SOCIAL STATUS OF CASTE AND GENDER SUBALTERNS IN ROY’S THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
SOCIAL STATUS OF CASTE AND GENDER SUBALTERNS
IN
ROY’S THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
Dr.K.Radhai
Associate Professor of English
J.K.K. Nataraja College of Arts & Science
Komarapalayam-638183.
The bastions of
tyranny, the walls of division,oppression and prejudice, would come tumbling
down through literary art and artefacts. Literature according to Sartre is a
tool which provides a dual action; first as a mirror to the oppressor and
secondly as a guide and inspiration to the oppressed. It acts as a medium for
the oppressed minorities to gain recognition and it paves way for an antidote.
Human Rights Literature
manifests the belief in the enormous power of literature to drive change and in
the authors moral duty to their readers both social and artistic. This literary
genre is based on the theory of “Engaged Literature” developed by the French
Philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, a theory committed to a better society and to the
belief in the power of every human to
make a social change.
“Human Rights and
Literature gained formal momentum after 11thSeptember, 2001”(3).But the conceptual basis of human
rights literature was first introduced in 2010 in The Tremendous power of
Literature, the foreword to the book Freedom an anthology of short stories by
renowned writers from around the world.Human Rights Literature places human
rights at the core of its moral and social duty. It emphasizes the responsibility of the author to delve into writing that is not deliberately
cut off from the world, geopolitical changes or social crisis. It calls on
writers to realize the social commitment
under the power of literary creation.
Having realized this
aspect , Arundhati Roy, the Keralite novelist has created a strong storm in the
world of writing at the fag end of the century by publishing The Booker Prize Winner novel The God
of Small Things.Rushdie remarks that
the novel is “full of ambition and sparkle
and written in a highly wrought & utterly personal style” (XXIII).The novel
is about life in its small ironies and human beings we may come across in our
day to day life.It is deeply rooted in the cultural ethos of South India. It
deals with the love affairs, marriages,divorce, Christian morals, hints of
incest, wild passion , the dying feudalism , references to Kerala history, the
Marxist movement, Civil Disobedience etc. Apart from these facts, the novel is
a literary representation of the social status of caste and gender subalterns
in the Malabar region of India over quite a long period of time. Subalterns
refer to “such groups or individuals as are discriminated against,
marginalized, subordinated, and /or oppressed because of their supposedly
inferior class, caste, gender, race, language and culture.(1477)
This paperhighlights
the presentation of subalternity from the perspectives of caste and gender
only.
The novel is spun based on social stratification. Inspite of the ever pronounced words Equality, Liberty and Justice to all citizens
for years together it is pathetic that India is still reigned by the four class
system. Apart from all these the recent political system uses caste and
community to reap the maximum benefits. The Indian people are constantly
suffering under the burden of Chaturvarna pyramid. So, the novelist through
this outstanding masterpiece has projected the whole scenario with discreet
correctness.
The plight of the subalterns dwelling in
the Malabar region during the 20th century has been highlighted by
the novelist. Mammachi reveals to Estha and Rahel that in her girlhood stage “
Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with a broom , sweeping away their
footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by
accidently stopping in a Paravan’s footprint”(73-74). Late in 1950’s Paravan’s
were not permitted to walk on public roads, nor to cover their upper body or to
carry umbrellas. “They had to put their hands over their mouths when they spoke
, to divert their polluted breath away from those whom they addressed”(74). Roy
ironically reveals that the evils of caste system persisted even when a huge
number of Parayans, Pelayas andPulayas
converted to Christianity and joined the Anglican church to escape the scourge
of untouchability. But they had to worship in separate churches under separate
priests. This conversion aggravated the sufferings of the untouchables. After Indepencence they
were not considered for any Government benefits like job reservations or bank
loans because officially they were Christians and therefore casteless.
Velutha and his elder brother Kuttappan
represent the untouchables of post-independence era. As a young boy, Velutha
had access to the Ayemenem house only through the back entrance. In the later
stage he was permitted to give the toys that he had made to Ammu by “holding
them out on his palm so that she would’nt have to touch him to take them”(74).
When he became a skilled carpenter , his extraordinary skill and talent failed
to fetch a recognition in the society because he belonged to an untouchable
caste. From the novel it is evident that
in all walks of life Velutha suffers stock scorn and segregation of the
uppercaste people.The ‘ touchable’ workers in paradise Pickle sniff at him
because“ Paravans were not meant to be carpenters”(77).” Caste consciousness is
so pervasive in Indian society that the “pure”
and the “high” try all sorts of tactics to flaunt their superiority”(Aswini
Kumar Vishnu 160). Inspector Thomas Matthew who is supposedly to be the
guardian of law and justice and comrade KNM Pillai who is considered to be the
‘crusader of the oppressed’ shake hands tofavour the false FIR lodged against
him by Baby Kochamma only because he is an untouchable. Thus he was exploited
because of his caste.
The Constitutionof India provides
attention to women under Articles 14, 15(1) and 15(A) (C). The citizens of
India are insisted to give due regard to women and not to do anything
derogatory to the dignity of women. In order to strengthen and mobilize this
long submissive section of society provisions are made through Five Year Plans .
Though she wears the crown of power, freedom and glamour she is “machine tooled
to play custom designed roles”(161). The female subalternity has been
represented by three generations of women. The women are treated as chattels by
their male –counterparts. The first generation is represented by by Mammachi
and Baby Kochamma , second generation by Ammu and Margaret Kochamma and the
third generation by Rahel. The first generation women succumb to the
circumstances circumscribed to them by patriarchal pattern of the society . The
intermediate generation of females daringly defy the norms imposed upon them
though they had to pay a heavy price for. Ammu represents the present
generation and she passes her entire life as arebel and a defiant being.
Mammachi’s pickle making job earns
Pappachi’s jealous frowns instead of favour. He greatly resents the attention
she gets in the society for her skill in
it. Far from assisting her in buying, weighing, salting and drying of limes and
tender mangoes “every night he beat her with a brass flower vase”(47). She is
overtaken by his black moods and sudden bouts of temper. Ammu is also a victim
of repelling man and he has no trace of
shame or guilt or morality when his English Boss Hollick makes an indecent deal
with him. Hollick demands Ammu to sleep with him and the fellow agrees and
goads Ammu to gratify the Boss. Ammu’s natural declination draws his fury and she
is thrashed black and blue. Ammu refused to the norms of patriarchy. She was
conscious of discrimination at the tender age and she was not permitted to
pursue her higher studies because her father “insisted that a college education was an unnecessary expense
for a girl”(38).She had to remain in home for two years and inorder to escape
from the virtual prison of her parents house she married a Bengali Hindu. Being
a habitual liar and confirmed drunkard , her husband forced her to act as his
boss’s concubine. She retaliated to reclaim her self- respect and dignity and hits him with a book “on his head.His legs.
His back and shoulders”(42). Finally she deserts her husband and goes back to
Ayemenem- the same place that she had fled from a few years back. She expresses
her feministic stance by getting her wedding ring melted down and made a bangle
for Rahel.The third generation is represented by Rahel and she exhibited her
independence , of thought and action even when she was in school. Though the
society tried to compel her to follow the norms of so called good behavior and
conduct, she continued to follow her own whims and fancies.She even married an American of her own choice and
even divorced without bothering about the traditional norms . Thus Rahel
asserted her rights and followed her convictions and thus she has been represented as a liberated women.
Thus
the representatives of caste and gender subalterns of the second
generation joined hands to protest against the tyranny of social traditions
though theyfailed to get their due from the society. The prominent reason was
that at that time the bastion traditional norms was too strong to be broken by
a handful of individuals. The fight of the subalterns against the unjust social
order can succeed only at the collective level. Education and proper grooming
also could bring back their lost dignity and self esteem.
Works
Cited:
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New Delhi: IndiaInk,
1997.
Agrawal,K.A.Post Modern Indian English Fiction. Jaipur:Book Enclave,2007.
Goldberg, ElizabethSwanson and Alexandra
Schultheis Moore.Theoretical Perspectives
on Human Rights Literature.Rouledge.New York: 2012.
Guha, Ranjit.Subaltern Studies as Post Colonial Criticism. American Historical
Review 99,5(1994).
Bheda,P.D. Indian Women Novelists in English.New Delhi: Sarup & Sons,2005.
Ray.K. Mohit.Indian Writing in English. New Delhi:Atlantic Publishers,2008.
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