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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES, ARTS AND SCIENCE
An Open Access, Peer Reviewed, Refereed and Quarterly Journal
Vol – 1 No – 1 October 2016
e- ISSN: 2456-5571
www.bodhijournals.com
CONTENTS
BODHI International Journal of
Research in
Humanities, Arts and Science
Vol: 1
No: 1
Oct 2016
1.
ISSN: 2456-5571
An open access, peer reviewed, refereed
and quarterly e-Journal
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The publisher and editors cannot be
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WOMEN CHARACTERS IN SHASHI
DESHPANDE’S THE INTRUSION AND
OTHER STORIES: A STUDY IN
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Dr. Punam Pandey
VOICING THE SILENCE IN SHASHI
DESHPANDE’S “THAT LONG
SILENCE” - AN OVERVIEW
Dr. Vipin Kumar Pandey
RELEVANCE OF EDUCATIONAL
PHILOSOPHY OF DR. B. R.
AMBEDKAR IN 21ST CENTURY
Pradeep D. Waghmare
COMMUNICATION WITHIN
FRAGMENTATION IN KURT
VONNEGUT’S “GALAPAGOS”
Ms. S. Priyadarshini
vkfnoklh L=h dk ;FkkFkZ gS ^uxkMs+ dh rjg
ctrs gSa “kCn*
MkW- ikaMqjx
a OghOgh- egkfyaxs
DEVELOPING A REMEDIAL COURSE
IN ENGLISH TO ENHANCE
COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF THE
SLOW LEARNERS AT TERTIARY
LEVEL
Dr. S. Diravidamani
THE PORTRAYAL OF THE
SUBJUGATION OF MOTHERHOOD IN
BUCHI EMECHETA'S NOVEL "THE
JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD"
S. Sandhya
Dr. M. Kannadhasan
THE EXISTENTIAL AGONY OF A
BUSINESS MAN IN LOUIS NOWRA’S
‘THE BOYCE TRILOGY’ – A
SOCIALOGICAL DISCOURSE
R. Vidhya
Dr. K. Ravichandran
01
05
11
19
22
24
27
30
9.
SOM BHASKER AS A QUESTER IN
34
ARUN JOSHI’S NOVEL
“THE LAST LABYRINTH”
N. Priyadarsini
10. CASTE CONFLICT AND STRUGGLE IN 37
COOMARASAWAMY’S:
THE DANCE OF SHIVA
A. Mohan
Dr. K. Ravichandhran
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WOMEN CHARACTERS IN SHASHI DESHPANDE’S THE INTRUSION AND
OTHER STORIES: A STUDY
STUDY IN PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Dr. Punam Pandey
In-charge and Asst. Professor, Dept. of English and Modern European Languages,
JR Handicapped University, Chitrakoot
Abstract
Finally rejecting the level of a feminist, Shashi Deshpande has always been writing about women. There is no feminine
mystique in her portrayal of women. Instead, her novels as well as short stories have women protagonists living in a very
patriarchal society and, yet trying to define themselves, to find a niche for themselves, a space to call their own, a voice to
express their thoughts to live a live according to their wishes and desires to fulfill their potential as human beings.
Keywords: 'ghettoisation', marital fidelity, kumkum.
Introduction
The Intrusion and Other Stories is about the
relationships that women have with others- men as well as
other women and is these relationships that give a room to
access the emotion and psychological aspect of a woman.
If women's writing can or does appeal only to women
readers, then there is a serious danger of 'ghettoisation', of
such writing being left only on the periphery, of always
having the tag of women's writing without an adjective to
describe it. As L. Kannan puts it:
For a woman, her works are no less a process of
self actualization as her life is. In both, she wrestles with
the host of obstinate paradigms and syndromes,
precipitated by not just the myths, legends or the collective
memory of the inherent conservative elements within a
community, but equally with the ones thrown by the
movement of feminism itself.
In this collection of short stories most of the
stories have a female protagonist at the center analyzing,
remembering, recapitulating or evaluating a relationship. In
most of stories it is the family relationship with another
female - a mother, daughter or granddaughter- or a male a husband or a father. Interestingly, there is no sibling
sister- brother relationship though a couple of stories do
have a sister- sister relationship. The bonding of women
takes on various forms, for example, a daughter needs her
mother the most in times of trouble. Deshpande poignantly
describes the instinctive reaching out of a daughter for the
1
mother in the times of pain, sorrow, fear, despondency etc.
in 'Why a Robin', the closer to her father and she finds the
mother insufficient in many ways. "I'll ask Papa. He's sure
to know, he'll help me" (10). While even the mother feels "I
don't have the key to open up this beautiful child, though
she is mine" (11). Father and mother formed a close circle
to which the mother is denied entry:" The reading lamp
casts a halo of light around their glowing faces but the light
does not reach the corner where I am sitting"(12). But then
within a few hours, as the daughter menstruate for the first
time, standing on the brink of womanhood; she instinctively
reaches out for her mother. She wants the mother to stay
with her, hold her close, allay her fears, and the mother
feels "joyous, exalted' as if I have found one key, opened
one door" (14).The closed space, the intimate circle of
mother and daughter is impregnable and out of bound for
any male. Like the safe space, the mother and her past
become a safe apace for this young girl who is suddenly
made of her body, her sexuality, her fearlessness which
distinguishes her form the male of the species.
In It Was Dark, a 14-year old rape victim
attempts to come to terms with the terrifying experience.
The mother attempts her come out of the trauma but the
young girl continues to stare at the ceiling, "with black and
unseeing eyes", (32) isolates and alienated by her
experience. In her novel The Building vine, Shashi
Deshpande had juxtaposed rape in marriage and outside itthe rape of Kalpana and Meera. Here too, the mother
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thinks of her wedding night when she remembered her
mother's words. "You must submit" (Ibid) and it was only
submission that had made thinks easier. The child finally
relates to the mother and allows her eyes to shift their
focus from ceiling onto her mother. The unnamed 14-year
old becomes the victim of the outrage against the female
body-rape. To the mother it seems as if being a female
meant building walls with negatives around oneself:
Don't-don't-don't- you're female. They taught me
to build a wall around myself with negatives from
childhood. And then suddenly, when I got married, they told
me to break the walls down. To behave as if it had never
been. And my husband too- how completely his disregard
of that wall had been; I had felt totally vulnerable, wholly
defenseless. I won't let my daughter live behind walls; I had
thought. (31)
From the outrage against the female body,
Deshpande moves on to the women's sexuality,
motherhood and the choice to abort one's child. For eons in
our patriarchal society it has been the prerogative of the
male to decide where or not a child should be born. In
'Death of a Child' the protagonist decides not to have a
child that can welcome into this world. She feels, "The third
time in less than four years. It isn't fair" (44). Sita in Desai's
novel Where Shall We Go This Summer? Wanted to retain
her child in her womb and not allow it to be born in this
violent-ridden, callous, loveless world. Here the mother
decides that she will have the third child because "Children
stifle your personality. You become a mother, nothing
more"(45). She feels quite strongly about it, about being
stifled, about being pushed into a pre-ordinate role: I feel
trapped. I feel like an animal….. I cannot imagine that the
main purpose of my life is to breed" (Ibid). And so, against
the half-hearted consent of her husband, she decides to
have MPT- a medical termination of pregnancy. The
woman makes a choice that she is the master of her body,
her life and her destiny. Yet, she is confused and
Deshpande portrays realistically the ambivalent feelings of
a woman towards he own decision:
I feel heaviness in my own breasts. There is a
hollow feeling within me. I'm filled with strange thoughts.
Where have I heard that, after an amputation, a person
continues to feel that amputated limb? It itches, it hurts, it
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exists. Now like a phantom limb, my child seems to cling to
me. Now, when he does not exit, he asserts himself. I am
conscious of the piercing pain in the place that he had
filled. Grief becomes real. I swing like a monstrous
pendulum, between grief, guilt and shame. Guilt conquers.
I welcome it and shoulder the burden with a masochistic
fervor. But for me, my child would have lived. I tied to
delude myself into thinking it is fate. But I do not believe in
fate only in inevitability. And this was not inevitable. But,
yes, it was. I could have done no other thing, acted in no
other way. (50)
The anonymity of many of these characters in
their being unnamed gives them their universality too. The
need to reach out to a child, one's own child, is common
threat linking many of the short stories in this collection. In
'The Cruelty Game', the recently widowed Pramila Auntie
places her child Sharu's needs even above her own
personal sorrow. In spite of all the criticism she decides to
celebrate her daughter's birthday, while in 'My Beloved
Charioteer', Ajji finds it impossible to reach out her
daughter Aarti who has isolated herself totally after the
sudden death of her husband. The mother here feels
helpless at the silence of her daughter.
Nine months I carried this daughter of mine in my
body. I felt every beat of her heart, every movement of her
limbs within me. But-and my doctor told me this and then my pains and shocks could never penetrate to her, she
was insulated against them. Even now she is protected
from my pains, even now. I have no protection against her
pains. I suffer with her, but like all my other emotions, it is a
futile suffering. For, I cannot help her. I can only fumble
and blunder and make things worse.
The absence of women in family photographs or
in the family tree the total obliteration of them or their
contribution in the family is an issue that has been dealt
with many woman writers. In Deshpande's 'That long
Silence', the protagonist Jaya argues that as women do not
find a place in their natal family tree. But this does not
happen very often and even the names of the girls are
changed at marriage for various reasons. And then the
identity of a woman seems to be at stake because the
identity associated with one's name is suddenly snatched
away and one may very well begin to wonder 'Who Am I?'
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In 'Lucid Movements', the dying woman (a mother)
suddenly wants to know her mother's name- the mother
who died while giving birth to her first child (who is the
dying woman). The daughter realizes that the mother is
probably thinking of tat pre-wedding rite, in which priests
call out names the couple's ancestors- father, grandfather,
great grandfather. The names roll off their tongues with a
musical, sonorous solemnity (74). The mother's name is
not even mentioned. The women are there but they are not
known only by relationship- Ajji, Akka, Amma, Kaki. They
are only the roles that they have to act out and the real
woman with an identity of her own is never seen, never
allowed to appear. After the death of her mother the
daughter decides that names are important and wonders
"Can I prove to my mother- my mother? No myself - that
even if they never chant a litany of their names at a
wedding, these women are real?"(79) She wants to make
sure that these women in the temple in the story 'The
Stone Women'. Men from their imagination create the
sculptures and many of them have nothing to do with the
real women of those days. In fact gender becomes the
distinct category bearing social meanings through social,
cultural and psychological transformation. The women in
these sculptures are portrayed as charmers, as dancers,
as courtesans and real, as they seem to have no
professional characters. The entire aims seems to be just
exhibit their charms and sensuous moods: "The image of
woman as displaying physical charm emerged predominant
wit eclipse of her mental accomplishment, creativity and
her focused seclusion and consequent isolation from the
productive process of contemporary society" (Vashishtha,
111).
Marital fidelity, especially for women, is an
accepted traditional Indian value. In portraying the
husband-wife relationship, Deshpande veers from the
extreme compatibility of 'It Was The Nightingale' to the
possibility of infidelity in 'An Antidote To Boredom'. In the
former story she describes the pain of parting which seems
to affect the husband more as "And yet his pain pierces my
armour of understanding but-not-caring" (89). Yet their love
making is described with no frills attached:
And then we are lost. No, not lost. Found,
because this is where we really find each other. We do not
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have to search. Each goes out to the other and we are
merged in a oneness that is absolute. I give all of me until I
am only a hollow ecstasy. And pain…….later we lie in the
usual serenity and peace that descends on us after loving.
(90)
As she prepares to leave, she realizes that being
away for two years may be "a fearsome period. Two years
of experiences that we will not share. And each one a brick
that can become a wall between us" (pp, 89-90). Here is a
contemporary middle-class woman who chooses to place
her career aspirations above her domestic demands and
responsibilities. On the other hand, the latter story is about
a bored housewife who is looking for some colour, meaning
and excitement in her otherwise drab, uneventful,
predictable, routine existence. She justifies her decision to
have an affair:
I felt no guilt towards my husband, because I
would be depriving him of nothing, nothing he wanted. How
often I felt in myself a boundless capacity for loving, for
giving! But I had felt in him an incapacity to receive and for
that I hated him at times….. he was not a wicked man, not
harsh, not cruel. Only unperceptive. And dull. And dullness
to me is an unforgivable crime. (66)
The marital relationship is analyzed from the
woman's point of view in the story Intrusion, too. The
newly-wed wife is unable to accept sex so soon after
marriage with a man she feels is still a stranger to have
even though he is legally her husband. She wishes to know
him better but he cannot understand why that is important."
Know each other? What has that to do with it? Aren't we
married now?" (40). To her it seems as if sex even with her
husband when it is against her wishes was" an intrusion of
my (her) privacy, the violation of my (her) right to myself
(herself)" (41).
Man's definition, desire and demand for sexuality
were enshrined and thrust upon woman's management and
negotiation of her body. (Singhi, 56)
In delineating the relationship of women in
society and society norms, Deshpande subtly interweaves
the stigma attached to widows in a story about children-'
The Cruelty Games'. As the title appropriately suggests,
women are stigmatized for no fault of theirs. As Pramila
Auntie tries hard to lead a normal life after the death of her
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husband, everyone seems intent on reminding her of her
widowhood status. Even grandmother raves, "Take that off,
why do you have that, take it off "(128) referring to the
kumkum which is permitted to be used only by women
whose husbands are alive.
This collection of stories portrays women
attempting to break out of the pre-ordinate, pre-defined
roles. These stories appropriately and abundantly succeed
to bring forth the emotion and psychological aspect of
women especially from Indian society. Deshpande has also
succeeded in revealing the real condition of women in India
in this century.
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Works Cited
1. Deshpande, Shashi.1993. The Intrusion and
Other Stories. India: Penguin. Print.
2. Kannan, Lakshmi. 2001. To Grow or not to Grow:
Indian Feminism ed. Jasbir Jain and Awadesh
Kumar Singh. New Delhi: Creative. Print.
3. Singhi, N.K. 1996. Gender Themes: Issues and
Perspective: Women Images. ed. Pratibha Jain
and Rajan Mahan. Jaipur: Rawat. Print.
4. Vashistha, Neelima. 1996. Images of Women as
Reflected in Sculpture: Women Images. ed.
Pratibha Jain and Rajan Mahan. Jaipur: Rawat.
Print.
Bodhi International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Science
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VOICING THE
THE SILENCE IN SHASHI DESHPANDE’S
“THAT LONG SILENCE
SILENCE”
ENCE” - AN OVERVIEW
Dr. Vipin Kumar Pandey
Associate Professor, Dept. of English and Other Foreign Languages, DSMNR University, Lucknow
Abstract
Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence has dealt with the state of the modern Indian women who well know how to
keep balance between their life and career. The novelist has depicted the women struggle against all odds without sacrificing
their values. In post- colonial New English literature Shashi Deshpande has explored the women struggle to carve their own
identity. Being a keen observer she has so dexterously dealt with the burning issues regarding women’s position in the family
and society in her novel “That Long Silence” and this presented novel brought ‘Sahitya Akadimi’ Award in 1990. The soul female
character of the novel is Jaya, who decides to break her silence after the seventeen years to set her own identity. She, more
than any other woman novelist, is committed and consistent in presenting realistic view of the educated Indian women of the
middle class who are bound to live their lives devoid of all embellishments due to their subjugation to men. Definitely the influx of
Western education and culture led them to the speculation about their position. They are badly entangled between tradition and
modernity. Despite being capable to uplift their status they are considered inferior and subservient to men. It is seen that the
suffering is inevitable fate of the woman. Our family and society impose massive burden of the responsibility upon their shoulders
without caring their desires, wills, and aspirations. Shashi Deshpande never intends to go against men but in the depiction of
reality. She is also called an ardent feminist. s and others female writers threw adequate light on the role of women in the family
and society. More attention is given to the emotional and intellectual conflicts that women encounter in their search for identity.
This is highlighted in the various ways by the novelists. Shashi Deshpande depicts women with no voice through her character
Jaya in That Long Silence having ambition to be heard but at the end of the novel she overcomes her silence. She holds the
solution of her problem developing the positive attitude towards the life.
Keywords: monolithic, andocentric ideologies, existentialism, imperialism, subaltern, introspection.
Introduction
Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence is replete
with various burning social issues like marriage, love,
mutual understanding, gender discrimination, tradition
versus modernity and Marginalization etc. But the present
paper modestly attempts to examine existential concerns in
That Long Silence in which the struggle of the protagonist,
Jaya to get her voice breaking the seventeen years long
silence is highlighted. All human beings are made of flesh
and blood so they should be treated equally. Despite
having potential and capacity women could not secure
equal opportunities and rights, they are pushed back by the
andocentric ideologies. That’s why they are marginalized.
Our patriarchal system places aberration in their way.
When women writers come forth to reveal their status they
are called stern feminist whereas feminism is by no means
5
monolithic term. If it is examined closely, findings show that
it is nothing but the critique of the patriarchal modes of
thinking which aims at the domination of the male and the
subordination of the female. Women are expected to
inculcate as a part of socialization. This happens with Jaya,
who always thinks to break silence but all preaching
instruction of elders never permit her to do that. It will be
apt to quote Simone De Beauvoir, who is of the view that
history of humanity is a history of systematic attempts to
silence the female. She expounds, “One is not born, but
rather becomes a woman. It is civilization as a whole that
produces this creature which is described as feminine”
(The Second Sex: 295). The novelist describing the life of
Jaya replete with monotony, frustration, alienation, ennui,
isolation etc. and asks many questions indirectly. One of
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them is, whether they should be voiceless, women’s only
job is to think about their husband’s will, comfort, like,
dislike, happiness, unhappiness, they are not the think
about themselves. As thinking about self carries meaning
to them in the society and family. So Shashi Deshpande
ventures to explore existential view in her novel That Long
Silence. In an interview to Geetha Ganghadharn she says,
“My preoccupation is with the interpersonal relationships
and human emotions. She expresses that relationship is
the most mystifying thing and it is tremendously intriguing
fascinating” ( 252).
Shashi Deshpande has highlighted myriad
concerns related to women’s position in the family and
society in her novel “That Long Silence”. She bagged
Sahitya Akadimi Award for the present novel in 1990. The
prime character of the novel is Jaya, who keeps her silence
for the seventeen years. Her bringing up never lets her
raise her voice against men and patriarchal system.
Through this character the novelist delves deep in the heart
of the average married women, who are constantly being
twisted between patriarchy and imperialism. Gayatri C.
Spivak presents her view in her article “Can the Subaltern
Speak?, Between patriarchy and imperialism, subject
constitution and object formation the figure of the woman
disappears, not into a pristine nothingness but into a violent
shuttling which is the displaced figuration of the Third
World Woman caught between tradition and
modernization”. After marriage Jaya lives the life in the
fragments. Jaya, all time, thinks about her family and
Mohan, but constantly misses something. But she does not
speculate on what she is missing. She gets, her silence
makes her into conformity with Mohan’s expectations. In
their relationship there is nothing but suppressed silence
only.
The novelist through the image of Jaya depicts
the crawling one who is unprotected and unshelled. Her
condition is woeful as Mohan’s wife and Rahul and Rati’s
mother. She describes, “Distance from real life, scared of
writing, scared of failing on God I had thought, I cannot
take any more. Even a worm has it can crawl into” (148).
When she compares herself to worn which has our shelter,
whereas she has not hers. Jaya’s above feeling reminds
the reader the narrator of Virginia Woolf’s fiction A Room of
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One’s Own, who presents her demand of a room for her
creative work. She does not have any private place where
she could think, write and do independently. The narrator
believes, with money and a room she could have been a
better writer as living condition always affects one’s
creativity. Jaya wishes to keep on writing. She breaks her
silence of the seventeen years in her writing. Along with
she can satiate her thrust of craving identity and breathes
in open atmosphere of her own choice. For that Jaya,
constantly, keeps internal conflict regarding her identity and
liberty. About the novel Shashi Deshpande says:
And then I wrote That Long Silence, almost
entirely a woman’s novel, nevertheless, a book about the
silencing of one- half of humanity. Alifetime introspection
went into this novel, the one closest to me personally; the
thinking and ideas in this are closest to my own.(Jain,
Jasbir, 210)
As far as Jaya writes the responsibilities and
social bondage in her view has been a failed writer.
Universal voice is not heard in her works. For the pieces of
her writing she is answerable to Mohan. It means that she
does not have freedom and liberty both in her personal and
professional life. In the process of self- revelation through
writing, Jaya recognizes her own self. She broods upon her
status like who am I? and what is her position? She is “An
utter stranger, a person so alien that even the faintest
understanding of the motives of the motives of her actions
seemed impossible” (69). Hence, she comes in ago my, I
can’t hope, I can’t manage, I can’t go on in such a shifting
and suffocating domestic ambience and patriarchal set up,
she finds her female identity effaced. Jaya’s stories had
been rejected for lack of genuine feelings which she had
laid aside. In another way it can be described that she is
self- alienated. The creative urge and artistic zeal free her
from her cramped and dubbed domestic roles. When she
realizes, makes her mind to be silent no more, she has
right to reveal her genuine feelings and emotions. So, she
resolves to break that silence by putting down on paper all
that she has suppressed in her seventeen years silence.
That Long Silence had reduced her into many fragments.
She expounds:
The panic has gone. I am Mohan’s wife I had
thought, and cut off the bits of me that had refused to be
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Mohan’s wife. Now I know that kind of fragmentation is not
possible. The child hands in pocket, has been with me
through the years. (191)
Towards the end of the present novel she
consciously acknowledges her writing as a kind of fiction
and quotes Defoe’s description of fiction as a king of lying
which may make ‘a great hope in the heart’. So she
decides to plug that hole ‘as said earlier by speaking and
listening and erasing the silence between her and Mohan,
her erasing of the silence stands for her assertion of her
feminine voice, a voice with hope and promise, a voice that
articulates her thoughts. The novel does not depict Jaya’s
life as a totally dismal and hopeless struggle. It suggests
“hope” and “change” for the better. She pines for better life
where there is no shackle to tie the legs forwarding towards
career and success. “We don’t change overnight. It’s
possible that we may not change even over long periods of
time. But we can always hope without that life would be
impossible” (193).
Shashi Deshpande’s existential view paves the
way for women, who consider themselves inferior to men.
They considered that women are safe only in the protection
of men. So men as father, brother, husband and son can
even dominate them without caring their emotions which is
really inhuman. Women’s lives do not end with them.
Psychologically women are trained to consider men as
status symbol. When under pressure and anger Mohan
leaves home silently and stealthily with no word to his wife.
She does not hear him for a certain time. She is badly
jolted by his departure from home. His absence makes her
uneasy and she begins to ruminate. She thinks that he has
gone for good. Her reputation as a wife is at stake. The
thought of carrying children’s responsibilities upon her
shoulders stirs her; she does not want her to disintegrate.
So she is constantly haunted by the thought of
incompleteness without Mohan. She considers Mohan as a
source of social protection. Such feelings she reveals with
Mukta:
A man and a woman married for
seventeen years. A couple with two children. A family
somewhat like the one caught and preserved for posterity
by the advertising visuals I so loved. But the reality was
only this. We were only two persons. A man, Woman. (8)
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Jaya finds the void in her life after her separation
from her husband. This feeling gives birth to the sense of
detachment in Jaya. Both live together but there is little
emotional attachment. Before marriage Mohan drifts
towards her seeing her proficiency in English. He thinks to
marry with her but he never cares her emotions, feelings
and desires. She is just like status symbol to her husband.
Men as husbands do not take wives worth to stand equally
in society and family. Consequently, they humiliate and
insult them unknowingly and knowingly too. It will be apt to
recount Kiran Desai’s protagonist in her novel The
Inheritance of Loss who abuses his wife for her uncivilized
behaviour and rebukes her time to time for her inability to
speak in English. Whereas she has been source of
financial aids to him without that he could not have fulfilled
his dream. She is a key which opened the doors of his
success. But he never accepts her as a wife and treats her
inhumanly. It makes a deep chasm between them. In case
of Jaya and Mohan there is also same chasm between
them as there are no love and mutual understanding. She
brought up in the unemotional surroundings does not
understand meaning of true love. She is confused about
this vital relation which is also the binding vine between
different human relations. Just after getting married she
misunderstands love she says:
Love…? yes, what else could I call it but love,
when? Thought of how I had longed for his physical
presence, when I remembered how readily, almost
greedily, I had responded to his touch? What else could I
name it when I thought of the agony it had been to be
without him, when his desires, his approval, his love had
seemed, to be the most important thing in my life.(15)
Her thinking revolves around Mohan only so she
feels the need of Mohan and his need of her. She never
gets warmness in her relationship with him. Her personal
happiness and gratification do not carry any weight to
Mohan and to himself too. She fully knows her future and
relationship with him. Despite it she cannot dare to leave
her culture totally. No matter her marital relationship is
unable to give her satisfaction, peace of mind and love, she
cannot go away of her identity as Mohan’s wife. Her
emotional void is reflected in his words, “Love But what did
I know of love? Even the love stories I’d written they had
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been as if I had gone a spinning out the fantasies of my
adolescence love? No, I knew nothing of it” (152).
Shashi Deshpande very effectively expounds the
aim of only individual happiness in marriage. Jaya belongs
to average household. From beginning she developed fear
of speech for fear of ridicule from males Appa, her father
who always prevent her in doing any task of her taste. Her
father and brother criticized whenever got opportunities to
rebuke. Due to that she jumps into silence which becomes
easier to her. Later she avoids confessing to Mohan that
she actually likes to watch heads in the movies more than
movies, reasons behind this were liberty and freedom
shown in threads. Her inability to find words loads Jaya to
embark upon a long silent journey. Finally she holds
silence, the utter silence. “But the words remained unsaid. I
know his mood was best met with silence” (78), “But I said
nothing. It was so much simpler to say nothing. So much
less complicated” (99). She is taught to take Mohan as her
God. Her traditional upbringing makes her to sacrifice
herself on the altar of marriage. Bertrand Russel opines:
Love, like everything that is great and
precious, demands its own morality, and frequently entails
a sacrifice of the less to the greater; but the sacrifice must
be voluntary for , where it is not, it will destroy the very
basis of the love for the sake for which it is made.(215)
Marriage changes the entire life of girls. This is
discernible in case of Jaya. She gives up her ambition of
becoming a writer because she was led into believing that
her husband is her career, her profession and her means
of livelihood. Shashi Deshpande has highlighted many
burning issues of modern discourse of feminism. Through
the characters of Jaya, Asha, Mukta, Kusum etc. the
novelist depicts the complexities of Indian woman of the
modern age. In the life of Indian women marriage plays
pivotal role. It changes their entire life. As far as husbands
are concerned in the lives of their wives, they live as they
were living. They rejoice in their life carrying no sign of
being married. Jaya sees her individual fate becoming the
common fate of women whom she sees around her, bound
and suffocated in marriage. Jaya meditates as to why
woman plunge into the marital fire and keep burning
silently. The reason that occurs to her is, “We’re all
frightened of the dark, frightened of being alone” (102). It is
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both a personal weakness as well as social fate of women
in the Indian society.
Women against the patriarchal system rebel to
get their existence in the family and society. As social
taboos, the cramped, wrinkled traditions and values of their
ancestors and ceaselessly question the very concepts of
love, marriage and sex and feel an urge to redefine human
relationship and behavior. They do feel the necessity to
have a place to stand on and strive to attain the ideal of
freedom and completeness. There is quest for identity. But
their anger, their resentment against the existing system
and tradition does not, however, bring them any
satisfaction; rather it leads to frustration, hopelessness and
sense of meaninglessness. Their rebellious spirit, the
anger which would liberate them, is due to consciousness
to get their existence. Without male support even the
strongest is considered weak one whereas wife being or
not being in husband’s life does not bring apparent change.
Fear of being isolated without man hovers on woman.
Divorce and widowhood pull on silently in marriage as Jaya
thinks on what Ravi, her brother, whose wife Asha has left
after a quarrel would have liked her to tell Asha: “Go home
like a good girl, Asha… Go back home and obey your
husband. And never mind, whatever it is he has done, he’s
your husband,…”(115).
No one listens her, asks her the reason of her
decision of leaving home. She is expected to be mute
speaker. Shashi Deshpande reveals psychological
distance between Jaya and Mohan. Due to that there is
only deep silence which leads to unhappiness in Jaya’s life.
Before her marriage she is taught lets without caring her
emotions and feelings. Vanita mami tells her that a
husband is “a sheltering tree”.
When Ramukaka tells Jaya sketching the family
tree:“ Look Jaya, this is our branches. This our grandfatheryoung great father-and here is father, and then us –
Laxman, Vasu and me. And here are the boys – Sridhar,
Jaanu, Dinkar, Ravi.” At this Jaya asks about her position
in his sketch and he replies, “ How can You be here? You
don’t belong ti this family. You have no place here” (14243). Loss of her name in the family tree is symbolically the
loss of identity which wounds herself. Now she is in
dilemma what and where is her real position. She finds her
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existence in the danger. Ramukaka reminds her that the
happiness of her husband and home depends entirely on
her. Her brother advises her, ‘to be good to Mohan’ (13).
These raise a constant conflict inside her and push her for
her existential struggle. To achieve meaningful life she
finds compromise necessary in the journey of life. Finally
she decides that she has to mould herself according to the
needs and desires of her husband. She gives up her job
that she wanted to take the baby she wanted to adopt and
the anti-price campaign she wanted to take part in. Mohan
blames her to be careless to his family time to time but she
does not speak. She keeps on speculation in silence, “No
question, no retorts, only silence” (144). She captures
herself in the fort of silence to avoid problems. This is really
inhuman to make persons speechless and treats them as
they are not made of flesh and blood.
That Long Silence is not an intrusion into the
world of silence but a silent communication with the
oppressed self straining for articulation. Shashi Deshpande
expounds that higher education to girls has opened the
door for the quest of identity. It helps many to realization of
woman as independent being with their own needs and
satisfaction. When she is free to live her life on her own
terms, our tradition redeems her. If she breaks, feels
segregated from the society. Individual happiness is good
to nothing before old established orders in the society.
Another female character Mukta, neighbour of Jaya is also
widow. Jaya has seen her fanciful image so she says:
Mukta, to me, was that dancer, holding in her
still, mute body all those ideas, emotions and feelings
contained in the song. Sometimes. I’d often thought, the
singer will stop singing, and then it will all flow out of her.
Or did the song come to an end for her when Arun, her
husband, fell out of the train and died? (67).
She lives a life with little merriment, and her life
style irritates Jaya:
Mukta had more days of fast than days on which
she could eat a normal meal. Her self- mortification
seemed to be the most positive thing about her. And yet
her piety – surely it was that which prompted those fasts? –
seemed meaningless, since she had already forfeited the
purpose of it, the purpose of all Hindu women’s fasts- the
avoidance of widowhood. (67)
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All these stir Jaya internally and externally. Jaya
is also jolted by Kusum’s incident, who to avoid monotony,
depression, melancholy plunges into well to end all
problems. Kusum and Jaya were looked upon as a pair in
childhood. Though she resented but always has concern to
Kusum. She thinks about the reason of her suicide, and
finds indifference of parents. Parents’ indifference makes
children hopeless and pessimist. But Jaya’s heart is badly
shaken hearing the news of Kusum’s suicide. She thinks
that it would have better if Kusum were done to death
immediately after death. All these show how inhuman our
patriarchal system has been. Under which they are treated
inhumanly.
As the present paper is a moderate endeavour to
explore humanistic vision in Shashi Deshpande’s That
Long Silence. Jaya finally realizes the need to break her
silence of the seventeen years. For this way she cannot
hold solution. No longer will she live life unprotected. Now
she keeps a hope in her heart with her firm determination
to erase her silence which stands for the assertion of her
feminine voice. She decides to hold her identity as Jaya not
as Suhasini.
In the married life of Jaya treachery lies and
deception take place instead of love, affection and mutual
understanding. So Jaya is dissatisfied with her married life.
She is busy with the contemplation about childhood,
girlhood and womanhood. Since childhood she is taught to
follow instruction of men with little complain. But stealthily
she manages to do task of her own liking. Upon the lot of
girls Bernard Shaw has rightly pointed out, “Home is the
girl’s prison and the women’s workshop is very true in case
of Jaya” (358). After marriage Jaya is endowed with new
name ‘Suhasini’ by her husband Mohan. Meaning of
‘Suhasini’ is “a soft smiling placid motherly woman”(16).
She does not like this name but can not oppose them. She
does not use this name entire novel. She feels confident
when she remembers the meaning of Jaya, name given by
her Apppa. She does not like to see herself as a poor
idiotic woman. She feels that it is inhuman to impose new
identity including desires and whims upon anyone. When
she goes through the pages of her diaries she realizes that
‘there were only the bare skeletal outlines of her life. Its
essential core had been left out. The agonised cries- ‘I
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can’t cope, I can’t manage, I can’t go on- had been neatly
smothered. She had waged for so many years of her life, a
life spent on trivialities’ and with accusations from her
husband that she had not cared for the children and had
isolated herself from him and his concerns. Finally she has
self realization and feels no need to be submissive to
Mohan. She will break her silence on the papers after
being broken into many pieces.
Shashi Deshpande, through the character of
Jaya, Kusum, Aasha, Mukta presents the picture of the
oppressed Indian women. The novel ends with the
optimistic note. Through Jaya the novelist depicts the
inhuman behaviour and treatment of man-made society
towards women whereas both are the two sides of the
same coin so can’t be separated. Without the freedom and
liberty there is no meaning of life and becomes worthless to
live. It cannot be denied that compromise and adjustments
are necessary in the life to have prestigious social life but
one can do to some extent. Being happy with Kamat, Jaya
finally goes back to her previous life after speculation. She
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wants to resume her domesticity by making a compromise.
As this was only solution of her problem and suffering. Now
breaking her silence Jaya has got her voice. She feels the
need to be protected from sinking in the crumbling world
around her; she goes with her sheltering tree with the
hope. And this hope is the result of her existential concern.
Now she is on new journey with new outlook.
Works Cited
1. Chakravarty, Spivak Gayatri. 1994. Can
Subaltern Speak from Colonial Discourse and
Post colonial Theory, Harvest Wheat Sheaf.
2. Deshpande, Shashi. 1998. That Long Silence.
New Delhi , Penguine Books.
3. Jain, Jasbir, ed., Creative Theory: Writers on
Writing, Delhi: Pencraft International, 2000.
4. Kiran, Desai. 2006. The Inhertance of Loss, New
Delhi: Penguine Books.
5. Russell, Bertrand. 1959. Marriage and Morals,
New York: Bantam Books
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RELEVANCE OF EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF
Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR IN 21ST CENTURY
CENTURY
Pradeep D. Waghmare
Asst. Prof, Department of History, Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, Mumbai
Introduction
“Education is not only the birthright of every human being
but also a weapon of social change.”
- Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Education is a key of social progress. It helps
man to outgrow the crippling influences of ignorance and
superstition and enables him to develop his potentialities to
the maximum extent possible. It makes man conscious of
his rights as well as obligations towards his fellow beings.
Therefore, education is the best possible means to bring
about an egalitarian society and very important instrument
of social change.
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar was a great intellectual of
international repute, orator, erudite scholar and prolific
writer. The range of his writings includes education,
economics, sociology, law, constitution, anthropology,
political science, religion and philosophy etc. Dr. Ambedkar
brought a new awakening and a sense of social
significance and confidence among the deprived section of
the society. He waged a relentless war against the Hindu
social order for social equality, human dignity and politicoeconomic empowerment. His primary aim was to make the
Dalits of India socially and politically conscious of their
human rights. He inspired them to prepare themselves for
a revolution through education, organization and agitation.
Dr. Ambedkar states that the true function of
philosophy is not only to explain the nature of the world, but
also to inspire man for changing it in order to make it a
better habitation for mankind. Although philosophy includes
in its scope a multifarious range of subjects, yet, Dr.
Ambedkar viewed philosophy in his own way. For Dr.
Ambedkar, philosophy has a social and ethical meaning,
because he wanted it to be a means of social change.
Ambedkar was a social philosopher in a more fundamental
way. According to him, “Philosophy has its roots in the
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problems of life and whatever theories philosophy
propounds must return to society as instruments of reconstructing society. It is not enough to know. Those who
know must endeavour to fulfill.” Dr. Ambedkar applied his
social philosophy in the field of education and tried to use it
as instrument to change the society. He said that learning
was essential for every individual if he wished to make
progress in the life. He stresses the need of educating the
downtrodden for the real social and economic progress of
the society. In this paper, an attempt is made to assess Dr.
Ambedkar’s thoughts on education and study his
philosophy of education. It will also try to understand the
relevance of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s educational philosophy
in 21st Century.
Influences on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Indian education system was based on caste
system. Education was allowed to only upper castes and it
was not open for lower castes like Shudra and Atishudra
and even it was not allowed for Women. Hindu
Dharmashastras especially Manusmiriti put various
restrictions on lowers castes and women. There was no
equality and freedom to have education which was mainly
responsible to weaken the position of lower caste in Indian
Society. Due to lack of education, Dalits’ became mentally
slave, morally degraded, culturally handicapped,
economically weaken and socially backward and there was
no social status and dignity. Denial of education made
them socially weak. No efforts were taken to educate the
lower castes in India and efforts were taken to maintain the
caste-based hierarchy by upper castes upto the beginning
of the 19th Century. The valiant efforts of Mahatma Jotirao
Phule bore fruit and for the first time the schools for the
education of women and the untouchables were
established in India. Dr. Ambedkar considered him as one
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of his Guru along with Gautam Buddha and Saint Kabir. He
continued the legacy of Mahatma Phule and Chhatrapati
Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur and spread the education
amongst the disadvantaged section of society in India.
We can find in Ambedkar’s life the qualities of a
good student as well as a teacher. After graduating from
Bombay University, he received M. A. and Ph.D. degrees
from the prestigious American University of Columbia and
M.Sc. and D.Sc. degree from the reputed London School of
Economics. At Columbia he was especially influenced by
two of his professors: John Dewey (the initiator of the
pragmatic philosophy) and R. A. Seligman, the eminent
economist. He also drew inspiration from Booker T.
Washington, the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, who
promoted education as a means of African American
emancipation. Eleanor Zelliot points out that Ambedkar
acquired in the United States a strong, unwavering belief in
the power of democratic institutions to bring about social
equality and that these ideas were to a large extent passed
on to him by John Dewey. Dr. Ambedkar fully endorsed
Dewey’s emphasis on education a means to change the
world and not merely to understand it. Education should be
capable of creating human values which have universal
applicability. Ambedkar carried in him these ideas and
spurned the idea of force as against education as an
instrument of social change. He firmly believed that
education could bring not only a new consciousness
among the depressed classes but also impel them toward
praxis of self liberation.
His academic career tells us that he was a
brilliant academician and later when he came to India, he
became the professor at Sydenham College, Government
Law College and later became its Principal. He was also
the fellow of University of Bombay. He always associated
with the different branches of education. He was aware
about the present education system of India and its
academic and administrative problems. He tried to solve
those in proper academic manner. He used his
newspapers to spread the idea of education amongst the
depressed classes. He delivered number of speeches in
order to awaken the youths, students, Dalits and Women
which reflect his philosophy of education.
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Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Philosophy of Education
Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy of education can be
understood through his writings, speeches, party manifesto
and correspondence. He gave prime importance to
education in his life. He wanted to reconstruct the structure
of Indian society. His approach therefore towards
education was more constructive and structural. He
considered education as the basis of social, economic and
political revolution. For Dr. Ambedkar, education alone
creates a sense of new thinking and awakening among the
hitherto oppressed people in India. He wanted it for all, and
not restricted only to a few classes of society.
As a humanist, Dr. Ambedkar was in favour of
imparting education for the development of human
personality. In the view of Dr. Ambedkar, education must
focus on serving human interests and achieving social
amelioration. It ought to aim at human development for
which remolding the mind must be the major concern of
education. It is only through education that one could
enlighten oneself and organize social forces against
tyrannical and oppressive elements of traditional societies
in India.
Dr. Ambedkar’s educational philosophy is seen in
the three principles which he inherited from his master
Gautam Buddha. They are Pradnya (Knowledge or
Wisdom), Sheel (Character) and Karuna (Compassion). He
gave lot of importance to these three principles and tried to
imbibe them in masses. He says, “Knowledge is the
foundation of a man’s life”. He wanted to imbibe ‘Samyak
Dyan’ (Right knowledge) as it was propagated by Gautam
Buddha in his eight fold path amongst the downtrodden.
He changed the entire mindset of the lower strata
of the society towards the education. His philosophy of
education was emancipatory in nature. In the name of
caste system, lower castes people were systematically
made slave of upper castes and established the religious
hegemony on them. Ambedkar rejected the Hindu Social
Philosophy propounded in Hindu religious scriptures which
has made the caste system and the system of graded
inequality the law of Hindu Social life. Dr. Ambedkar’s
philosophy of education aims at creation of a liberating
consciousness, which is not just formal education, but the
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conscientisation process of education, agitation and
organization put together.
Ambedkar’s philosophy of education is a
philosophy of social emancipation which demands equal
rights and opportunities of education for all; it stands for
self-respect and self-development; and it also means a
social revolution against the evils of social slavery,
untouchability, casteism, oppression, etc. along with for
removing economic helplessness and disparities in life.
Ambedkar’s philosophy of education has nothing to do with
life beyond the world whereas Ambedkar’s emphasis was
on secular education for social emancipation. The basic
thrust of Ambedkar’s philosophy of education, in brief, is to
inculcate the values of justice, liberty, equality, fraternity
and moral character among the boys and girls of all
shades.
Dr Ambedkar recognized the education as a vital
force for individual development and social change. To
him, education could be an effective instrument of mass
movement for the safeguard of life and liberty; it could
liberate man from social evils; it could mitigate miseries of
ignorance and poverty; and education could encourage the
oppressed ones to fight and remove injustice and
exploitation, to relieve them of their dogmatic beliefs. So
Ambedkar was always conscious of the ignorance and
backwardness of his poor people due to lack of education
among them. In his struggle against caste based
discrimination, Ambedkar held that emancipation of Dalits’
in India was possible only through the three-pronged
approach of “education, agitation and organization”.
According to Ambedkar, “Illiteracy and ignorance is the
greatest hurdle in development of humanity”. The root
cause of all evils is ignorance, so he took the first step
towards removing illiteracy and ignorance. Babasaheb
firmly believed that education was the only effective means
to uplift the downtrodden. He also believed that it was only
through education that the downtrodden could be
awakened for their struggle to get their rights. To quote his
own words, “My final word of advice to you is Educate,
Agitate and Organize, have faith in yourselves.” He was
instilling the hope, confidence and moral character through
his educational philosophy.
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As an ardent educationist as he was, and a
professor himself, Dr. Ambedkar strongly advocated the
spread of universal education among depressed classes
who were denied the same for centuries. Denial of
education has thrown the Depressed Classes into the
morass of ignorance, a slough of despond, perpetual
bondage and eternal deprivation. According to Dr.
Ambedkar, “Education is not only the birthright of every
human being but also a weapon of social change.”
Wherever Ambedkar had gone to speak to his
people, he emphasized the need of education in order to
bring among them awareness about their respect and
rights, and thus, he motivated them for education. He used
his own intellect and knowledge for the upliftment of
society. In order to awaken Dalits and to make conscious
of their rights, he gave great importance to education. He
used education as a tool for their progress, advancement
and social change.
Dr. Ambedkar believed that to achieve progress
in socio-economic and political arena, there is no other
effective tool other than education. He put forwarded his
theory that education is the important mean to develop
one’s rationality, conscience, scientific temper and
consciousness which leads to the personality development.
Through education one can end the ignorance of life. He
clearly stated that education is a weapon of ending the
social slavery, achieve economic progress, political
freedom, developmental and intellectual development of
one’s personality.
According to Ambedkar, ‘Material negligence and
indifference to knowledge were the reasons behind the
backwardness of the Indian people particularly of the lower
strata of the society’. He did not visualize education merely
as a means of livelihood but as a powerful weapon to
liberate the Dalits from ignorance and to strengthen their
fight against injustice and humiliation. In fact they
considered education as a pre-requisite for any kind of
organization and movement of the depressed classes. That
is why, his slogan, “Educate, Unite, Agitate” assumed
significance and popularity.
Ambedkar gave importance to character along
with education. In order to do social changes, educated
people should have character. Then he can utilize his
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knowledge for the development of human civilization and
culture and develop his own personality. The view
expressed by Dr. Ambedkar about education is worth
quoting “the education that makes us neither competent
nor teaches us lessons of equality and morality is no more
education.” He believed that education is good only if it
promotes and preserves the interests of mankind as a
whole. He argued that true education creates equality in
society, provides food to the hungry people and satisfies
for knowledge. He was convinced that it is only education
that it is only education that breeds and nourishes the
noble sentiments of unity, equality, fraternity and
patriotism. Education alone humanizes man. According to
him, ‘Man, without education, is no better than beast’. He
wanted to strengthen the national unity and integrity
through education. He asked the educated persons to help
their ignorant and illiterates to awaken from their ignorance.
Through education, Ambedkar wanted the people to
cultivate the values of freedom and equality among
themselves.
Dr. Ambedkar demanded the secular pattern of
education. He demanded education based on ancient
traditions and customs should be given up and its place
should be taken by job-oriented education. He said that no
schooling should be conducted inside a temple. Separate
buildings constructed for the purpose should be utilized.
Private institutions running primary or secondary schools
may be strictly prohibited to mention in the school register
the caste and sub-caste of students.
Another feature of Ambedkar’s educational policy
was not to beg for donations from industrialists or
businessmen; he asked the management to run
educational institutions out of fees along with government
grants. He was of the view that education is such an
indispensable thing that it should necessarily be within
easy reach of all. It should be cheap also so that the
poorest of the poor may acquire it.
For the steady and systematic upliftment of the
downtrodden, he started educational and social institutions
and journals and also launched a movement of
Satyagraha. Dr. Ambedkar started Mahad Satyagraha in
1927 to achieve the right of Dalits and establishing
religions equality. At Mahad, he made a public bonfire of
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the Manusmriti, a bible of slavery for untouchables. He
awakened the Untouchables by making them aware of their
slavery. His slogan, “Tell the slave that he is a slave and he
will revolt against his slavery” had a telling effect in that it
generated a consciousness in the untouchables and the
downtrodden about their plight and the need to secure their
human rights.
For the uplift of the depressed classes he
developed a programme of education as a part of the
general manifesto of Indian Labour Party before the
elections of 1937. To stamp out illiteracy, he emphasized
the necessity of free and compulsory education. Liberal
education, he knew was neither useful for the upper
classes in the long run nor for the depressed classes of the
Indian Society. He advocated the adoption of diversified
technical education. He stressed the necessity of
scholarships in educational institutions. Another interesting
aspect of his programme of education was the divorce he
sought between teaching universities and non-teaching
universities.
The Bombay province Depressed Classes Youth
Conference was held on 12 February 1938 under the
presidentship of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. In this conference, he
said that education was a sword and being a double-edged
weapon, was dangerous to wield. An educated man
without character and humility was more dangerous than a
beast. If his education was detrimental to the welfare of the
poor, he remarked, the educated man was a curse to
society. He emphasized “Character is more important than
education.”
Dr. Ambedkar addressed a meeting of student of
scheduled castes held at Calcutta on 2nd January 1945,
where he said to form their own All India Student
Federation. He also advised them to concentrate only on
education and not to involve in politics. He advised the
students not only to get a degree but to see that the degree
carried with it some positive knowledge or attainment.
Thus, Dr. Ambedkar delivered number of speeches which
emphasized on role of education.
Education and Women Empowerment
Dr Ambedkar considered education as an
important tool for the emancipation of women. They were
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not allowed to take education with lower castes. It is
evident from his speeches that that he had great concern
for women empowerment. Addressing the Second All-India
Depressed Classes Women’s Conference held on 20 July
1942 at Nagpur, he said, “I measure the progress of
community by the degree of progress which women have
achieved. I shall tell you a few things which I think you
should bear in mind. Learn to be clean; keep free from all
vices. Give education to your children. Instill ambition in
them. Inculcate on their minds that they are destined to be
great. Remove from them all inferiority complexes”. In this
way, Dr Ambedkar stressed on education for the progress
of women and our country.
With a deep faith in their emancipation,
Ambedkar advised them: ‘Give education to your children’.
He stresses the need of the cultivation of the mind and the
spirit of self-help among men and women. He wants them
to realize that they owe a great responsibility for educating
their children in right way. But at the same time, he advised
them: send your children to schools. To him, education is
the most important factor for molding the life of all men,
women and children.
Ambedkar observes “Education is as necessary
for females as it is for males. It you know how to read and
write, there would be much progress. As you are, so your
children will be mould their lives in virtuous way, for sons
should be such as would make a mark in this world.” He
wanted to liberate women from their suffering and
economic dependency. In order to give economic rights
and freedom to women, Ambedkar demanded educational
rights, equality and right to property for women. To educate
women, he asked co-education for women with men.
Through education, he believed, that women would think
independently which will lead to their intellectual and
mental development.
Education and Success of Indian Democracy
For the smooth functioning of Democracy in India
he laid greater emphasis on education. Due to the western
impact and his own experience in democratic countries, he
understood the dire necessity of education for the country
like in India. He considered education as an important tool
for the eradication of caste system in India and for the
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better prospects of Democracy in India. He interrelated
caste, democracy and education in his own manner and
tried to give solution for eradication of caste system.
Dr. Ambedkar said in his speech on Prospects of
Democracy in India on 20 May 1956 that “can education
destroy caste?” The answer is ‘Yes’ as well as ‘No’. If
education is given as it is today, education can have no
effect on caste. It will remain as it will be. The glaring
example of it is the Brahmin Caste. Cent percent of it is
educated, nay, majority of it is highly educated. Yet not one
Brahmin has shown himself to be against caste. In fact an
educated person belonging to the higher caste is more
interested after his education to retain the caste system
than when he was not educated. For education gives him
an additional interest in the retention of the caste system
namely by opening additional opportunity of getting a
bigger job. From the point of view, education is not helpful
as means to dissolve caste. So far is the negative side of
education. But education may be solvent if it is applied to
the lower strata of the Indian Society. It would raise their
spirit of rebellion. In their present state of ignorance they
are the supporters of the caste system. Once their eyes are
opened they will be ready to fight the caste system.
The fault of the present policy is that though
education is being given on a larger scale, it is not given to
the right strata of Indian Society. If you give education to
that stratum of Indian Society which has a vested interest
in maintaining the caste system for the advantages it gives
them, then the caste system will be strengthened. One the
other hand, if you give education to the lowest strata of
Indian society which is interested in blowing up the caste
system, the caste system will be blown you. He wanted to
use education as a means to end the caste system. To
give education to those who want to keep up the caste
system is not to improve the prospect of Democracy in
India but to put our Democracy in India in greater jeopardy.
Thus he laid great emphasis on the education of lower
castes for the better prospects of Democracy in India. He
said that education a key to eradicate all types of
inequalities and to achieve social democracy.
He considered the chief aim of education is the
moralization and socialization of people. He declared that
‘Education is the foundation of civilization and culture.’
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Ambedkar advised the downtrodden people to take
education to openly challenge and annihilate the caste
system from Indian society.
Dr. Ambedkar put lot of emphasis on education
to elevate the economic position of Dalits. To end the
unjust and unequal social order, there is no alternative
other than education for Dalits. Ambedkar believed that
through education and knowledge Dalits will gain selfmotivation and self-confidence which will give them power
and strength to fight against the unjust social order. That is
why along with social movement and educational
movement, Ambedkar established educational institutions
in different parts of Maharashtra. He established colleges
and gave opportunities of higher education to Dalits. He
also demanded scholarship, free ships and economic
concessions for the spread of education as he was aware
of the economic difficulties of students. In constitution, he
prescribed many articles for the spread of education. Free
and compulsory education was also made as state
responsibility under Directive Principles of State Policy. He
firmly knew that without education Dalit’s cannot achieve
any progress in society. That is why he established
educational institutes and gave fee concessions,
demanded reservation in educational institutes and hostels
for the promotion of education.
Ambedkar holds that the greater responsibility for
providing educational opportunities should be that of
government. The government should also see that these
facilities are effectively utilized. He knows that the easier
are the govt. opportunities for education to the poor people,
the more are the chances for individual development and
said progress. He wanted to solve the educational problem
through governmental efforts and agencies.
He gave importance to both political and
educational movement equally because he knew that
without education Dalits cannot capture the important post
which will elevate their social position. He believed that
education will establish equality between men and women.
To end the caste based discrimination he suggested
having uniform schools and joint schools for both upper
caste and lower caste people rather than separate schools
for Dalits. He held that knowledge is power in every field of
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life. The scheduled caste will not attain their goal of
freedom and liberty until they drink deep of all knowledge.
Dr. Ambedkar’s Views on University Education
Ambedkar not only stood for primary universal
education, but he also urged and emphasized the need of
a well-organized university education to meet the social
requirements of the poor and the weaker sections of our
society. He himself was the fellow of University of Mumbai.
He said the chief aim of University should be spread of
education amongst the subaltern masses.
Even in regard to higher education, Dr.
Ambedkar held that “it is the duty of a modern University to
provide facilities for the highest education to the backward
communities” and as a necessary corollary suggested that
“the backward communities should have some control in
the University affairs”. He looked upon the University
“primarily as a machinery, whereby educational facilities
are provided to all those who are intellectually capable of
using those facilities to the best advantage, but who cannot
avail themselves of those facilities for want of funds or for
other handicaps in life.” He strongly recommended
nomination of members of backward communities on the
University senates which functioned like legislative bodies
and were supposed to put forth the needs of the backward
communities and to suggest the facilities that were
necessary for meeting them.
Dr. Ambedkar wishes to see Mumbai University
as a prominent centre of higher learning. It should become
a centre of creation of knowledge and spread of education
through dedicated intellectuals and professors rather than
a centre of administrators. He wanted to see University of
Mumbai as Professors University where professors will do
the research and teaching and contribute for the
educational growth of Indian society which will lead to the
cultural progress of country. There should be mutual
relationship between student and professor. He wishes that
the assessment of University should not be based on
merely the acquisition of knowledge but it should be based
on its social behaviour of University.
In respect of teaching in the colleges and
universities, Ambedkar was unhappy with colonial system
of education, in British and post-Independent India.
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According to him a Professor “should not only be learned:
he must speak in a clear tone. He must be well versed”. He
also opined that Professors should constantly seek
knowledge and try for truth and practice it.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar addressed the students’
annual gathering at Elphinstone College on 16 December
1952 on “the problems of modern students”. He appealed
to the students to reorganize university education to meet
the requirements of the modern world, and to make the
university a place for knowledge and not as centre for
training clerks.” In this way, Dr. Ambedkar has delivered
number of speeches on the reforms in higher education
and social inclusion.
Education and State Socialism
As an educationist, Dr. Ambedkar did not merely
highlight the advantages of education in theory alone but in
practice, he also established an empire of educational
institutions. Ambedkar established the People’s Education
Society in 1945 and its objective is not merely to give
education, but to give education in such a manner as to
promote intellectual, moral and social democracy. Although
Ambedkar started educational institutions through voluntary
effort and organizations, he strongly believed in the
educational modernization of masses under the auspices
of the State. He was fully convinced that the education is
one of the best resources to connect the destitute with the
main stream of national development. Ambedkar wanted to
have community education and it should be given to the
lowest strata of the society for the overall development of
country.
Dr. Ambedkar was fully convinced that the
education is one of the best resources to connect the
destitute with the main stream of national development. To
establish social justice in caste ridden Indian society,
Ambedkar put more emphasis on education. In March
1947, Ambedkar prepared a detailed plan of constitutional
provisions and submitted it to the Constituent Assembly
under the title ‘States and Minorities: What are their Rights
and How to secure them in the Constitution of Free India’.
In his concept of ‘State socialism’, he allocated a major role
for the State in discharging its duties in respect of
education of the unlettered millions of citizens in the
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country. He said that it is the duty of state to provide
education to all. As a chairman of Drafting Committee
(1946-1949), Dr. Ambedkar prescribed many articles in
Indian constitution for the educational safeguards of
disadvantaged classes of Indian society. He provided
freeships, scholarships and opportunity of higher education
in India and abroad for Dalits. He provided Fundamental
Rights and also guided the states through Directive
Principles for welfare state.
Conclusion
Thus, Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy of education
was the blend of rational and secular philosophy of Gautam
Buddha and the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey. Dr.
Ambedkar’s three word formula – ‘educate, agitate and
organize’ is a powerful tool of social change even today.
Ambedkar made the oppressed lot of the depressed
classes conscious of their rights, which was denied to them
for centuries. Educating the downtrodden people, he
thought, was a sure way to instill in them a sense of
consciousness, self-respect and dignity. He wanted the
people to cultivate the values of freedom and equality
among themselves; it was possible only through education.
This is turn would provide the necessary cultural basis for
their progressive assimilation into the mainstream of an
enlightened national life.
Dr. Ambedkar was a symbol of knowledge and
character. He regarded education as a means to reach the
doors of light and perception to remove the regions of
darkness and ignorance. He used his philosophy of
education to make aware of the condition of social
degeneration in Hindu society among the lower strata of
society and change the social order for the benefit of entire
humanity. Through his educational institutes, he strives for
educational development of all. He was an ‘organic
intellectual’ in real sense. Dr. Ambedkar’s contribution
towards education and his independent thinking made him
an independent intellectual of the world. He propounded
his own philosophy of education and had largely influenced
the outlook of downtrodden. In order to honour his brilliant
academic career his statue is placed at the entrance
London School of Economics and below that “Symbol of
Knowledge” is written. It shows that how he was acclaimed
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as great student and educationist of far excellence. Dr.
Ambedkar’s thoughts on education and his educational
philosophy are relevant even today in the 21st Century for
the socio-economic and political development of our
country.
“So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever
freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you”
- Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, India’s first Law Minister.
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8.
9.
10.
11.
References
1. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and
Speeches, Vol. 1-21, (Edited by Vasant Moon
and Hari Narake), Education Department,
Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai.
2. Ahir, D. C., The Legacy of Dr. Ambedkar, B. R.
Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1990.
3. Chalam, K.S., The Relevance of Ambedkarism in
India, Rawat Publications, Jaipur and New Delhi,
1993.
4. Gokhale, Pradeep (ed.), The Philosophy of Dr. B.
R. Ambedkar, Sugava Prakashan, Pune, 2008.
5. Jaffrelot, Christophe, Analyzing and Fighting
Caste: Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability,
Permanent Black, Fifth Edition, Delhi, 2012.
6. Jatava, D.R., Political Philosophy of B.R.
Ambedkar, National Publishing House, Jaipur
and New Delhi, 2001
7. Jatava, D.R., Social Philosophy of Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar, Phoenix Publications, Agra, 1965.
18
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Kadam, K.N. (ed.), Dr. B.R. Ambedkar- the
Emancipator of the oppressed, Popular
Prakashan, Bombay, 1993.
Keer, Dhananjay, Ambedkar: Life and Mission,
Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1961.
Khairmode C.B., Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Charitra (Marathi) Vol. 1 to 12, Sugava
Prakashan, Pune.
Kuber, W.N., Ambedkar: A Critical Study, People
Publishing House, New Delhi, 1973.
Lokhande, G.S., Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar: A
Study in Social Democracy, Sterling Publishers
Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, 1977.
Mishra, S.N., Socio-Economic and Political
Vision of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Accept Publication
Company, New Delhi, 2010.
Moon, Vasant and Others (eds.), Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar Gaurav Granth, Maharashtra Rajya
Sahitya and Sanskriti Mandal, Mumbai, 1991.
Naik, C.D., Thoughts and Philosophy of Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar, Sarup and Sons, Delhi, 2003.
Rodrigues, Valerian, The Essential Writings of
Ambedkar, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2002.
Shashi, S.S. (ed.), Ambedkar and Social Justice,
Vol. I and II, Government of India, Publication
Division, Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, New Delhi, 1992.
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COMMUNICATION WITHIN FRAGMENTATION
IN KURT VONNEGUT’S “GALAPAGOS”
GALAPAGOS”
S. Priyadarshini
Assistant Prof. in English, VELS University, Chennai
Abstract
Galapagos is Kurt Vonnegut’s eleventh novel which eventually marks a return to science fiction for the first time since
Slaughterhouse-Five. One million years in the far future, the ghost of Leon Trout, son of hack writer Kilgore Trout, looks back at a
key moment in human history: preparation in 1986 for the “Nature Cruise of the Century” from mainland of Ecuador to the
Galapagos islands. It is a voyage coinciding with a worldwide apocalypse that will prevent humanity from reproducing. Amidst the
increasing chaos in Ecuador, those planning to go on the cruise cope with calamities before finally managing to embark. With
cruise participants representing humanity’s final hope for survival, Mary Hepburn plays the role of Godmother by taking the
Captain’s sperm and inseminating other females on board. Over the next million years, humans on the Galapagos islands
undergo evolution, growing furry skin and flippers to aid in fishing for food and gradually losing their intelligence. Finally, Leon
Trout decides to stop lingering on Earth and goes onto the next world, leaving humanity behind.
Introduction
Through the novel, ‘Galapagos’ Vonnegut wishes
to convey adaptation is the best possible way to survive.
He has also stressed that human intelligence is the only
reason for all the calamities. According to him, intelligence
without adaptation is vain. This is illustrated in the novel
when the Captain throws the Mandarax into the ocean.
Vonnegut wants to communicate all these messages to the
reader. He has succeeded in his communication by making
a ghost narrator to narrate the plight of human beings for a
million years. Vonnegut himself explains the reason for
which he came with the ghost narrative in the following
lines: “I had the technical problem of point of view. The
problem was who’s going to watch for a million years? A
difficulty with writing novels is that the reader inevitably is
going to ask, who’s telling this? You wish he wouldn’t but
he does.” (Allen 152)
Indeed, Vonnegut’s selection of ghost narrator for
Galapagos is right. Through Leon Trout, Vonnegut
successfully voices out all his opinions. Leon as a narrator
is fully useful in the structure of the novel. As he is a ghost,
the flash backs and the foreshadingsare easily dealt about.
He moves freely within the story and even sometimes
enters into the mind of the characters in the story. This
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narrative style establishes a tune to the novel but at the
same time the method of narration brings fragmentation
also into the novel. Galapagos comprises two narratives:
Leon’s story which gives a detailed record of human history
in Santa Rosalia, and Leon’s history which gives a brief
account of his life. These narratives are often broken by the
introduction of the characters who are about to set sail in
the cruise. The frame of Leon’s history is broken by the
initiation of another frame that comprises of the characters
whichis broken very soon by another frame which tells the
story of Leon Trout. Thus, no frame is complete in
Galapagos. The requirement of wholeness: a beginning, a
middle and an end, is lacking in the novel Galapagos.
Vonnegut seems unable to decide whether to
pursue Leon’s story, a central event of which was his
participation in a massacre of civilians in the Vietnam War,
or simply to have him function as an observer of the human
history. This vacillation of Vonnegut brings fragmentation in
the novel. In spite of this fragmentation, Vonnegut is able to
communicate his message: the futility of the War, and
adaptation for survival, through the technique of
metanarrative which is adapted by the narrator ghost in the
novel.
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David Lodge has defined metafiction in the very
first line of his chapter “Metafiction” in his prominent book
The Art of Fiction. According to him, metafiction is “fiction
about fiction: novels and stories that call attention to their
fictional status and their own compositional procedures”
(206). By telling a fiction about fiction, Galapagos becomes
a metafiction. As the narration is by a ghost, it reminds the
reader of the novel’s fictional status.Therefore, the
narrative in Galapagos is metanarrative. Emile Benveniste
has distinguished two orders of language use that can bear
on narrative discourse: historie and discourse. Historie
stands for historical utterance characterizing past events,
without any intervention of the speaker. Everything will be
impersonal and the present moment of utterance will be
completely excluded. A discourse is always in present
tense- the present moment of utterance. In a simplified
form, historie is always used to describe events in
chronological order while discourse brings the ‘meta’ level
of language.
Vonnegut notably combines the two forms to
bring out the messages in Galapagos in a best way as
John Fowles did in his popular novel, The French
Lieutenant Womanwhile describing the Toby Jug. The
narrator ghost in Galapagos has both historie and
discourse of its own. The historie is the personal story of
Leon Trout. He is the son of Kilgore Trout, an eccentric
writer of science fiction. Leon is also a Vietnam Veteran
and deserter from the United States Marines who was
granted political asylum in Sweden. There, he relates, “I
became a welder in a shipyard,…I was painlessly
decapitated one day by a falling sheet of steel while
working…the Bahia de Darwin”(Vonnegut 219), the vessel
that would take the first settlers to Santa Rosalia. While
narrating the historie, Leon Trout describes his traumatic
episode in Vietnam. In Vietnam, he shoots a Vietnamese
grandmother who had killed his best friend with a hand
grenade. After he shot the Vietnamese woman, he rejected
his life as “a meaningless nightmare,” wishing he were “a
stone at the service of the Natural Order” (G 127). This
shows the futility of War. Futility of War is one important
aspect which Vonnegut wishes to focus in all of his novels.
In Slaughterhouse-Five, he has declared that he is not
going to glorify the War, “…If I ever do finish it, [the book]
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though, I give you my word of honor: there won’t be a part
for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne.” (SHF 11). The historie
part of Leon Trout comes to an end when Leon confronts
the spirit of his father, who urges him to give up his ghostly
existence on Earth and enter the “blue tunnel” leading to
afterlife.
The discourse part of Leon Trout is his narration
of the story of action and the characters involved in it.
Metafictional discourse in traditional novels occurs in “the
form of asides, describing character and action” (Lodge
207). Similarly, in Galapagos, discourse consist of the
journey on “Nature Cruise of the Century” and the
characters who undertake the voyage. Through the
discourse of Leon Trout, Vonnegut brings out the
(d)evolution of human beings by emphasizing adaptation
for survival. Vonnegut, through his narrator has also
emphasized the fruitlessness of intelligence and big brains
of humans. The discourse recounts the intricate
coincidences whereby ten people end upon Santa Rosalia,
one of the Galapagos islands, after a global financial crisis
has crippled the world’s economy. Shortly, thereafter the
insidious virus ends the human race, not in the usual
apocalyptic style; but by bringing a disease that renders
infertility to the human beings. A million years later, their
descendants, the only fertile humans left on the planet,
eventually have evolved to have fur, flipper and
streamlined heads like seals.The evolution of human
beings with flipper and fur are the result of adapting to
existence on a barren rock with fish as principal source of
food. Thus, Vonnegut emphasizes the need of adaptation
for survival through the discourse mode of ghost narration.
On intersecting the historie and the discourse of
the novel, it is not very hard for the reader to trace out the
messages Vonnegut wishes to convey. He wants to bring
out the futility of War and fruitlessness of intelligence. He
also wants to enforce the fact that adaptation is the only
possible way for survival. The devastation and destruction
caused by the War is due to the big brain of human beings.
It is only these big brains that make the nature to adapt
human beings rather than human beings adapting to the
environment which eventually lead to devolution and
degradation of human kind. Thereupon, Leon Trout
functions both as the reporter of the event and also as an
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unequivocal critic of contemporary society.Thus, Vonnegut
gives his messages through metanarrative in spite of the
fragmentation in the novel.
Even though, one frame in the story is broken by
the initiation of another frame, it is obvious that all the
frames are muted in order to communicate the message of
the writer. Though the story of Leon Trout, his opinions and
prolepsis fragments the action that takes place in Santa
Rosalia, Vonnegut does not intends to make fragmentation
though it appears to be so. Rather Vonnegut wishes to
keep the reader within the framework of the messages he
wishes to communicate. His historie always ends with a
note on futility of War while his discourse always has a
contempt for human brain. The broken frames or the
fragmentation in Galapagos works as Goffman puts it,
“…the continuity and viability of the established frame.
Indeed the disattend track specifically permits the
occurrence of many out-of-frame acts, provided only that
they are ‘properly’ muted, that is, within the disattend
capacity of the frame” (qtd.in Waugh 31). Thus, the
metanarrative in Galapagos helps Vonnegut to
communicate within the fragmentation.
Roman Jacobson demands six elements for a
successful communication,
The ADDRESSER (sender) sends a MESSAGE
to the ADDRESSEE (receiver). To be operative the
message requires a CONTEXT referred to (The “referent”
in another, somewhat ambiguous, nomenclature),
graspable by the addressee, and either verbal or capable
of being verbalized; a CODE fully, or at least partially,
common to the addresser and addressee (or in other
words, to the encoder and decoder of the message); and,
finally, a CONTACT, a physical channel and psychological
connection between the addresser and the addressee,
enabling both of them to enter and stay in
communication.(1260)
The addresser in the novel is Leon Trout. It is not
sure whether Leon Trout is a ghost or he is a madman
imagining himself to be a ghost. So, the addresser in the
novel is not very obvious. The next element that is required
according to Jacobson is addressee. Since addresser
himself is not very clear about his status addressee shall
also be dismissed. The next element is the context, that is,
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the referent. The referent sometimes refers to the past,
sometimes to the present and many a times to the future.
Therefore, the context is also multiple. The code is the next
element. The novel takes the readers to the fantasy world,
though not entirely. The narrator often talks about blue
tunnel and afterlife which is beyond the human
comprehension. Thus, the code can also be repudiated.
The next element is contact, through which a psychological
connection is made between the addresser and addressee.
Since all other elements of Jacobson are dismissed in the
novel there is all possibility to dismiss this element, too. But
the message is successfully communicated in the novel
without these six elements. In each fragmentation of the
novel a complete message has been stressed.
Conclusion
Thus, with the historie of Leon, he is not quite
satisfied while in the discourse, he raises an optimistic
hope by making Santa Rosalia a Utopia. As its positive
result communication in Galapagos is made successful
only with tuning its structure with fragmentation.
Works Cited
1. Allen, William Rodney. Understanding Kurt
Vonnegut. Columbia: U of South Carolina Press,
1991. Print.
2. Jakobson, Roman. “From Linguistics and
Poetics.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and
Criticism. Ed. Vincent B.Leitch. New
York: Norton, 2001. 1258 – 65. Print.
3. Lodge, David. The Art of Fiction. New York:
Viking, 1992. Print.
4. Vonnegut, Kurt. Galapagos. London: Flamingo,
1985. Print. Future reference of this work will be
incorporated into the paper with the abbreviation
G.
5. ---. Slaughter house- Five. London: Vintage,
1989. Print. Future reference of this work will be
incorporated into the paper with the abbreviation
G.
6. Waugh, Patricia. Metafiction: The Theory and
Practice of Self-conscious Fiction. London:
Routledge, 1996. Print.
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lo.kksZa ds vU;k; vR;kpkj dk inkZQk”kZ gks jgk gSA
vkfnoklh lekt Hkkjr dk ewyfuoklh lekt gSA tks nqxZe
LFkkuks]a taxyksa esa jgrk Fkk lkjs taxy vkSj taxy dh laiRrh mUgha dh
Fkh ij u;s dkuwu vkSj iqathifr;ksa ds dkj.k vkSj vkS|ksfxd dzkafr ds
ifj.kke Lo:Ikvkfnolh;ksa ds taxy] laifRr lc fNu fy, x, gS os
vc cs?kj gks x, gaAS blh dkj.k fueZyk iqry
q tSlh laFkky lekt dh
L=h “kgj esa vkrh gS vkSj mldh dkuksa esa uxkM+s dh rjg “kCn cuts
yxrs gSAa ,d vkfnoklh efgyk taxy ds ckgj vkus ij vkfnokfl;ksa
dh osnuk] IkhM+k] nnZ] mis{kk] vieku] ?kqVu]foo”krk] foiUurk vkSj
cngkyh dks igyh ckj vfHkO;Dr djrh gSA L=h pkgs vkfnoklh lekt
dh gks ;k nfyr lekt dh ;k lo.kZ lekt dh mls iq#’kh ekufldrk
dk f”kdkj gksuk gh iM+k gSA
eq>s bl le; lh- ch- Hkkjrh dh ^Hkw[k* dgkuh ;kn gks jgh
gS ftlesa vkfnoklh lekt ds “kks’k.k dks mtkxj fd;k x;k gSA ^Hkw[k*
dgkuh vkfnoklh lekt dk ftoar nLrkost gS A vkfnoklh lekt tks
igys taxyksa esa jgdj Qqyksa dks vkSj “kgn dks cspdj os viuk fdlh
rjg ls xqtjk djrs Fks A “kgjhdj.k ds dkj.k taxyksa dks dkVdj
vkt ml LFkku ij vV~Vkfydk,Wa cuh gqbZ gSa A vkfnokfl;ksa dk fuokjk
vkSj jksth&jksVh dk lk/ku Hkh u’V gks x;k gS A blfy, mUgsa viuh
cgw&csVh dks cspdj viuk xqtkjk djuk iM+rk gS A bl dgkuh esa
vkfnoklh lekt dh yM+fd;ksa dks HksM&
+ cdjh dh rjg cspdj bl
lekt dks xqtkjk djuk iM+rk gS vkSj mudk [kjhnnkj gS lo.kZ lEiUu
oxZA
fueZyk iqrqy us ,slh vusd leL;k vkSj iq#’kh ekufldkrk
dks pqukSrh nh gSA budh dfork,¡ dsoy iq#’kh ekufldrk dk fojks/k gh
22
ugha djrh cfYd Lo;a ds vkfLrRo dh ryk”k djrh gqbZ vkfnoklh
L=h] vkfnoklh tkfr ds izR;sd {ks= esa fd, tkusokys “kks’k.k dks Hkh
vfHkO;Dr djrh gSA “kgj ds Bsdns kj] tehaunkj] lkgqdkj] jktusrk ;gk¡
rd fd ljdkjh vkWWfQlj Hkh foIiu fujhg vkfnoklh;ksa ds Hkksyis u dk
Qk;nk mBkdj mUgsa ^;wt vWM Fkzks* djrs gSAa taxyksa ls rsth ls xk;c
gksrs isM+ksa dks cpkus dk lan”s k Hkh dof;r=h nsrh gSA vkfnokfl;ksa ds
thou dh i)fr;k¡] fjfr&fjokt] u`R;] xhr&laxhr] J)k&va)J)k ds
lkFk vkfnoklh L=h&iq#’k] yM+dk&yM+dh] ekrk&firk] HkkbZ&cgu]
dchys dk ljnkj vkfn vusd fo’k;ksa ij mUgksua s dfork dh gSAa
vkfnoklh L=h dks dsoy Hkksx dh oLrq dh utj ls
ns[kusokys iq#’kh; lekt ij vkdzk”s k izdV djrs gq, vkfnoklh
yM+fd;ksa dks fofHkUu rjg ls lko/kku djus dk iz;kl dof;=h us
fd;k gaAS lkFk gh eqf[k;k vkSj taxy ds vkfnoklh iq#’kksa dks viuh cgw
csfV;ksa dh ykt cpkus dk vkxzg Hkh djrh gSA bu lc ds lkFk
dof;=h Lo dk vfLrRo Hkh ryk”kus yxrh gSA og iq#’k iz/kku lekt
esa ?kj] ifjokj] izes ] fj”rs&ukrs lac/a kksa esa vius LFkku dks <w<a rh gSA og
lfn;ksa ls fdlh u fdlh iq#’k ij fuHkZj jgh gSA og vius vki dks
iqNrh gS fd eSa dkSu gw¡\ esjk LFkku D;k gS\ esjk vfLrRo D;k gS\ blh
rjg og lfn;ksa ls viuk ?kj viuh tehu ryk”krh utj vkrh
gSAmudh ^vius ?kj dh ryk”k* dfork esa dgrh gS&
^^/kjrh ds bl Nksj ls ml Nksj rd
eqÎh Hkj loky fy, eSa
nkSM+rh gk¡WQrh&Hkkxrh
ryk”k jgh gw¡ lfn;ksa ls fujarj
viuh tehu] viuk ?kj
vius gksus dk vFkZ**
vukfndky ls L=h dks pkj nhokjksa ds vUnj pwYgk&pDdh]
?kj&fxjLrh rFkk cPpksa rd gh lhfer j[kk gSA mlus tc Hkh ?kj dh
pkS[kV yka?kus dk iz;kl fd;k gS rc mls iq#’k iz/kku lekt us izes ls
;k dzk/s k ls iqUgk v/ksjh dksBjh esa /kdsyus dk dke fd;k gSA mlesa ghjs
dh Hkk¡fr ped gksus ds ckotwn Hkh og dqN ugha dj ldrh FkhA
izR;sd voljksa ij mldh pkgr dks nck fn;k x;k gSA
L=h dks iq#’k iz/kku lekt esa vkfFkZd n`f’V ls foiUu gh
jguk iM+k gSA iq#’kksa us tkucw>dj fL=;ksa dks ykpkj cuk;k gSA
ifj.kke Lo:Ik mlij vusd rjg ds vU;k; vkR;kpkj gksrs jgs gSAa
blfy, fueZykth L=h iq#’k O;oLFkk ds izfr fonzkgs djrs gq, viuh
dfork ^D;k rqe tkurs gks* dfork esa iqNrh gS&
^^D;k rqe tkurs gks
iq#’k ls fHkUu
Bodhi International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Science
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,d L=h dk ,dkar
?kj izse vkSj tkfr ls vyx
,d L=h dks mldh viuh tehu
ds ckjsesa crk ldrs gks rqeA**2
vkfnoklh L=h iq#’kksa ds utjksa esa dsoy ,d Hkksx dh oLrq
jgh gS A iq#’kksa us blls vf/kd L=h dks dHkh le>k gh ugha gSA blh
ckr dks ysdj fueZyk th vkdzkar gSA og lkjs iq#’k lekt ls iz”u
djrh gS fd rqe L=h ds xHkZ esa cht rks Mkyrs gks ij dHkh xHkZorh
L=h dk nnZ] osnuk] ihM+k dks dHkh le>k gS\ ftuds mRrj iq#’kksa ds
ikl ugha gSA blfy, dof;=h viuk vkdzk”s k izdV djrs gq, fyf[krh
gS&
^^ru ds Hkwxksy ls ijs
,d L=h ds
Eku dh xk¡Bs [kksy dj
dHkh i<+k gS rqeus
mlds Hkhrj dk [kkSyrk bfrgkl\
vxj ugha!
Rkks Tkkurs D;k gks rqe
jlksbZ vkSj fcLrj ds xf.kr ls ijs
,d L=h ds ckjseAsa **3
fueZyk iqry
q ;FkkFkZ dk fp=.k djrh gS blfy, og vk¡[ksa
gksdj mls can ugha j[k ldrhA dku gksdj cgjh ugha cu ldrhA
tcku gksdj xq¡xh ugha cu ldrhA mUgksua s tks ns[kk gS] Hkksxk gS] vuqHko
fd;k gS og fufHkZdrk iwoZd fyf[krh gS A blfy, og viuh dfork
^[kwu dks ikuh dSls fy[k n¡*w esa dgrh gS&
^^ij rqEgh crkvksa ;g dSls laHko gS\
vk¡[k jgrs vU/kh dSls gks tkÅa eS\a
dSls dg nw¡ jkr dks fnu\
[kwu dks ikuh dSls fy[k nw¡**4
vkfnoklh fL=;k¡ cgqr gh esgurh gksrh gSAa os iq#’kksa ds daU/ks ls daU/kk
feykdj dke djrh gSA cfYd muls T;knk gh djrh gS A mUgsa ?kj
vkSj ckgj nksuksa txgksa ij dke djuk iM+rk gSA iRry cukuk] pVkbZ
cquuk ia[kk] >kMw ,sls vusd midj.k cukrh gS A mls cktkj esa tkdj
csprh gS vkSj vius ifjokj dk Hkju iks’k.k djrh gSA ysfdu lpkbZ ;g
gS fd budh cukbZ gqbZ oLrqvksa dk dksbZ vkSj gh Qk;nk mBkrk gSA
blfy, bUgsa viuk isV Hkjus dh izrh{kk djuh iM+rh gSA blh foM+Ecuk
dks dof=;h us ^ckgkeqfu* dfork esa O;Dr fd;k gS&
^^rqEgkjs gkFkksa cus iRry ij Hkjrs gS isV gtkjksa
ij gtkjksa iRry Hkj ugha ikrs rqEgkjs isV
dSlh foM+Ecuk gS fd
tehu ij cSB cqurh pVkb;k¡
vkSj ia[kk cukrs Vidrk gS
rqEgkjs dfj;k;s nsg ls Vi&Vi ilhukA**5
L=h ds vusd :Ik gksrs gS oSlh gh vkfnoklh L=h ds Hkh gksrs
gSAa og ek¡&csVh] lk¡&cgq nsojkuh] ftBkuh cgu vkfnA og vusd fj”rs
23
e-ISSN: 2456-5571
fuHkkrh gSA mu ij fgUnw lekt dk iwjk izHkko fn[kkbZ nsrk gSA fookg
ds ckn mUgsa Hkh llqjky tku iM+rk gSa A blfy, mls iz”u iM+rk gS
fd vBgjk o’kksaZ ckn og “kknh djds fdlh nqljs ds ?kj tk,xh rks D;k
og vius ?kj vkaxu ifjokj] xk;&HkSl HkSM&
+ cdfj;k¡ [ksr&[kfygku bu
lc dks Hkwy ik,xh\ blfy, llqjky tkus ls iwoZ og viuh ek¡ dks
viuk nnZ lqukrh gSA ^ek¡ ds fy, llqjky tkus ls igys* dfork esa
dgrh gS&
^^ij D;k lpeqp
Tkk ldw¡xh iwjh dh iwjh ;gk¡ ls\
vkaxu esa iM+s VwVs >kMw&lk
iM+h jg tkÅaxh dqN u dqN ;gk¡
ikuh ds [kkyh ?kM+s esa
Hkjh jg tk,xh esajh ;knsAa **6
vkfnoklh yM+dh vius firk dh vkfFkZd fLFkfr dks c[kqch
tkurh gS A blfy, vius firk ls viuk fookg taxy ls nwj fdlh
“kgj esa u djus dh ckr djrh gSA ftlds dkj.k mlds firk dks mls
feyus vkus ds fy, ?kj dh cdfj;k¡ cspuk iM+As og fy[krh gS&
^^ckck!
Ekq>s mruh nwj er C;kguk
tgk¡ eq>ls feyus tkus dh [kkfrj
?kj dh cdfj;k¡ cspuh iM+s rqEgsA**7
bl izdkj fueZyk iqry
q th us vius bl laxgz esa vkfnoklh
lekt ds thou dk ;FkkFkZ fp=.k fd;k gSA
lanHkZ %&
1½ uxkM+s dh rjg ctrs gS “kCn & fueZyk iqry
q & izdk”ku &
Hkkjrh; KkuihB] ubZ fnYyh i`- 30
2½ ogh- i`- 7
3½ ogh- i`- 8
4½ ogh- i`- 11
5½ ogh- i`- 12
6½ ogh- i`- 46]47
7½ ogh- i`- 51
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e-ISSN: 2456-5571
DEVELOPING A REMEDIAL COURSE IN ENGLISH TO ENHANCE
COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF THE SLOW LEARNERS AT TERTIARY LEVEL
LEVEL
Dr. S. Diravidamani
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English
Periyar University College of Arts & Science, Salem
Abstract
The use of English in multiple domains at the global level has made an enormous impact on the teaching and learning
of this language in India. Despite a positive enthusiasm, there still prevails a strong apprehension among the rural and semiurban milieu towards learning to communicate in English. More so is the case with slow learners because of their communal
affiliations or identities. The present paper aims at preparing a remedial course to cater to the language requirements of the
tertiary level language slow learners.
The less realized matter of fact is that the University Grants Commission of India sanctions an appreciable fund
especially for conducting Remedial Courses of different capacities. Therefore, this paper mainly aims at preparing and
standardizing a Remedial Course in English to enhance the communicative competence, particularly of the tertiary level slow
English Language Learners. It is generally observed that the slow students, who learn English as Second Language, do not
perform up to the expected level in English, this study concentrates on identifying their problems pertaining to language learning
and practising their language competence without any inhibitions.
Introduction
At present it has become an issue of great concern
for all educators that even after around fifteen years of
exposure to the English language, there still exists the problem
of under-achieved English language skills among the slow
learners. It is true that efforts are taken to enhance their
communicative ability. Nevertheless, there still exists some
impairment in the process of their learning the English
Language. In fact, the need to gain a communicative
competence in English remains an unfulfilled dream for these
students, leaving them forever trying and failing. This is the
point of departure for the current paper tries to unearth the
roots of their difficulty in learning English and using it. This has
led to task of developing a remedial course to enable the slow
learners to face their communicative problems and thereby to
ensure a better learning of the English language that is not
only worthwhile but also rewarding.
As such, the crux of this paper is that Remedial
Teaching, in its strict modes, can play a pivotal role in
improving the effectiveness of Language Learning process of
slow learners. Slow learners most them belonging to the
24
scheduled communities. It is this kind of remedial teaching that
can achieve a transformation at their language competency
level. The researcher is strong at this point because Remedial
Teaching is something that encourages the students to reflect
within themselves, without much interference from the
teachers, and it allows the students to naturally overcome the
inhibitions in English and to actively participate in doing the
language tasks. Remedial Teaching also helps the students to
approach the subject matter in all fullness, with natural and
intrinsic motivation. It permits students’ liberty in getting
familiarized with the learning through Remedial Teaching
methods, in their own ways. The underlying philosophy is that
learners’ familiarity with the context and content chosen for the
classroom activities enable them to participate in the learning
process which, in turn, allows the learning possible.
In order to discuss the problems faced by these slow
learners in learning English at the Tertiary level and to justify
the Remedial Teaching as a feasible means to achieve an
appreciable amount of communicative competence among
them, the researcher has taken up as his subjects for the
study, the Slow ESL learners of the Bharathiar University
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College at Valparai of Tamil Nadu in South India. This college,
situated in a tribal belt, has ninety five percent of students
belong either to Scheduled Caste or Tribe communities and
ninety eight percent of students’ first generation. This
facilitated the researcher to take up his field work successfully.
As such, the main aim of the present paper is to
design a Syllabus for the Remedial Course to be implemented
among these slow learners and to prove its feasibility in
improving their language skills. The main focus of this
Remedial course is to enhance the communicative
competence of these learners in terms of clarity, correctness
and effectiveness. In the process of designing one such
course, the foremost step is to identify the common
grammatical errors committed, particularly by these learners,
while communicating in English. The Remedial course
designed includes techniques to improve all the four language
skills viz. listening, speaking, reading and writing, aiming at
achieving an overall communicative competence in English.
By implementing the syllabus prepared for the
Remedial Course among the subjects, this study aims to
achieve a notable difference in their communication skills. The
study will also ensure a convincingly evident improvement in
their communication skills by receiving a highly positive
feedback on the activities. To achieve the objectives
mentioned above, the researcher has been prepared a
remedial course. Remedial course contains five units in below
manner.
Unit one explores the history and status of English
language teaching in India. In addition to this, the objectives,
hypothesis, the operative definition of communicative
competence and the methodology are also clearly stated.
Besides, this chapter also elaborates on the communal
hierarchies prevailing in India, especially in Tamil Nadu, to
substantiate the selection of the Slow language learners for
this study.
Unit two analyzes the difficulties existing in the
regular Part – II English syllabus, thereby justifying the need
for a Remedial Course. Following this, it discusses the
precepts of a Remedial course in English as a Second
Language, components and duration of a remedial course, and
the methodologies to be involved in it. Underscoring the need
for a remedial course for the slow students, this chapter also
delineates the guidelines followed in designing this course.
25
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Unit three presents the drawbacks and difficulties in the
communication skills of the tertiary level slow English language
learners. It traces the reasons behind these difficulties and
suggests as to how to improve the communicative competence
and performance of these slow students.
Unit four presents a detailed report of the quantitative analysis
of the different experiments administered among the slow
students. The pre-test conducted to assess the language level
of the slowstudents are evaluated and parameters decided,
based on which the research determines the modules of the
lesson to be administered. A post-test is administered at the
end of these classes and the responses are evaluated. The
findings show that there was a positive difference between the
pre-test and the post-test in their communicative ability, in
terms of their attitude towards learning the English language.
The researcher underscores that this is due to the
implementation of the remedial course.
Unit five sums up the findings based on the
interpretations of the pre-test and post-test. It is justified with
evidences that the administration of the Remedial Course
proves to be successful, especially when it is adopted for
imparting language skills to the slow Language Learners at the
tertiary level.
Conclusion
As a matter of fact, the present paper is a pioneering
attempt in its own way for, it is the first of its kind to develop a
Remedial Course in communicative competence in English
exclusively for the slow learners at the Tertiary Level. Based
on the study conducted among these learners, the research
paper only justifies this fact that this specially designed
Remedial course definitely helps the Slow Language Learners
at the Tertiary Level to improve their communicative
competence in English.
References
1. Aggarwal, Shalini. Essential Communication Skills.
New Delhi: Anne Books Pvt. Ltd., 2009.Print.
2. Agnihotri, R.K., and A.L. Khanna. Problematizing
English in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications,
1997. Print.
Bodhi International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Science
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No.1
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Aslam, Mohammad. Teaching of English. New Delhi:
Foundation Books, 2003.Print.
4. Aslam, Rekha. Linguistic Difference in Speaking and
Writing. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre,
2010.Print.
5. Baker, Joanna, and Heather Westrup. Essential
Speaking Skills. Jaipur: Raj Publishing House, 2006.
Print.
6. Brumfit, Christopher. Communicative Methodology in
Language Teaching. London: Cambridge University
Press, 1984.Print.
7. Carroll, J. Brendan. The Bridge Intensive Course.
Madras: Oxford University Press, 1969.Print.
8. Chaudron, C. Second Language Classrooms:
Research on Teaching and Learning. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998.Print.
9. Das,B.K., and A. David. A Remedial Course in
English for College – Book 1. Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1989.Print.
10. Dhawan, J.K. English Communication Skills Today.
Jaipur: Ritu Publications, 2011.Print.
11. Fazili, Mubeena. Communicative Methods in English
Language Teaching.
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12. New Delhi: Alantic Publishers, 2008.Print.
13. Gajjar, Nileshkumar B.Teaching Approaches of
English in Education. Jaipur: LAP Lanbert Academic
Publishing, 2013.Print.
14. Gangal, J.K. A Practical Course in Spoken English.
Haryana: Bath BarathaNath Printers, 2010.Print.
15. Greenberg, J.H. Language, Culture and
Communication. Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1971.Print.
16. Guse, Jenni. Communicative Activities for EAP. UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2011.Print.
17. Kattington, E.Limon. Handbook of Curriculum
Development. New York: Nova Science Published
Inc., 2010.Print.
18. Krishnaswamy, N., and LalithaKrishnaswamy.
Teaching English: Approaches, Methods and
Techniques. UK: Macmillan Publishers, 2005.Print.
19. Lawton, Denis. Class, Culture and the Curriculum.
London: Routledge& Kegan Paul Ltd,1975.Print.
20. Richards, C.Jack. Curriculum Development in
Language Teaching. United Kingdom: Cambridge
University Press, 2001.Print.
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October 2016
e-ISSN: 2456-5571
THE PORTRAYAL OF THE SUBJUGATION OF MOTHERHOOD IN BUCHI
EMECHETA'S NOVEL "THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD"
S. Sandhya
Ph.D Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore
Dr. M. Kannadhasan
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore
Abstract
"The Joys of Motherhood" is among most portal works, as it offers critical commentary on colonization, tradition,
capitalism, and woman's roles as they come to affect one woman, Nnu Ego and her family. It is first published by Allison and
Busby in 1979 and it is reprinted in Heinemann's African writers’ series in 2008. It is set in a time of great political and economic
change for Nigeria. In this novel Emechata's main character defines validity of her womanhood solely by of success of her
children. The chapter titles, "The Mother", "The Mother's mother ", "The Mother's Early Life", "First shock of Motherhood", etc.,
follow the highs and lows of the heroine, Nnu Ego's destiny. Nnu Ego's whole destiny is centered on her as a Mother. Nnu Ego
places all her hope for happiness and prosperity in her children, yet she is constantly disappointed. The basis of the novel is
"necessity for a woman to be fertile and above all to give birth to sons". As a result, Nnu Ego finds no joy in her grown children.
Key Words: Subjugation, Oppression and Infertility.
Introduction
Buchi Emecheta portrays, “The portrayal of the
subjugation of motherhood” in her novel The Joys of
Motherhood. The researcher tries to point out this in the
following. The Protagonist Nnu Ego, is a traditional woman
living in a rapidly changing world. The life that she grew up
expecting for herself does not come to pass. She expects to
become a wife and mother, working hard in her youth for her
family. Nnu ego is a young Ibo woman who dreams of a living
a traditional life as a mother of many children. The hope she
puts in having many children turns out to be misplaced; her
entire life is simply a struggle for survival, with no reward in old
age. Nnu Ego is over joyed when she discovers she is capable
of conceiving after all and she is able to enjoy for a brief period
pregnancy and motherhood.
After her son,s birth, she feels like a "real woman"
and is gratified that there will be somebody left behind to refer
her as "mother" (54).
Nnu Ego becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son
Ngozi, whom she later finds dead. Shocked and devoid of
hope, she rushes to the waterfront to throw herself off Cater
27
Bridge where she can confront her Chi-her personal God-who
has been tormenting her. Nwakusor, an Ibo man and the
villager draws her back and comforts her. The action shifts to
twenty-five years previous to this moment, in the village of
Ogboli in the Ibuza homeland. Nnu Ego married to Amatokwu.
After several months with no sign of fruitfulness, she consults
several herbalists and is told that the slave woman who is her
Chi will not give he a child. On seeing her barrenness, she is
soon moved to another hut to make a room for a new wife.
She is relegated to working in the fields and taking care of the
new wife’s infant son. When Amatokwu catches Nnu Ego
breast feeding the hungry child, he beats her. Nnu Ego returns
to her father to rest and recover.
Agbadi finds a better match to his daughter. Agbadi
arranges a marriage between Nnu Ego and Naife, who lives in
faraway Lagos. Nnu Ego does not like her new husband but
prays that if she can have a child with him , she will love him.
Nnu Ego becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son Ngozi,
whom she later finds dead. Shocked and devoid of hope, she
rushes to the waterfront to throw herself off Cater Bridge
where she can confront her Chi-her personal God-who has
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October 2016
been tormenting her. Nwakusor, an Ibo man and the villager
draws her back and comforts her. Recovering from Ngozi’s
death is a slow and painful process. Months later, Nnu Ego
becomes pregnant again and gives birth to Oshia. She decides
to focus on raising her child instead of making her extra
income by selling cigarettes and matches on the roadside. Her
husband laundry man for the white man is drafted into the
army, when peers return to England. Nnu Ego resumes her
local trade in cigarettes. Nnu Ego takes a rented room in
another part of the town, where she gives birth to another son,
Admin. The family slowly succumbs to malnutrition. Neighbors
step into help them Naife has returned, flush with money. Nnu
Ego secures a permanent stall in the market place. Then she
gives birth to twin girls; Taiwo and Kehinde. Naife has forced
to join the army and is shipped off to India and then Burma to
fight in World War II. Nnu Ego takes her family to Ibuza to see
her father who is in deathbed. After his funeral, Nnu Ego is not
willing to return to Lagos. Nnu Ego’s health goes downhill.
Though her daughters send her money from time to time, she
never hears from Oshia in America and Admin who later goes
to Canada. It breaks her heart. She hears that Oshia has got
married to a white woman.
One day she dies alone by the roadside in her homeland. After
her death her children all come to home and are sorry they
were in a position to her a better life. Oshia honor her with a
costly funeral. They throw her the second-most expensive
funeral that Ibuza had ever seen, and they build a shrine. By
making this, her grand children could appeal to her for their
fertility. When all her children are unable to have off spring the
oracle reveals that this is because Nnu Ego is angry with them.
Stories say that she is wicked woman even in death. Still, they
agree that she has given all to her children and that this is joy
of being a mother.
Nnu Ego assumes that her sons will come home to
live and will care for her as she ages. Finally, "Nnu Ego
realized that part of the pride of motherhood was to look little
unfashionable and be able to drawl with joy" (80). Throughout
the text, as in Emecheta's other work, marriage and
motherhood are constructed as modern allegories for slavery.
Motherhood is the completion of womanhood.
Woman is an integral part of human civilization. Nnu Ego
represents the ideal of womanhood. unfortunately, the
idealistic vision of motherhood fails encompass any challenges
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women often experience. The ill-fortuned woman deals with
the highs and lows of womanhood and motherhood.
Nonetheless she is blessed with nine beautiful children. But
her financial resources are scarce and the living conditions in
Lagos are difficult. The protagonist's self-reliance heightens
and she aptly manages to educate her sons and daughters.
She compares her life as a mother as that of a slave, in which
the "love and duty for her children were like her chain of
slavery" (186).
When her baby Ngozi passes away suddenly, it
causes Nnu Ego to be suicidal. Her attempt to jump off a
bridge is described by Stephen Robolin as an attempt to
'terminate the excruciating pain that accompanies her long
successive of failed attempts of motherhood' (76). When the
crowd who had gathered around her heard her story, 'they all
agreed that a woman without a child for her husband was a
failed woman'.
This novel emphasise the value of fertility. Fertility is
extremely important aspect of any society. Children are not
only an important social security system, but are also an
important source of labor power. Children are supposed to
represent a woman's highest achievement. But we learn that
children are a double-edged sword. The woman without
children is deemed a failed woman. Yet once she as children,
her life becomes an unending drudgery. So, children represent
joy and happiness, yet also pain and sorrow. Even though,
Nnu Ego was blessed with nine children she suffers a lot in her
life. Emecheta depicts not only the extreme suffering of Nnu
Ego but also the strength and courage. Thus African fiction
displays a wide spectrum of human behavior.
Buchi Emecheta is considered as one of the most
prolific and dexterous women writers of Africa today. Different
interpretations have been made on the ambiguous
conveyance of her thoughts in her novels. She expresses the
live experiences of African women. She explicitly denunciates
the patriarchal ideologies of subjugate and suppress woman.
Cynthia Ward rightly observes that Emechetas's works provide
'a veritable goldmine for literacy critics seeking on authentic
representatives of the African woman' (83). Her writing style
can be contrasted with another prominent Nigerian writer,
Chinua Achebe. Achebe's sentences are soaked with idioms
and rich cultural details, while Emecheta's style is simpler and
direct. The plot and characters inform the readers about
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cultural information and the character's feelings.
The title "The Joys of Motherhood" is also ironical in
nature. In this novel Emecheta achieves her best writing
tactics. The title is ironical in that the romantic illusions of
fulfillment and satisfaction associated with motherhood. It is
proved to be a force in the light of the demands mental,
physical and economical on the mother. 'The Joys of
motherhood' is a novel that gives the impression that it might
well appeal to western feminists. With motherhood as its
theme, and the irony of its title, it appears to be a part of the
significant body of feminist literature. It is concerned with
women's experience of motherhood in patriarchal cultures.
Eustace palmer describes "The Joys of Motherhood"
as the first work in African literature to present the female point
of view in registering its disgust at male chauvinism and
patriarchy's satisfaction with an unfair or oppressive system
towards women (157). The oppressive of women is located in
the Traditional Nigerian society and Emecheta has given a
realistic portrayal of the subjugation of women in her society.
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Work Cited
1. Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood.
Newyork: George Braziller, 2010. Print.
2. Das, Kumar and Bijay. Critical Essays on Post
Colonial Literature. Penguin India: Atlantic
Publishers, 1989. Print.
3. Emenyonu, Ernest N. “Technique and Language in
Buchi Emecheta’s The Bride Price, The Slave Girl
and The Joys of Motherhood”. The Journal of
Common Wealth Literature 23.1(1988):130-141.
4. Palmer, Eustace. “A Powerful Female Voice in the
African Novel: Introducing the Novels of Buchi
Emecheta”. New Literatures Review 11:21-33.
5. Criticism on Buchi Emecheta. Humwww.ucsc.edu,
N.p n.d web. Oct 15, 2016.
6. Nigerian Literature, Emeagwali.com, N.p, n.d web.
Oct 16 2016.
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THE EXISTENTIAL AGONY OF A BUSINESS MAN IN LOUIS NOWRA’S ‘THE
BOYCE TRILOGY’ - A SOCIALOGICAL DISCOURSE
R. Vidhya
M.Phil Research Scholar, ThiruvalluvarUniversity, Sekkadu, Vellore
Dr. K. Ravichandran
Assosiate Professor of English Thiruvalluvar University, Serkkadu, Vellore
Abstract
Louis Nowra (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. He is best known
as one of Australia’s leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all of Australia’s major theatre companies, including
Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South
Australia, Belvoir, and many others, and have also had many international productions. His most significant plays are Cosi,
Radiance, Byzantine Flowers, Summer of the Aliens and The Golden Age. In 2006 he completed The Boyce Trilogy for Griffin
Theatre Company, consisting of The Woman with Dog’s Eyes, The Marvellous Boy and The Emperor of Sydney.
His novel Ice was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. His script for 1996 movie Cosi, which revolves around a
group of mentally ill patients who put on a play, won the Australian Film Institute Award that year for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Nowra’s work as a scriptwriter also includes a credit on the comedy The Matchmacker and the Vincent Ward romance Map of
the Human Heart, which was invited to the Cannes Film Festival. His radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room,
The Widows and the five part The Divine Hammer, which aired on the ABC in 2003.
Introduction
Boyce is a group of company which led to build up
new building in Sydney. This is a progress company in
Sydney. Malcolm is a protagonist of this story. Penny is a
wife of him. They have three sons. Their first son name is
Keith Boyce and Todd is a middle son of that family. Luke
Boyce is a youngest son. This story now starts at Edwardianera hotel. It has recently in its original style.
It is a big room where they gather to celebrate the
marriage anniversary of Malcolm and Penny Boyce. In this
room, there is an attached mini bar. Malcolm takes a small cup
which is fulfilled with wine. He speaks with Penny. The two
members criticize about the hotel and room. A strange man’s
photo is appeared on the wall. That man has grown long board
and moustaches. They ridicule about that photo. Penny says:
“The man in the photograph. He must have been the original
owner. It must have made them look funny” (5). They tell how
this man faces some problems because he never concentrates
to share his beard and moustaches. He would not concentrate
30
to clean his body. Penny explains what her skin has been
rubbed raw when they kiss. Malcolm motions to the far end of
the room. He goes to take a bottle of whisky. There has a mini
bar. Penny also takes a cup of wine. They clink glasses.
Penny sips and looks out the window. The snow falls slowly
outside of the house.
Penny asks one questions about fairy with Malcolm.
He does not believe in this motion. But she believes it. She
says one incident which occurs in her childhood age. She
describes: “I palled two of my teeth out on purpose so the
tooth fairy would come” (6). It denotes the existence of
supernatural around her. She believes in it but he does not
believe in that action. She is living in conservative life. Malcolm
is a business man who did believe in modern life. He never
believes damn, fairies. Louis Nowra describes these two
characters in paradox. Through she hates him even for petty
matters, he loves her very truly. Their two sons lead under
father’s principle.
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In this play, Louis Nowra uses some images. The
first image indicates drink the importance of the people of
England drink wine as a habit of culture. The Aboriginal people
have the habit of drinking the palm wine. Convict people and
banished people live in Australia. They corrupt Aboriginals
culture, life, food everything. This play portrays the real truth
through some characters. Malcolm would want to take a drink.
He says: “Took me forever to find the mini bar, it’s in the
wardrobe” (52). This line expresses the realism of Australians.
Malcolm likes to enjoy the anniversary and so he takes a drink.
Todd and Keith also do the same. The habit of drinking wine is
entirely different from that of Aboriginal people. They belong to
convict and banished people.
Malcolm appears as a good business man. Louis
Nowra creates him as a sadist and selfish giant. He does not
involve in the growth and development of the family. He moves
forward in business. As he is totally depended on the culture of
modern life, there is no time to taste the blissful mood of life.
He likes conquer over the company. His wife is completely
opposition to him. She is very conservative. He wants to
change the habitual life of Australia. He spends more time with
Boyce group and company. He loves job. He wants to go
forward in work. Penny spends more time with the family. In
wedding anniversary she says: “It’s Saturday! This is our
anniversary. Stop talking about work” (53). She avoids the
conversation of business. They are gathered to celebrate the
wedding anniversary. So she is more interested to spend time
with her family.
In business life, Malcolm tries to buy everything as a
business man. When he takes the Hesperus park project, he
bribes some money from politicians and government. He
approaches everyone in the illegal way. Louis Nowra
describes the mental picture and a clear truth of normal
business man. He does not picture to explain these characters
as supernatural.
This play talks about the life of Aboriginal people. It
teaches that human being must live with a family. Money will
meet the needs of a person but it will never bring the joy of
pleasure and happiness in one’s life. This is a main concept of
this play. The Boyce group wants to earn more money. Penny
is a role model of that family. She wishes to unite the Boyce
group. Louis Nowra takes more attention in the character of
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Penny. She is an innocent woman who leads the family in a
peaceful way.
This play describes clearly how the house wife
struggles against the family. She works like a machine to run
the family. The machine is necessary to run every motor cycle.
A clever woman knows how to lead the family despite the
difficult circumstances. If Penny becomes a business woman
she would not able to concentrate on her family and children.
She will be focused in earning morning rather than taking care
of her family. A conflict and dispute would have arisen
between Malcolm and Penny. She would not have obeyed his
orders. Louis Nowra describes that life is beautiful and she
moulds the family and bring them in one accord in order to
lead the family in a prosperous way. Penny appropriates to the
character of King Maker in this play.
Feminism can be used to describe a political, cultural
or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and
legal protection for women. Feminism involves political and
sociological theories and philosophies concerned with the
issues of gender difference as well as movement that
advocate gender equality for women.
This play discusses the theory of feminism.
Feminism is not an ordinary word. It gives a powerful meaning
to that word. It indicates women are suppressed under the
dominance of male family. It pictures the reality of woman.
This word binds all women’s pain, suffering, oppressed and
freedom. They protest to get an equal position in the world.
Louis Nowra expresses clearly about feminism through the
character in the family. Penny’s describe and opinions have
been suppressed by Malcolm. He wanted Penny to take care
of house hold works as well as to lead the family and children.
The playwright gives a correct example of bad life
through Keith's marriage life. He says: “None of you know what
it’s like. You think Gillian’s weak, no she isn’t. She wants to
have control over me. Something good just has to happen with
me and she goes mad” (38). It proves her character. She lives
only as a business woman. She likes to win over him. Louis
Nowra likes to illustrate this kind of example to the world.
Earning money is not a man with life. It is only appropriate to
business. A good character must live in peace with each other.
Louis Nowra explains the music scene in this play.
The orchestra sings a song. These events explains the enjoy
movement of Boyce family. These songs express the
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memorable moments of the Boyce family. The orchestra sings
a song. The fire work explodes. The snow is falling at that
time. All feels into darkness. They are all enjoying at the
present time. This play insists human being to live with family.
In the twentieth century, People go to work hard. There is no
time to like everything in the world. They think that money is an
important factor in life. They do work for that reason. This life
becomes a machine. Human beings are made of flesh. It
senses emotion from the society. When they try to do any
work, they are suppressed by the work. They need some
relaxation. They must make more time with family. They can
listen to hear songs and watch films. Malcolm does this activity
through this play. He wants to earn more money and behaves
as golden star in business this way is very wrong. Louis Nowra
advises people to live life very happy.
In this modern world, people do not care about
family. They go forward to earn more money. There is no time
to spend more time with family. Owing to earning more money,
people could not spend more time with family members, friend
and neighbor money is very important to lead the family but it
is very little of it. When people earn more money, they have
lost happy of life, beautiful movements of family. Louis Nowra
teaches the modern people to live with family members and
spend more time with them. This play is the best example of
modernism and feminism.
This play shows clearly the difference between
family and modernism. Penny and Diane are the two
appropriate conservative characters. Conservatism secures
some rules and rituals of nationality. They teach how people
live together with neighbors and family. It symbols of sign to
live happy. Modernism breaks the rules and it calls
conservatism as barbarism. The modern society does not care
about rituals and morals. Malcolm is an apt character to
modernism. This play is exhibited the difference between
modernism and conservatism.
This play gives important technique how people
success in project. Achievement is an important good in
business. A good business man never cares on family,
customers and neighbors. Their aim is only to achieve the
target. Malcolm shows this kind of capacity in this play. When
the reader read this play, they feel a beautiful enjoyment of a
good business man. Not only they have got a flexible character
but also a good talent man. The Boyce Group gets this kind of
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quality. Louis Nowra explains the immense problem of
business. This exhibits the real conflict of business in society.
In this play, Louis Nowra explains love very
paradoxically. This love is compared with Antony and
Cleopatra. Antony is older person than Cleopatra. He has
come to Egypt to fight against her. He has a son. He is a
married man. When he sees her in first sight, he falls in love
with her. Cleopatra is married another man even if she loves
Antony. In literature, their love is portrayed as very sincere.
Louis Nowra compares between Luke and Esther’s love with
Antony’s love. Esther’s is very old age person than Luke. They
love each other truly.
The playwright exhibits Esther’s character very
sorrow. This play links the realism life of woman who is very
suffered by male domination. This world does not treat woman
as human beings. The people behave with them as barbarian.
The society could not make a new way to show their great
talent. People will see them only as exhibition things. Malcolm
deceives Esther and so she tries to break the Boyce group.
She loves him truly but he does not marry her. He marries
Penny. His second son loves too Esther. Malcolm creates one
intelligent accident to dies her. Esther deceives more and
more by him. This love is very sorrowful love.
Louis Nowra explains the family life very
interestingly. Malcolm loves Keith and Luke. He abhors Todd
because he thinks that Todd is not appropriate to lead the
Boyce group. Malcolm oppresses him. Penny does not treat
Todd like as Malcolm. She believes in him that he is very talent
boy. These incidents are happened in real life. Louis Nowra
never exhibit myth and epic character through this play. He
shows what happens in the present world. Penny is a good
supportive character in this play.
This play gives more importance to family. In this
present world, men do not give self-respect to women. They
think that women are machine. They have no soul and body.
This society treats them only for bearing children and lead
family. Mother is not an ordinary word. It is very powerful that
this play shows the truth. Penny thinks that their sons are very
talent. She could not think to split them. Malcolm does the
wrong way but she unites all. She is a pillar of Boyce group
because she takes a correct decision who is leaded the Boyce
group after death of Malcolm. Louis Nowra exhibits the truthful
character of woman by Penny in this play.
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His plays picture the realism in family and business
lives. It also clearly indicates the difference between
conservatism and modernism. It discusses feminism, postmodernism, cultural, reality, identity, family and psyco-analyes.
In this modern world, people concentrate only on to earn
money and they do not care about family and its environments.
It shows the real suffering of business man. The Boyce Group
is a famous building construction company in Sydney. This
play describes the growth and development of the Boyce
group. Malcolm is well appropriate with Modernistic character
in this play. He always promulgates the ideas to develop this
Boyce Group in Sydney. This play insists that money is a main
part in life to run the family happily.
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Conclusion
Penny is portrayed as epitome of well cultured to cultural
woman. Her idea is completely about to secure a joyful family
life. Not only she is mother but also a great king maker of the
Boyce Family. The researcher has taken up Louis Nowra’sThe
Boyce Trilogy: The Woman with Dog’s Eyes,TheMarvellous
Boy, and The Emperor of Sydney for the analysis.
Works Cited
1. Nowra, Louis. The Boyce Trilogy. Sydney: Currency
press, 2007. Print.
2. Alez, Gaby. The Essential Writer’s Guide. Sydney:
Currency press, 2010. Print.
3. Brady, Tess.K. Cultural Diversity and Cultural
Differences in Australia. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Print.
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SOM BHASKER AS A QUESTER IN ARUN JOSHI’S NOVEL
“THE LAST LABYRINTH”
N. Priyadarsini
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Periyar University College of Arts & Science, Salem
Abstract
Arun Joshi is an exceedingly great Indian English novelist in terms of thought provoking utterance, masterly treatment
of existential themes, and skilful wearing of fictional techniques. Joshi has published five novels and a collection of short stories,
but all these bear a distinguish. An illustrious novel, “The Last Labyrinth assimilates the existential anxiety, the Karmik principles,
the longings for the vitals of life in the mystical urge of Som Bhaskar.”1
At one level, The Last Labyrinth is the story of Som Bhaskar, a shrewed Bombay businessman trying to grab a plastic
manufacturing company of one Aftab Rai who lives with his pretended wife Anuradha in his ancestors’ feudal-like Lal Haveli at
Benares. At another level, as Tapan Kumar Ghosh says, “it is a story of deeper seeking through love, the spiritual autobiography
of a lost soul groping for the meaning of life and death.”Som Bhaskar, the narrator-hero, relates in flashback his infatuation with
Aunradha, whom he wants to possess by all means, thus endangering his life and business. Som’s mad pursuit of Anuradha to
possess meaning of life, love, God and death is highly remarkable.
‘Life laughs at you, when you are unhappy,
Life smiles at you, when you are happy,
But life salutes you, when you make others happy’
- Charlie Chaplain
Introduction
Som Bhaskar is a millionaire industrialist who
inherits a gigantic Plastic manufacturing industry. He had been
educated in the world’s finest universities. This led to his
western outlook on life, penchant for materialism and a faith in
reason. He is married to Geeta, “an extraordinary woman”
(11), who has borne him two children and is “all that a wife
could be”( 40). Yet he suffers from an insatiable hunger:
“Hunger of the body and hunger of the spirit” (11). He is
millionaire; yet he knew that “money was dirt, a whore. So
were houses, cars, carpets”. A strange sense of discontent
keeps gnawing at his soul resulting in the disruption of his life.
Since he was 25, he has been singing the song of discontent:
“I want, I want, I want”. The discontent leads him to run after
the carnal pleasures.
Despite impossibility of his life without her, he runs
after several woman-ayahs, librarians, nurses, aunts, friends’
34
wives and others and develops sexual relations with them, but
his hunger remains insatiable as ever. These new experiences
ironically lead him to a terrible sense of emptiness voids within
and voids without. Som’s mother is, contrary to Som’s father
and grandfather, a religious lady a women of profound faith
and endurance. She develops cancer, but does not take the
pills. She believes that only Lord Krishna would cure her, and
finally she dies of cancer. Som then consults many
psychiatrists who “said a lot of things that either made too
obvious a sense or no sense at all” (73). At last he gets the
explanation to his malaise by an old psychiatrist:
“It is possible…. to conceive of this world as being
populated not with people of flesh and blood, with certain
sexual orientations, but with souls. You can imagine this planet
humming with souls, each wanting something. Of course,
many might want the same thing.
A soul might also imagine that his wants, desires are
best met through another soul, if that soul is the right one.
That, no doubt is a big if. Until he meets this right soul there is
no peace. When you meet the right soul then, of course, things
might be peaceful, may even move on towards, a higher goal
(74)
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Leela Sabnis, Som’s friend and lover, is “professor,
descendent of a long line of professors, M.A. and Ph.D from
Michigan, something else from London” (75). She has
linguistic talents and is well versed in the thoughts and
ideologies of philosophers like Descartes, Freud, Jung,
Spinoza and others, but she admires Descartes and Freud
most. She has an obsession for explanations. According to
her, nothing existed that could not be reasoned through. Som
asks her to reason through his malaise, she tells him: “You are
much too high strung without reason. You are neurotic. A
compulsive fornicator” (80).
Som’s first encounter with Anuradha takes place at a
meeting of the Plastic Manufacturer’s Association at
Intercontinental Hotel in Delhi. She appears to him “a
monument: tall, handsome, ruined” (12). He is bewitched by
her dark, sexy eyes and “the body of whose grace and
sensuousness she seemed unaware” (41). At Aftab’s invitation
Som visits him and Anuradha at the Lal Haveli which “had
been built as a maze” (34-35). It is here that he comes to know
that Anuradha is not married to Aftab and lives with him. She
tells him: “I have not married.It is better not to be anybody’s
wife. You can’t marry everyone you love. So why marry
anyone at all?” (43). On being asked whether or not she would
like to get married to someone, she says, “I can imagine I am
married to Aftab. I can imagine I am married to you. My mother
used to imagine she was married to Lord Krishna” (128). The
closer he came to her, the more mysterious she appeared to
him.
Anuradha is a woman of obscure origin. Her past is
a saga of intense suffering and harrowing experiences that
have left an indelible mark not only on her body but also on her
soul. She was an illegitimate child of an insane mother. She
had been molested as a child and had to witness “murders,
suicides, every conceivable evil of the world” (190). She was
born in Bihar Sharif in a one-roomed house where her mother
sang for stranger in the evening and perhaps sold her body.
Her mother had not married, as she believed she was married
to Lord Krishna. After she died (she was murdered by one of
her many lovers) Anuradha was brought to Bombay by her
aunt. She was sent to a convent but there she undergoes
great humiliation. After schooling her aunt put her on the
screen. Anuradha laboured, and her aunt made money. After
some success for a year or two, she left the film world and
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began to live with Aftab in Lal Haveli. It was Gargi, a deaf-mute
mystic with profound compassion and insight that brought
Anuradha and Aftab together. Anuradha too lost her looks in
smallpox and attempted suicide but was miraculously saved by
K.Her past is enough to suggest the ineffable suffering and
humiliation that she underwent.As K tells Som: “you know,
Som, my life has been spent amidst misery and suffering but I
know of no other human being who suffered as much as
Anuradha” (189-90).
Som is not be able to bear her cold and rather
insulting response and decides to meet her in Benares after
many months. In Aftab’s Haveli, he is unable to have a sound
sleep and is restless. Anuradha becomes a riddle, a puzzle, a
mystery to Som and he thinks that she may have the key to his
malaise. In his defiance he looks absurd and silly. He has
become jealous of Lord Krishna and Anuradha as well, as she
is devoted to Him and not to Som, a degenerate mortal.On yet
another occasion, he asks her to accompany her to Bombay.
She loves Som and makes the sacrifice against her wishes.
But at this climactic stage of their affair, he suffers a nearly
fatal heart attack. Despite his doctor-friend K’s total
disappointment he recovers, and with it Anuradha disappears
from his life forever.
Symbolically, Som’s journey is the journey of a soul
trying to reach out to faith in God. In the course of this journey,
he encounters a few characters a little boy and an old man that
serve as eye-openers to him. But Som lacks this intuitive
wisdom of the boy. Som’s encounter with the old man is his
encounter with death itself. At last Som reaches the temple of
Krishna at the summit of the mountains, and is surprised to
find Gargi there. It is here that K’s identity is revealed, as he
introduces him to Gargi: K even discloses the miracle about
Som’s unaccountable recovery from the nearly fatal heart
attack, thereby suggesting Anuradha’s role in his life. K
divulges the secret that it was not him who had saved Som
and that he was as good as dead when Anuradha came to him
in the hospital. On the night before, Anuradha had gone on a
journey with K to retrieve the missing shares. But seeing his
critical condition she straightway went to Gargi to implore her
to save Som. On Gargi’s refusal to perform a miracle,
Anuradha persisted, bagged, wept, and threatened that if she
did not save Som she would kill herself. Love means sacrifice.
Absolute love means absolute sacrifice. Back to Benares he
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meets Afatab and repeatedly implores him to see Anuradha.
Som seeks God’s forgiveness like a defeated existentialist
through his intercession:
Anuradha, listen, listen wherever you are. Is there a
God where you are? Have you met Him? Does he understand
the language that we speak? Anuradha if there is a God and if
you have met him and if He is willing to listen, then, Anuradha,
my soul, tell him, tell this God, to have mercy upon me. Tell
him I am weary of so many fears; so much doubtings. Of this
dark earth and these empty heavens. Plead for me, Anuradha.
He will listen to you (222-23).
This poignant cry suggests that Anuradha has
become “the core of his existence, the crystallization of the
meaning of his life.” Anuradha, to Som, is a living mystery. Her
mystery behind her is her unbelievable character, which Aftab
sums up thus: “It is just that she can’t stand to see anybody
fail. It breaks her heart” (39).
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Conclusion
Arun Joshi suggests that the ultimate truth and
reality could be realized if only one were to forsake rationalism.
Humility, sacrifice and suffering are the three-fold path to
exploring divine truth. Although on closer scrutiny this novel
unfolds a conspicuous crisscross of the various Oriented and
Occidental literary influences, Arun Joshi’s remarkably artistic
sensibility has assimilated these influences and rendered the
novel a powerful masterpiece revealing his vision of life which
is undeniably his own a Hindu vision of life.
“I like the religion that teaches Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”.
– Dr.B.R.Ambedkar
References
1. Siddhartha Sharma. Arun Joshi's Novels: A Critical
Study. Atlantic, 2004.
2. Arun Joshi’s. “The Last Labyrinth”. New Delhi: Orient
paperbacks, 1981.
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CASTE CONFLICT AND
AND STRUGGLE IN COOMARASAWAMY’S:
THE DANCE OF SHIVA
A. Mohan
M. Phil Research Scholar, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore
Dr. K. Ravichandhran
Associate Professor of English, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore
Abstract
Ananda Kentish Coommaraswamy, an art critic and philosopher, was born in Colombo, Srilanka on August 22, 1877 to
Muthu Commaraswmy, a Tamilian and Lady Elizabeth Clay Bevy of Kent, a British. After graduation in Geography from the
University of London he exhibited keen interest in art, architecture of India, archaeology, philosophy; religion and mysticism. He
wrote illuminating articles on metaphysics and iconography. M.P. Pandit, an eminent critic, observes in Indian Poetics: “His
studies in the interpretation of Indian painting, sculpture and the inner spirit of Eastern art, - the Chinese included – are not
chauvinistic essays but expositions in the service of Universal Art” (p.310)
He became the Director of the Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon. On account of his eminence in various fields, he was
appointed as the curator of Indian and Mohammedan Art in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1917 and later on promoted as
the Fellow for Research in Orientel-Indian, Persian and Muslim Art in the same institute. He discovered Thorianite also. In 1947,
he passed away in Needham, Masschusetts. Ananda Coommaraswamy, though delved deep into the Eastern culture and the
Vedas, has not held extreme views. He has tried to synthesize those cultures of the East and the West with a view to bringing
peace, prosperity and bliss to mankind.
Introduction
Ananda Coommaraswamy’sThe Dance of Shiva a
collection of fourteen essays on varied themes like Indian art,
culture and mysticism, was published first in 1918 by the
Sunwise Turn, New York. The title essay “The Dance of Shiva”
is the sixth one in the collection which deals mainly with the
philosophical interpretation of the iconography of South Indian
metal images of Sri Nataraja. According to Dr. Kamil V.
Zvelebil “The essay is beautiful, and has contributed in a very
important manner to Western understanding of Indian art with
tremendous intuition, Coommaraswamy has grasped the
philosophical essense of Shiva’s dance, and even in some
seemingly minor points, he has foreseen the results of later
research”
The concept of Shiva as the Divine Dancer is
expressed by the name Nataraja which means “the King of
Dance” and “King of Dancers” and hence Shiva is attributed
with several names like Natesa, Nateswara, and natyapriya.
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The Tamil inscriptions refer to him as “Atavallan” which means
“the one who excels in dancing”. The God of Chidambaram is
known as “Kuttapperumanatikal” which means “the Supreme
Dancer”. The iconographic term used for the dance performed
by Shiva at Chidambaram is “ananda-tandavam” and this
means “the dynamic dance of bliss”.
It is also called “Panca-Krtya-Paramanandatandavam” and this means “the dynamic dance of highest bliss
symbolizing the five actions”. The other terms used for this
dance are: ‘sadatandava’ (the dance of ceaseless cosmic
process), and ‘Gauritandava’ (dance witnessed by
GauriSivakami) of all the terms used, the name
“anandatandava” (‘the awesome dance of bliss”) is in common
parlance. The Tamil term ‘tandavam’ means ‘leaping’ ‘jumping’
and it is derived from the root ‘tandu’ (to jump, leap across,
jump over, and dance).
Caste is not an ordinary word. It consist the
immense rude life of human beings. It splits human beings
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such as Brahmin, Kshadhriya, Vaishiya and Shudhra
according to that causes of professional. This is the main
reason for developing caste system in this country. It has kept
a set of ferocious rules and regulations. It splits human beings
as higher caste people and lower class people. The first one is
that Brahmin chants mantra in temple and gives useful advice
to king only. He works both temple and kingdom. The second
mentions that Kshadhriya must fight in the battlefield and
secure the nation, people, and kingdom. The third is that
Vaishiya come working under the professional of trade and
commerce. The last indicates that Shudhra should do the
serve to all caste people. This barbarian caste division is
portrayed by Brahmin.
Brahmin, Kshadhriya and Vaishiya have been living
as joyful and superior position in society. Their generation has
got a good education and wealth but Shudhra’s life style is
different from others. His generation never gets equal rights at
all. They are suppressed by all higher caste people. This
society pictures them as poor people till twenty first century.
Shudhra must work in the burial ground. This society gives a
bad name to him that name is ‘Thotti’. He lives besides the
burial ground and this society treats him as untouchable
person. The frightful caste division is organized by Brahmin in
society. This furocious caste system is only helped to live
joyfully to three upper class people not only lower class
people.
Since ancient period, Brahmin’s son is only
applicable to work the same professional. Kshadhriya comes
under this same concept. Caste system could help mainly to
live peacefully about three generation. This society could not
make a new way to abolish this caste division. They would not
like to give a correct self-respect to all. They think that three
upper class people must taste only the joyful life except
Shudhra. Brahmin gets a superior intelligence in mentally. He
has made the bad division to live only particular people in
society.
Dravidian is first generation of human being in this
world. He had been using a great culture in this world. This
existence is proved by the historical evident. Mohanjadharo is
a great example of Dravidian’s culture and identity. They had
built a finest house and street. They had used some worthy
ornamental, gold and silver. This historical event showed how
Dravidian lives peacefully and depicts the great talent of
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architect. He never makes any caste division in ancient time
but Brahmin has broken the immense identity of Dravidians.
Brahmin calls Dravidians as Dalit.
Caste system splits the habitual life of Dravidians. By
bearing him, he is first and foremost generation in this world.
His color compares with black. He has lived with nature and its
circumstances. He has followed a great culture before coming
Brahmin. Brahmin introduces the arrogance caste division to
suppress Dravidians and capture the whole country.Dravidians
works so hard in field at any place. He would not think to ruin
everything in the world. He thinks that each and every people
must live equally in the world.
Brahmin represents as a cruel man for introducing
the caste division. He has written one book that name is
Varanasiramam. It indicates that how four caste people bear
from the organs of Bramma. It notes that Brahmin bears from
the Bramma’s tongue. He is only suitable to learn education
and serve some rituals to God. He concludes that his born is
usually helped to give some useful ideas to king. He teaches
only education to the higher caste people in India. This caste
system rejects Dravidans and treats them as slavery.
Kshadhriya bears from Bramma’s chest. He
represents as warrior and must fight in the battlefield. His aim
is only secured nation and its people from other
country.Vaishiya appears from Bramma’s thigu. His works
compare with trade and commerce. The three caste people
never meet any struggle situation in society their life compares
with so colourful. They have get equal rights and worthy life in
society. This happily life is against Dravidan or Shudhras
only.Shudhra is only fit to do the last rituals of death of human
being. These rules ignore him to get equal education, rights
and power. This caste system indicates that Shudhre bears
from Bramma’s leg and so he must serve to all people.
Not only Brahmin shows the variation in education
but also food. He has made a different set of rules and
regulations to take food to all catse division. Brahmin never
takes any non-veg dish. He takes only vegetables and fruits.
The food system imprints strongly as vegetarian. Kshadhriya
and Vaishiya follow the same food style but never call as
vegetarian. They have used a set of food system. This food
system is another reason for developing caste system.
Shudhra’s food system is varied from everything. This system
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is connected into all people’s blood. This rude system has
been following by all caste people till this today.
This caste system has happened clearly in the great
epic of Mahabharadham. In this epic, education is only suitable
to higher level people. It shows clearly one example of how
Brahmin oppresses the Dravidian. Duronachariar is a great
master in teach archery.Pandavas is responsible to Brahmin
family. Eagalaivan represnts as Dalit man in this epic. When
Duronachariyar teaches that art to them, Eagalaivanhas
crossed them. He wants to learn it but Duronachariyar rejects
him because of his caste.
Egalaivan makes one beautiful doll of human being
like as Duronachariyar and prays him daily morning. He hides
besides a tree and watches that learning. He learns everything
without help of the great master of Dhuronachariyar. When
Dhuronachariyar walks into the forest, a deer is hunt by arrow.
He thinks that this deer is haunted by a well versed archery.
His name is Egalaivan. As soon as Egalaivan sees
Dhuronachariyar, he prays him. Dhronachariyar asks him how
he learns that art. He replies that Dhuronachariyar is his
master. He explains all incidents clearly. At the end,
Dhuronachariyar asks his thump for his tuition fees. Egalaivan
cuts suddenly his thump and give to him. This play shows the
reality and existence of Dravidians. This epic portrays
Dhuronachariyar as arrogance man. He thinks that Dalit
people would not become as great archery in society. In
archery, Egalaivan is a great student than Arjuna.
In ancient period, Dravidans has prayed the God of
Lord Shiva. This is proved in the civilization of Mohanjadharo.
Shiva lives in the burial ground. He has twelve arms. He is
called as another name of Bhairava. Dravidian has built a big
temple to Shiva. Before coming Brahmin, Dravidian has been
praying the Lord Shiva. Not only he prays Shiva but also Kaali
who is a wife of Shiva. Dravidians never make any bad caste
system at all. Both Brahmins and Dravidians pray the same
god but Brahmins thought is slightly different from Dravidians.
This caste system helps to break up the great identity and
culture of Dravidians.
Shiva lives in the burial ground. He burns the human
body and smears ash on body. Not only he burns the body but
also recreates or purifies the soul to next generation. In the
dance of Shiva, Coommaraswamy explains three dances of
Lord Shiva. The first dance happens in kailashin evening. He
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dances with semi-gods. All the other gods gather round Him to
play the accomplishment to the performance. It is called as
Sada Tandavam. The second dance appears in the burial
ground in midnight. He dances with kaali and demon in night. It
is called as Gauri Tandavam. The last dance is called as
Anandha Thandavam. It happens in Chidambaram. Lord
Shiva’s behaviour is closely related with Dalit people activities.
His way of life compares with Dravidians. This is proved by the
dance of Shiva.
In fact, Dalit is symbolized of Lord Shiva. Dalit burns
the human body in the burial ground. He does the last
important death rituals of human. He lives besides the burial
ground. Lord Shiva does the same activity and so Lord Shiva
compares with Dalit. This society prides the worthy activity of
Dalit. He is symbolized as God in this world. This truthful
activity has been abducting by Varanasiramam is created by
Brahmin. Dalit is not a lower caste people. He is an incarnation
of Lord Shiva. This society must change their thought and
decision. They treat Dalit people as human being and not as
slavery.
Whoever participate the last ritual of death of human
being portrays as a great man said by MahathmaGandhiji.
Dalit does the last ritual of human being. Now he is called as
great man in society. His activity is superior then others. He is
only getting the great job of Lord Shiva. The other caste
people pray the Lord Shiva daily. They chant his name
reluctantly and sing his song everywhere. They believe that
Lord Shiva is a famous and favourite God of them but never
give correct self-respect to Dalit people. Both Lord Shiva and
Dalit do the same activity in the burial ground. The higher
caste people treat Dalit as slavery in this present time.
At the end of this part, Dravidan is symbolized of
Lord Shiva. As this society believes in divine activities, they
make the great epic of Mahabharadham and Ramayanam.
They believe much truly in God. Dalit is closely related with
Lord Shiva so he is another image of Lord Shiva.
Coommaraswamy should concentrate more attention this kind
of theme. He gives a clear explanation about Dalit whoever is
suppressed by the higher caste people are called as Dalit.
They use him as ornamental. If they want to do the last ritual,
they use eagerly him. As soon as they use him, they ignore
and avoid from the other activities.
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If the reader believes the norms and rules of
Brahmin, Dalit people never come under the caste division. He
is an incarnation of Lord Shiva in this world. Dalit is symbolized
of Lord Shiva. The reader remembers the activities of Lord
Shiva in the burial ground. Dalit does the same activity in the
same place. He is not a lower caste people. He bears as Lord
Shiva. If the readers believe in Lord Shiva, they must give
correct self-respect to Dalit people. They treat Dalit people as
human being. Coommaraswamy wishes to ruin the arrogance
of caste system and treat all people as human being.
This system paves to create another bad habit in
society. The Untouchability has appeared at that time. It splits
people as higher caste people and lower caste people. The
higher caste people would want to differentiate from others.
They suppress the lower class people. They ridicule about
poor man’s behavior, life style and resistance. In this present
time, these rude activities happen usually in school and job.
Some students never mingle with the lower class people at all.
They think that the lower class people do not study very well
and their food system is slightly different from others. They
even never touch upon any things of the lower class students.
Conclusion
If the lower class students do some mistakes, the
teacher will give the hard punishment. The teacher imprints
that the lower class students are only fit to be hard workers.
He concludes that students are not much interested to learn
education and everything. This society is ignored them by their
caste. By caste division, the lower caste people lose
everything in this world.
Works Cited
1. P.S. Ananda Satri.Commaraswamy, New Delhi:
Arnold Heinemann, 1974.
2. M. K. Naik, A History of Indian English Literature,
New Delhi: SahityaAkademi, 1982.
3. M. P. Pandit, Traditions in Mysticism, New Delhi:
Sterling Pub., 1987.
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