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Individual
and Society in the Novels
Of Manju Kapur
Manju Kapur
has joined the growing number of women writers from India, like
Shashi Despande, Arundhati Roy, Githa Hariharan, Shoba De
On whom the image of the suffering but stoic women eventually
breaking traditional boundaries has had, a significant impact.
They invigorated the English language to suit representations
and narration of what they felt about their women and their
lives in post modern India. In a culture where individualism
and prated have often remained alien ideas and marital bless
and the women's role at home is a central focus. These modern-day
women authors are now expressing themselves freely and boldly
and on a variety of themes without adopting feminist postures.
Manju Kapur's novels acquire a significant new meaning
when read in the point of view of crisscross dogmas of cultural
critical thinking. Manju Kapur's novels furnish examples of
a whole range of attitudes towards the importation of tradition.
However, Mrs. Kapur seems aware of the fact that the women of
India have indeed achieved their success in sixty years of Independence,
but if there is to be a true female independence, too much remains
to be done. The conflict for autonomy and separate identity
remains and unfinished combat.
Women under the patriarchal pressure and control were subjected
to much more brunt's and social ostracism. They were discriminated
and were biased in lien of their sex. The life women Lived and
struggled under the oppressive mechanism of a closed society
were reflected in the novels of Manju Kapur. Taking into account
the complexity of life, different histories, cultures and different
structures of values, the women's question, despite basic solidarity
needs to be tackled in relation to the socio-cultural situation.
The impact of patriarchy on the Indian Society varies from the
one in the west. Manju Kapur has her own concerns, priorities
as well as their own ways of dealing with the predicament of
their women protagonists. My purpose is to study individual
and society in the novels of Manju Kapur. I have taken three
novels of Manju Kapur entitled "Difficult Daughters Married
Woman and Home" for this purpose.
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Justification
Manju Kapur's female protagonists are mostly educated,
aspiring individual caged with in the confines of a conservative
society. Their education leads them to independent thinking
for which their family and society become intolerant of
them. They struggle between tradition and modernity. It
is their individual struggle with family and society through
which they plunged into a dedicated effort to carve an
identity for themselves as qualified women with faultless
backgrounds. The novelist has portrayed her protagonists
as a woman caught in the conflict between the passions
of the flesh and a yearning to be a part of the political
and intellectual movements of the day.
Manju Kapur Life & Works Manju Kapur teaches
English literature at Miranda House College, Delhi University.
Her first novel 'Difficult Daughters' received huge international
acclaim. This novel was published in 1998. Her second
novel 'A Married Women' was published in 2002. Her third
novel 'Home' was published in 2006. 'Difficult Daughters'
was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best
first book (Eurasia) and was a number one best seller
in India. She is married to Gun Nidhi Dalmia and lives
in New Delhi..
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The portrayal
of woman in Indian English fiction as the silent suffer and
up holder of the tradition and traditional values of family
and society has undergone a tremendous change and is no longer
presented as a passive character. Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara
Sehgal, Anita Desai, Shashi Despande and many women as an individual
rebelling against the traditional role, breaking the silence
of suffering trying to move out of the caged existence and asserting
the individual self. This women is trying to be herself and
yet does not wish to break up the family ties. Since Gandhiji
helped the women to cross the threshold of family life and move
out into the outer world of freedom struggle and social reform,
the woman is presented with varied opportunities not only today
but also yesterday during freedom movement. Yet writing in 1998,
Manju Kapur, in her novels presents women who try to establish
their own identity. The women of India have indeed achieved
their success in half a century of Independence, but if there
is to be a true female, independence, much remains to be done.
The fight for autonomy remains an unfinished combat.
I
In her quest of identify, Virmati the central character
of the novel, rebels against tradition. She is impelled by the
inner need to feel loved as an individual rather than as a responsible
daughter. The title of the novel 'Difficult Daughters' is an
indication to the message that a woman, who tries in search
of an identity, is branded as a difficult daughter by the family
and the society as well. 'Difficult Daughters' is the story
of a young woman, named virmati born in Amritsar into an
austere and high mined household. The story tells how she is
torn between family duty, the desire for education and elicit
love.. This is a story of sorrow, love and compromise. The major
portion deals with Virmati's love affairs with professor and
rest part describes fighting struggle for freedom.
Virmati is the elderest daughter of Kasturi and Suraj Prakash.
Kasturi has eleven children. One after another she gives birth
to children and thus the whole burden of household work increases
over Virmati, being the elderest daughter. Due to her busy routine
she does not do well in her studies and fails. She falls in
love with a professor, a man who is already married. He sublets
a portion of Virmati's house. Thus professor develops on intimate
relationship with Virmati and decides an appropriate place for
regular meeting. Here Virmati's parents decides to marray her
to an engineer Inderjeet but due to the death in his family
marriage is postponed for two years. During this period Virmati
passes her FA exam and denies for marriage. Professor insists
Virmati on being firm. Now Virmati becomes mentally disturb
and goes to Tarashika and drowns herself. She is escaped by
the servants of her grand father Lala Divan Chand and returns
to her house at Lepel Griffin Road. Everybody inquires the reason
and finally she declares that the does not like the boy and
wants to study further. So marriage is settled with Indumati,
the second daughter.
Now Kasturi has to go with Virmati to Lahore for getting her
admit in RBSL college and principal assures Kasturi that there
will be no problem and she has her eye fixed firmly on each
one. Sakuntala who has been a source of inspiration for Virmati,
visites her regularly. Professor's course of meeting to Viru
has yet not stopped and during this period she becomes pregnant.
She becomes restless and with the help of her room mate Swarnlata
she gets abortion.
After completing her B.T. she returns to Amritsar and is offered
the principal ship of a college, she joins it but in Sultanpur
too Harish visits her and there meetings are observed by Lalaji.
She is dismissed so she decides to go to Nariniketan but on
the way she meets Harish's close friend Poet who is already
aware of their intimate relationship. So he does not let her
go and calls Harish. He performs all the rituals of marriage.
Professor with Virmati returns home. During her conjugal life
Virmati feels that it would have been better if she had not
been married with Harish. After sometime she gives birth to
a daughter Ida. And at the beginning of the novel this girl
Ida ponders over her mother's life.
Virmati has to fight against the power of the mother as well
as the oppressive forces of patriarchy symbolized by the mother
figure. The rebel in Virmati might have actually exchange one
kind of slavery for another. But towards the end she becomes
free, free even from the oppressive love of her husband. Once
she succeed in doing that, she gets her husband all by herself,
her child the reconciliation with her family. In the patriarchal
Indian Society marriage is a means of deliverance from being
socially condemned and it relieves a woman from the sense of
insecurity and uncertainty. To the older generation marriage
is no reason to rebel, it was accepted as a part of life's pleasure
and was a phase of initiating certain Dharmas associated with
social and religious institutions. Off course love was not the
prerequisite or a desired basis for marriage. If Virmati's mother,
Kasturi and Ganga (Prof. Harish Chandra's first wife) seeks
pleasure in domestic up doings. Virmate struggles between the
physical and moral, the head and the heart. Finally she gives
way to her heart and body.
II In her novel 'A Married Woman' Manju Kapur has
taken writing as a protest, a way of mapping from the point
of a woman's experience. Kanpur negotiates different issues
emerging out of a socio - political upheaval in her country.
In a realistic way, she has described the Indian male perception
of women as a holy cow even though women are not very interested
in history and those in power trying to twist and turn historical
facts to serve their own purposes.
Ms. Manju Kapur's second novel 'A Married Woman' is the
story of Astha an educated, upper middle class, working Delhi
woman. As a girl, she was brought up with large supplements
of fear. She was her parents only child. Her education, her
character, her health, her marriage these were her parent's
burdens. But like a common school going girl she often imagines
of romantic and handsome Young man holding her in his strong
manly embrace. In her adolescence she falls in love with a boy
of her age. Day and night the though of him kept her insides
churning. She was unable to eat, sleep or study. In the main
time she is emotionally engage with Rhan and they enjoy physical
relationship. This relationship is finished within a few days
as Rohan moves to Oxford for further studies and her marriage
is settled with Hemant who belongs to a bureaucrat family. They
live in Vasant Vihar, a posh colony in New Delhi. They start
their married life and soon Astha is fed up with it. Astha starts
teaching in a public school after much resistance from her husband
and her parents.. During her staying in this school she participates
in a workshop on communalism which is being led by an intellectual
artiste Aijaz Akhtar Kha, the founder of 'The Street Theater
Group'. Aijaz teaches history and during the holidays he performs
plays in school, slums, factories, streets small town and villages
to create empathy and to generate social awareness. Although
Astha and been a mother of a son and a daughter by this time.
She is festinated by the multifaceted personality of Aijaz.
But ferocious soon this relationship is over as the workshop
finishes. After a few days Astha reads the news of Aijaz's murder.
Babri Masjid is demolished in Ayodhya and there is a lot of
turmoil throughout the country. To establish religious harmony
and social integration processions are organized by 'The Street
Theatre Group'. In one of such processions Astha meets Pipeelika
and she comes to know that she is the widow of Aijaz. She feels
great empathy to Pipeelika and a powerful physical relationship
is establish between them. This relationship is a challenge
for her husband and family. They both live together and deep
emotional attachment develops between them. Astha is on the
verge of loosing her conventional marriage. Pipeelika leaves
India to study abroad and Astha returns back to her family.
'A Married Woman' is beautifully, honest and seductive story
of love and deep attachment, set at a time of political and
religious turmoil..
III 'Home' is the third novel, by Manju Kapok.
This is fast moving story which makes an ordinary middle
class family's life in Delhi. The main character or the patriarch
of a cloth business, Banwarilal lives in New Delhi neighborhood
of Karol Bagh. Banwarilal believes in the old ways and is the
firm believer of that men work out of the home, woman within.
Men carry forward the family line, women enable their mission.
His two sons unquestioningly follow their father but their wives
do not. Both brothers carry their lives as well as business
according to the wishes of their father. As the time passes
Banwarilal dies and the whole burden of the family comes to
Yashpal, being the elder one. He has one sister who becomes
widow in her early life. She has a child named Vicky. They also
join them in their house in Karol Bagh. At the beginning of
the story Sona and Rupa both sisters are childless. They could
not conceive for a long time. Sona keeps but it is of no use.
Sona belongs to a rich family in comparison of her sister Rupa.
Rupa's husband is an educated man. They passes their lives happily.
After a long time Sona gives birth to Nisha and then to Virat.
Nisha is physically tortured by Vicky, her cousin. She feels
mentally disturb so she is sent the Rupa's home for a change.
Here she gets education well. After some time she returns to
her home where no one pays much attention towards her studies
and she gets compartment in two subjects. She is guided by Premnath.
She passes in it and enters in college for getting higher education.
She meets a boy and decides to marry him ignoring his caste
and creed.
Thus the novel depicts how family norms are is ignored by the
new generation. Manju Kapur's novels present the changing image
of women moving away from traditional portrayals of enduring,
self sacrificing women towards self assured assertive and ambitious
women making society aware of their demands and in this way
providing a medium for self expression in the works of Manju
Kapur.
It will be interesting to note man woman relationship in the
three novels of Manju Kapur. As an element of feminism especially
in the realm of biological, sexual, cultural and racial aspects
will also be probed in the three novels. c
Chapter Division
Chapter 1 : Individual and Political Arena
Chapter 2 : Individual and Social Space
Chapter 3 : Individual Dynamic of Family
Chapter 4 : Use of Language
Chapter 5 : Conclusion
c Biblography
(A) Primary Sources :
1. Kapur Manju : 'Difficult Daughters' New Delhi : Penguin,
1998.
2. Kapur Manju : 'A Married Women' New Delhi : India Ink, 2002.
3. Kapur Manju : 'Home' New Delhi : Random House, 2006.
(B) Seconday
Sources :
1. Beauvaur, Simonde, "The Second Sex" Tran H.M. Parshley
Harmondsworth 1971-London Pan Books 1988.Carbyn Heiburn : Marriage
and Contemporary Fiction, Critical Inquiry, 5 No. 2 (Winter
1978).
2. Grimke, Sarah Letters on the Equality of the sexes and the
condition of women New York, Burt Franklin 1970.
3. Gur Pyari Jandian : Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters : A
Study is Transition from chaos to integration : The Common Wealth
Review Vol. 12 No. 1, 2000-2001.
4. Hasin, Attia. Sunlight on A Broken Column, New Delhi : Arnold
Heinemann, 1987.
5. Jaidev "Problematizing Feminism Gender and Literature,
ed. Iqbal Kapur, Delhi, B.R. Publishing Corporation, 1992.
6. Jandial Gur Pyari "The Novels of Shashi Deshpande and
Manju Kapur. Atlantic Literary Review.
7. Kakar, Sudhir "Feminine Identity in India" Women
in Indian Society A Reader, Ed. Rehana Ghadially, New Delhi
: Sage Publications, 1988. p.44-68.
8. Millett, Kate, 'Sexual Politics' (Garden City, New York,
Double Day, 1970).
9. Mukul Kesavan : 50 Years of Indian Writing Edited by R.K.
Dhawan, New Delhi : Indian Association for English Studies 2000.
10. Nahal, Chaman, "Feminism "Feminism in English
Fiction : Forms and variations" Feminism and Recent Fiction
in English ed, Sushila Singh, New Delhi Prestige, Books, 1991.
11. Palkar, Sarla. "Beyond Purdah : Sunlight On A Broken
Column, Margins of Erasure Ed. Jasbir Jain and Amina Amin, New
Delhi : Stcrling Pub Pvt. Ltd. 1995.
12. Seema Malik "Crossing Patriarchal Threshold : Glimpses
of the Incipient New Woman In Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters"
Indian Writing in English ed. Rajul Bhargava (Jaipur, Rawat,
2002).
13. Suman Bala and Subhash Chandra, "Manju Kapur's Difficult
Daughters : A Absorbing Tale of Fact and Fiction : In 50 years
of Indian writing edited by R.K. Dhawan, IAES, New Delhi, 1999.
14. Sumita Pal "The Mother : Daughters Conflict in Manju
Kapur's Difficult Daughter's in Indian Writing in the new Millenium
(Edited by R.K. Dhawan) IAES, New Delhi 2000.
15. Sushila Singh "Recent Trends in Feminest Through"
Indian women Novelist ed. R.K. Dhawan (New Delhi, Prestige 1991)
Set I.
16. Uma Paramaswaran Review of Difficult Daughters : World Literature
Today No. 2 Spring 1999.
17. Veena Das : Critical Events : An Anthropological Perspective
On Contemporary Indian OUP Delhi 1995.
Contributing Writer: Dr. Ram Sharma, Lecturer
in English, Janta
Vedic College MEERUT, U.P.
dr.ram_sharma@yahoo.co.in
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