British sympathizer as
Caroline. She is very different and she is moved by the pitiable sight of
the millions of people in India. She does not denounce Indians in the
pride of western scientific modernity. Neither did she pretend, like
Caroline, to be their mentor. Helen's only concern is with the human
condition.
In The Nowhere Man, Vasantha, the wife of the protagonist
Srinivas, is a quite little woman. Even after her death, she is a living
presence to her husband. Quietly she had filled Srinivas' entire being.
223
Srinivas is brought back to the mainstream of life through the caring he
receives from Mrs. Pickering, an equally old and destitute lady.
The protagonist has to be rescued from the bleakness by human warmth
and human commitment for a fellow human being, and the agent of this
is Mrs. Pickering. Two Virgins portrays the miserable lives but the
changed destinies of the two sisters Nalini and Saroja. Enticed by the
pomp and glitter of the cinema world, Nalini succumbs to the
temptations of the city life and loses her identity in her mad pursuit of
pleasure. The harsh experiences and the heart rending sufferings of her
elder sister Nalini serves as an eye opener to her younger sister Saroja.
In The Golden Honeycomb, characters like Manjula, Mohini and
Usha have their roots in the Indian traditions. Manjula and Mohini play
pivotal roles in the affirmation of the continuity of the essential cultural
values amid the manifold political changes in modern India. They are the
model of India's traditional womanhood in guiding and shaping the fate
of Bawajiraj III and Rabindranath. Manjula and Mohini fire enthusiasm
and inspiration in them and they are moulded by them. Following the
path shown by these women characters, Rabi provides peace and
progress to the people of his state.
In Pleasure City, though Kamala Markandaya has not done enough
justice to her women characters, in her still mood, she breaths life into
her female world and makes her women alive. Mrs. Bridie, Amma, Valli,
Cornea, Zavera, Mrs. Contractor, Mrs. Pearl, Mrs. Chari, Mrs. Lockwood,
224
Mrs. Lovat and so on arise, move, feel, understand and contribute a lot
in making the threads of Tully- Rikki relationship stronger. Mrs. Bridie is
an angel in human body. She has come in this world to help the poor
and the needy and to relieve them of their sufferings.
Beautiful girls who think of physical beauty as an end in itself
commit mistakes. They enjoy this hallucination of being beautiful. By
dint of beauty they dream of winning the whole world and wish to rule
over the people. Their imagination soars high in the sky when someone
praises them for their beauty. They are poor in real sense as they are
devoid of real beauty- the beauty of character and beauty of thought.
Kamala Markandaya's women characters are caught in the
whirlpool of tradition. They fight a heroic struggle but in most cases they
fail as the chain of tradition binds their feet. They muster up with great
force: some of them break it but not completely, to come out and enter
the domain of "new woman". They still retain traditional colour though
faint in the dazzling light of the new domain. The changes in time bring
changes in the circle of their activity and they adapt themselves to new
environments but their basic traditional mental vision remains
unchanged. All the women characters feel the warmth of changes,
struggle in their minds whether they should reject the old ones and
welcome the new ones, find out a possible solution out of this inner
dialogue in following the via media and ultimately vote for transformation
and redefining the concepts in the new light of changes. Burdened with
225
the bitter experiences of the past, they hopefully dream of a better future
but invariably they have to face the stark realities of life that smithereens
all their dreams.
Kamala Markandaya, unquestionably one of the most
outstanding novelists in Indian fiction in English, is primarily a
humanitarian novelist. Her large-heartedness, humanitarian sympathies,
abundant kindness, good nature, and generous pity reflected in her
novels, testify to her "zeal of a crusader in the cause of
humanitarianism". In her treatment of social problems, she aims at
achieving the welfare of the entire humanity. To her, man is a puppet in
the hands of malignant fate, which is out to thwart his efforts and rob
him of any chance of happiness.
Kamala Markandaya's characterisation is clear in the light of the
cultural and social process and achieves meaning within the mode of life
she depicts. Her artistic transmutation of the social reality is convincing
enough as she relates her characters to social phenomena.
Kamala Markandaya is a brilliant and unique story teller. All her
novels are absorbing and highly readable. The narration in her first three
novels is simple and straight forward. They are presented in the
reminiscent mood. In the other novels, the tradition of the omniscient
author is followed. In two of her novels she has employed the technique
of stream of consciousness. The plot construction of the novels of Kamala
Markandaya is traditional and well-organised as in a classical play. The
226
plot is gradually revealed and the climax is followed by a rapid
denouement. All the characters and incidents contribute to the action.
A continuous struggle between man and fate explains very well the
human situation in Kamala Markandaya's novels. Man is ranged against
impersonal forces. Even evil characters are looked upon as creatures of
circumstances that they are far more pitied than blamed. Fate is the
common enemy of all in a just vision of human life. The hopeful dreams
of man are mercilessly shattered by the cruel hands of reality. These
observations, may very well serve to highlight Kamala Markandaya's
social concern and her outlook on the overpowering forces of reality.
All the characters in the novels of Kamala Markandaya have a
diversity of dreams depending on the socio-economic milieu of their outer
world and also the psychological setting of their inner world. But the
instant they enter the world of reality, it proves to be a totally different
world from their world of dreams. Their dreams are devastated by the
violent storms of reality in the vast sea of life. They are tormented by
factors like socio-economic restraints, political and religious exploitations
of the inimical tradition customs as well as the onslaught of hostile
modern practices. But it has to be admired that all her protagonists are
highly optimistic never allowing themselves to be washed away by the
strong currents of the bitter realities of life. They all have a strong
conviction that life has to be lived with all its joys and sorrows, bliss and
misery, even when life is reduced to the level of sheer existence. This
227
optimism to live one's life, never losing the innate courage to fight against
all odds of life and trying to make meaning out of life which Kamala
Markandaya has infused into her characters is her supreme achievement
as a novelist and representative of the contemporary society. That is
what makes her novels socio-literature or literature of concern.
The unique characteristic of Kamala Markandaya's protagonists is
the unfailing optimism they exhibit even against the worst odds:
No doubt they are defeated but not destroyed;
Like the phoenix their hopes will come alive
And have many rebirths.
Their instinct to fight on and on for survival
Will remain untouched, even by the
Harshest realities and the merciless destiny.
With her impeccable representational realism and evocative
descriptions of the Indian arcadia through her wide range of themes,
superior characterisation, and the skilful use of other fictional
techniques, Kamala Markandaya has not only earned but also
established herself a prominent place, as one of the eminent
representative writers in the rightfully proud world of Indian English
Fiction.
Through a careful scrutiny of Kamala Markandaya's novels, it is
established that dreams are the sustaining factors of humanity. They are
the everlasting life-savers and the invisible guides who protect and lead
228
the people towards their goals. But in reality, not all the dreams of the
people are fulfilled. Only a few dreams are rewarded with the fruit of
realization. Most of the dreams of the people are shattered against the
rocks of harsh realities in the various forms of socio-economic, religious,
political and psychological restraints imposed upon them. In addition,
this study proposes ample scope for future researchers to explore the
treatment of feminism in the novels of Kamala Markandaya.
It is hoped that this study would amplify the scope of the learners
of literature, unveil a new panorama for future researchers and also help
the readers to have a better understanding and an elevated sense of
appreciation of the novels of Kamala Markandaya. There is ample scope
for researchers to explore the aspect of Kamala Markandaya's treatment
of feminism in her novels. What this study might have established can be
compared to a gulp of water drunk from a running stream-that is the art
and genius of Kamala Markandaya. This perennial stream of knowledge
will go on running for future researchers too so as to drink deep and
quench their thirst of knowledge.
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