Examples Of Womanhood In The Thousand Faces Of Night

In The Thousand and One Nights translated by Husain Haddawy, there is an emphasis on the role women play in and how their characters affect the male view on the rights and freedom women are entitled to. The value of women in the tale vanished after King Shahzaman’s wife had committed adultery with one of his palace workers. In the East during the time of this tale, there was little to no value for women, which gave men the power to use them as sex slaves and be able to throw them away after they have been sexually fulfilled. One day, when the vizier’s daughter Shahrazad volunteers to calm the raging king by telling him many tales and distracting him from his sexual acts and killing spree. The tale of The Thousand and One Nights was believed to be misogynistic, and presented women to be adulteresses who caused the downfall of men (Blythe). This tale was written in ancient Middle-Eastern civilization where women did not have rights or freedom within their societies and were victimized to be seen as the root of all evil and that “women are not to be trusted” (609. Haddawy). This tale will be evaluated based on the traditions placed in the ancient Middle-East, the modern-day observations of how women are treated in westernized countries, and the changes perceived.

Mahasweta Devi’s short story, “Giribala,” is about the life of Giribala, a girl of Talsana village located in India. Born into a caste in a time when it was still customary to pay a bride-price, Giri is sold to Aulchand by her father. From this point on, we see a series of unfortunate, tragic events that take place in Giri’s life as a result of the circumstances surrounding Giri’s life. There are many issues in Giri’s life in India that Devi highlights to readers. First, the economic instability of the village leads to an extremely poor quality of life for the lower, working classes. Next, the cruel role of women determined by men in society is to either satisfy the sexual desires of men or to reproduce offspring who can work or be sold off to marriages. There are also other social norms and beliefs which discriminate against women that will be discussed.

She reveals an appealing story of deeply embedded and destructive patriarchal beliefs, disempowered women who have no claim on their body and the callous administration of medical system and the social issues of the society or community. This book makes a clear sense of the present scenario of eliminating the female foetuses from the womb of a mother which spells doom for our sons, and our daughters and its disastrous impact on our future generations. Gita Aravamudan’s book Disappearing Daughters answers some of the questions raised by the different sociologists in the society. The book explores some of the socio-economic factors related to the female foeticide. This book is like a travelogue, in which the author has raised the discrimination between the girl and a boy

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel, The Palace of Illusions is the epitome of feminism. It retells the story of Mahabharata from the view point of Draupadi, the daughter of King Drupad. The delicate threads of her life have beautifully been interwoven to bring forth a grasping story. Chitra Banerjee has herself written “I would uncover the story that lay invisible between the lines of the men’s exploits. Better still I would have her one of her tell it herself, with all her joys and doubts, her struggles and her triumphs, her heartbreaks, her achievements, the unique female way in which she sees her world and her place in it.”(XV).

As a result of these reviews, the ongoing reconstruction of the social status and roles of Hindu women has brought about many new changes in Hinduism. Some of these changes include changes in education, health measures, problems of early marriages, the positions of widows, and the representation of women in governing bodies (Desai, et al., 1995). For example, within Hinduism now,

Tehmina Durrani is a prominent woman writer of Pakistan. She writes about the subordinated and marginal status of women in Pakistani society. She portrays the miserable plight of women in a so-called democratic country. Her works reflect female subjugation and sufferings encountered by the majority of women in the conservative milieu of Pakistan. She articulates her own experiences and holds the political, religious and social mechanism responsible for such plight of women in society. The present paper analyses her autobiographical novel My Feudal Lord and aims at studying various discourses like patriarchy, feudalism, misinterpretation of religion and social taboos, which, according to the novelist, are responsible for the oppression of women

The articles “Voicing the Feminine Within: A Journey through the Life Narrative of A. Revathi”, Writing a Life Between Gender Lines: Conversations with A.Revathi about her autobiography The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story”, Gender Geometry: A Study of A. Revathi’s autobiography The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story and the interview Voice of Visibility by NithinMayanth are the only works directly based on Revathi’s autobiography The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story, the primary text of this research.

Forty Six years ago, on January 24, India got her First Lady Prime Minister - Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The nation of male dominance stood standstill in the awe of the power of this one lady whose determination spoke volumes. Today, India stands high in the race of urbanization but in the genre of social development, it is away behind. It is an irony in this country that where mother is worshipped as Mother Divine, there is domestic violence. In a country where ‘Kumari Puja’ is done, there is female foeticide.

Traditionally, an Indian woman had only four roles and those were; Her role as a daughter, wife, sister, and lastly, a mother. The women in today’s time however are experiencing far reaching changes and are entering into new fields that were unknown to them. They are actively participating in social, economic and political activities. Unlike the older times, women today have received higher education.

Anita Nair is a popular Indian English-language writer. She has much insight into the concerns of studies, family, love and striving for fame and fortune . She makes an attempt to show the quality of strength in a woman. Anita Nair also adds that strength is not usually considered a woman as this. Her styles ultimately differ from other feminist writers. In other words, she is a feminist with difference. She traces the real position of women in the families as well as in the society. Her attempt to exhibit the plight, fears, dilemmas, contradictions and ambitions of her women characters is remarkable. Her primary focus of attention is the world of women, the struggle of women in the content of modern Indian society. Her novel reveals the

Feminist criticism, a “direct product of the ‘women’s movement’ of the 1960s”, is a broad school of theory that examines the representations of women in literature as well as the socially constructed concept of femininity (Barry, 2009, p.116). Besides challenging the previously-unquestioned ‘naturalness’ of gender roles in society, feminist criticism is also concerned with female experiences of oppression, and seeks to expose “how aspects of our culture are inherently patriarchal” (Purdue University, 2010). In addition, feminist criticism raises the question of whether or not an inherently female language exists, and aims to change the traditional literary canon that previously marginalized women writers.

By nineteenth century, a myriad of men and women left the homes in their homeland and traveled to the exotic and mystified country of India, where they tried to replicate their own society. The women led hidden lives, out of the history books, often supporting their husbands’ conquests and even

The story of The Thousand Faces of Night presents different generations of women each representing her time and traditions. Another pattern of discourse analysis is based on the study of conversation and dialogue. There are ample examples depicting feminist ideas throughout the novel. In one of the passages it has been referred to that she thought of the three of them, Mayamma, Sita and herself. Three of the women who walked a tightrope and struggled for some balance, for some means of survival they could fashion for themselves. GithaHariharan has depicted struggle suffered by Indian women for their existence. Even Mayamma realizes that for a woman who leaves her home in search of god, only death is the homecoming. Parvatiamma’s son Mahesh calls her irresponsible and a traitor. The author beautifully narrates at the novel ends with a graphic description which is very meaningful: Suitcase in hand, Devi opened the gate and looked wonderingly at the garden, wild and over grown, but lush in spite of its sand choked roots. Then she quickened her footsteps as she heard the faint sounds of a Veena, hesitant and childlike, inviting her into the house. Devi’s character has is representative of many complex issues of Indian society. Devi

She makes an important point when trying to go beyond the female (otherness), by paying careful attention to differences among women themselves, and by putting emphasize on the multiple realties that women faces, and by that trying to uncover universalist interpretations (Parpart and Marchand 1995:6). She reveals the inadequacy of binary categories by showing us how power is defined in binary terms, between the people who have (men) and the people who do not (women). This is a consequence of seeing women as a homogenous group, and contributes to the reinforcement of the binary division between men and women (Mohanty 1991:64). By assuming that women are a already constituted group with the same experiences and interests, gender is looked upon as something that can be applied cross cultures (Mohanty 1991:54), and it also produces an assumption about the “average third world woman” as poor and uneducated, in contrast to the educated, modern Western women (Mohanty 1991:56). Implicit in the binary analytic lies the assumption that the third world woman only can be liberated through western rationality. Mohanty is making an important point when emphasising the need to challenge these objectifications (Udayagiri 1995:163).

Amartya Kumar Sen seeks to subvert this, arguing that since independence, there has been liberation of socioeconomic change and a distinct method of exercising the `real freedoms that women enjoy, focusing on the growth of the individual woman in comparison to placing her in a ‘repressive state.’ However, whilst Sen argues with an optimistic tone, it is important to note that the position of the woman in independent India was still a problematic topic. The portrayal of women in the Indian milieu can be thought of as rather extreme. On one hand she is admired as a `Devi’ (Hindu goddess) on the other, she is a commodity of suffering and humiliation. This can be recognised in A Married Woman whereby Astha’s sexual identity is the object