The novel explores the women who want to assert their right and create their own identity in the traditional society. The novel not only describes India 's independence-partition time but also independence of women from conventional and patriarchal bondages. Sunita Sinha rightly states in Discovery of Daring and Desire in Manju Kapur’s Fiction, “Kapur speaks of the idea of independence – independence aspired to and obtained by a nation and also independence yearned after by a woman” (Sinha 161). A comment of Sinha gives an idea about novel’s core element.
It is the story of struggle and endeavors against socially odds in search of self-identity of woman in the male dominated society seen through the eyes of a daughter who tried to reconstruct her mother’s image with help of her past. Many
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What her mother has done that she hates her so badly? The search of answer takes Ida to the past of her mother and when she realizes mother’s extraordinariness, she pays tribute to her mother for her endeavors against odds. After her mother’s death, Ida tries to search her mother’s personality through many people in relation to her mother. She talks with her uncle Kailashnath, her mother’s friend Swarnalata, and her aunt and from many other people. When she realizes extraordinariness of her mother, she starts to love her more than before. The closing statement of the novel reveals here gratitude and love towards her mother, she says, “This book weaves a connection between my mothers and me, each word a brick in a mansion I made with my head and my heart, Now live in it, Mama, and leave me be. Do not haunt me anymore” (Kapur 280). The concluding lines of the novel exemplify the Ida’s changed mentality towards her mother. She no more hates her mother and treats her endeavors with respect and honor. Ira explores her mother’s struggle through the construction of mother’s
The novel complicates its own understanding of women
... family traditions because they are innocent and fragile compared to men, therefore dramatizing the effects of the ‘inhuman’ traditions. A maternal bond is a very crucial component of one’s life; therefore by disrupting the usual aspect of one’s life, the authors are sending their message in a strong manner. Furthermore, the ending of both novels imply a necessity for social improvement in their societies as the protagonists have to detach themselves from their repressive mothers, who represent the authorities of the old generation with their overbearing attitudes, in order to pursue their own dreams, whether it is for education, career, or love. After the protagonists break away from their mothers, Tita chases her love for Pedro and Hang leaves the country, abandoning all the traditional traditions, to continue with her college education and occupation in Russia.
In the book Sold by Patricia McCormick shares the story of Lakshmi who at the age of 13 is sold by her step father and is forced into the a life of prostitution. She is born and raised in a simple village community, her only trouble in life is her step father. Lakshmi will soon come to learn there is a whole world outside of her village and it is not as pure as she once believed. Lakshmi is starved and beaten until she finally comes to terms with her new fate. She tells stories of what happened to her while locked away, what she learns from the other girls, and what could happen to her if she angers Mumtaz. Lakshmi does not understand what is happening only they are happening to her. The experiences Lakshmi goes through can relate to everyones’ personal experiences in life.
in showing the expectations and failures of women through society and the concealment behind the
“Women Hollering Creek” is a story about a woman’s despair, anguishes, and pain of her life that she live. In the story, Cleofila the protagonist has an attraction to the legend of the Arroyo. The legend of the Arroyo is similar to the life of Cleofila, in that both the women in the legend and Cleofila expressed their despair of their life through similar examples.
The daughter alludes to an idea that her mother was also judged harshly and made to feel ashamed. By the daughters ability to see through her mothers flaws and recognize that she was as wounded as the child was, there is sense of freedom for both when the daughter find her true self. Line such as “your nightmare of weakness,” and I learned from you to define myself through your denials,” present the idea that the mother was never able to defeat those that held her captive or she denied her chance to break free. The daughter moments of personal epiphany is a victory with the mother because it breaks a chain of self-loathing or hatred. There is pride and love for the women they truly were and is to be celebrated for mother and daughter.
Nevertheless, she is met with opposition of her husband, explaining that it is “the worst thing she can do”, which strengthens the idea that the narrator would rather follow her husband’s advice instead of meeting “heavily opposition.” The narrator was diverted from her passions, for they were considered problematic not only to her health, but also to the patriarchal society women are constantly exposed to. Moreover, her condition is deeply overwhelmed not only by her restrictions, but also the growing nervousness that she is unable to suit her role as a woman. Bringing into conclusion that despite him being very “careful and loving” as the narrator may be convinced, he still is a representation of the suppression of women.
She lived as a Chicana women in a society of oppression and confusion. I feel like the overall theme of the story could be, Who am I? She’s questioning herself throughout the whole thing, trying to figure out how to be and who she is going to be. “It is a part of me that refuses to take orders from outside authorities”(38). She also shows her awareness of disobeying authority. All the standards that were placed upon Chicanas and women were coming from a need to control and disguised to ‘protect.’ Men were keeping women in a defined role. No one asked questions or went up against authority. You can look at these stories in numerous ways. She states that they are never alone with men, not even the ones in her family. “The culture gave us mixed messages...Which was it to be- strong, or submissive, rebellious of conforming?”(40). They are first a mother, father, or sibling, and lastly they were to think of themselves. Selfishness was condemned. They have very strict rules about how they were supposed to act. You couldn’t act like you were better than anyone else, you didn’t want people to get envious and do acts of ‘witchcraft’ on you. I see this as the men being threatened by the women. Men always have been. They must obey and not speak out because they know that if the women are free to say what they want in this time then all hell will break loose. It makes it hard to
This was the illustration of this entire story. As the story goes it present a lot perspective and though of the mother and very little of the girl. More importantly, the story shows that the mother doesn’t really care about how the girl feels about her advice; it wasn’t a choice either she take her advice and become a good daughter and a good wife in the future or she will become known a “slut” who doesn’t follow her tradition. This story will make you wonder if the girl will ever become the perfect girl that her mother wants her to be or if she gets use to the American tradition and not be the perfect girl her mother ought her to
This novel shows the struggle of two women suffering against the Taliban society. Their similar suffering leads to the mother-daughter bond they created later in the book. The quote, "Women like us. We endure. It's all we have", can be used to exemplify the importance of hope, strength, and courage. Everyday, Mariam and Laila faced oppression and injustice, yet the book ended with a sense of pleasure. Mariam's mother believes that women have no choice but to be tough and survive.
In the age of industrialization when rural life gradually was destroyed, the author as a girl who spent most of her life in countryside could not help writing about it and what she focuses on in her story - femininity and masculinity, which themselves contain the symbolic meanings - come as no surprise.
The second person point of view helps the reader to connect with the girl in this story. It shows the reader a better understanding of this character and how she is being raised to be a respectable woman. This point of view also gives us an insight on the life of women and shows us how they fit into their society. Through this point of view, the reader can also identify the important aspects of the social class and culture. The daughter tries to assert a sense of selfhood by replying to the mother but it is visible that the mother is being over whelming and constraining her daughter to prepare her for
...the story he is inviting the reader to condemn the mistreatment of women and lack of freedom in the family particularly under the institution of marriage. The attitude of the author gives the story a condemning tone. The tone is appropriate for the theme which is a strained relations in the family and specifically in marriage relations.
Right from the ancient epics and legends to modern fiction, the most characteristic and powerful form of literary expression in modern time, literary endeavour has been to portray this relationship along with its concomitants. Twentieth century novelists treat this subject in a different manner from those of earlier writers. They portray the relationship between man and woman as it is, whereas earlier writers concentrated on as it should be. Now-a-days this theme is developing more important due to rapid industrialization and growing awareness among women of their rights to individuality, empowerment, employment and marriage by choice etc. The contemporary Indian novelists in English like Anita Desai, Sashi Deshpande, Sashi Tharoor, Salman Rusdie, Shobha De, Manju Kapoor, Amitav Ghosh etc. deal with this theme minutely in Indian social milieu.
This analysis will examine focal points in the movie, The Day I Became a Woman, written by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The movie is three separate stories of females in separate stages of life. Part one is a young girl transitioning into womanhood. The second part is a married woman defying her husband’s wishes for happiness. The third and final story is of a rich old widow, celebrating the end of her life. The lives of these women do not appear to intertwine, but their fates are parallel as women in Iranian society.