CHAPTER-5
The Awakening
Of New
Consciousness
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In this modern India one comes across certain intelligent and courageous
girls who raise their voices against the patriarchal norms. Such girls fight their battles
on their own to change their destiny. They not only transform their lives, but are
helpful in transforming others‘ lives also. They contribute actively in the national
development too. These are the girls who celebrate their journey from victimized to
liberated and individual selves.
Kashmira Sheth and Kamala Markandaya depict the picture of such girls
in their novels. This chapter will analyse Leela in Kashmira Sheth‘s Keeping
Corner , Mira and Pemala in Kamala Markandaya‘s Some Inner Fury. These girls
are successful in awakening new consciousness amongst other girls and society.
I
The death shrouds and the shadow falls, trapping me.
I want to run free like a newborn calf on a grassy plain.
Tied, I am tied with a chidri to the nail of widowhood
Nail driven, in the soil of my life (Sheth: 157)
The search for a liberated self other than the one imposed upon women by
society and culture begins when the woman starts thinking and questioning the codes
of conduct laid down by society, especially a patriarchal one. This thinking and
questioning attitude can start right from the woman's childhood, persist through
adulthood, that is, marriage and motherhood, and become a mature understanding of
one's individuality leading to an integrated, whole personality. Once they have
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succeeded in the quest, and found their true selves, they are at peace with themselves
and with the world. They become people who have their own aims in life, making
their own choices, with a sense of responsibility. They become liberated in their
thinking, and actions. ―Childhood is a very important period in the formation of
character and for the emergence of a value structure in the life of a human being.‖
(Aerathu Vincent: 43) Though the girl child was absent for long in Indian literature,
we get some memorable portrayals of the girl child in recent Indian English fiction
Children‘s literature in India tries to highlight young girls‘ capacity to
represent a healthy new beginning. ‗The New Indian Girl‘ presented in contemporary
Indian English children‘s literature proves to be an epitome of modern and post-
colonized India, where gender equality is beginning to find its place. In contemporary
Indian children‘s literature feminist ideology is observed in the widespread presence
of girl characters and the pursuit of gender equality. In contemporary Indian
children‘s literature, there are many stories in which girls are the protagonists and
they initiate different actions. The children's novels like Suchitra and Rag Picker,
Blue Jasmine, Koyal dark Mango Sweet, Keeping Corner portray different picture of
girls in India. The girl characters in these novels are not passive like they used to be in
traditional Indian literature. Most of the novels by women can be considered a form of
feminist children‘s literature. However, while a work of feminist children‘s literature
can be defined as one in which the protagonist triumphs over gender- related conflicts,
a prevalent narrative pattern in many of these novels, it can be considered a form that
is premised on a feminist ideology espousing, that all people should be treated
equally, regardless of gender, race, class or religion.
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From the Panchatantra and the Jataka Tales to the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, India is a land of oral traditions. Grandparents handed down stories to
their grandchildren and they retold many of those to their children. In fact, most of the
Indian books which are seen in the market today are retold versions of these stories.
However, since independence, India has transformed through a series of changes in
outlook, achievement and ideals, which have been reflected in literature—even
children‘s literature(www.Chillibreeze.com) Books for children have changed from
simple stories that are rich in morals and traditions to those that reflect the new
changing society. Children‘s literature from India is not yet recognized around the
world, but it is certainly spreading its wings. Writers of children‘s literature produce
books, both traditional and contemporary, that reflect Indian reality in content, style,
visuals and production.
Kashmira Sheth is a children‘s novelist. She is the author of six books, two
of them are picture books, titled as My Dadima Wears a Sari and Monsoon Afternoon.
She has written three books which are meant for teens, Blue Jasmine, Koyal Dark,
Mango Sweet and Keeping Corner. She is awarded with many awards like, 2007
Parent‘s Choice Award Gold Winner, 2008 Notable Children‘s Books in the
Language Arts, Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth, CCBC choice 2008,
IRA(International Reading Association) Notable Books for A Global Society,2008
Friends of American Writers Award. Keeping Corner is published in 2007. Her latest
novel is Boys without Names. In Kasmira‘s novels feminist ideology is visible, she
represents girl characters as protagonists who fight for their rights, raise questions
against traditional patriarchy and triumph over gender related conflicts.
Keeping Corner is a story of a Brahmin girl Leela, who lives in a small
village Jamlee, in the Indian state of Gujarat in 1918. Leela is engaged to Ramanlal at
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the age of 2 and she gets married at the age of 9. When the novel begins Leela is 12
years old and she is about to leave her parents‘ house and go to live with her husband
as per tradition. She has never been interested in school. She does not care for the
chaotic situation in India and Gandhiji‘s struggle for independence. She is very much
a pleasure-loving and carefree girl who enthusiastically looks forward to move to her
husband‘s place. As a child, marriage to her, is just about wearing beautiful clothes,
wearing new jewellery, eating good food and have fun. Unfortunately her husband
dies and she becomes a widow at the age of 12.With her husband‘s death Leela‘s life
changes forever. Instead of being showered with gifts and affection, she is forced to
shave her head and give away her favourite saris and bangles. Leela is compelled to
follow the tradition of ‗keeping corner‘ by remaining inside her house for a year. As
per Indian tradition, the subsequent life of Leela will remain the same. Leela will be a
social outcast and considered a burden by her family. As Leela tells her teacher, ―A
year of keeping corner will never end. It will be as long as a river.‖ (Sheth: 107)
The custom of child marriage of girls became very common by the epic
period. Leela also has heard people saying:
Daughters are someone else‘s treasure and the sooner you part with
them the better off you are; daughter looks good only in their in-law‘s
house, and the younger you marry your daughter the quicker you are
done with your obligations. (Sheth: 9)
A more tragic disaster brought about by the early marriage system was that
this led to many girls becoming widows even before they reached to puberty. The
plight of the widow was very poor. Widows were ill- treated and ignored. They were
excluded from all good rituals. Regarding personal morality the society maintained a
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double standard for men and women. After becoming a widow Leela is also ill-treated
by the society. She is ignored and excluded from the rituals. She is considered to be
the bringer of misfortune. Society tries to make a widow feel that she is inferior to
everyone in the world and even a widow does not have confidence to face the
challenges that she will come across as a widow. After the completion of a year of
keeping corner when Leela steps out from her house for the first time to pluck some
flowers, she hears the voice of a band. At that time across the street someone shouts:
Aye Leela, are you crazy? Go, go in the house. No one wants to see the
face of a widow before getting married...Hurry, run in before the
groom sees you. It would be a bad omen.
(Sheth: 210)
Leela questions this custom and asks her kaki:
Tell me how can I bring bad luck? I am just a girl named Leela. What
powers do I have? And if I had powers, then wouldn‘t I have prevented
bringing such bad luck to myself? (Sheth: 211)
Leela also questions society‘s unequal attitudes towards men and women.
She asks, ―Fat Soma was widowed once, why does not he bring bad luck? (Sheth:
211) Her kaki answers, ―It‘s different for men .They can marry again and be
happy.‖(Sheth: 211) Leela again cries in grief, ―Why can‘t women be happy again
too?‖ (Sheth: 211) Leela wants to go to Ahmedabad for studies because she thinks
that if she educates herself she can step out of her image of Leela –the widow to Leela
as an individual. When Leela thinks of going to Ahmedabad, her cousin Jaya
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appreciates it and writes to Leela, ―... It will open up a new world for you. A world
where you will be Leela and nothing else.‖ (Sheth: 146)
Leela is a victim of such a custom in India. Kashmira Sheth tries to depict a
new Indian girl in Leela, who successfully balance tradition and modernity. As
Michelle Superle says:
These ‗new Indian girl‘ characters are shaped by liberal feminist ideals
and successfully balance tradition and modernity in support of
contemporary societal needs. (Both national and multicultural) They
honour tradition by working from within and improving family and
community relationships. At the same time, they embrace modernity in
their fight for gender equality, which they attain by developing
themselves through education and by making valuable contributions to
public society, outside the domestic sphere. (Superle: 41)
Leela is such a girl who is empowered and progressive. She acts to reject
traditionally prescribed roles for Indian girls by insisting that girls and boys are
equally valued members of society and deserve equal opportunities, particularly in
relation to education and self-determination. Leela is the epitome of such a girl who
not only succeeds in improving her life, but tries to bring transformation in the lives
of other people also and thinks for the well-being of her community and country.
In Keeping Corner the conflation of national progress and gender equality is
clearly demonstrated as Gandhi‘s pursuit of freedom from colonial control is
consistently shown to inspire Leela‘s own pursuit of freedom from patriarchal
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constraints. Gandhi is struggling for freedom of the nation and Leela is struggling for
liberation of self and women in general.
Before 1947India was a colonized country. In the novel Gandhi is shown
struggling against the colonizer for getting ‗Purna Swaraj, means freedom of choice.
In the same way women, for many centuries are suffering from ‗Interior colonization‘.
They are colonized by the patriarchal tradition and custom. For many centuries there
has been a tacit acceptance of a number of such assumptions about the inferior status
of women which pervade all fields of life. With the codification of the laws of Manu,
the subordination of women was assured for centuries to come. Manu's idea that a
woman does not deserve freedom, that she has to be protected in her childhood by her
father, in her youth by her husband and in her old age by her sons put the seal of male
domination and tyranny over women and their socially sanctioned oppression. As
Toril Moi observes, ―It is quite natural to assume that women have internalized this
objectified vision about themselves and consequently they lived in a state of
unauthenticity.‖ (92)
Leela feels that tradition has bound people as foreign rule has bound India.
Even when it hurts people they cannot escape from it because people are so used to it.
Forced by her relatives to behave according to strict Hindu behavioural codes, newly
widowed Leela begins to follow the patriarchal Hindu customs. But as a new girl
Leela begins to question the tradition by saying, ―who started this? Can anyone
benefit from it?‖ (Sheth: 59) She then realises that custom is nothing but made up
rules. She begins to rebel against the out mood customs. She cries in grief, ―I don‘t
want to follow this custom. I want my bangles, my earrings, my ghaghri-poulka-I
want everything back. Everything.‖ (Sheth: 59)
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A society that caters exclusively to the well being of men can bring disaster
for a girl. when she finds herself captive in ‗a man‘s world‘ she will necessarily be
torn between the values that she has imbibed from her elders and her own ambitions
regarding her future. The patriarchal myths incorporating archetypal images and role
models have been internalized by men and women over the ages and it calls for the
immense effort on the part of women to liberate them from the cultural influence
imbibed by them. Each of them has to live through an experience of casting off the
image imposed by society in order to find an authentic identity. An archetypal image
of woman cherished for ages has been the ‗angel-in-the house‘ which Virginia Woolf
has elaborated in the following manner:
Intensely sympathetic…immensely charming, utter unselfish, excelled
in the difficult arts of family life, sacrifice herself daily…In short she
was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own, but
preferred to sympathies always with the minds and wishes of others.
Above all… she was pure. Her purity was supposed to be her chief
beauty… her blushes, her great grace. In those days… every house had
its angel. (Woolf: 39)
In this way patriarchal culture insists that a woman should confine her life to
cooking, cleaning, washing and bearing and rearing children ignoring her intelligence,
education, human potency and even her selfhood. At the age of 12 only the girls like
Leela are taught as Leela‘s mother advises her, ―You‘ll be thirteen soon and must
behave like a young woman. Don‘t gawk.‖ (Sheth: 7) As Simone De Beauvoir has
said, ―The self control imposed on the woman becomes second nature for ‗the well
bred girl‘ and kills spontaneity.‖ (Beauvoir, 2011: 358) Girl‘s childhood is spent as a
training period of being a woman only. Even when parents pamper a girl child and try
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to make her happy there is always a fear in their mind that what if this pampering
become a burden for a girl when she goes to her in-law‘s house. Even society cannot
bear such pampering for a girl. As Leela‘s Masi shows her anger to Leela‘s mother,
saying:
I never heard of a little girl who could make the whole family dance
around her! Why don‘t you raise her the way girls are supposed to be
raised? Our ba only indulged our brothers, never us sisters. (Sheth: 25)
The cultural and traditional aspect of how a girl should be brought up is
clearly shown here. Traditional codes and conduct are always imposed on girls.
According to the Indian traditional concept girl should never be treated like boys. The
facilities and preference should always be given to boys and never to girls. Feminists
contend that in a male supremacist world owned and controlled by men; it is no
wonder that women consistently find themselves in subjugating positions. Each and
every avenue of power within society is in male hands. The concept of ‗power‘ is
highly charged for women. The delimiting aspect of power in its usual sense is that it
has long been associated with violence and the use of force. Power is seem to act only
in its own interest and by exploiting the powerless, including women and children.
Feminists consider it important to re-define the very concept of power. To
them power means, ―the capacity to change… the individual and the environment…
without the use of force.‖ (Boneparth, XIV) Feminists, as a rule, are not interested in
exploitative power but in the power that is mutually strengthening and fortifying.
Leela, before she meets her teacher Saviben, she is confined to her house with her
narrow vision. Saviben proves to be a real Guru for Leela. She becomes a tourch-
bearer to show Leela the correct direction and widen her vision. With the help of
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Saviben, Leela realises that she has the power to change her fate. Leela, who was not
interested in studies earlier, starts taking interest in studies and reading books and
articles written by the reformists like Narmad and Gandhi. Leela shows her gratitude
to her teacher by saying, ―I‘ll never forget the day you came to teach me. I didn‘t
really want to study then, but now I know it was the best thing that ever happened to
me.‖ (Sheth: 181)
Leela does not think about herself solely as an individual, but rather sees
herself as connected with a societal whole once she begins to understand her position
as a part of the larger condition of child widows, widows in general, and ultimately
women‘s role in Indian society. She says:
May be being a widow is my kismet, but that does not mean I have to
suffer for the rest of my life. It wasn‘t my fault that Ramanlal died. If
you send me to Ahmedabad, I‘ll work hard and make you proud. I‘ll be
able to help people, the way Saviben helped me. My life won‘t be
wasted. (Sheth: 244)
Narmad‘s ideas have widen Leela‘s perspective. She says about Narmad,
―He said that childhood marriage was a shameful thing and should be abolished right
away. He believed that widows should be allowed to marry.‖(Sheth, P-163) Narmad‘s
ideas begin to sink into her mind and her thoughts begin to grow. She starts thinking
that customs and tradition are man-made and someone should take initiative to
question the unfair tradition which is partial to women. She says:
Narsi Mehta‘s ‗bhajan‘, devotional song, that Kaka loved, said we were all
part of the same God. If it was true, then widowed men and widowed
women should be treated the same. May be some tradition started as silk
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threads but had turned into stubborn ropes. If I was questioning them, then
others could be too. (Sheth: 164)
For the first time, despite her confinement, Leela begins to open her eyes
to the changing world. Leela initially believes that her social position is
nonnegotiable due to her fate. She later understands that her action can make a
difference in changing her life. By reading the newspaper as well as other reading
for her school work, she becomes familiar with the philosophical values and
protest work of activist, including Gandhi, who is leading the struggle to
emancipate women in India- as well as India itself. In turn Leela recognises that
her individual actions can affect her entire society.
In India, where the oppression of women was perhaps more severe than in
other countries, not until the nineteenth century, was there a move towards abolishing
the unjust practices and evil traditions. Since the majority of women were leading
‗muted lives‘, the moves for reform was made by men. Indian reformers of the period
like Mahadev Govind Ranade and Raja Ram Mohan Roy pleaded for the spread of
women‘s education. A campaign against early marriages gained wide support. The
evil practice of ‗sati‘ was declared illegal by the government. (K. Nirmala: 4)
The cause of equality of women was taken up by the national freedom
movement. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent champion of women‘s rights. The cause
of the nation‘s freedom drew many brilliant women out of their houses and led them
to join the freedom struggle and fight on a par with men. With the participation of the
Indian woman in the freedom struggle, the woman‘s question acquired a new
dimension in India. By proving her mettle as a freedom fighter, the Indian woman
proved that her sphere need not be confined to the household chores. Participation in
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these movements gave women awareness about their inherent power. (K. Nirmala: 4)
The existence of different groups and various mass movements in which women get
involved, indicates that different perceptions on women‘s oppression and on the ways
to overcome them prevail in India. Since the oppression of women in Indian context is
based on a multiplicity of factors like class, caste, gender bias, ethnicity, so the need
for plural expression of feminism is imperative. It is practically difficult to convince
of a single women‘s movement which can include within its fold all the complex
issues faced by women of India who belong to different groups and communities.
Activists the world over have raised their voice against the patriarchal
tendency to look down upon woman as an object or a possession of man, denying her
the right as a free individual who can exercise her discretion and intellectual
capabilities, make her own choices in life and play her role in decision making which
can bring about drastic changes in her life and in the life of the universe. As Gandhi
demands for ‗Swaraj‘, freedom of choice for the people in India, in the same way
Leela also demands for the same for the women in India. She questions, ―If Brahman
men can remarry, why can‘t Brahman women? Why can‘t women be treated equally
to men?‖ (Sheth: 167) Leela frequently uses Gandhi‘s principles and arguments to
support her own: for example, she confronts her father by saying, ―Gandhiji thinks
widows should be able to go to school… what good are all his ideas if widows and
their families don‘t take the lead? Ba, I want to study, and I need your help.‖ (Sheth:
236) While convincing her father to allow her to go to Ahmedabad and study further
Leela tells her father:
It‘s easier to follow customs than to question them. Bapuji, we have to
take a pledge to fight against all that is wrong and cruel, including
customs and prejudices. Don‘t our scriptures, Vedas, say that truth is
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whole? So how can we fragment it?... How can we fight against cruelty
and unfairness in some cases but not in others? I didn‘t do anything
wrong, but I have to suffer. Don‘t I have a right to wage satyagrah
against that? (Sheth: 246)
Eventually Leela‘s father recognizes that, ―this is not just about Leela, it is
also about something bigger.‖(Sheth: 246-247) and approves Leela‘s demands. The
new Indian girl as a collective is about something bigger: changing social roles for
Indian females, roles that ultimately serve a national agenda. Thus, in their own small
ways, Leela creates a ripple effect that conceptually expands the boundaries, not only
of girlhood but also of what comprise the Indian nation.
Novels such as Keeping Corner which imagine girls taking initiative and
acting with agency to become new Indian girls by obtaining education and pursuing
gender equality, can provide inspiration and demonstrate that gender equality may be
attainable. Leela in Keeping Corner is one such girl, who tries to contribute to
national development by educating herself. Like a freedom fighter, she fights for the
right of women in India. She joins Indian freedom movement and tries to help in
National progress. Commenting on Leela‘s character Michelle Superle has said:
Leela from Keeping Corner is the epitome of the new Indian girl. She
struggles to achieve her own personal transformation by escaping a
continued domestic existence and contributing to her nation
professionally as a teacher. She also becomes involved in Gandhi‘s
freedom movement. Thus, the setting of Keeping Corner on the cusp
of Indian independence only emphasises the new Indian girl‘s nation
building role. (Superle: 53)
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Leela is like any teen at the threshold of a new adventure when her life falls
apart. She gains strength from adversity and fights back. The teens will realise that
even in the most critical circumstances, an individual has a choice and responsibility
to question authority. It may be family, society or government. Leela‘s courage will
make them care deeply about what happens to her and help them find strength when
facing their own problems. As imagined by Indian women writers in many English-
language children‘s novels, the new Indian girl is a savior: in emancipating herself
and others and pursuing gender equality. Leela in Keeping Corner is one such girl
who, transforms herself and her community, ultimately providing a valuable
contribution to postcolonial India by creating an empowered balance between
tradition and modernity. She symbolizes a new way of being not only for Indian girls,
but also for the Indian nation.
II
I discovered at last the gateway to the freedoms of the mind and gazed
entranced upon that vista of endless extensions to which the spirit is
capable. ( Markandaya: 50)
After a period of aggressive deficiencies, which can break certain girls
mentally we can see that girls succeed in breaking the constraints binding them and
developing independent identities. They become people with their own aspirations in
life, capable of making their own choices, and responsible. They become liberated in
their thinking and actions, in contrast to their earlier selves, which were similar to the
traditional concept of a woman that is submissive, docile, fearful, dependent and
suffering in silence. Once liberated, girls learn to live on an equal footing with men
and develop qualities earlier associated with ‗manliness‘ like aggressiveness,
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ambition, broad mindedness, independence and courage. Though a girl has to go
through a lot of mental agony and has to suffer a lot, to find their true identity. It is this
struggle for self- realisation that becomes a text of most women writers. The quest for
an authentic self is an off recurring theme in the fiction of many women writers. This
quest for identity is manifested in their rebellion against tradition and conventions,
their efforts to develop their individuality, their efforts to develop a whole and
harmonious self, at both emotional and intellectual levels and thus experience real
peace and happiness in their lives.
Indian women novelists in English have been presenting women as a centre
of concerns in their novels. A woman‘s search for identity is a recurrent theme in their
fiction. Kamala Markandaya is one of the finest and most distinguished Indian
novelists in English of the post colonial era, who is internationally recognized for her
masterpiece Necter in a Sieve published in 1954. She has achieved a worldwide
distinction by winning an Asian prize for her literary achievement in 1974. Endowed
with strong Indian sensibility, she depicts women‘s issues and problems very deeply in
her novels. A woman‘s quest for identity and redefining herself finds reflection in her
novels and constitutes a significant motif of the female character in her fiction. Her
deep instinctive insight into women‘s problems and dilemmas helps her in drawing a
realistic portrait of a contemporary woman. She explores and interprets the emotional
reactions and spiritual responses of women and their predicament of sympathetic
understanding. The chief protagonists in most of her novels, present an existential
struggle of a woman, who denies to flow along the current and refuses to submit her
individual self.
Kamala Markandaya, through her novels shows her determination to carry on
her fight for the oppressed women in a male oriented society. She is succeeded in
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studying women thoroughly. Being a woman, she inherits innate property to delve on
the plight of women. She perceives their wretchedness from a sociological and
psychological perspective. She delineates their dilemma in the form a sociological and
psychological perspective. She delineates this dilemma in the form of rootlessness and
crisis of identity, a desire to be treated not only as someone‘s daughter, wife and
mother but also a liberated individual. Throughout her novels, her consciousness of
what it is to be a woman, both as a member of society and as an individual, emerges as
one of her instinctive and passionate note. Applauding this quality Dr. A. V. Krishna
Rao observes:
Kamala Markandaya‘s novels in comparison with those of her
contemporary women writers seem to be more fully reflective of the
awakened feminine sensibility in modern India as she attempts to
project the image of the changing traditional society. (Rao: 55)
Kamala Markandaya, in most of her novels introduces female characters as
her protagonists who possess life affirming qualities. By making them central
characters of her novel, she has highlighted their roles in the present day world.
Kamala Markandaya uses the novel as a befitting medium to reveal different
facets of the image of woma. She has shown her self- definition and her emphatic
identification with her characters. Compared to other Indian English women
novelists, she has won the battle for her women protagonists and has come out with
flying colours in the domain of the feminine world. She breathes life into her women
characters, who with the strength of adoption convert the challenges of life into a
pursuit of finer values that make life worth living.
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In Some Inner Fury Kamala Markandaya depicts an urbanized environment
which gives her an opportunity to share the life and experiences of the sophisticated
upper class females in the pre-independence era. In the novel Kamala Markandaya
gives a very vivid and graphic account of the East-West cultural clash in the
backdrop of national struggle by projecting three wonderful female figures, Mira,
Premala and Roshan, who exhibit rare and unique virtue of love, loyalty, friendship
and understanding. Mira, the protagonist is brought up in a rich, sophisticated family
that prides itself in being a part of the British social circle. In spite of her mother‘s
warnings she engages herself with Richard. Mira soon realises that the British are in
India to exploit and to oppress. In fact, Mira is a product of two cultural modes- the
East and the West. In her search for identity, she encounters the conscious and
unconscious motives of her life. Mira ultimately realises the superiority of her own
culture.
It is the first person narrative, both tender and realistic of the growth and
flowering of a young Indian girl from the close confines of the traditional family into
the larger world of love and experience. The first step is taken when Mira meets
Richard, who has come from England with her brother Kitsamy, and then she
discovers for the first time a new obligation that goes beyond the boundaries of
family. It progresses when Mira decides to leave home to live on her own terms, and
it continues when she goes to work in the city for Roshan and discovers herself.
Some Inner Fury is also the tale of Roshan Merchant, the rich miller
owner‘s daughter. Roshan is a frank, educated, talented, enlightened woman. Roshan
acquires her notion of freedom from her education abroad. Through the portrayal of
Roshan, Kamala Markandaya widens the concept of freedom. Roshan is concerned
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not only about personal freedom but about national and global freedom. Thus, she
becomes a role model for Mira and Premala.
Premala, an educated girl symbolises the traditional Indian girl who admires
Roshan but fails to translate her desire of assertiveness into her daily life. Premala
does not like the Westernised ways of her husband. The gentle and docile Premala is
deeply religious in outlook, believing in the sanity of marriage and that a wife must
do her utmost to please her husband. A revolutionary change towards life occurs in
her only after observing Roshan and Mira. This change in her makes her associate
herself with an orphanage and a school.
In Some Inner Fury Kamala Markandaya depicts female characters who
exhibit a positive and optimistic outlook on life and emerge as strong human beings.
By exercising their own free will, exhibiting their own self, they get fulfilment and
recognition in life.
The Indian culture demands specific duties of the girl and strict conceptions
of morality are held in high esteem. The notion of identity is nurtured by society.
Society creates certain images and girls mould themselves into these roles by the
process of socialisation and domestication. They are told that they are inferior to
men, they are weak, passive and it is feminine to be gentle, obedient and sacrificing.
Even now girls are expected to adjust themselves to the whims and fancies of the
male members of the family. In the Indian society, that is essentially patriarchal, the
female child is constantly being trained for her new role to serve her husband and
live up to his expectations.
In Some Inner Fury Premala and Mira at the very beginning of the novels
seem to face the challenges of Indian traditional norms. When the novel begins Mira
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is 16 years old and Premala is 17. Both of them are considered as young women and
not girls. When Kit and his father insists Richard to stay at their place for a week or
two Mira also says, ―Of course we shall be delighted.‖ (Markandaya: 3) Everyone
starts looking at her with disapproval and wonders, as Mira says, ―How a well
brought up young woman like myself could be so forward.‖(Markandaya: 3) Mindset
of the people of India is that a girl is good, who is shy and timid and if she dares to
speak certain things, she is not considered to be a well brought up girl. A girl can not
react spontaneously. As Simone De Beauvoir says:
...her ears are filled with the treasures of feminine wisdom, feminine
virtues are presented to her, she is taught cooking, sewing and
housework as well as how to dress, how to take care of her personal
appearance, charm and modesty, she is dressed in uncomfortable and
fancy clothes that she has to take care of, her hair is done in
complicated styles, postures is imposed on her; stand up straight, don‘t
walk like a duck; to be graceful she has to repress spontaneous
movements,...: in short, she is committed to becoming, like her elders,
a servant and an idol. (Beauvoir, 2011: 306)
A girl in India ,at a very young age is trained to be a wife. As a part of such
training Mira is taken to the club, frequently. Club going becomes part of the pattern
of their lives, for varying reasons. Mira discloses the purpose behind going to the
club saying:
I went because I was taken and to learn to mix with Europeans. This
last was part of my training, for one day soon I would marry, a man of
my own class, who like my brother would have been educated abroad,
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and who would expect his wife to move as freely in European circles
as he himself did.(Markandaya:14)
Mira, though she never denies to go to the club and accepts it as a part of
training. She wonders, ―Why the lesson had to be learned so hardly.‖ (Markandaya:
14) In India a young girl of 16 is trained like a woman and taught constantly about
what she should do and should not do. When Mira, excitedly asks her mother to go
to the swimming pool with Kit and Richard, her mother says, ― Modesty graces a
woman. It is not right for a young woman to go among young man.‖(Markandaya:
25)
In case of the Indian girls, the societal norms are such that all of them are
conditioned to become successful as wives and mothers. Great societal pressure is
put on a girl to function as a successful wife or mother. She is also conditioned to
remain docile and submissive and always cater to pleasing the male members of the
family. Premala, another female protagonist leads a different kind of life. She is an
idealized, stereotyped girl who symbolises Indian tradition and culture. Premala is a
girl who comes to stay at Mira‘s home. The reason behind her staying at Mira‘s
home is that Kit does not want to marry a strange girl, so his mother tells Premala‘s
mother that Premala has to stay there for some time. Moreover, she adds that it is
not compulsory for Kit to marry Premala.Kit will marry Premala only if he likes
her. Premala symbolises a traditional Indian girl who is treated like an object and
does not have freedom to choose her life partner as a young boy like Kit has. As
Krishnaswamy opines:
Premala, an educated girl in Some Inner Fury proves that in India a
marriage is performed to please everybody else except the principle
partners in the union.(185)
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Premala‘s condition is the same. No one feels the need to ask about her
opinion. Mira feels the agony and fright of a young girl Premala, who never left her
home earlier and never had been alone, has to live with unknown people at unknown
place. Premala‘s feeling is reflected in Mira‘s words. Mira says:
Now standing beside her in the porch while our mothers exchanged
farewells, I felt her trembling, and looking up saw that her face was
wet. I knew then what it must be like for her; her loneliness touched
me and flowed into me, my throat felt tight with pity. She is too
young...To me she seemed a child: and this feeling was always to
remain for, like a child, she had no defences. (Markandaya: 35)
The innocent, modest and utterly unpretentious Premala wears shorts, play
tennis and throws parties for Kit‘s sake. Premala cannot adopt Westernized codes and
conduct easily, she does not like to go to club and can not easily match with people
there, she is embarrassed. Premala is a girl who can not voice her likes and dislikes
freely, she is traditionally brought up girl who is always taught to remain silent, to be
submissive of his husband‘s wishes and likes. Govind tries to arouse the feeling of
self-discovery in Premala saying, ―It‘s foolish to force oneself, one can not.‖
(Markandaya:38) Premala as a traditional girl answers, ―One can try. I would make a
poor wife, if I did not.‖ (Markandaya:38)
In social situations, one responds either in the active form or in the passive
form. This depends on the respondent‘s mental ability, his/her interest in the particular
subject, his/her attitude towards the person spoken to or about. In the Indian context, a
girl is usually appreciated as an object from whom obedience, submissiveness,
passivity, complicity and silence are demanded. As a result of her passivity,
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submissiveness and self-denial, she is led to depressive moodiness and morbid
sensitivity. These negative influences that shape female identity from a very young
age have destructive effects on girls. Some destructive effects can be seen in Premala
as Mira says:
A lovely face, tenderly moulded, which never lost its tenderness
because she could never learn to be tough, but which gave up one by
one, the lights and colours of happiness. (Markandaya: 107)
Commenting on Premala‘s character S. Krishnaswamy opines that:
In Premala, the author shows the insecurity, isolation, bewilderment
and vulnerability that the traditionally brought up Indian woman feels,
when she has to adjust to Western norms of living, when she has to
accommodate to the tastes and values of a culture in flux. She cannot
confront a group- oriented male- dominated society head-on as Roshan
does. Being sensitive and gentle by nature, she is overwhelmed by
harsh reality. She tries to be an ideal wife and companion to her
husband. (Krishnaswamy:188)
Girls in the novels of Kamala Markandaya are beyond doubts the victims of
social and economic pressures and disparities. However, they raise themselves above
all these and cross the barriers of discrimination only for the larger concepts of
universal love and concord. The common thread in all her female characters is that the
quest for autonomy for the self coupled with nurturance for the family and fellow
feeling for the larger community of men and women. This is a venture in which
female characters are confronted with several obstacles emerging mainly from the
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irregularities in the social system along with economic difficulties. As the girls battle
with these forces they develop mature vision of life.
In Some Inner Fury one comes across three such female characters, Roshan,
Mira and Premala. Roshan Merchant is an outspoken, educated woman. She bestows
her outstanding qualities upon her less fortunate sisters around her. From a columnist,
she becomes the owner of the paper. Her magnetic dynamism appeals even to the
conventional character, Premala. Her quest for identity and autonomy cannot be
separated from her desire for national independence. Her foreign education does not
distance her from her own people, but instils in her the need for personal as well as
national freedom. Roshan is a bold woman that is why she can protest and raise a
voice against injustice done to Indians. She becomes angry when Indians do not show
courage to protest and raise a voice against injustice done to them. She says, ―Of
course, if you are all prepared to accept this- if you don‘t want even to protest- there is
nothing more to be said.‖ (Markandaya: 135)The condition of girls is also same in
India, they do not dare to voice against patriarchy and have to remain chained in
traditional codes and custom. Roshan, has her own ideas, she leads her life on her own
terms. Roshan is a woman who enjoys freedom of choice, which she wants for Indian
people also. She believes that everyone has a right to choose the way of living and no
one can force one to behave in a certain pattern. She becomes liberated in her thoughts
and actions. Roshan says about herself:
I‘d rather go to the devil my own way, then be led to heaven by anyone
else. And I wouldn‘t give up being free like that of anything... It hasn‘t
always been that way- no, not even for me. (Markandaya: 145)
146
Roshan, as a liberated woman prefers to choose wrong path chosen on her
will by herself than led by someone to right one. She wants her soul to be free and
wants to enjoy such state of freedom where her soul is not slave to anyone. She wishes
the same for the country and her people. Mira is impressed by Roshan‘s idea of mental
freedom, though physically locked in jail. Mira says about Roshan:
I understood quite well what she meant, although nowhere else could
she have been as securely fettered as she was here, behind locked door
in a cell behind the high walls of a prison: and yet, of course here she
kept her freedom.(Markandaya: 145)
Roshan stands as a symbol of new awakening among Indian women during
the period of national struggle for freedom, who do not mind giving up the comforts of
their life for some noble cause. Roshan has a sway over young girls like Mira and
Premala.
Roshan‘s company and her work give Mira a chance to live differently. Mira
starts working with Roshan and she starts going everywhere as an observer. Earlier
also she used to go at clubs, weddings, parties, but now the situation has changed. She
is now given a chance to mould her own self the way she wants. Mira says,
I went as an observer, and it was almost as if I had a new pair of eyes,
for I began to perceive, beneath surfaces glazed by familiarity, colours
and values that had never been apparent before. Moreover the power,
handed to me so lightly, of being able to cast my own moulds, of
finding my own expression for feelings which had hardly been evoked
till now, was one which, not having exercised before, I found
exhilarating to a perhaps disproportionate degree.(Markandaya: 77)
147
Girls are always observed or criticized and they have to behave in a way to
protect herself from criticism. Girls are never given a chance to criticise. When Mira
gets a chance to observe she feels very happy about it. In Roshan‘s company Mira also
starts understanding Roshan‘s way of living and she also starts becoming bolder in
expression and starts following Roshan. When Mira goes to meet Roshan in prison,
she dares to argue with the jail superintendent in favour of Roshan, though she knows
that the jail superintendent may deny her to meet Roshan.
Mira ruminates that individual fall or suffering is irrelevant in the event of
great causes. Through the character of Mira, a mentally liberated girl, Kamala
Markandaya emphasises that personal losses do not count for the noble cause. Mira
sacrifices her love for Richard at the altar of national loyalty. Mira progresses rather
painfully to a higher level of perception. It is in the company of Roshan that Mira
realises that there are many gateways to the freedoms and one has immense capacity to
achieve freedom of mind. In this context Sriwadkar says, ―Mira is not defeated in the
pursuit of physical, mental and emotional freedom, but she learns that there are many
dimensions to freedom.‖ (38)
Mira understands her duties as a responsible citizen of a country which is
struggling for her independence. She realises that personal fulfilment and desires are
less important than country‘s freedom. Mira joins freedom struggle and tries to help
her community. She leaves her own happiness for the country. She leaves her lover
Richard. Mira is the epitome of a liberated girl who sacrifices personal concerns for
the noble cause. The liberation movement may annihilate a few individuals, like Mira,
but it is immaterial in the larger national interest.
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Premala, another girl is an idealized, stereotyped girl, who symbolizes Indian
traditions and culture. Premala is a girl who also has firm opinions of her own. She is a
kind girl as Mira says:
In all things Premala had shown herself to be docile and obliging; but,
as is sometimes the case with such people, these qualities were due not
to timidity but to the graces of her nature. (Markandaya:44)
Premala is not a timid girl who can not raise her voice but she respects
tradition. A revolutionary change towards life occurs in her only after observing
Roshan and Mira. Through her Markandaya projects the bewilderment and
vulnerability of the traditional Indian girl confronting a culture in flux. Premala
promotes humanitarian feelings in her community. She enjoys her self-less service
while Kit keeps himself aloof from his countrymen. Premala engages herself in
educating poor, illiterate and unprivileged ones. This change in her makes her
associate herself with an orphanage and a school with poor children. Premala starts
visiting the school frequently and Mira feels that in doing this Premala finds a
meaning of her life, as Mira says about Premala, ―From each visit she came back
glowing, revived, as if her parched spirit had at last found a spring at which to refresh
itself.‖ (Markandaya: 116)
Despite her being a victim, she shows a streak of inner strength in her attempt
of saving the school on fire risking her own life. Torn between her western oriented
husband and her conventional upbringing, she sublimates herself through sacrifice.
According to Iyengar, ―Her silence is stronger than all rhetoric; her seeming capacity
for resignation is the true measure of her unfathomable strength.‖ (Iyengar: 440)
149
Markandaya breathes life in her female characters, who with the strength of
adoption convert the challenge of life into a pursuit of finer values that make life
worth living. In Some Inner Fury Markandaya presents girl characters like Mira and
Premala and woman character like Roshan as the epitome of modern girls who
unanimously succeed in achieving transformation by acting with agencies to improve
their own lives, the lives of people about whom they care and well- being of their
communities. Though basically, Kamala Markandaya has projected the traditional
image of female characters, it will be injustice to carve her female characters in this
image, as she has re-discovered, redefined and asserted her identity and recognition as
a person, not as a possession. Feeling the pulse of the changed time, she has created a
new race of girl, who is neither staunch traditionalist nor ultra- modern but that who
honours the tradition and welcome modernity to the best of her calibre and sensibility.
She can very intelligently keep pace with the new developments of the fast electronic
world. To create such a new race, she has taken up the most vitalizing stuff of tradition
along with the purest light stuff of modernity. By creating the new image of girls
Kamala Markandaya has emerged as a bridge between the tradition and modernity.
Markandaya‘s female characters are in search of something positive. Applauding this
quality, Dr. A. V. Krishna Rao observes:
Kamala Markandaya‘s novels in comparison with those of her
contemporary women writers seem to be more fully reflective of the
awakened feminine sensibility in modern India as she attempts to
project the image of the changing traditional society. (Rao:55)
This chapter depicts some bold and intelligent girls like Leela, Mira and
Premala. These are the girls who are embodiment of the girls who not only get their
strength back to fight against the traditional norms and injustice done to girls, but they
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also help others to fight their battles. These are the girls who bring transformation in
their own lives as well as they successfully transform others‘ lives also. India is a
country where a girl is trained to be a perfect woman, perfect in the sense, not as a
human being or responsible citizen but perfect in household chores, perfect to
maintain a family. Leela, Mira and Premala are not girls who remain confined to
home and household duties. They are the epitome of modern, educated, responsible
citizens of a country who think of the welfare of their community, society and nation.
They live their lives for a noble purpose to serve the nation and bring some positive
change in people‘s traditional set of mind.
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