Chapter 6
Conclusion
6.1 Conclusion
An attempt is made here to highlight the insides received from this study of the
use of ironic vision in Markandayas novels by way of conclusion. The first section of the
conclusion recapitulates the observations made in the course of the present analysis
regarding the use of ironic vision in the novels of Kamala Markandaya. It will also
reiterate the definition of irony and elaborates different types of irony.
Kamala Markandaya is not only the earliest Indian woman novelist of
significance; in fact, William Walsh calls her "the most gifted" of them. But also one of
the most distinguished writers on the literary scene today. Meenakshi Mukharjee
considers Markandaya as one of the prominent novelists from the commonwealth
literary world. Her fiction elaborates socio-cultural relations of the two countries because
of her prolonged residence in India as first home and England the second, which
enabled her to bridge the gap. She is aware of her indianness and the differences
between acquired and inherited value system. In her works she deals with various
social problems.
Among her contemporary women writers she occupies an eminent place. Dr. A.
V. Krishna Rao considers Kamala Markandaya as the reflective writer who attempted to
bringforth the image of changing Indian society. As such, Markandaya merits special
mention both by virtue of the variety and complexity of her achievement. In her novels,
she not only displays flair for virtuosity that orders and patterns her feelings and ideas,
resulting in the production of a truly enjoyable work of art, but also more important, she
projects the national image on many levels of aesthetic awareness. The national
consciousness of variety of forms with feminine sensibility of modern woman is fully
reflected in her novels.
Markandaya operates within the framework of the traditional novelist. A strong
narrative pattern, respect for chronology, distinct story element, sociological background
and linear development of plot are the distinguishing elements of her novels. She has
used no innovative technique in the construction of her plots. In 'Nectar in a Sieve, The
Nowhere Man and Some Inner Fury, we observe a traditional pattern of plot. Her first
novel, 'Nectar in a Sieve' is well-structured though the structuring is done on a
conventional pattern. Structure of the novel is very definite as Rukmani's retrospection
impresses a kind of pattern on it. She recounts her past which, though dead, is still fresh
in her troubled memory. The novelist has tried to establish the coherence between the
opening and the end of the novel. Rukmani looks at her life after her husband's death.
Thus the novel begins with nostalgic recollection of her husband and then her entire
past rolls before her eyes. In other novels the novelist uses organic plot and we notice a
causal link between events and characters.
One of the distinguished writers, Nayantara Sahgal has good words of praise
for Markandaya’s art of portraying characters. She states “Kamala Markandaya
develops her characters very well, more so than men writers, I am not saying that
because I am a woman but her characters seem to be made of flesh and blood."
Though she does produce a variety of characters in her novels, she picks up her
characters from every class of society.
In ‘‘Nectar in a Sieve’’ Rukmani deals with the peasants' life while Possession
throws light on the aristocratic ways of rich people. In A Handful of Rice she observes
the character of a criminal like Damodar, In the Nowhere Man she highlights the ideal
character of Srinivas who believes in non-violence. Indeed, she does not choose any
.particular class for her characterization. She sympathizes with the poor on the one
hand but she does not ignore the problems of the rich on the other. The Golden
Honeycomb describes the problems of both the classes.
Thus she tries to draw her characters from every class of society. But one
thing is quite clear about her characterization. It is that her women characters are more
powerful than her male characters. Rukmani, Ira, Mira, Sarojini, Caroline, Jaya, Nalini,
and Saroja are some of the immortal women characters in Indo-English fiction. Shashi
Iyer points out in this connection, "The women novelists have made a definite
contribution in their intuitive and clear perception of woman's role in the present society.
lhabwala gives a penetrating analysis of domestic fiction.
Kamala Markandaya in her A Silence of Desire presents a subtle study of the
husband-wife relationship. Her most recent novel, Two Virgins (1973) sensitive portrayal
of a girl's growing awareness of the adult and the irrevocable loss of childhood world.
As literature is the mirror of life irony plays a very important role in it. Irony has
become a strong medium to create tragic effect. Kamala Markandaya, like the Greek
tragedians, puts the responsibility of man's misery on 'fate' that will not allow mortals to
exercise free will successfully. Her characters are the victims of the irony of life; of 'fate '
what happens to them is quite contrary to their wishes and expectations. Since their
happenings are not desired and unexpected they face sorrow and sufferings.
The lives of Rukmani and Nathan become a tale of unexpected problems and
undesirable situations. Both of them are good at hearts; yet have to face the irony of
fate. They seem to become, plaything in the hands of cruel destiny. Rukmini, whose
father was rich man, thinks that she would be married like her three sisters. However
she is forced to marry a poor tenant farmer, Nathan. After the marriage, both Rukmani
and Nathan lead a peaceful married life though they are poor. Rukmani gives birth to a
daughter, Irawady, while Nathan expects a son. After the birth of Ira, Rukmini gives birth
to Arjun, Thambi, Murugan Raja, Selvam and Kutti Rukmini faces a number of
difficulties in feeding her children.
This shows how nature has pivotal part in peasants’ life. Nathan and Rukmani
are usually crushed by the natural happenings. Sometimes it is heavy rain that ruins
their fate and another time draught becomes the case of their decline. After the
marriage of Ira it rains so hard that everywhere there is water. Both of them lose their
peace of mind. Thus heavy rain ruins them completely. Next year farmers have to face
draught. Markandaya’s observation appears to be realistic and factual while expressing
views on Indians and the poverty in which they live.
The draught continues until the farmer’s conditions become more pathetic. One
day it rains but it is too late to support the farmers. Irawady's fate is the best example of
irony of fate. Since she is a barren lady, her husband rejects her and she comes back to
her parents. After some days there is a draught and all the peasants are bound to
starve. Ira loves her brother .so much that she sells her body at the hands of tannery
workers .in order to feed her younger brothers. Irony of fate reaches its heights when
that barren Ira becomes pregnant and gives birth to an albino child.
Nathan also becomes the instrument of irony of fate. He and his family face the
hard times caused by heavy rains or a severe draught, bony face starvation, live on
grass and will plant, sell their goods in order to pay off the dues of the landlords and
saves their lands.
They are happy at the prospect of a good crop, the unexpected again happens.
Their land is swallowed by the tannery. The landlord sells it to the tannery at a very
good price. The undesired constantly happens. Nathan & Rukmani go to the city to seek
shelter with their son. However, Murugan has already left the city. Tired and exhausted,
they seek shelter in a temple, their money & belonging are stolen during the night .It is
with the help of Puli and Birla. They reach the house of Murugan but find that he has
deserted his wife and children.
Destiny thus has played a joke on them. Once again they seek shelter in the
temple, live on charity like beggars for some time and then Rukamini tries to earn some
thing by letter-writing, and then take to stone-breaking. They get good wages, save little
from day to day, and continue to live and work in the hope that soon they would be able
to go back to their village. Rukmani buys some 'rice- cakes' a delicacy which they had
not tasted for long-and a dumdum cart for Puli and one for her grandson Sacrabani.
Again the unexpected and undesired has happened, Nathan dies, and all hopes are
shattered. Nathan and Rukmani are the tragic victims of the irony of life. Their life-story
illustrates that man is but a plaything in the hands of cruel destiny which takes pleasure
in inflicting pain and suffering on him.
The novelist shows how the Zamindar's system of rural India has created a kind
of social unrest in the lives of innocent peasant. In rural India the peasant is a sufferer in
many ways. He is buffeted by man and nature- Nature victimizes the peasant, through
flood one year or draught the next, but the result is famine, starvation and sometimes
death." The bitter truth is that the peasants have to face troublesome life full of
uncertainty and starvation. Heavy rain or draught can turn them into beggars, and even
when they have plenty of fields, they become helpless. "Nectar in a Sieve," in many
ways follows a conventional pattern in its tragic delineation of the effect of poverty
natural disaster and unwelcome modernization upon a peasant's family.
Similarly in A Handful of Rice the novelist presents the problem of beggars
surviving under the pressure of hunger and poverty. The characters have to leave their
native villages in search of food and they meet a tragic end. In Handful of Rice, Ravi
has to leave his house because he had to live with dire poverty. Novelist also presents a
realistic picture of the crowd of unemployed graduates through the eyes of Ravi. A
Handful of rice is the best example of inner conflict of a young person.
Thus Markandaya deals with the everyday problems of the rural community and
presents peasants as the truly human characteristics of self–delusion, pride, self
distortion, meanness and mind with optimism, endurance and magnanimity. The tension
between tradition and modernity that stands for industrialization is presented in her
works. Nectar in a sieve presents the drastic assault of Industrialization on the rural
society. While, A Handful of Rice is a fine portrayal of the problem of conscience, it is a
tragic commentary on the conflict between idea and fact.
6.2 Use of ironic vision in Markandayas Novels
Markandaya’s ironic vision underlines her recognition of the fact that world in its
essence is paradoxical and that an ambivalent attitude alone can grasp its contractor
totality. As regards Markandaya’s characters and the subtle growth suggested through
the realization of their folly of getting lost in the illusory world and finally returning to the
world of solid existence and normalcy.
Some of the prime concerns expressed in Markandaya’s novels are the poverty,
hunger, degradation and alienation. The use of ironic vision helps to question the mores
and norms of an existing, received traditions or beliefs and directs the readers to
explore the incongruity that lies in such established faith and beliefs. The garb of the
domesticity, the housewife image under which the active female mind is suppressed, is
an ironic instance of the double faced reality of women’s existence as is with
Rukmani,Irawady, vasantha and other dominant women characters portrayed in the
novels of Kamala Markandaya.
Kamala Markandaya has made the deft use of ironic vision to enrich the form and
content of the novels. Peasant’s life is full of hopes and aspirations but everything is in
vain just like drawing nectar in a sieve. Because irregular and uncertain rain ruin their
corps, an advancement of industry adds in their burden of life, Rukmani and her
husband have to migrate to a city where they are fleeced. Kennington, the kind-hearted
British doctor and social worker represent the better side of the west. Possession
concentrates on Indo-British personal relationship. The story of the clash between Lady
Caroline and Swami for the ‘possession’ of the soul of Valmiki, the rustic artist, who is
lured to England by her, but later returns to his mentor. Since the Swami is so obvious a
fake, the conflict is not even adequately realized in personal terms, let alone the
possibility of a larger symbolic dimension.
Silence of Desire presents the clash between the Western-oriented rationalism of
Dandekar, who wants his wife Sarijini to get herself operated for a tumour and the
traditional religious faith of Sarojini, which relies absolutely on the faith-healing of the
swami is adequately realized. It also leads to a larger conflict, exemplifying Hegelian
concept of two kinds of good pitted against each other- in this case, the domestic peace
of the partially privileged middle-class represented by Dandekar versus the interest of
the totality unprivileged poor who will starve if the Swami is driven away, as Dandekar
and others similarly situated wish.
A Handful of Rice presents the story of Ravi, an urban vagabond on whom lower
middle-class respectability is thrust, when he marries Nalini the daughter of a poor
tailor, is unconvincing because, while Nalini remains the typical, long-suffering Hindu
wife.
Markandaya portrays the different types of characters in her novels that
represent the realistic picture of traditional and modern society. The novelist has shown
the disadvantage of the mixed cultures and the style of living. Since an irony is very
convenient device to present different shades of human nature which are
overshadowed by contradictions. Markandaya has used different literary devices like
irony, hyperbole, and antithesis in order to bring out their hypocrisy and contradictions.
Markandaya's works reveal various social problems. In Nectar in a Sieve the
novelist's purpose is to depict rural problems. She points out how the heavy rain or the
drought affects the general life of farmers. She also throws light on pathetic condition of
the tenant farmers. Common problems like the problem of unemployment and the
problem of fallen women have been discussed by her in detail. In Nectar in a Sieve,
Nathan and Rukmani have to face a severe disgust with seven members in their family.
A Handful of Rice also reveals the evil effects of the large family. Apu is the
head of the family and since his family contains ten members, it is very difficult for him
to escape from debt. In Nectar in a Sieve and Possession the novelist describes the
pathetic condition of the fallen women. Ira in Nectar in a Sieve and Ellie in Possession
are bound to become prostitutes. Poverty forces them to this immoral path.
The novelist shows great sympathy with the fallen women of the society and
she concludes that these fallen women have only two ways: either to "to go the streets"
or to commit suicide. In many novels the novelist reveals the miseries brought by
unemployment to the young people. Ravi in A Handful of Rice, Val in Possession, Raja
Murugan and Amma in Nectar in a Sieve are victims of the devil of unemployment. The
state of abject poverty makes their life unbearable and they are ruined at the end of the
novels. In her later novels like The Coffer Dams, the Golden Honeycomb and Pleasure
City, she deals with "India's struggle against poverty, hunger, pestilence, traditionalism,
casteism, industrialization and the resulting controversy of Gandhian panacea versus
rapid industrialization".
Dr. Kai Nicholson points out "The Indo-Anglian novelist of the post-independence
era has laid great stress on the problems of the city. Except for Mrs. Markandaya, none
of the novelists mentioned has contributed anything towards the rural society and its
problems in novel form. In the depiction of the Mahanagar and the paddy fields
Markandaya's is by far the best experiment. In A Handful of Rice and Nectar in a Sieve
she has, with pointed clarity, portrayed life in its most gruesome and degrading form;
undoubtedly, her realism is purposeful and her intention is to awaken polite society to
the real problems".
A remarkable feature of Markandaya as a novelist is her mastery over English
language because of her Western upbringing and strong affiliations with England. We
observe her command over English language. Her impressive style has
brought
remarkable success to her as a novelist. To quote the Times Literary Supplement,
“Markandaya writes with a fresh and precise understanding our language which lends
her every day events a beauty and significance not easily forgotten." All her characters
speak a natural language. Unlike Anita Desai whose language becomes very difficult
when the plot comes to its climax, Mrs. Markandaya is aware of the language problem.
This is why the language of Kenny, an Englishman, differs from the other
characters in Nectar in a Sieve. The language in Nectar in a Sieve is characterized by
fluidity, smoothness and "the purity of running water."
Furthermore, her language
contains lilt, a richness of colour and texture which lends a poetic touch to her
description. She is so much aware of her style that she makes her novels free from the
native raciness and Indianism.
She does not follow the practice of Raja Rao, R. K. Narayan and Mulk Raj
Anand in localising and indianising the English language.
In this respect she may be
compared to Shanta Rama Rao and Manohar Malgaonkar. Many times she does not
name the location of the action. For example, in Nectar in a Sieve and A Handful of Rice
she does not name the villages. Meenakshi Mukerjee praises this part of vagueness in
her novels and points out, "But Kamala Markandaya consciously avoids naming the
location. It is the city and the town and the characters are vague enough not to give
away any geographical clue. This, vagueness fits in with her general refusal to face life
directly." Her novels are free from the literal translation and Indian swear-words such as
one finds in great abundance in the novels of Mulk Raj Anand.
Kamala Markandaya occupies an important position among the Indo-Anglian
novelists. Most of her narrators are sensitive, sensible and intelligent women. Like
Shakespearean comedies, her novels reveal a world of women. Indeed, she has
fictionalized the sociology of India through typical situations. In order to fulfill this
purpose she draws her characters from various walks of life. Indeed, she is one of the
best Indo-Anglian novelists. Dr. Rao states in this regard, "Markandaya's contribution to
the Indo-Anglian fiction lies essentially in her capacity to explore these vital, formative
areas of individual consciousness that project the image of cultural change and in her
uncanny gift of inhabiting the shifting landscapes of an outer reality with human beings
whose sensibility becomes a sensitive measure of the inner reality as it responds to the
stimulus of change."
Markandaya's novels of country life serve as a mirror to rural India. In Nectar in a
Sieve, she has presented realistic pictures of rural life. The subtitle of the novel, A Novel
of Rural India gives a clue to her predominant preoccupation in the novel. Just as
Thomas Hardy brings the poetry of the Wessex landscape in his novels, so also Kamala
Markandaya brings out the poetry of the locale in which her novels are set.
The novelist presents natural aspects of rural India in her description of ripening
mangoes, and setting of flocks of parrots in the trees. Sugarcane grows "as tall as a
man, on either side of the road. When the wind blew the canes clashed like the rattling
of sabres in a cinema saga." The paddy bird stalks among paddy fields, with legs as if
made of palest coral. Silk tassels of green and umber, and clustering coconut groves in
the shade of the palms" are well portrayed. Rural characters like Rukmani in Nectar in a
Sieve, Saroja in Two Virgin's, and Bashim in The Coffer Dams are "content with natural
things like hills and woods and a water pump or two." "The Mangroves" clumped in the
middle of a small artificial lake whose banks are fringed with reeds," give peace to
Manjula and Ravi who like to take food "in a meadow beside a stream that manages to
bubble with a modicum of water."
There is an intimate presentation of rural Indian manners, customs and
superstitions in the novels of Kamala Markandaya. It is characterised by tragic pathos
and vivid realism. It is mainly concerned with the dowry problem, early marriage, death
scenes and other scenes which we often come across in the rural society. Like Thomas
Hardy's Wessex, her rural world is too remarkable for its manners, customs and
superstitions. Markandaya's mode of presentation "is the mode of documentation. In
this way, life in the rural areas has been picturised in its most degrading form."
The novelist shows that the Zamindari system of rural India had created a great
havoc in the lives of innocent peasants. When the crops fail, Nathan, in order to pay his
dues for the land, has to sell "a few mud pots and two brass vessels, the tin trunk
(Rukmani) had brought with me as a bride, the shirts my eldest sons had left behind,
two bullocks and a handful of dried chillies left over from better times." "Peasant Ram
Singh in the Golden Honeycomb, a victim of Zamindari system, who cannot afford even
his daily necessities, is burdened with the double salt tax. He begins to cry in a state of
helplessness.
"There is new levy on us. The salt tax is doubled. In God's name I stand here and
I tell you it is not a just measure." Ram Singh represents the poor peasants of rural
India, who suffer from this cruel and oppressive Zamindari system. He has to "restore
the grit to green the peaceful scenes—failed harvest, creeping rot, ruinous taxes,
famished, crying children before he could renew himself, before he could resume
training for the arduous campaign they were developing.
Similarly, Markandaya had depicted other customs of peasants. As soon as the
rains are over, and the cracks are healing and the land is moist and ready, the peasants
take their "seed to our goddess and place it at her feet to receive her blessings and then
we bear it away and make our sowing." A similar custom is followed at the time of
harvesting, "and the peasants go to offer prayers, bearing camphor and Kumkum,
paddy and oil."
In rural India it is customary to have a ceremony on the tenth day from the birth
of a child. Friends and neighbours come "bringing sugarcane and frosted sugar and
sticks of stripped candy for the new baby".
The novelist's observation of rural setting and manners is very keen and
perceptive, and shows her hold over rural setting. Amma in Two Virgins carries
"coconut, betel leaves and laddus, all consecrated food" to worship. Rural folk are well
familiar with the places where they go because according to the rural manners.
The widows in rural India are capable of suffering because the customs,
imposed upon them, are very cruel, yet they adjust themselves with their circumstances.
Aunt Alemelu, a widow in Two Virgins never tries to cross Appa who is younger to her.
She does not enjoy any social prestige, as Saroja, the narrator, says, "You did not have
status, if you hadn't a husband." In rural India the peasant is sufferer in many ways. He
is buffeted both by man and nature.Nature victimizes the peasant, through floods one
year, or drought the next, but the net result is famine, starvation and sometimes death.
This is the reality of their existence. Sometimes heavy rain, or sometimes
drought can make them beggars, and even when they have plenty of fields, they
become helpless. They "live by our labours from one harvest to the next, there is no
certain telling whether we shall be able to feed ourselves and our children, and if bad
times are prolonged, we know we must see the weak surrender their lives and this fact,
too is within our experience. In our lives there is no margin for misfortune."
The novelist presents the impact of nature upon rural India. Nathan and Rukmani
in Nectar in a Sieve face long and terrific rains, and the result is that they are put to a
great loss.
"At first the children were cheerful enough—they had not known such things
before and the lakes and rivulets that formed outside gave them less delight, but Nathan
and I watched with heavy hearts while the waters rose and rose and the tender green of
the paddy field was lost."
Thus Markandaya's novels vividly record the poverty-stricken, heart-breaking
existence of the people of rural areas. She deals with the everyday problems of the rural
community. Her depiction of these rural folk is not partial. She rather "creates peasants
who betray the truly human characteristics of self-delusion, pride, and self-destruction,
meanness, mixed with optimism, endurance and magnanimity." Like D. H. Lawrence in
whose novels, Sons and Lovers and Rainbow the hard lives of the farmers are marred
by the coal blackened colliers, and like William Morris who condemns industrialization
for it destroys the harmony of countryside.
Kamala Markandaya has also presented the evil effects of industrialization upon
rural beings. The tension between tradition, that symbolizes the rural life, and
modernity, that stands for industrialization is presented in her works and the novelist’s
bias is towards tradition. She reveals the age old tradition of India undergoing the
modern changes exercized by the western civilization. Nectar in a Sieve presents the
devastating assault of industrialization on the rural society. Through Rukmani, the narra-
tor, the novelist describes the ill effects of industrialization upon the placid rhythm and
calm beauty of a village which is symbolic of rural India. The disasters that fall upon the
peasants "are the result of the combined impersonal forces of nature and
industrialization."
Margaret P. Joseph rightly pointed out; "The advent of tannery creates
sordidness, loss of traditional values and social degradation. It brings vices, social filth
and moral debasement in its wake. Thus the village is violated in the name of progress
by the building of a tannery, owned by an Englishman and its busy industrialism smears
the peaceful countryside with its soiled hand."
Industrialization not only mars the natural beauty of the country side, but it also
creates various problems like alien population, prostitution, labour unrest, dearness, and
increase in diseases. In Nectar in a Sieve the tannery owners "invaded village with
clatter and din and had taken from us the maidan where our children played, arid had
made the bazar prices too high for us". In the same novel Ira takes to prostitution
though it is the starvation that leads her to do so. Even then, if the tannery had not been
established, she might have been saved from the degradation, but the tannery
"changed the face of our village beyond recognition and altered the lives of its
inhabitants......Ira had ruined herself at the hands of the throngs that the tannery
attracted." The villager ceases to think of any one "but schemes only for his money:"
Markandaya presents south Indian life both in its traditional, conservative, and
rural aspects, with convincing sincerity and fascinating power. It is perhaps due to her
great acquaintance with the rural scenes of South India.
In the pre-independence era Mulk Raj Anand presented the peasants' tale of woe
and hunger in the rural society. In the post-Independence period most of the IndoAnglian novelists like Nayantara Sahgal, Anita Desai and Bhabani Bhattacharya have
presented a penetrating and sympathetic analysis of the different problems of rural life.
But Kamala Markandaya with her capable representational realism and evocative
descriptions of Indian arcadia, she achieves perfect poise between the rural reality and
the disciplined urbanity of tragic delineation of the effect of poverty, natural disaster and
unwelcome modernization upon a peasant family, but Nectar in a Sieve has usually
potent qualities of stoic dignity and clear organization.
Kamata Markandaya shows little development in her art of plot construction, if
her first novel Nectar in a Sieve is compared with Two Virgins. The novelist is a born
story-teller. To present a sincere picture of life is the quality of a good novel. It is quite
obvious in the plots of the novel of Kamala Markandaya. Marjoris Boulion points out in
this connection, "A good novel is true in the sense thus it gives a sincere, well-observed,
enlightening picture of a porn human life." As Nayantara's greatest contribution to IndoAi fiction is the political novel, Mrs. Markandaya gives a true picture of rural India. An
additional qualification in her novels is that she produces marvelous stories.
The novelist seems to have a belief in the observation that story is the most
important ingredient of a novel. Edwin Muir in his famous book, The Structure of The
Novel, throws light upon this fact that "the most simple form of prose fiction is the story
which records a succession of events, generally marvellous." A novel may have a
simple or compound plot. A simple plot may have one story and a compound plot has
more than one story. Kamala Markandaya deals with one story in her plots. Though the
novels reveal some digressions, the novelist aims at one plot only.
Nectar in a Sieve has become the most remarkable novel of the novelist
because of its well-constructed plot. The plot of the novel reveals many events which
are developed in a systematic and chronological manner. The novel has been penned
with a definite purpose. The events of the novel are linked with one another in a proper
manner. Some Inner Fury has an interesting and an organic plot. The novel reveals the
tension sentimental love and that of patriotism. A Silence of Desire deals with the
psychological problems. It presents the psychological study of a man who is tossing
between tradition and modernity. The plot of the novel is well developed.
The novelist produces a new character in the novel, Swami who enjoys good
position in rural India. The novelist presents the fact that such type of Swami’s holds a
profound influence on the womenfolk of rural India. The novelist also reveals the clash
between religion and science, and in the end the latter defeats the former. Possession
is the story of the physical relations between an Indian rustic boy, Valmiki and a mature
lady Caroline. Caroline, a divorced lady thirty-two years old finds physical and emotional
satisfaction in her relationship with Valmiki, a boy of sixteen years.
The novelist also produces the character of Swami in this novel. But unlike the
Swami of A Silence of Desire Swami of Possession stands for good and he defeats
Caroline by abolishing her possession over Val. In this novel Markandaya depicts the
freedom struggle of India. Symbolically, Caroline stands for the British while Val
symbolises India. Swami who plays an important role in the freedom of Val is the image
of Gandhi. A Handful of Rice is the next novel in which the novelist deals with the urban
problems while The Coffer Dams aims at the problems of industrial India.
The Nowhere Man discusses the East-West conflict in an impressive manner.
The problems of immigration and racial problems are discussed seriously in the novel.
There is some similarity between the plot of The Nowhere Man and that of Some Inner
Fury because The Nowhere Man throws light on the brutality of the English while Some
Inner Fury deals with the brutality of Indians. Two Virgins has a simple and organic plot.
The novel discusses the experiences of sexual approach of young girls and the novelist
teaches the lesson of chastity to these girls. The story is narrated in a skilful manner.
The Golden Honeycomb reveals the freedom struggle of India. The novelist was closely
associated with aristocratic families of the country. Therefore in this novel she tells us
about the role of the aristocratic class in the freedom of the country. Her last novel
Pleasure City is a story not of empires but of its overspill; and more than that the
haunting story of the impact of progress on fishing colony, widening to take in a land
and its people.
The novelist does not present her novels loose in form. Though the structure of
her plot construction reveals conventional pattern, the chance of logical development
makes the plot more remarkable. For example, the novelist produces many events in
the novel but when she finds an event useless for the development of the plot, she does
not run after this event.
In the novel ‘Nectar in a Sieve’ Arjun and Thambi go to Ceylon. After their
departure the novelist does not pursue them and she comes to the main plot of the
novel. In the same way, A Handful of Rice deals with the urban problems. Ravi, the hero
of the novel faces many problems. Besides Ravi, there are many other characters that
are introduced by the novelist but the main plot is closely associated with the life of
Ravi. In Possession the novelist aims at the presentation of the story of 'Caroline, and
Valmiki. The narrator, Anu, narrates the story so beautifully that she never talks about
herself. She narrates only that event which is related to the main plot. Thus the novelist
has interwoven a well-structured plot in her novel.
Markandaya is one of the greatest story tellers in Indo-Anglian fiction. With the
first sentence she grips the attention of •the reader, and does not let it go till the very
end. Her scenery is always charming, dialogue, admirable, and incidents thrilling and
exciting. Two Virgins presents overabundance of wit and humour to delight and
entertain. Besides, her novels are free from the usual faults of fiction. Her novels are not
a mere string of adventures and experiences but have a well-marked theme and the
story of each novel moves forward smoothly.
Kamala Markandaya's plots grow out of plausible human situations. She learned
the art of narration. Her plots are concerned with the plain motives of human life. She
seldom presents absurd and fantastic events. For example, Nectar in a Sieve throws
light on the miseries of peasants. In A Handful of Rice the novelist gives a real picture of
poverty in Indian society. The events of both the novels are convincing. The pathetic
condition of Ravi and Rukmani is not exaggerated.
The novelist observes very well how the peasant's life depends on nature's
moods. If nature does not favour the peasants, they are crushed and for their miseries
they blame God. In A Handful of Rice Ravi, the hero of the novel is an unemployed
young man who becomes cruel to his wife because of the psychological impact of this
problem. In fact the novelist is a realist who observes social and psychological problems
in her novels.
Markandaya has presented well-knit plots in her novels. There are no loose
strands in them. The plots are organic because there are casual links between
characters and events. Her plots are extremely simple, definite and powerful. There are
no sudden dramatic developments of the unexpected type. Realism is the important part
of her novels. Through the skill of narration, she presents very enjoyable stories in her
novels. Her first novel Nectar in a Sieve, in many ways follows a conventional pattern in
its tragic delineation of the effects of poverty, natural disaster and unwelcome
modernization upon a peasant family, but it has usually potent qualities of static dignity
and clear organization.
Plot and character are the most important elements in a work of fiction. In fiction,
characterisation holds such an important position that practically all the serious novels
are novels of character. Mrs. Markandaya's characters reveal a tremendous variety. Her
novels contain both the English and the Anglo-Indian characters. Her characters are
realistic and convincing. The art of developing the character in Mrs. Markandaya is also
very remarkable.
Makandaya develops her characters beautifully. In Nectar in a Sieve the
development of characters, such as of Rukmani and Ira is made beautifully and in the
end we find a complete image of these rural women. The character of Ravi is also
developed in a proper manner. In the beginning of the novel, A Handful of Rice, Ravi is
introduced as a thief who is the victim of a guilty conscience. When he enters the house
of Apu by breaking the door, he seems to be a criminal. But later on, the readers come
to know about the sentimental nature of Ravi who is the hero of the novel. Despite many
shortcomings of his characters, he is able to draw the sympathy of the readers.
We observe him in a conflict of good and evil. At the end of the novel he joins the
crowd of evil doers. The character of Srinivas in The Nowhere Man also undergoes
several changes and developments. So is the case with Valmiki, of Possession. In the
beginning, Valmiki agrees to go with Caroline since he thinks that his skill of painting will
be developed in the company of Caroline. When he comes very close to Caroline; the
latter intends to possess the former physically and sentimentally. She established
sexual contacts with him.
The intention of possession of Caroline makes Val aware of the sense of his
existence and identification. He decides to leave her company. He comes in contact
with Ellie, a girl of his age. But Caroline creates very odd situations for Ellie who decides
to commit suicide. At the end of the novel, Val is supported by Swami who loosens the
grip of Caroline over Val. In Nectar in a Sieve character of Ira undergoes many
developments. Outwardly, she is a prostitute who exploits the menfolk but inwardly, she
is the greatest woman of all the characters of the novel since she feeds her brother by
the income of prostitution.
Like Shakespearean Comedies, in Markandaya's novels women characters are
more important than the male ones. She has perfect sympathy with her women
characters. The delineation of women characters in her novels is so much keen and
remarkable that many times the novelist conveys the message that for the miseries of
women, men are responsible. In Nectar in a Sieve, Rukmani is the narrator of the story.
She dominates the plot of the novel and she becomes the central character. She is an
important asset to her husband who is totally dependent on her.
All the important decisions are taken by her. She overpowers her husband
intellectually. So is the case of Ira, daughter of Rukmani. She is rejected by her
husband for no fault of hers. When she comes back to her house, she finds her brother
starving. She starts to go to the streets of the village. The profession of prostitution
helps her and saves her starving brother. In Some Inner Fury Mira is a more powerful
character than her lover, Richard A Silence of Desire deals with the mental agony of
Sarojini, wife of Dandekar.
Dandekar develops suspicion regarding the character of his wife who visits
Swami in order to get the cure of her ulcer. Though the arguments of Dandekar are
absolutely correct, the novelist draws the character of Sarojini in such a manner that we
are more impressed by Sarojini than by Dandekar. Two Virgins gives an interesting
study of the minds of two girls, Saroja and Lalitha. The latter is bound to become a lax
character since she desires to become a film actress and to fulfill her desire; she elopes
with a fraud, Gupta. The novelist makes her women characters the main characters of
the novels.
Markandaya's characters are realistic, and convincing. Like Anita Desai who
produces abnormality in her main characters, Mrs. Markandaya is in the presentation of
common characters. This is the reason why her charaters are vivid and life-like. Though
she picks up the people of aristocratic class, the number of middle class people
exceeds that of the rich class people'. Mrs. Markandaya belonged to rich class family,
yet she portrays peasants, servants, and laymen in a convincing manner.
Her first novel, Nectar in a Sieve became very popular only because of the
element of realism found in characterization. In the novel, the novelist's main purpose is
to deal with the miseries of peasants. Nathan is a tenant farmer who is married to
Rukmani. After this, the novelist develops the character of Rukmani and Nathan in a
manner that they become life like and they begin to represent the peasants of India. Ira,
daughter of Nathan is rejected by her husband since she is unable to conceive. Through
the character of Ira the novelist brings out the problems of barren ladies in Indian
society. Ira is one of those young ladies who are forced by the norms of society to adopt
the immoral ways of life.
In A Handful of Rice the novelist throws light on the urban problems. Ravi, a
young man of sentimental nature leaves his village for the city with the hope of
becoming prosperous in the city. But the city gives him nothing and he is completely
ruined. The poverty snatches his son from him. He finds himself helpless and decides to
adopt the evil ways of life. Ravi does not show any abnormality like Mohini of Anita
Desai. Though he beats his wife when he is in a state of intoxication, his act of taking
wine is the outcome of the failure in his life. In other words, his defeat in life leads him
towards disappointment and his behaviour changes. The novelist conveys a strong
message that failure of life modifies the general behaviour of the common people.
Kamala Markandaya does not present her characters with their outwardly
existence. But the fact is that she intends to produce her characters with their inner
conflicts. 'The Nowhere Man' deals with psychological conflicts of Srinivas who seeks
his identification in India and later on, in England. He is torn between his past and his
present. In Two Virgins Saroja observes the tragedy of her elder sister Lalitha who is
the victim of her insatiable ambitions. The novelist presents the psychology of Saroja in
a proper manner. Ravi in A Handful of Rice is always shattered by the difference
between good and evil.
Valmiki in Possession desires to leave the company of Caroline. All these
characters are simple but their psychological approach makes them complex.
Markandaya is interested in the depiction of those characters who are driven and
crushed psychologically. Markandaya's characters belong to every class of society. She
takes characters from the poor class ; on the one hand, she is adept in the delineation
of the people of rich class on the other. But one thing is quite sure about her, that she
delineates her women characters more beautifully than the male characters.
Rukmani, Jaya, Ira, Caroline and Mira are some of the immortal women
characters of Indo-Anglian fiction. It does not mean that her male characters are inferior
to the women characters of contemporary novelists. Nathan, Ravi, Srinivas and Valmiki
leave an unceasing impression upon the readers. They possess all the qualities of
heroes. She tries her best to maintain a balance between the mind and the milieu of her
characters. She is successful in plumbing the psychological depths of her heroines. A
critic points out in this connection, "The characters of her novels include peasants
enmeshed in the struggle for existence between their dried-out agricultural land and the
nightmare of urban poverty as well as Indian and English men and women and their
mutual and troubled involvements both in a pre- and post independence setting."
The themes of most of the novels of Mrs. Markandaya are based on love and
sex.
She has been criticized for the outspoken language used for the description of
sex, but the fact is that she neither ignores sex nor overemphasizes it. Being a realistic
novelist, she cannot let sex out of her social picture. The novelist does not believe that
"love can ever flare up suddenly like a miracle between two people who know nothing
about each other. Love is something that may spring up between a man and woman
who have been brought together by desire of sexual attraction. She does not measure
sex from the social viewpoint. Fairly she sees it "as essential in determining the
relationship between a man and woman as food is to life."
Markandaya does not idealise her characters. They are life-like beings to whom
sex is very common. In this respect she follows the belief "to conceive of grown-up
people is to conceive of the shining reciprocal fact, sex, without which adults are still
children."
Like Fielding, Mrs. Markandaya presents sex as one of the major weaknesses of
her main characters. In Nectar in a Sieve Nathan establishes sexual contact with
Kunthi, a rustic lady. Ravi in A Handful of Rice finding his mother-in-law alone, rapes
her. He forgets all morality when "he held her and his excitement grew with her
movements, her arms and breasts were soft and pulpy under his hands". Caroline in
Possession is thirty-two years of age, but she indulges in sex with Val, a seventeenyear old boy who was brought up by her when he was only ten years of age.
Valmiki, too, is interested in the painting of "a nude Caroline lying in a pleasurable swoon on a sandy beach in the sun.”Caroline's white arms encircle him as if he were
hers" gives her moral judgments as to how "this is just how she had held him long ago
when he was a boy and she established her claim to him as plainly as if flag in hand she
were registering property rights." Besides, "there were other reassuring props, the
disparity in their age, the differences of race, over all their long association and close
peculiar relationship which would bring an unpleasant whim of incest to a carnal union
between them."
Like Tom Jones, Val tries to enjoy different tastes in sex. He falls in love with
Ellie, the maid servant, and after some time, she becomes pregnant by him. Later on,
he gets his abode in the arms of Annabelle an eighteen-year old girl. Val and Annabelle
are "closely locked from mouth to leg to joints until the firm white legs flared away from
under him. Both were naked and their bodies moved as if they were a unity, with a
beautifully articulated urgent rhythm." Bashiam in The Coffer Dams has the same type
of contact with Helen, the wife of Clinton. He takes her "on the string bed, moving the
quickening beats, until he felt it drive through him and heard her shuddering cries, which
were more abandoned than his own"
In The Nowhere Man Srinivas falls in love with Mrs. Pickering, a divorced lady.
He makes sexual contacts with her who "had thickened and aged and could not, she
accepted, be expected now to please any man." In Two Virgins Mr. Gupta and Lalitha
associate sexually to the extent that Lalitha becomes pregnant, and the doctors sucked
him out, said Lalitha, bit by bit. Through Saroja, the novelist judges the episode morally,
and conveys her message, "It is a sin to bring an unwanted child in this world. It is sin to
cause suffering to an unborn child”
Markandaya has the problem of the unmarried mother with a touch of
sympathetic understanding. Like Mrs. Gaskell who advocates more sympathy and
honour for an unmarried mother on the part of the society, in her novel Ruth, she pleads
for such a woman. She thinks that an unmarried mother should be given social respect
even without marriage. The illegitimate child should not continue to be a matter of
shame for her. A lady who is pregnant by someone before marriage, has only two
choices—death or prostitution.
Ira in Nectar in a Sieve after being rejected by her husband because she is
childless, "flouts the moral code and disobeys her mother" by taking to prostitution to
save her family from starvation and poverty. This corrupt step brings forth an albino and
unwanted child begotten in the street of an unknown man in a moment of easy desire."
Ira does not take this as a mark of shame with her child. She is "happy as a bird with
her son, singing to him, playing with him, clucking and chuckling as if he were the most
beautiful boy any woman could have." But, in the eyes of the society, "a child conceived
in an encounter fares no worse than a child born in wedlock---having no future."
Markandaya rebels against voice of prostitution. She presents the world of
prostitutes, analyzing the reasons that lead them to adopt such ill-reputed profession.
The evil of prostitution is not the inborn flaw in a lady. But she is compelled to have it,
either by the social injustice in the form of starvation, or by her sexual desire. In spite of
their fully surrendering to the man who provides only a few coins to them, the prostitutes
are dealt with roughly.
Markandaya's depiction of love emotion in her characters is not as strong and
deep as that of Thomas Hardy. Unlike Tess who ruins herself, after her separation from
Angel Clare, Mrs. Markandaya's lovers and beloveds can forget each other and go in
the arms of another. Ellie's attempt to commit suicide in Possession is the outcome of
the fear of her shame, dishonour, and ignominy as she becomes pregnant by Val. Her
separation from Val has got nothing to do with it. He too, is not much affected by it, and
does not hesitate in falling in love with Annabelle.
In Some Inner Fury for Richard and Mira, the considerations of Your People and
My People take precedence over their love. If their love had been as deep as that of
Tess and Angel Clare, any of them would have lost their identity to achieve its
fulfillment. But when they separate, their love seems to be based not on a sincere
emotion but on a compromise that is violated in itself, "for she is an Indian, and
therefore automatically on the side of the nationalists while he is of the ruling nation."
In The Nowhere Man Srinivas is unable to respond to the love feeling of Mrs.
Pickering as he always lives in his past Mrs. Pickering, after his death, neither becomes
mad like Ophelia in Hamlet, nor does she shed tears, because the emotional harmony
between the two was not total.
Markandaya's works reveal various social problems. In Nectar in a Sieve the
novelist's purpose is to depict rural problems. She points out how the heavy rain or the
drought affects the general life of farmers. She also throws light on pathetic condition of
the tenant farmers. Common problems like the problem of unemployment and the
problem of fallen women have been discussed by her in detail. In Nectar in a Sieve,
Nathan and Rukmani have to face a severe disgust with seven members in their family.
A Handful of Rice also reveals the evil effects of the large family. Apu is the head
of the family and since his family contains ten members, it is very difficult for him to
escape from debt. In Nectar in a Sieve and Possession the novelist describes the
pathetic condition of the fallen women. Ira in Nectar in a Sieve and Ellie in Possession
are bound to become prostitutes. Poverty forces them to this immoral path.
The novelist shows great sympathy with the fallen women of the society and she
concludes that these fallen women have only two ways: either to "to go the streets" or to
commit suicide. In many novels the novelist reveals the miseries brought by
unemployment to the young people. Ravi in A Handful of Rice, Val in Possession, Raja
Murugan and Amma in Nectar in a Sieve are victims of the devil of unemployment. The
state of abject poverty makes their life unbearable and they are ruined at the end of the
novels. In her later novels like The Coffer Dams, the Golden Honeycomb and Pleasure
City, she deals with "India's struggle against poverty, hunger, pestilence, traditionalism,
casteism, industrialisation and the resulting controversy of Gandhian panacea versus
rapid industriliasation".
The writers of the post independence era have emphatically highlighted the
problems of urbanization. Markandaya has contributed towards the rural society and its
problems in novel form. In the depiction of the Mahanagar and the paddy fields
Markandaya's is by far the best experiment. In A Handful of Rice and Nectar in a Sieve
she has, with pointed clarity, portrayed life in its most gruesome and degrading form;
undoubtedly, her realism is purposeful for attracting the attention of the sophishticated
society towards the genuine problems.
A remarkable feature of Markandaya as a novelist is her mastery over English
language because of her Western upbringing and strong affiliations with England. We
observe her command over English language. Her impressive style has
brought
remarkable success to her as a novelist. To quote the Times Literary Supplement,
“Markandaya writes with a fresh and precise understanding our language which lends
her every day events a beauty and significance not easily forgotten." All her characters
speak a natural language. Unlike Anita Desai whose language becomes very difficult
when the plot comes to its climax, Mrs. Markandaya is aware of the language problem.
This is why the language of Kenny, an Englishman, differs from the other characters in
Nectar in a Sieve. The language in Nectar in a Sieve is characterized by fluidity,
smoothness and "the purity of running water."
Furthermore, her language contains lilt, a richness of colour and texture which
lends a poetic touch to her description. She is so much aware of her style that she
makes her novels free from the native raciness and Indianism. She does not follow the
practice of Raja Rao, R. K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand in localising and indianising
the English language. In this respect she may be compared to Shanta Rama Rao and
Manohar Malgaonkar. Many times she does not name the location of the action. She
does not name the villages.
Meenakshi Mukerjee praises this part of vagueness in her novels and points out
that but Kamala Markandaya consciously avoids naming the location. It is the city and
the town and the characters are vague enough not to give away any geographical clue.
This, vagueness fits in with her general refusal to face life directly. Her novels are free
from the literal translation and Indian swear-words such as one finds in great
abundance in the novels of Mulk Raj Anand.
Kamala Markandaya occupies an important position among the Indo-Anglian
novelists. Most of her narrators are sensitive, sensible and intelligent women. Like
Shakespearean comedies, her novels reveal a world of women. Dr. A. V. Krishna Rao
points out that Markandaya has played leading role in presenting the socio-cultural
changes as the stimulous of inner and outer reality.
Indeed, she has fictionalized the sociology of India through typical situations. In
order to fulfill this purpose she draws her characters from various walks of life. Indeed,
she is one of the best Indo-Anglian novelists who have clear understanding of life in
rural India and urban centers as well.She differs from other writers of her time in many
ways.She gives vent to personal consciousness presenting the picture of social and
cultural changes in eastern and western societies.
Markandaya’s feminine sensibility helps to express inner reality of her
protagonists as the response to socio-political and economic changes. Her novels of
country life serve as a mirror to rural India. In Nectar in a Sieve, she has presented
realistic pictures of rural life. The subtitle of the novel, A Novel of Rural India gives a
clue to her predominant preoccupation in the novel. Just as Thomas Hardy brings the
poetry of the Wessex landscape in his novels, so also Kamala Markandaya brings out
the poetry of the locale in which her novels are set.
The novelist presents natural aspects of rural India in her description of ripening
mangoes, and setting of flocks of parrots in the trees. Sugarcane grows "as tall as a
man, on either side of the road. When the wind blew the canes clashed like the rattling
of sabers in a cinema saga." The paddy bird stalks among paddy fields, with legs as if
made of palest coral. Silk tassels of green and umber, and clustering coconut groves in
the shade of the palms" are well portrayed. Rural characters like Rukmani in Nectar in a
Sieve, Saroja in Two Virgin's, and Bashim in The Coffer Dams are "content with natural
things like hills and woods and a water pump or two." "The Mangroves" clumped in the
middle of a small artificial lake whose banks are fringed with reeds," give peace to
Manjula and Ravi who like to take food "in a meadow beside a stream that manages to
bubble with a modicum of water."
There is an intimate presentation of rural Indian manners, customs and
superstitions in the novels of Kamala Markandaya. It is characterized by tragic pathos
and vivid realism. It is mainly concerned with the dowry problem, early marriage, death
scenes and other scenes which we often come across in the rural society. Like Thomas
Hardy's Wessex, her rural world is too remarkable for its manners, customs and
superstitions. Markandaya's mode of presentation "is the mode of documentation. In
this way, life in the rural areas has been picturized in its most degrading form."
The novelist shows that the Zamindari system of rural India had created a great
havoc in the lives of innocent peasants. When the crops fail, Nathan, in order to pay his
dues for the land, has to sell "a few mud pots and two brass vessels, the tin trunk
(Rukmani) had brought with me as a bride, the shirts my eldest sons had left behind,
two bullocks and a handful of dried chillies left over from better times."
Peasant Ram Singh in the Golden Honeycomb, a victim of Zamindari system,
who cannot afford even his daily necessities, is burdened with the double salt tax. He
begins to cry in a state of helplessness. "There is new levy on us. The salt tax is
doubled. In God's name I stand here and I tell you it is not a just measure." Ram Singh
represents the poor peasants of rural India, who suffer from this cruel and oppressive
Zamindari system. He has to "restore the grit to green the peaceful scenes—failed
harvest, creeping rot, ruinous taxes, famished, crying children before he could renew
himself, before he could resume training for the arduous campaign they were
developing.
Similarly, Markandaya had depicted other customs of peasants. As soon as the
rains are over, and the cracks are healing and the land is moist and ready, the peasants
take their seed to their goddess and place it at her feet to receive her blessings and
then they bear it away and make sowing. A similar custom is followed at the time of
harvesting, and the peasants go to offer prayers, bearing camphor and Kumkum, paddy
and oil.
In rural India it is customary to have a ceremony on the tenth day from the birth
of a child. Friends and neighbours come together bringing sugarcane and frosted sugar
and sticks of stripped candy for the new baby.
The novelist's observation of rural setting and manners is very keen and
perceptive, and shows her hold over rural setting. Amma in Two Virgins carries coconut,
betel leaves and laddus, all consecrated food to worship. Rural folk are well familiar with
the places where they go because according to the rural manners, even the wells, the
fields, each had its name; the well beside the water meadow, the well in the field next to
the mill.
The widows in rural India are capable of suffering because the customs, imposed
upon them, are very cruel, yet they adjust themselves with their circumstances. Aunt
Alemelu, a widow in Two Virgins never tries to cross Appa who is younger to her. She
does not enjoy any social prestige, as Saroja, the narrator, says, "You did not have
status, if you hadn't a husband." In rural India the peasant is sufferer in many ways. He
is buffeted both by man and nature. Nature "victimizes the peasant, through floods one
year, or drought the next, but the net result is famine, starvation and sometimes death."
To peasant, there always comes a time of hardship, of fear and of hunger. This
is the reality of their existence. Sometimes heavy rain, or sometimes drought can make
them beggars, and even when they have plenty of fields, they become helpless. They
have to survive in uncertain conditions. They are not sure if they would be able to
safeguard their children from starvation as the adverse conditions prolonged they have
to surrender their lives.
The novelist presents the impact of nature upon rural India. Nathan and
Rukmani in Nectar in a Sieve face long and terrific rains, and the result is that they are
put to a great loss."At first the children were cheerful enough—they had not known such
things before and the lakes and rivulets that formed outside gave them less delight, but
Nathan and I watched with heavy hearts while the waters rose and rose and the tender
green of the paddy field was lost."
Thus Markandaya's novels vividly record the poverty-stricken, heart-breaking
existence of the people of rural areas. She deals with the everyday problems of the rural
community. Her depiction of these rural folk is not partial. She rather "creates peasants
who betray the truly human characteristics of self-delusion, pride, and self-destruction,
meanness, mixed with optimism, endurance and magnanimity."
Like D. H. Lawrence in whose novels, Sons and Lovers and Rainbow the hard
lives of the farmers are marred by the coal blackened colliers, and like William Morris
who condemns industrialization for it destroys the harmony of countryside, Kamala
Markandaya has also presented the evil effects of industrialization upon rural beings.
The tension between tradition, that symbolizes the rural life, and modernity, that
stands for industrialization is presented in her works and the novelist’s bias is towards
tradition; she tries to assimilate tradtion and modernity in convincing manner that
reveals the variety of modern ideas influencing age old tradions. Nectar in a Sieve
presents the devastating assault of industrialization on the rural society.
Through Rukmani, the narrator, the novelist describes the ill effects of
industrialization upon the placid rhythm and calm beauty of a village which is symbolic
of rural India. The disasters that fall upon the peasants "are the result of the combined
impersonal forces of nature and industrialization."
Margaret P. Joseph rightly pointed out; "The advent of tannery creates
sordidness, loss of traditional values and social degradation. It brings vices, social filth
and moral debasement in its wake. Thus the village is violated in the name of progress
by the building of a tannery, owned by an Englishman and its busy industrialism smears
the peaceful countryside with its soiled hand."
Industrialization not only mars the natural beauty of the country side, but it also
creates various problems like alien population, prostitution, labour unrest, dearness, and
increase in diseases. In Nectar in a Sieve the tannery owners "invaded village with
clatter and din and had taken from us the maidan where our children played, arid had
made the bazar prices too high for us". In the same novel Ira takes to prostitution
though it is the starvation that leads her to do so. Even then, if the tannery had not been
established, she might have been saved from the degradation, but the tannery
"changed the face of our village beyond recognition and altered the lives of its
inhabitants......Ira had ruined herself at the hands of the throngs that the tannery
attracted." The villager ceases to think of any one "but schemes only for his money:"
Markandaya presents south Indian life both in its traditional, conservative, and
rural aspects, with convincing sincerity and fascinating power. It is perhaps due to her
great acquaintance with the rural scenes of South India.
In the pre-independence era Mulk Raj Anand presented the peasants' tale of woe
and hunger in the rural society. After independence a great number of Indian writers
writing in English like Anita Desai and Bhabani Bhattacharya have presented a
penetrating and sympathetic analysis of the different problems of rural life. But Kamala
Markandaya with her capable representational realism and evocative descriptions of
Indian arcadia, she achieves perfect poise between the rural reality and the disciplined
urbanity of tragic delineation of the effect of poverty, natural disaster and unwelcome
modernization upon a peasant family, but Nectar in a Sieve has usually potent qualities
of stoic dignity and clear organization.
Kamata Markandaya shows little development in her art of plot construction, if
her first novel Nectar in a Sieve is compared with Two Virgins. The novelist is a born
story-teller. To present a sincere picture of life is the quality of a good novel. It is quite
obvious in the plots of the novel of Kamala Markandaya. Marjoris Boulion points out in
this connection, "A good novel is true in the sense that it gives a sincere, well-observed,
enlightening picture of a porn human life."
As Nayantara's greatest contribution to
Indo-Ai fiction is the political novel, Mrs. Markandaya gives a true picture of rural India.
An additional qualification in her novels is that she produces marvelous stories.
The novelist seems to have a belief in the observation that story is the most
important ingredient of a novel. Edwin Muir in his famous book, The Structure of the
Novel, throws light upon this fact that "the simplest form of prose fiction is the story
which records a succession of events, generally marvelous." A novel may have a simple
or compound plot. A simple plot may have one story and a compound plot has more
than one story. Kamala Markandaya deals with one story in her plots. Though Nectar in
a Sieve, A Handful of Rice and The Nowhere Man reveal some digressions, the novelist
aims at one plot only.
Nectar in a Sieve has become the most remarkable novel of the novelist because
of its well-constructed plot. The plot of the novel reveals many events which are
developed in a systematic and chronological manner. The novel has been penned with
a d -finite purpose. The events of the novel are linked with one another in a proper
manner. Some Inner Fury has an interesting and an organic plot. The novel deals with
the conflict between the sentiment of love and that of patriotism. A Silence of Desire
deals with the psychological problems. It presents the psychological study of a man who
is tossing between tradition and modernity. The plot of the novel is well developed.
The novelist produces a new character in the novel, Swami who enjoys good
position in rural India. The novelist presents the fact that such type of Swami’s holds a
profound influence on the womenfolk of rural India. The novelist also reveals the clash
between religion and science, and in the end the latter defeats the former. Possession
is the story of the physical relations between an Indian rustic boy, Valmiki and a mature
lady Caroline. Caroline, a divorced lady thirty-two years old finds physical and emotional
satisfaction in her relationship with Valmiki, a boy of sixteen years. The novelist also
produces the character of Swami in this novel.
But unlike the Swami of A Silence of Desire Swami of Possession stands for
good and he defeats Caroline by abolishing her possession over Val. In this novel
Markandaya depicts the freedom struggle of India. Symbolically, Caroline stands for the
British while Val symbolises India. Swami who plays an important role in the freedom of
Val is the image of Gandhi. A Handful of Rice is the next novel in which the novelist
deals with the urban problems while The Coffer Dams aims at the problems of industrial
India. The Nowhere Man discusses the East-West conflict in an impressive manner.
The problems of immigration and racial problems are discussed seriously in the
novel. There is some similarity between the plot of The Nowhere Man and that of Some
Inner Fury because The Nowhere Man throws light on the brutality of the English while
Some Inner Fury deals with the brutality of Indians. Two Virgins has a simple and
organic plot. The novel discusses the experiences of sexual approach of young girls
and the novelist teaches the lesson of chastity to these girls. The story is narrated in a
skilful manner. The Golden Honeycomb reveals the freedom struggle of India. The
novelist was closely associated with aristocratic families of the country. Therefore in this
novel she tells us about the role of the aristocratic class in the freedom of the country.
Her last novel Pleasure City is a story not of empires but of its overspill; and more than
that the haunting story of the impact of progress on fishing colony, widening to take in a
land and its people.
The novelist does not present her novels loose in form. Though the structure of
her plot construction reveals conventional pattern, the chance of logical development
makes the plot more remarkable. For example, the novelist produces many events in
the novel but when she finds an event useless for the development of the plot, she does
not run after this event. In ‘Nectar in a Sieve’ Arjun and Thambi go to Ceylon. After their
departure the novelist does not pursue them and she comes to the main plot of the
novel. In the same way,
A Handful of Rice deals with the urban problems. Ravi, the hero of the novel
faces many problems. Besides Ravi, there are many other characters that are
introduced by the novelist but the main plot is closely associated with the life of Ravi. In
Possession the novelist aims at the presentation of the story of 'Caroline, and Valmiki.
The narrator, Anu, narrates the story so beautifully that she never talks about herself.
She narrates only that event which is related to the main plot. Thus the novelist has
interwoven a well-structured plot in her novel.
Markandaya is one of the greatest story tellers in Indo-Anglian fiction. With the
first sentence she grips the attention of •the reader, and does not let it go till the very
end. Her scenery is always charming, dialogue, admirable, and incidents thrilling and
exciting. Two Virgins presents overabundance of wit and humour to delight and
entertain. Besides, her novels are free from the usual faults of fiction. Her novels are not
a mere string of adventures and experiences but have a well-marked theme and the
story of each novel moves forward smoothly.
Kamala Markandaya's plots grow out of plausible human situations. She learned
the art of narration. Her plots are concerned with the plain motives of human life. She
seldom presents absurd and fantastic events. For example, Nectar in a Sieve throws
light on the miseries of peasants. In A Handful of Rice the novelist gives a real picture of
poverty in Indian society. The events of both the novels are convincing. The pathetic
condition of Ravi and Rukmani is not exaggerated. The novelist observes very well how
the peasant's life depends on nature's moods. If nature does not favour the peasants,
they are crushed and for their miseries they blame God. In A Handful of Rice Ravi, the
hero of the novel is an unemployed young man who becomes cruel to his wife because
of the psychological impact of this problem. In fact the novelist is a realist who observes
social and psychological problems in her novels.
Markandaya has presented well-knit plots in her novels. There are no loose
strands in them. The plots are organic because there are casual links between
characters and events. Her plots are extremely simple, definite and powerful. There are
no sudden dramatic developments of the unexpected type. Realism is the important part
of her novels. Through the skill of narration, she presents very enjoyable stories in her
novels. Her first novel Nectar in a Sieve, in many ways follows a conventional pattern in
its tragic delineation of the effects of poverty, natural disaster and unwelcome
modernization upon a peasant family, but it has usually potent qualities of static dignity
and clear organization.
Plot and character are the most important elements in a work of fiction. In fiction,
characterisation holds such an important position that practically all the serious novels
are novels of character. Mrs. Markandaya's characters reveal a tremendous variety. Her
novels contain both the English and the Anglo-Indian characters. Her characters are
realistic and convincing. The art of developing the character in Mrs. Markandaya is also
very remarkable.
Makandaya develops her characters beautifully. In Nectar in a Sieve the
development of characters, such as of Rukmani and Ira is made beautifully and in the
end we find a complete image of these rural women. The character of Ravi is also
developed in a proper manner. In the beginning of the novel, A Handful of Rice, Ravi is
introduced as a thief who is the victim of a guilty conscience. When he enters the house
of Apu by breaking the door, he seems to be a criminal. But later on, the readers come
to know about the sentimental nature of Ravi who is the hero of the novel.
Despite many shortcomings of his characters, he is able to draw the sympathy of
the readers. We observe him in a conflict of good and evil. At the end of the novel he
joins the crowd of evil doers. The character of Srinivas in The Nowhere Man also
undergoes several changes and developments. So is the case with Valmiki, of
Possession. In the beginning, Valmiki agrees to go with Caroline since he thinks that his
skill of painting will be developed in the company of Caroline. When he comes very
close to Caroline; the latter intends to possess the former physically and sentimentally.
She established sexual contacts with him. The intention of possession of Caroline
makes Val aware of the sense of his existence and identification. He decides to leave
her company. He comes in contact with Ellie, a girl of his age. But Caroline creates very
odd situations for Ellie who decides to commit suicide. At the end of the novel, Val is
supported by Swami who loosens the grip of Caroline over Val.
In Nectar in a Sieve character of Ira undergoes many developments. Outwardly,
she is a prostitute who exploits the menfolk but inwardly, she is the greatest woman of
all the characters of the novel since she feeds her brother by the income of prostitution.
Like Shakespearean Comedies, in Markandaya's novels women characters are
more important than the male ones. She has perfect sympathy with her women
characters. The delineation of women characters in her novels is so much keen and
remarkable that many times the novelist conveys the message that for the miseries of
women, men are responsible. In Nectar in a Sieve, Rukmani is the narrator of the story.
She dominates the plot of the novel and she becomes the central character. She is an
important asset to her husband who is totally dependent on her. All the important
decisions are taken by her. She overpowers her husband intellectually. So is the case of
Ira, daughter of Rukmani. She is rejected by her husband for no fault of hers. When she
comes back to her house, she finds her brother starving. She starts to go to the streets
of the village. The profession of prostitution helps her and saves her starving brother.
In Some Inner Fury Mira is a more powerful character than her lover, Richard A
Silence of Desire deals with the mental agony of Sarojini, wife of Dandekar. Dandekar
develops suspicion regarding the character of his wife who visits Swami in order to get
the cure of her ulcer. Though the arguments of Dandekar are absolutely correct, the
novelist draws the character of Sarojini in such a manner that we are more impressed
by Sarojini than by Dandekar. Two Virgins gives an interesting study of the minds of two
girls, Saroja and Lalitha. The latter is bound to become a lax character since she
desires to become a film actress and to fulfil her desire, she elopes with a fraud, Gupta.
In the whole of the story, the novelist aims at presentation of the women characters.
Thus the novelist makes her women characters the main characters of the novels.
Markandaya's characters are realistic, and convincing. Like Anita Desai who
produces abnormality in her main characters, Mrs. Markandaya is in the presentation of
common characters. This is the reason why her characters are vivid and life-like.
Though she picks up the people of aristocratic class, the number of middle class people
exceeds that of the rich class people'. Mrs. Markandaya belonged to rich class family,
yet she portrays peasants, servants, and laymen in a convincing manner.
Her first novel, Nectar in a Sieve became very popular only because of the
element of realism found in characterization. In the novel, the novelist's main purpose is
to deal with the miseries of peasants. Nathan is a tenant farmer who is married to
Rukmani. After this, the novelist develops the character of Rukmani and Nathan in a
manner that they become life like and they begin to represent the peasants of India. Ira,
daughter of Nathan is rejected by her husband since she is unable to conceive. Through
the character of Ira the novelist brings out the problems of barren ladies in Indian
society. Ira is one of those young ladies who are forced by the norms of society to adopt
the immoral ways of life.
In A Handful of Rice the novelist throws light on the urban problems. Ravi, a
young man of sentimental nature leaves his village for the city with the hope of
becoming prosperous in the city. But the city gives him nothing and he is completely
ruined. The poverty snatches his son from him. He finds himself helpless and decides to
adopt the evil ways of life. Ravi does not show any abnormality like Mohini of Anita
Desai. Though he beats his wife when he is in a state of intoxication, his act of taking
wine is the outcome of the failure in his life. In other words, his defeat in life leads him
towards disappointment and his behaviour changes. The novelist conveys a strong
message that failure of life modifies the general behaviour of the common people.
Kamala Markandaya does not present her characters with their outwardly
existence. But the fact is that she intends to produce her characters with their inner
conflicts. 'The Nowhere Man' deals with psychological conflicts of Srinivas who seeks
his identification in India and later on, in England. He is torn between his past and his
present. In Two Virgins Saroja observes the tragedy of her elder sister Lalitha who is
the victim of her insatiable ambitions. The novelist presents the psychology of Saroja in
a proper manner. Ravi in A Handful of Rice is always shattered by the difference
between good and evil. Valmiki in Possession desires to leave the company of Caroline.
All these characters are simple but their psychological approach makes them
complex. Markandaya is interested in the depiction of those characters that are driven
and crushed psychologically. Markandaya's characters belong to every class of society.
She takes characters from the poor class ; on the one hand, she is adept in the
delineation of the people of rich class on the other. But one thing is quite sure about her,
that she delineates her women characters more beautifully than the male characters.
Rukmani, Jaya, Ira, Caroline and Mira are some of the immortal women characters of
Indo-Anglian fiction. It does not mean that her male characters are inferior to the women
characters of contemporary novelists. Nathan, Ravi, Srinivas and Valmiki leave an
unceasing impression upon the readers.
They possess all the qualities of heroes. She tries her best to maintain a balance
between the mind and the milieu of her characters. She is successful in plumbing the
psychological depths of her heroines. A critic points out in this connection, "The
characters of her novels include peasants enmeshed in the struggle for existence
between their dried-out agricultural land and the nightmare of urban poverty as well as
Indian and English men and women and their mutual and troubled involvements both in
a pre- and post independence setting."
The themes of most of the novels of Mrs. Markandaya are based on love and
sex. She has been criticized for the outspoken language used for the description of sex,
but the fact is that she neither ignores sex nor overemphasizes it. Being a realistic
novelist, she cannot let sex out of her social picture. The novelist does not believe that
"love can ever flare up suddenly like a miracle between two people who know nothing
about each other. Love is something that may spring up between a man and woman
who have been brought together by desire of sexual attraction. She does not measure
sex from the social viewpoint. Fairly she sees it "as essential in determining the
relationship between a man and woman as food is to life."
Markandaya does not idealize her characters. They are life-like beings to whom
sex is very common. In this respect she follows the belief "to conceive of grown-up
people is to conceive of the shining reciprocal fact, sex, without which adults are still
children." Like Fielding, Mrs. Markandaya presents sex as one of the major weaknesses
of her main characters. In Nectar in a Sieve Nathan establishes sexual contact with
Kunthi, a rustic lady. Ravi in A Handful of Rice finding his mother-in-law alone, rapes
her. He forgets all morality when "he held her and his excitement grew with her
movements, her arms and breasts were soft and pulpy under his hands".
Caroline in Possession is thirty-two years of age, but she indulges in sex with
Val, a seventeen-year old boy who was brought up by her when he was only ten years
of age. Val, too, is interested in the painting of "a nude Caroline lying in a pleasurable
swoon on a sandy beach in the sun.”Caroline's white arms encircle him as if he were
hers" gives her moral judgments as to how "this is just how she had held him long ago
when he was a boy and she established her claim to him as plainly as if flag in hand she
were registering property rights." Besides, "there were other reassuring props, the
disparity in their age, the differences of race, over all their long association and close
peculiar relationship which would bring an unpleasant whim of incest to a carnal union
between them."
Like Tom Jones, Val tries to enjoy different tastes in sex. He falls in love with
Ellie, the maid servant, and after some time, she becomes pregnant by him. Later on,
he gets his abode in the arms of Annabelle an eighteen-year old girl.
Valmiki and Annabelle are "closely locked from mouth to leg to joints until the
firm white legs flared away from under him. Both were naked and their bodies moved as
if they were a unity, with a beautifully articulated urgent rhythm." Bashiam in The Coffer
Dams has the same type of contact with Helen, the wife of Clinton. He takes her "on the
string bed, moving the quickening beats, until he felt it drive through him and heard her
shuddering cries, which were more abandoned than his own"
In The Nowhere Man Srinivas falls in love with Mrs. Pickering, a divorced lady.
He makes sexual contacts with her who "had thickened and aged and could not, she
accepted, be expected now to please any man." In Two Virgins Mr. Gupta and Lalitha
associate sexually to the extent that Lalitha becomes pregnant, and the doctors sucked
him out, said Lalitha, bit by bit. Through Saroja, the novelist judges the episode morally,
and conveys her message, "It is a sin to bring an unwanted child in this world. It is sin to
cause suffering to an unborn child”
Markandaya has the problem of the unmarried mother with a touch of
sympathetic understanding. Like Mrs. Gaskell who advocates more sympathy and
honour for an unmarried mother on the part of the society, in her novel Ruth, she pleads
for such a woman. She thinks that an unmarried mother should be given social respect
even without marriage. The illegitimate child should not continue to be a matter of
shame for her. A lady who is pregnant by someone before marriage, has only two
choices—death or prostitution.
Ira in Nectar in a Sieve after being rejected by her husband because she is
childless, "flouts the moral code and disobeys her mother" by taking to prostitution to
save her family from starvation and poverty. This corrupt step brings forth an albino and
unwanted child begotten in the street of an unknown man in a moment of easy desire."
Ira does not take this as a mark of shame with her child. She is "happy as a bird with
her son, singing to him, playing with him, clucking and chuckling as if he were the most
beautiful boy any woman could have." But, in the eyes of the society, "a child conceived
in an encounter fares no worse than a child born in wedlock---having no future."
Markandaya rebels against voice of prostitution. She presents the world of
prostitutes, analyzing the reasons that lead them to adopt such ill-reputed profession.
The evil of prostitution is not the inborn flaw in a lady. But she is compelled to have it,
either by the social injustice in the form of starvation, or by her sexual desire. In spite of
their fully surrendering to the man who provides only a few coins to them, the prostitutes
are dealt with roughly.
Markandaya's depiction of love emotion in her characters is not as strong and
deep as that of Thomas Hardy. Unlike Tess who ruins herself, after her separation from
Angel Clare, Mrs. Markandaya's lovers and beloveds can forget each other and go in
the arms of another. Ellie's attempt to commit suicide in Possession is the outcome of
the fear of her shame, dishonour, and ignominy as she becomes pregnant by Val. Her
separation from Val has got nothing to do with it. He too, is not much affected by it, and
does not hesitate in falling in love with Annabelle.
In Some Inner Fury for Richard and Mira, the considerations of Your People and
My People take precedence over their love. If their love had been as deep as that of
Tess and Angel Clare, any of them would have lost their identity to achieve its
fulfillment. But when they separate, their love seems to be based not on a sincere
emotion but on a compromise that is violated in itself, "for she is an Indian, and
therefore automatically on the side of the nationalists while he is of the ruling nation."
In The Nowhere Man Srinivas is unable to respond to the love feeling of Mrs.
Pickering as he always lives in his past Mrs. Pickering, after his death, neither becomes
mad like Ophelia in Hamlet, nor does she shed tears, because the emotional harmony
between the two was not total.
Markandaya prefers an ironic title to most of her novels; “Nectar in a Sieve” for
instance, is full of irony. The irony lies in the fact that working with or without hope
meets the same fate. The story of Nathan and Rukmani illustrates the truth .The title of
her another novel “Possession” is full of irony for it depicts the clash between Indian
spiritual values and western materialistic civilization. The cultures of two countries
clashes when Caroline thinks that Valmiki belongs to her.
The irony lies in the truth that people don’t easily give up what they think are
their possession, however, Valmiki never alienates himself from his Indian roots and his
deeply rooted urge finds an expression through his paintings. Markandaya’s another
novel; “A Silence of Desire” is also ironic for it highlights the cultural clash between
Indian spiritual faith and modernism represented through traditional and religious
minded wife and husband with scientific outlook. “Handful of Rice” begins where
Rukmani ends the desperate struggle for existence in Nectar in a Sieve. Ravishankar
goes to the city in a hope that he would thereby escape hunger and death and live a
decent life. “The Nowhere Man” on the other hand, shows the conflict between eastwest cultural relationship effecting an isolation of man from man, as is the case with the
protagonist, Srinivas; “Nowhere man looking for a nowhere city”.
Kamala Markandaya writes of man, generally, as a victim: a victim of his own
inner fury, of external chance and brutality, yet, though oppressed, mocked and
persecuted he is, he is never an inconsequential person. Nathan, her first hero is
defeated by rain, fleeced by the money lender, and evicted by the landlord, yet he does
not give up working. Srinivas, widowed and abandoned by his surviving son, diseased
and poor, continues to live in the inhospitable South London. He braves the brutalities of
his racist neighbours with remarkable peace and nobility. Both the cause and the
character of Markandaya's men and women lend dignity to the fiction of the era where
human indignity has been the recognized hallmark of the fellowship of writers.
Thus Markandaya's novels seem to show that if one's roots are injured or
absent one dies. Nathan's roots are scarred when he is evicted from his land; he dies.
But Rukmani's roots are in her children, and therefore she lives. Premala's roots are
scorched when she is taken away from her traditional way of life and asked to be a
society lady; she dies. Kit dies clinging to the British Raj. But Govind's roots are deep in
his native soil and therefore nothing, not all the violence of his hatred for the British, not
all the disappointment over his unrequited love, can destroy him.
Sarojini's roots reach the very bowels of primitive pantheism, and so she
survives. Caroline is rooted in autocratic self-confidence and, like Scarlett O’Hara, feels
that tomorrow she can regain what she lost today. Ravi, a transplanted villager, grows
new roots but they are precariously shallow. Both Lalitha and Saroja's roots are deep
down in the village life. But Lalitha gets uprooted as she is lured by the splendours of
the city life. Hence she suffers. But Saroja simply watches her elder sister lured by the
city life and learns her lesson quietly and finally returns with her parents to her home in
the village in which her roots are secure.
The Nowhere Man is also rootless, having loss of freedom and burden of
existence. He suffers from a sense of fear and claustrophobia. His psychic-states of
body and symptoms of leprosy compel him to be a nowhere man. His emotional agony
tells upon his life and till his death he lives in suffocation. “Nowhere,” he said to himself,
“and he scanned to pale anxious eyes which were regarding him for reasons that might
drive him out, a nowhere man looking for a nowhere city.”
Srinivas is assured and reassured by his friends by the sympathetic words but he
tells them: "I won't. I do belong here now. It was good of you to remind me." He faces
loneliness, alienation, adjustment and belonging. He says out of frustration, "I am a
stranger; I have been transformed into a stranger, said the unwanted man and
examined a pair of hands whose stigma would be the excuse.
Srinivas ponders over his situation as an alien, whose manners, accents, voice,
syntax, bones, build, way of life all of him shrieked alien. He tells Mrs. Pickering, “The
people will not allow it. It was my mistake to imagine. They will not, except physically,
which is indisputable. I am to be driven outside, which is the way they want it. An
outsider in England, An actual fact I am of course, an Indian.”
At last the clash of cultures pushes Srinivas out of England and he sees no way
out but to reconcile to his lot. It is evident from this analysis of cultural clashes that there
is no meeting point of two cultures, two races and two view points. Markandaya
observes the differences in traditions and changes in set of values in both cultures
neutrally. Though she does not agree with Kipling that west is superior to East, but she
believes that "never the twain shall meet". In fact she does not want them to be
identical, but likes them to be complementary to each other. She thinks that the west
may be benefited from the ethical and spiritual values of India.
The remarkable feature of Kamala Markandaya's novels is the realistic portrayal
of her characters. Markandaya is regarded as perfect novelist with simple and
straightforward style of expression. She has firsthand knowledge of South Indian
villages, the real conditions of the villagers, their miseries, their sufferings and their real
ways of life. She has depicted all the hardships faced by the poor peasants in her
fiction.
Markandaya presents all the follies and hypocrisies of her characters. She
doesn't take sides with any of her protagonists. She feels the pain of the suffering
humanity and believes in the betterment of man. She aims at educating humanity. Like
Mulk Raj Anand, she wants to bring reforms in the Indian society. She doesn't hesitate
in raising her voice against the exploitation of man by man. Her fiction is rooted in the
Indian soil and ethos, has a subtle social purpose. In a sense she fictionalizes the
sociology of India. Her intention is to awaken the polite society to the real social
problems.
Kamala Markandaya began her career as a novelist in an age when India was
facing a number of problems such as racial differences and disharmony, starvation and
poverty resulting from natural calamities like famine and draught. For her, fiction is a
medium to teach humanity the real meaning of life. She has touched upon all the
important aspects of life. To her life is a mixture of happiness and sadness and she has
portrayed this fact in her fiction realistically. She has drawn a realistic picture of rural
India contrasted with the glamorous Westernized world of England. East-West
encounter became an interesting subject to her novels. Being an Indian, she values
Indian traditions and culture more than those of the West.
The portrayal of man-woman relationship is a favourite subject of Kamala
Markandaya. Her characters are strong and courageous. They are strong-willed and
face all the odds of life with courage. Her protagonists are not idealists but they possess
the general weakness of the mortals. They know how to bend like a grass and how to
face the reality of life. Her protagonists believe that disillusionment and despair,
disappointment and frustration, conflict and struggle are the inseparable and integral
part of life.
Kamala Markandaya has depicted women in various shades. In her first novel
she has portrayed Rukmani who faces so many odds of life like famine, death, adultery
and prostitution in the condition of direst poverty and fights against them constantly. She
has been able to win the sympathy of the readers by her astonishing will-power that
endures a life without hope like Nectar in a Sieve. Her plight resembles that of Nalini of
A Handful of Rice. Here we witness the transformation of a carefree girl into an
exploited and victimized woman trying to pull her family through the harsh and cruel life
of a big city.
In Some Inner Fury, Possession and The Nowhere Man she has portrayed the
East-West Relationship in a man-woman context. Her next novel Two Virgins presents
a realistic picture of the problems of growing up into an average woman of an average
contemporary Indian family. In A Silence of Desire, Markandaya has depicted the
conflict between tradition and modernity faith and rational thinking and married life
through Sarojini and Dandekar. No critic can ignore the element of style and language
in the composition of literature. In fact it is an important aspect of literature. The postIndependence Indo-English women novelists have adopted English language in order to
express their sensibilities. They did not intend to propagate English culture, civilization
or norms to Indian society.
As a novelist Kamala Markandaya occupies an important position in Indian
English fiction. Her narrative technique is very remarkable because it makes her an
outstanding novelist. The success of her first novel' Nectar in a Sieve goes to her
narrative technique to a great extent. In Two Virgins we observe the stream of
consciousness style; she has been regarded as one of the story tellers.
Markandaya's style is characterized by remarkable simplicity arid sincerity. She
writes exactly like a narrative speaker, her style is simple and clear. For example, in
Nectar in a Sieve Rukmani describes the scene of her wedding days: "A woman they
say always remembers her wedding night. Well may be they do but for me there are
other nights I prefer to remember. Sweeter, fuller when I went to my husband matured
in mind as well as in body, not as a pained and awkward child as I did on the first night."
The simplicity of her style is also reflected in other novels. In Possession the
description of the character of Ellis is very simple and clear.
"Who is Ellis”?
"A refugee, a domestic," she said and sighed. Last bastion of the servant less
era. Better than nothing I suppose. "She moved to the door, I had almost closed it on
her when she turned and came back into the room. In A Handful of Rice Markandaya's
style is informal. But in The Coffer Dams and The Nowhere Man language becomes
difficult and she seems to lay a lot of stress on the ornamental language. The Nowhere
Man opens with the vagueness of language. "There was a screen behind which patients
dressed and undressed. Usually they did not take long but his Indian patient would. Dr.
Radcliffe surmised, from the layers of clothes he would now be resuming against the
chill English evening." Two Virgins has been criticized by many critics because of its
voluptuous style. For example, Saroja's reaction to her parents’ love making is
described in the following manner:
"When Saroja heard the charpoy creaking away, she knew Lalitha was right, her
parents were making love. They made love quietly to start with, but then it got frenzied.
The cut strings twanged although they were only made of ropes and the wooden frame
groaned."
Another critic K M. Nichlton underlines her contribution to Indian English
Literature, "In so far as Mrs. Markandaya stresses this point, we can appreciate her
affiliations with the thoughts of Ruskin and William Morris. But when the novelist strikes
out at nature, what is she trying to imply. Is she criticizing a government which has not
realized that Gandhi's plan for rural recuperation is still necessary for India, or is this
novel a reminder to the complacent urbanite that rural India despairs unheard?"
Kai Nicholson considers her outstanding contribution to rural society and its
problems as compare to other Indian writers writing in English. According to him
Markandaya has emphatically presented the problems of rural and urban society with
the same intensity.The other novelists hardly ever mentioned or contributed anything
towards the rural society and its problems in novel form. 'Nectar in a Sieve' is, thus, a
successful rural novel. Dr. Rao says, 'With her impeccable representational realism and
evocative descriptions of the Indian Arcadia,' Markandaya achieves a perfect balance
between the rural reality and the disciplined urbanity of art."
L.R.Moktali comments on her ability to make use of language suitable to form
and content, "Owing to her fondness for ornamentation, Kamala Markandaya uses
alliterations, jingles, onomatopoeic words----she is full of luminous expressions, purple
patches and flowery phrases. She is at times poetic. Kamala Markandaya is quite
efficient in turning the day-to-day experience into rich poetry. With the extraordinary use
of onomatopoeic words, the description grows strong."
Nayantara
Sahgal,
a
distinguished
woman
novelist
praised
Kamala
Markandaya's art of characterisation. She states that Kamala Markandaya "develops
her characters very well, more so than men writers, I am not saying that because I am a
woman but her characters seem to be made of flesh and blood." Though she does
produce a galaxy of characters in her novels, she picks up her characters from every
class of society. For example, in the Nectar in a Sieve she deals with the peasants’ life
while 'Possession' throws light on the aristocratic ways of rich people. In A Handful of
Rice she observes the character of a criminal like Damodar.
In the Nowhere Man she highlights the ideal character of Srinivas who believes in
non-violence. Indeed, she does not choose any particular class for her characterization.
She sympathizes with poor on the one hand but she does not ignore the problems of
the rich on the other. The Golden Honey Comb describes the problems of both the
classes. Thus she tries to draw her characters from every class of society. But one thing
is quite clear about her characterisation. It is through her women characters are more
powerful than her male characters. Rukmani, Ira, Mira, Sarojini, Caroline, Jaya, Nalini
and Saroja are some of the immortal women characters in Indo-English fiction. Shashi
Iyer points out in this connection, "The women novelists have made a definite
contribution in their intuitive and clear perception of woman's role in the present society.
R.K.Badal, a renowned critic observes that "Of all the women novelists of India
writing in English, Kamala Markandaya is the most appealing and outstanding. Nectar in
a Sieve tells us of the people whom life has nothing to offer but misery, misfortune and
suffering. The effects of poverty on the character of rural folk engage the sympathetic
attention of Kamala Markandaya.Thruogh Ira markandaya has shown that immorality is
the product of dire poverty and starvation. Ira, in an attempt of saving her dieing brother
from starvation, sells her body despite of the denial of her parents. It is her supreme
sacrifice for the noble cause of humanity. Unfortunately society despises her under the
lable of immorality. Kamala Markandaya's novels portray the different shades of human
universal love, hunger, lust, passion, ambition, sacrifice and death in the modern Indian
cities.
While commenting on Markandaya K.C. Nambiar writes, "Indian fiction in English
appears to be increasingly dominated by a young generation of women novelists, who
have portrayed post-Independence India in all its immense range and variety. Mulk Raj
Anand, R. K. Narayan and Raja Rao, the great pioneers, have concerned themselves
more with the birth of free India than its later growth and 'evolution. Kamala
Markandaya, Mrs. Jhabvala and Anita Desai have together penetrated closer to the
Indian consciousness of New India, the generation of Indians to whom Mahatma Gandhi
is a legendary figure and the Quit India struggle a distant memory.”
About Markandaya’s art of plot construction Dr.K.S.Narayan says; “Markandaya
is a novelist of mediocre ambition. She operates with the framework of the traditional
novel. The distinguishing elements of her novels are a strong narrative pattern, respect
for chronology, distinct story element, sociological background and linear development
of plot.Though she has dispensed with the omniscient tradition of the traditional novel in
many of her novels, e.g., Nectar in a Sieve. Some Inner Fury, Possession and Two
Virgins, yet her work suffer from a general lack of originality, novelty and modernity. She
has used an innovative technique in the construction of her plots."
S.C.Harrex considers Markandayan as a social critic, "Kamala Markandaya's
fiction is of particular interest within the context of the modern Indian novel because it
crystallizes various literary directions that the quest for identity has taken since the
thirties. Two main directions, philosophical and sociological are clearly discernible. In
the Indian novel in English the chief exponent of the philosophical novel is Raja Rao,
while Mulk Raj Anand has led the field of politically committed writers.
The philosophical quest involves a familiar web of dualism from which the Indian
protagonist must disentangle his complex identity: tradition versus change, mysticism
versus materialism, soul versus body, faith versus reason, morality versus free will, etc.
On the other hand, the sociological barriers to self-realization, caste, poverty,
exploitation, environmental extremes, overpopulation, political turmoil, etc. have a
greater everyday immediacy."
Shantha Krishtwuwami another renowned critic points out, "The fact that the
admirable wife was created by a male author ironically refuses the argument that only a
woman can give us an inside story based on full participation of a woman's
consciousness. The emphasis has shifted both in the fictive systems and their creators
from identity to individual relationship. The ideal novelist may well be a kind of spiritual
being combining a man's scope and a woman's sensitivity. We have to refuse to be
prejudiced by sexual provinciality whatever its province happens to be. Kamala Markandaya combines the two and ads & distinctive sociological bent to her fiction.
Kamla Markandaya portrays the Indian social life with such a convincing
realism that there is and no need to probe in to the depths, no study of the inner man
and the exploration of motives. The charcters are revealed from the outside in there
conflict with the various forces ranged against them and their relation with each other.
Cosequently her works become enjoyable and reflective as well.In addition to this
Markandaya extends her canvas with wider range for projecting national identity at
social, cultural and political levels with the same aesthetic persuite.She skillfully portrays
an arry of characters ; English and Indian, with their variety of features.
Thus, the present study proves the hypothesis: Kamala Markandaya’s use of
ironic vision in her novels is significant contribution to readers’ understanding of the
important social concerns such as; poverty, starvation, exploitation, unemployment and
industrialization victimizing the peasants in particular and poor people in general. The
present study helps to enhance the reader's knowledge of the societical resources and
liabilities or the people and their culture, of their similarities and differences of their
needs and problems. Markandaya uses fiction as a means for transforming her vision.
The ironic vision in the novels of Kamla Markandaya helps us to get into the
core of the critical infusion and diffusion of Indian social and moral aspect and their
values in the lives of the masses. The present study is interesting for Markandaya’s
Indianness is seen in her use of expression from the Indian language. As a writer,
Markandaya has clear perception of life in rural area as well as in urban centers.
To conclude, following are the significant features of Kamala Markandaya as a
woman novelist.
(a) Kamala Markandaya begins with the themes that are related to rural life in
Indian villages which is reflected in ‘Nectar in a Sieve’, ‘A Handful of Rice’ and
‘A Silence of Desire’ and extends her themes at the universal level in the
novels ‘Possession’ and ‘A Nowhere Man’ which reveal the conflict between
tradition and modernism, the east –west culture and spiritualism and
modernity.
(b) Realistic problems of her novels can be placed under three categories;
(i)
Rural problems- rural customs are responsible for the miseries of the
characters.
(ii)
Social problems- unemployment, poverty, the problem of beggars,
degradation of morality.
(iii)
Moral problems- the problem of unmarried mother, the problem
conscience, inner conflict and the problem rehabilitation of a fallen
woman in a society.
(c) Characters portrayed by Markandaya are highly realistic and they are men
and women of their own attitude towards life and society.
(d) Markandaya uses her ironic vision to describe a numbers of situations from
the life of her characters in the different walks of life.
(e) The use of ironic vision has enriched the content and form of her novels.
(f) Markandaya’s novels advocate the idea of mutual respect, understanding and
appreciation of the harmonious union and everlasting relationship between
the East and the West.
(g) The novelist skillfully uses structural, dramatic, tragic and cosmic irony as an
artistically effective literary device for communicating her extra ordinary
insight and passion through fiction.
(h) Markandaya uses ironic vision to sharpen the bitterness of the situations and
contradictions in the life of her characters.
6.3 Utility of the research
The use of ironic vision helps to question the mores and norms of an existing,
received traditions or beliefs and directs the readers to explore the incongruity that lies
in such established faith and beliefs. The garb of the domesticity, the housewife image
under which the active female mind is suppressed, is an ironic instance of the double
faced reality of women’s existence as is with Rukmani, Irawady, vasantha and other
dominant women characters portrayed in the novels of Kamala Markandaya. Thus, it is
important the use of ironic vision by Markandaya in her own unique manner has
enabled her to be in control of her fictional world and her reality while allowing readers
absolute freedom of interpretation in future. It is only the ironic perspective that helps to
explore the variance between the denoted and connoted meaning.
The patriarchal discourse can be countered by rejecting the absolute power of
the world over meaning of an expression or of an utterance over intention. Such
subversion is possible by devising alternative systems of communication such as nonverbal modes of presentation like photographs, pictures, dreams, silence sequence and
the like. The use of ironic vision makes it possible to inhabit the male dominant system
and yet break away from the suffocating language of patriarchy. Ironic vision helps the
reader to imagine and go beyond the limits of the narrative. The use of irony questions
the validity of the culturally constructed images by juxtaposing them against a
profounder reality in characters, experiences.
To avoid monotony of presenting serious issues like poverty, starvation,
unemployment and identity crises, the novelist communicates things ironically making it
most appealing and interesting. Ironic vision as a literary device can be used as a tool
for critical appreciation of the literary text. Ironic vision of life depicted in the novels
would be helpful tool to read the novel as a means for culture studies and reading of
novel by applying this approach.
The systematic research by using this approach will help to sharpen the
sensibility and the most required awareness and sense of responsibility of an individual.
The present research paves the way to future researchers in this field to explore various
aspects of Indian sensibility in work of Kamala Markandaya as well as other Indian
novelist writing in English.
To conclude, in this introductory chapter the aims and objectives of the study are
explained with the hypothesis that there could be the thematic dominance to get into the
social issues and problems in the lives of the Indian men and women. The social survey
method could be of much help to understand the writer’s intention of projecting the
fictitious world in the novels.
6.4 Future scope for the research
Since Markandaya offerce positive massage in the context of global chaos,
turbulence and violence her novels can play and instrumental and constructive roal in
teaching humanity, equality and social responsibility at large. As her novels understudy
are largly sociological and give a reliable picture of contemporary Indian reality, the
systematic research in this area will help to sharpen the sensitivity and the most
required awareness and sence of responsibility of an individual. The present research
paves way to future researchers in this field to explore various aspects and facets of
Indian sensibility in the work of Kamala Markandaya as well as other Indian novelists
writing in English.
Literature is a reflection of the society, so the literature of a particular country will
be the reflection of its traditions, costoms, views and ideologies. It paves way to
undertake the research of all the literature types of a particular age for example IndoAnglien literature and Indian literature in English, Dalit literature in English. There is
always a connection between writers a particular age and hence need to discuss it. An
indepth research is possible on the different characters as realistic and symbolic in the
novels written by Kamala Markandaya with reference to Psychological, pragmatic and
stylistic approaches. In addition to that variety of theams like social, political presented
in Indian novels can also serve better purpose in research which can be compaired with
the thematic concerns of the contemporary society.
Markanadayas novels contain this potential worth probing. The use of different
literary devices in idian fiction in English is another challenging in India which is to be
considered as an opportunity to study in future.
Some of the prime concerns expressed in Markandaya’s novels are the poverty,
hunger, degradation and alienation. The use of ironic vision helps to question the mores
and norms of an existing, received traditions or beliefs and directs the readers to
explore the incongruity that lies in such established faith and beliefs. The garb of the
domesticity, the housewife image under which the active female mind is suppressed, is
an ironic instance of the double faced reality of women’s existence as is with Rukmani,
Irawady, vasantha and other dominant women characters portrayed in the novels of
Kamala Markandaya.
Thus, it is important the use of ironic vision by Markandaya in her own unique
manner has enabled her to be in control of her fictional world and her reality while
allowing readers absolute freedom of interpretation in future. It is only the ironic
perspective that helps to explore the variance between the denoted and connoted
meaning. The patriarchal discourse can be countered by rejecting the absolute power of
the world over meaning of an expression or of an utterance over intention. Such
subversion is possible by devising alternative systems of communication such as nonverbal modes of presentation like photographs, pictures, dreams, silence sequence and
the like. The use of ironic vision makes it possible to inhabit the male dominant system
and yet break away from the suffocating language of patriarchy. Ironic vision helps the
reader to imagine and go beyond the limits of the narrative. The use of irony questions
the validity of the culturally constructed images by juxtaposing them against a
profounder reality in characters, experiences.
6.5 Limitations of the research
It is possible to study Markandayas novels at several levels but this research
focuses on the certain components of Markandayas selected novels with respect to the
use of ironic vision for delenating themes, characters and situations in her novels. My
research will be pointed to the selected novels of Kamala Markandaya.