 |
| South Asian literature An Analysis |
South Asian literature An Analysis
The Term South Asian literature refers to the literary
works of writers from the Indian subcontinent and its surrounding areas.
Countries to which South Asian literature writers are linked include India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, The Maldives, Burma, Bhutan,
Afghanistan, and Iran.South Asian literature An Analysis
South Asian literature is written in English as well as the many
national and regional languages of the region. After the success of Booker
Prize-winning authors like Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, many people got
encouraged and started writing. South Asian literature has been produced in
about forty major languages, including translations into Persian, Portuguese,
French, and English.
Apart from the male writers, there have been many great female
writers in south Asian literature as well. Many female writers have written
novels on different topics but mainly their concern has been the mistreatment
or ill-treatment of women in our society. They have also written novels on
taboo topics such as widow marriages, child marriages, love stories, sexual
content, and certain family issues.
Women in our culture are depicted as weak and burdened members
of the family. It is said that we live in a male dominant society but things
are changing day by day and more and more women are getting an education and
standing for their rights. But the writers portray them in the same old
traditional way. In their stories, the women are suppressed to the level that
they almost die. Women are shown as desperately for marriage as they can’t
survive alone in this world. Writers, especially female writers have described
the qualities of an ideal woman, as a person who is tolerant, patient, and
surrenders to the will of the man in her life, and she, herself has no identity
or free will.
This attitude of the female writers towards their female
characters is quite evident in their works. Arundhati Roy in her novel “God of
small things” depicts women in a very submissive way. She portrays a woman as a
desperate being who would break any law for her desires and if she doesn’t get
what she wants, then she becomes a sadist. The novel deals with many aspects;
one of them is the life of Baby Kochamma, whose actual name is Navomi Ipe. She
is the aunt of the main protagonist Ammu Ipe. As a young girl, Baby Kochamma
falls in love with Father Mulligan, a young Irish priest who had come to their
city to study Hindu scriptures. To get closer to him, Baby Kochamma becomes a
Roman Catholic and joins a convent, against her father’s wishes.
Roy here portrays that women in Asian society have no regard for
religion when it comes to love and marriage. Baby Kochamma is described as a
woman who completely changes herself even when there is no positive response
from Father Mulligan’s side, which afterward she realizes, that her vows
brought her no closer to the man she loved. Baby Kochamma remains unmarried for
the rest of her life, gradually becoming more and more bitterer over the years.
Throughout the story, Baby Kochamma delights in the misfortune of others and
manipulates events to bring pain in the life of the people close to her; in
short, she is so desperate and frustrated that she becomes a sadist.
In the same way, when the main protagonist Ammu Ipe falls in
love with a forbidden man, Velutha, Baby Kochamma opposes it and locks her up.
She even reports to the police and Velutha is arrested and later killed due to
the brutality of the officers. Roy could have shown some mercy towards Ammu Ipe
but she doesn’t. Ammu Ipe is also portrayed as a desperate woman, who at first
runs away from home to get married and later falls in love with an untouchable.
Even Baby Kochamma does not care, they both suffer and go through the same
pain, and both break the rules of society but Baby Kochamma does not relate
herself to her niece or help her. Yet she makes her life more miserable and is
the cause of sorrow for everyone.
Even Anita Desai in her novel “a village by the sea”, portrays
the two women Lila and Bela as weak and burdened members of the family. Even
though they try to help the family but are only able to give moral support
because they are girls they are not able to do much for the family.
Desai in her other novel “Clear light of the day”, depicts the
story of Tara, the wife of India’s Ambassador to America, who is suppressed by
him. Her husband is a highly educated, civilized, and good man, but the male
dominancy and her surrender are shown in the novel. She is an obedient wife who
even agrees not to attend her sister-in-laws’s daughter's wedding just because
her husband had said so. She tries to reunite her husband with his sister. She
realizes that family’s love is irreplaceable and reunites them, eventually, and
then goes to the wedding. In the same novel, Desai has described the life of
Aunt Mira, who is a widow and is mistreated by her in-laws. She is not able to
escape the torture by herself until Baba, who is autistic, rescues her and
helps her to raise the children. But she is not able to cope with life and
society, thus, she becomes an alcoholic and dies of alcoholism.
Similarly, Bapsi Sidwa wrote the story of child marriage,
following Hindu tradition, that when a man dies, his widow should be forced to
spend the rest of her life in a widow’s ashram, an institution for widows to
repent for the sins of her previous life that has caused her husband’s death.
In her novel Water, Chuyia, a seven-year-old girl, is widowed, and due to the
traditions she is dressed in a white sari, her head is shaven and she is left
in an ashram for Hindu widows to spend the rest of her life in repentance.
Fourteen women live in the small, two-story house, who are sent to ask for
forgiveness but mostly to relieve their families of financial and emotional
burdens. Chuyia is convinced that her stay is a temporary one and that her
mother will come to take her away. But that does not happen. The ashram is also
used for prostitution. Chuyia becomes a victim of it and is not able not to
escape but later when she receives help from Narayan; she is rescued and has a
brighter future.
In the same novel, another widow Kalyani also becomes a victim of
this sinful act but her grief and conscience force her to drown herself and
die.
Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, and Bapsi Sidwa are great and
popular south Asian female writers. They have written novels that have got
international acclaim. But in their novels, they have depicted the female
characters as desperate, suppressed, and frustrated beings. Women are not given
the due respect they receive in society. The issues that they have discussed in
their novels are not completely absent from society but slowly and gradually
disappearing. Even if we agree that these issues due exist on a larger scale
yet their attitude toward the female characters and their approach to life has
a narrow approach. The only solution to these problems as described by these
writers is shown by the help of suicide, alcoholism, tolerance, and patience or
waiting for the right man to enter into their lives and help them escape
misery. The women are not taught to stand up for their rights or speak up. The
women are not even encouraged or given the idea of escaping their misery by
themselves and having a brighter future.
0 Comments