CONGUGAL CACAPHONY IN ANITA DESAI’S NOVELS
Suneeta Upadhyay, Research Scholar
M.M.H. college, Ghaziabad, C.C.S. University, Meerut
Indian novelist and short story writer, Anita Desai is specially noted for her insightful depiction of the inner life of the female characters in her writings. In most of her novels Anita Desai dwells on the themes incongruity, incertitude and hazards of human relationship particularly the man-woman relationship. D.H. Lawrence points out:
The great relationship for humanity will always be the relationship between man and woman. The relation between man and man, woman and woman, parent and child will always be subsidiary.
Desai in her portrayal of man-women relationship mostly broods over the
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Against all sane advices she goes to the magical world so that she could prevent the biological process of delivery.
Nand kaul in Fire on the Mountain, a great grandmother, totally disillusioned with all marital bonds. Her husband was the Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University but treated her simply as some useful object in house. He carried on a life long affair with another woman. He is such a coward that he could not marry a Christian lady because he could not dare break social conventions. Nanda could not belong to the family and her position is no better than a house keeper. Outwardly, the Kaul’s are an ideal couple for university community but from inside their relationship is all-barren.
After Maya, Monisha and Nanda Kaul there comes a change in the concept of matrimony for Desai’s heroine. Sarah, Bim, Sarla, Leila, Lotte, Aruna and Uma. They face their problem unflinchingly. They too have their poignant predicament, mental and spiritual incongruity, supremacy of male community, suffering at the hand of their in-laws, conjugal cacophony etc. still they struggle and compromise in their wedded life and survive. They believe there is no other way out and inspite of adverse conditions, life is worth to be lived.
In Clear Light of Day rather we get a fresh addition in the treatment of man-woman relationship at the hand of novelist. Desai does not write about the strain and incoherence between husband and wife but brother and sister. The chief protagonist
Kapasi’s point of view and that of Mrs. Das, we will see some common features and differences, and above all, this is due to the fact that there are male and female points of view. Mrs. Das said how she met her future husband, how they communicated, and most importantly that she got married for real love. As many young girls, she dreamed of a strong marriage, but she ended up in an indifferent relationship with her husband, who on this trip to sees everything through the lens of his camera; she worries about Bobby and wants advice from Mr. Kapasi who is almost the same age as her father, but he has a lustful thoughts and is unwilling to understand her complex situations. As though from different angles. For instance, Mrs. Das always in her glasses and almost never removes them (338), Mr. Das sees the world through his camera (336) and he is missing the really important points that happen with his
The short story, “Interpreter of Maladies,” written by Jhumpa Lahiri, is about an Indian tour guide who has an epiphany once he realizes that one of his clients finds his side job, an interpreter for the doctor, romantic. Mrs. Das, the one who appears to show interest in the tour guide’s occupation, struggles throughout her married life to remain loyal and loving to her husband. This characteristic of Mrs. Das’ is highlighted through the author’s use of tone, which is defined as the way the author feels about a certain character. As well, the use of tone, seen specifically in the diction, syntax, and detail of this story, helps to identify and support various themes. Lahiri’s use of a condescending tone towards Mrs. Das bolsters the theme that unfaithfulness causes someone to become alienated from their family.
“They wept together, for the things they now knew.”(104) The last sentence of the first story in Interpreter of Maladies, reveals the cruelty of the elapsed romance in a marriage. In the two collections, A Temporary Matter and The Third and Final Continent, Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrates that a marriage can be either uplifting or discouraging depends on the mindset held by the couple and the strength of human bonding. Lahiri emphasizes the significance of mindset and human bondings through the ending of the two stories. The endings of the two stories are polar opposite : In A Temporary Matter, Shukumar and Shobha weeps for the termination of their relationship; The Third and Final Continent, by contrast, the protagonist(MIT) enjoys a fairytale-like
Lack of communication is a main reason Mr. and Mrs. Das are suffering from a loveless marriage. The importance of communication and marriage go hand-in-hand.
To satisfy his thirst, Tom started searching for beautiful girls in the nearby town. In the next town, he found a gorgeous young lady named Isobel who had blond curly hair, hazel eyes, and curvy figure. Isobel was flattered by Tom’s look and body. They both first met at the mall in the coffee shop and they liked each other so much that they started dating on the same day. There was only one big problem with their relationship that Isobel was married and Tom knew it, but he still continued dating because he badly wanted to have pleasure with Isobel. Tom and Isobel usually met after midnight at the Lover’s Lane and make out in Isobel’s car. One night, the lovers decided to meet little early than usual because of some family emergency. They met at the same place and did the same thing, but this time there was a couple who saw them together. Alex, Isobel’s husband, was the richest and powerful person in the whole town. He had many connections throughout the town. Tom and Isobel tried to hide their affair, but the truth always overcomes lie. After few days, Alex heard people talking in the office about Isobel’s affair and how she makes out with her lover in the car every night. Alex went crazy with anger, hatred, and jealousy. He got angry and vowed to take revenge on them.
In everyday life, a relation is always identified as trust and support. In this novel, a relation between a husband and a wife is shown in a different way. Min, one of the characters in the story, is shown losing her mental stability and is living with her two children. She did not have any contact with her husband in few years and neither did he try to contact
Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story, “A Temporary Matter,” presents the failing marriage of an Indian couple, Shoba and Shukumar. Lahiri illustrates how the grief of losing someone can lead to a broken relationship. Shukumar and Shoba have been ignoring each other since Shoba had a miscarriage. The tragedy changes the way they treat each other. Their grief makes both of them become two different people. A temporary matter has forced them to communicate with each other and since then, Shukumar and Shoba are comfortable talking to each other and even making love with each other. This temporary matter has somehow temporarily reconnected them together. Jhumpa Lahiri intentionally uses the symbols of darkness, light, house, the baby and neighbors to represent a broken relationship of a married couple.
As a beginning of this film, a myth is told by the Nyinba people of Nepal: a story of fearsome spirits thought to kill children and the weak. Their crime was adulterous passionate love and it was this that had condemned them to live eternally between life and death. In this film, we learn about and explore marriages in tribal societies. We can clearly identify the differences that challenge both side’s ideas and sensibilities about marriage bonds.
Chapter three of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, when first read, confusion will start to seep through because of the concepts and writing style within the story making it unique in it’s own ways. More time processing the little details can lead to a different perspective of viewing the story in a more indepth way. Chapter three is a short story about Mrs.Das, who is miserable with her marriage and her life, as she starts revealing her secrets to Mr.Kapasi who also identical to Mrs.Das, is miserable with his marriage and life. In this chapter, Jhumpa Lahiri applies symbolism to affect the meaning of the story and to exhibit more concepts with ordinary objects you might not see as an alternative meaning.
In Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, many characters are forced to overcome obstacles in their personal lives. Laila and Mariam, the two main characters, find themselves married to the same man, Rasheed. Both had a good relationship with Rasheed at the beginning of their marriages. Soon they found that they were both being abused by Rasheed. Mariam and Laila overcome the abuse by taking matters into their own hands. Khaled Hosseini introduces the reader to the ways many Muslim men and women believe that marriages should be private and that how the man treats his wife or wives is his business. Many relationships find themselves trying to overcome an abusive marriage.
An analogy has been drawn about how she was in the past and how is she now. She was a carefree person, demanding love in her life, wanting to take care of her children and become a house wife and now she works as a schoolteacher, has become a responsible person concerned about her husband and child, struggling for her son’s life, bearing tantrums of her sister-in-law and living in a small house in a small city. On the other hand, Komal, sister-in-law of Anjali is a character shown who seems to be frustrated from her life from the time she has lost her husband. The book has depicted another face of an Indian woman, who lives her entire life following the customs that the society has decided for a widow. Anjali tried to make her first marriage successful by taking care of small things like making her husband, his favorite cardamom chai and best of meals while Prakash’s second wife Indu was never concerned about any of his likings and gave priority to her own personal
In the short story “Saving Sourdi” it shocked me at first to know that some marriages are still arranged here today in America. I had to read the story back because to understand the struggle Nea and her family has from moving from the homeland to America trying to attain the American Dream. Nea’s and her sister had a great relationship while they were growing up but because Sourdi is older and more mature she harsh realities of the world before Nea. Nea is to young to understand such changes in the world because from a young age she was promised happiness but lost hope as she moved from place to place. Having a sister I can relate to Nea anxiously want to drive to her sister house in the middle of the night to make sure she is alright.
There are also themes of immigration and culture. It is interesting that cultural responsibilities to her husband is what really separates Nea and Sourdi. Coming of age and the role men is also something. Yet again, it is the cultural instance of the man Mr. Chhay that takes Sourdi away; despite any protestations of his uncouthness Duke actually may have made for something more inclusive for Nea as he is delayed in development like Nea; symbolized by the fact Duke and Nea even held hands while present with Nea in the car. With Mr. Chhay in the life of Sourdi, there is very little role for Nea; perhaps this is why Nea hates so much that fact that he calls her ‘little sister’ (Chai, 2001). Overall Sourdi represents a choice to become that her mother became, a wife and mother.
Nisa’s first marriage ceremony was a beautiful and at the same time unpleasant event. She wore numerous beads and decorations, as well as other girls. Then her and grooms parents built a hut for newlyweds where they can live and spend the nights together. However, Nisa ran away every night after her husband would fall asleep back to her parents hut.
As Kalyani and Chuyia get closer, they come across a man named Narayan, who is a follower of Gandhi, and grows fond of Kalyani. As time goes on, she grows fond of Narayan herself and the fondness they have of each other gives them the idea to get married. Kalyani tells Chuyia about her plans to marry Narayan, but