Autobiographies: Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan (1985) and Frederick Douglass

In this paper, I would like to attempt a comparative study of two autobiographies: Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan (1985) and Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). Through a comparative study of these two texts, I would like to bring out the similarities and differences there are between caste-based and racial violence.

Toni Morrison once pleaded for the recognition of black literature on an equal footing with the white male-dominated American mainstream literature. This plea provides a basis for Dalit Literature to make a similar claim in the mainstream Indian literature (Sreenivasan 43). It also forms the basis of this paper. Dalits and African-Americans have both shared a similar history. While in India Dalits have suffered at the hands of caste-based discrimination, in America, Blacks have suffered at the hands of racial discrimination. Both the sections of society share a history of violence, poverty and exclusion.

African-American and Dalit Literature have been seen as literatures of revolt. They position themselves in opposition to the established, mainstream literature. While Dalit literature presents a picture of the excruciatingly painful experience one has to undergo if they happen to belong to a lower caste, African-American literature is composed of individual voices which speak about collective experience of the non-whites in American society. Both, the Dalits and the African-Americans share similar experiences of being discriminated against by the dominant communities in their respective societies. Since they share certain similar life experiences, their writings have also shown a marked similarity in terms of their themes and the narrative mode chosen for telling of ...

... middle of paper ...

...a means of resistance against oppression. By writing about their lives and sufferings, the Dalit and African-American authors are thus engaging in an act of resistance against the oppression they have faced and are still facing in an unequal society.

Works Cited

Dangle, Arjun, ed. Poisoned Bread. Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2012. Print.

Douglass, Frederick, and Harriet Jacobs. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an

American Slave & Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: The Modern

Library, 2004. Print.

Moon, Vasant, comp. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches. Vol. 5. Bombay:

Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1989. Print.

Sreenivasan, S. “Why Does Dalit Literature Matter?” Journal of Literature and Aesthetics.

8.1 (2008): 41-46. Print.

Valmiki, Omprakash. Joothan. Trans. by Arun Prabha Mukherjee. Kolkata: Samya, 2010.

Print.