IDENTITY IN DIFFICULT DAUGHTERS by Sreeka

IDENTITY IN DIFFICULT DAUGHTERS

        The world is made of woman but she is not treated equal to man despite innumerable evolutions and revolutions. She has the same mental and moral power, yet she is not recognised as his equal.  She is expected to serve, sacrifice, submit and tolerate each ill against her peacefully. Her individual self has very little recognition in the patriarchal society and so self effacement is her normal way of life. Manju Kapur, a world acclaimed writer is known for her feministic vision. The women in her novels seem to be the personification of new women who have been carrying the burden of inhibition since ages and want to break that tradition of silence now. Her female protagonists are mostly educated. Their education leads them to independent thinking, for which their family and society becomes intolerant towards them. They struggle between tradition and modernity. . Her novels tackle the identity problems faced by the educated Indian woman with authenticity and insight. These novels symbolize a fight against taboos, social restrictions and manmade code of conduct in a traditional society. Her heroines are the symbol of female imagination responding to pressures and oppressions of patriarchal culture where marriage is seen only as a compromise. Her novels are a story of struggle for freedom and search for an identity at various levels. The protagonists of her novels are trying to maintain a balance all the time. Their sufferings amidst the dual standards have made them strong and they constantly struggle to exist, to free themselves from the shackles of tradition and various prejudices. Difficult Daughters the novelist has portrayed her protagonists as a woman caught in the conflict between the passion of the flesh and a yearning to be a part of the political and intellectual movements of the day. Difficult Daughters presents the women who try to establish their own identity. The story of Virmati is narrated by her own daughter, Ida. The novel begins with the death of the protagonist, Virmati. Ida explains the story of her dead mother. Manju Kapur, in order to know about the story, unfolds the tale of Virmati. The novelist also describes the nature of Virmati and her desire after death shows her attitude. Ida a divorced girl tries to recollect the memory of her mother. She informs that her mother is a bold and aggressive woman who fought against the evil customs of the society. Her mother is in search of her own identity in conventional Indian society. Virmati was brought up in the traditional Indian family. She is engaged in the household duties. She lost her identity in the family responsibility. The Novelist through Virmati exposes the reality of Indian woman in the family. Virmati had always told by her mother that the marriage is the ultimate fate of woman. Since Virmati was the eldest daughter of Kasturi, she was forced to look after all her brothers and sisters and she assisted her mother in the nourishment of all of them. During the pregnancies of her mother, Virmati was always busy in arranging the house-hold affairs and managing the things. It wasn‟t only baby Parvati to whom she was indispensable, to her younger siblings she was second mother as well. Thus, Virmati is portrayed as a common Indian woman. She has spent most of her time in the household duties. Though she wishes to spend her life freely without taking any responsibility, she is bound in the household duties. She represents the modern woman. She fights against the conventional Indian male dominant society. Manju Kapur seems to narrate a story of a girl whose journey is quite symbolic due to her transformation from “innocence to experience”. Manju Kapur also attaches the theme of feminism with the character of Virmati. Her dress too had changed from her Amritsar days. When they went visiting she wore her saris in Parsistyle, as Shakuntala called it, with the palla draped over her right shoulder. The saris were of some thin material, foreign, with a woven silk border sewn onto them. Shakuntala, a cousin of Virmati, who studied at Lahore, is modern in behaviour and life. But the family of Virmati is also against the modernization of female, the author represents the two different women. Shakuntala is advanced and educated. She is aware about her duties. She is not bound in the cage of old tradition and family responsibility. On the other hand, Virmati is a typical Indian girl. She is bound in the family responsibility. Her desires are always, vanished in the day to day struggle. Her dreams and hopes are merged in the old tradition.  Virmati actually thinks that she should live her life like Shakuntala. She desires to live free life without any burden and responsibility. She wishes to break the shackles of family responsibility and live free life like her cousin. Virmati and Shakuntala always involve in discussion on the issue of education and freedom. Images of Shakuntala Pehnji kept floating through her head, Shakuntala Pehnji who having done her M.Sc. in Chemistry had gone about tasting the wine of freedom. Although externally she has been inspired by Shakuntala, but her problem is multiple. Virmati has also to adjust her five sisters waiting for their marriage. Her family is quite conscious because she is the eldest one. Her mother is also of the same opinion. She would like to perform the marriage of her daughter as soon as possible. Kasturi is also aware of the transformational attitude of Virmati. She realizes the inevitable changes in her growing daughter. She does not allow Virmati to enter in the realm of education with such freedom  at the same time, she does not want to put the burdens of traditions and conventions on her daughter. Difficult Daughters is certainly a pensive tale of discomfort in the life of a sensitive girl who seems to be struggling in the male-dominated society which provides a little space to woman in general. Kasturi, her mother and gets herself engaged with a irrigation engineer Inderjit. Her marriage is final with Inderjit but it is postponed because of the death of his father. She does not think of the marriage and child bearing just after the high school qualification. She joins A.S. College, to do B.A., where she falls in love with a professor, Harish Chandra, who is already married, lives next door and finds an intellectual companion in him. Virmati, like many other Indian girls, is expected to accept arranged marriage. she rejects it and decides to continue her studies. Virmati refuses to marry Inderjit. This bold step by Virmati upsets everybody in her family. They feel that she has disgraced the family and ruined her sister‟s chances of marriage. After the denial of the marriage proposal, her condition gets critical. She defines that the position of degraded due to dependability. She has no right to take her own decision. Virmati makes an attempt of suicide. Finally they lock her in the godown and arrange for Indu, her younger sister to marry Inderjit.  Virmati is committed to continue her study at Lahore. Virmati decides to go to Lahore for her further study. All the family members are against her decision but they would do nothing before the will of Virmati. As decided by the family elders, Kasturi has to accompany Virmati to Lahore for assisting her to take admission in RBSL College and the principal assures Kasturi that there will be no problem. Virmati becomes the centre of focus because of her revolutionary zeal. She does not yield to the age old traditions of her Arya-Samaj family. In Lahore, she finds the company of Shakuntala who always inspires her to be free and vibrant in her outlook and manner. Shakuntala tells Virmati about the people of Lahore that they are not narrow-minded: “You will find, Viru, that in Lahore people are not so narrow–minded. Swarna Lata her roommate an active participant in the political and social movements of the day. Swarna Lata, an active activist for women‟s liberation and freedom struggle movement. She is a modern woman with her own views and opinions. She thinks independently. She wants to do something more than just marrying. Rather than waiting for any man she involves herself in other people. At the centre of the narrative, we are confronted with a woman who fights but falls by the wayside; but at its edges, as no doubt less representative but still symbolic figures, we encounter- as will be seen below-other women, whose relative success points the way to the future,  Harish comes to meet her in Lahore. They meet and enjoy their life. The professor shows his sexual inclination with Virmati. On the other hand, Virmati could not decline the advances of the professor. Virmati is conscious of the nature of her relationship with the professor but her resistance is not long.  After this act of sexual involvement, Virmati seems to be caught in the sense of guilt. She realizes the moral lapse in her heart and a sense of guilt runs through her mind. Manju Kapur beautifully linked the character of Virmati in the activities of freedom movement. Harish is reluctant to marry her. He seems just another chauvinist steeped in patriarchal traditions. He is a hypocrite who, at his own convenience, has moulded his opinions about social traditions and sexually exploits Virmati, she  gets pregnant. Then she goes to Amritsar and manages a gold bangle from her father but only to sell it for her abortion. Virmati blames the professor for this mishap in her life. She says to the professor: „I break my engagement because of you, blacken my family’s name, am locked up inside my house, get sent to Lahore because no one knows what to do with me. It is there that she achieves the greatest degree of control over her life: there are rules she has to obey (and breaking them proves her fall), but she is able to teach inside an ordered framework, and her performance wins her a deserved respect. In the micro-state to which her destiny leads her, she has no family or close friends. She attains a near-exemplary level of female autonomy. The professor Harish Chandra enjoys the bliss of both the worlds: Ganga as a maid servant who fulfils his clothes washed and Virmati who satisfies his academic urge which the professor cannot seek in his meek and mild Ganga. Ganga and Harish„s mother compel Virmati to lead a suffocating life in the tight walls of the house. It is significant to note that Virmati who gets high education despite social odds and obscurities aspires to play the traditional role of a house wife so that she may look after the mundane needs of her husband but she is not allowed to. She is not even acknowledged for her intellectuality on the other hand Harish commands respect for his scholastic ideas and ideologies. The professor was not considerate and calm in his decision and he also inflicts a long lecture on Virmati in order to silence her.

Conclusion: Thus, one can conclude that Virmati being brought up in a progressive family is educated and exposed to western ideas. She defies the family and follows her heart. She struggles a lot to get his own identity. Manju Kapur shows constant effort to consolidate the position of woman in Indian society. The beauty of her novels certainly lies in her unique presentation in which she seems to present conflicting situations in which woman are in search of their own self-made identity and location The rebel in Virmati might have actually exchanged one kind of slavery for another. But towards the end, she becomes free, free even from the oppressive love of her husband. Once she succeeds in doing that, she gets her husband all by herself, her child and reconciliation with her family.”

Keywords: Marriage, Education, Male Dominance, Struggle for Identity, New Woman .

                                                                                                                      Submitted by,

                                                                                                       SREEKA

Analysis of Women Characters in Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters by, M.Jovitha Rosy

Analysis of Women Characters in Manju Kapur's

Difficult Daughters:

Manju Kapur is a feminist who lives in Delhi and teaches in Delhi University. Her novels are concerned with feminism and its impact on her female characters. Her first novel, Difficult Daughters focuses on the relationship between the mothers and daughters who belong to different generations. It is the story of a woman caught in between the sentimental situations of her family and her longing for education, affection, and freedom. There are different perspectives between the female characters about their exciting culture and norms. When Kasthuri, the mother of the protagonist, Virmati, compels her daughter to accept the marriage as a traditional norm, Virmati refuses to accept it; instead she seeks knowledge. The narrator of the novel, Ida, is Virmati's daughter. Through her voice the novelist distinguishes the women from three generations. Manju Kapur takes Virmati as a weapon of her writings and through her she highlights of marginalization suffered by women who are primarily concerned about their individuality and dignity.

                     

                 Virmati, a simple and educated woman is the central figure of the novel. Virmati, hails from an affectionate and well protected family goes to Lahore for further studies, accompanied by her mother. The limitation that women is weaker than man is foremost in India and the idea that she is a girl is reinforced by innumerable tragic instances in the novel. Virmati’s father does not accept her going alone to Lahore questions ‘who will go with her to Lahore’. Though the questions seems to be simple it mirrors the consideration of women to have no courage to make decision for herself and her future.  

                     

                 As Kasthuri, mother of Virmati is busy in delivering a baby year after year, it is Virmati who is in charge of the family and sacrifices herself to bring up her siblings. She remains as second mother for those children. Amidst this Virmati has no time to realize herself. She loses her days in taking care of the family. The family's old tradition of getting marriage is delayed for Virmati as she doesn't have any interest in it. Though her mother forces to get married she ignores, because she has interest towards education.

                      Shakuntala, Virmati's cousin is a symbol of modernity whom Virmati inspires a lot. Kapur portrays Shakuntala as an independent, defiant, and assertive girl. She does not have any limitations towards the tradition of getting marriage, and family relationship. This is shown through the voice of Shakuntala “These people don't really understand Viru, how much satisfaction there can be in leading your own life, in being independent. Here we are, fighting for the freedom of the nation, but women are still supposed to marry, and nothing else”

                      Virmati refuses the engagement with Indrajit and marries Harish, a professor whom she falls in love with at Lahore. Her passionate attraction for the professor makes her haunted by an overpowering sense of failure. This failure results from her unconventional path of selection that she has decided to be the co-wife of the professor. Experiencing her position of a co wife, the real purpose of marriage for Virmati is lost.

                      Ganga, Harish’s first wife very dedicated to him and his family. There is a lot of difference between Harish and Ganga, their match is totally inharmonious. Ganga’s negligence about study and lack of awareness brings Virmati to her husband’s home as a second wife.

                       The next phase of problem arises when Virmati gives birth to her girl baby. As a remembrance of independence she names her baby as Bharati. But this is rejected by her husband saying that,“I don't wish our daughter to be tainted with the birth of our country. What birth is this? With so much hatred?” .Though the country has got freedom, the man who speaks about the country's freedom, cannot provide freedom for his wife even for trivial matters in the family. When India was fighting for the freedom from British government, Virmati literally fights for her own identity and affirmation. Her life from beginning to end is full of sufferings, searching for 'self', her own identity, conflict between mind and heart. She loses all her hope. Even her daughter doesn't want to be like her mother.

                       Thus the novelist has explored and traced the journey of many such young women in this award winning book. They truly reflect the complexity of female psyche.

                                                                                             Submitted by,

                                                                                             Jovitha Rosy. M

                                                                                             M.A. English literature.

                 Mother – Daughter Relationship in Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur

                   The  Society  we  live  in  is  a  Patriarchal Society , where  the  Child – father  relationship  is  given  more attention than the issue of the poor mother-daughter relationship openly in Main Stream culture because women are believe to be more nurturing, emphatic and social which prevents them from having any serious conflicts with their children. The fact is that broken daughter relationships are more than most are aware. This complex relationship of mother and daughter can be taken similar to a roller coaster where some parts of the ride can be fun, thrilling and crazy. While there may be some other structures of that ride also where one feels anxious, fearful and alienated. In studies it is proved that 30% of women have been estranged from their mothers at some point in their life and suits for the extreme levels of the society- the high sophisticated class and the poor driven class. The mother daughter relationship is characterized by tenderness, love and affection. It is considered to be the most scared bond replete with care, concern, love and trust.

                   Feminist thinking on motherhood emerged during the decades of 60s,70s and through 80s. The first emerged feminist critics are Simone De Beauvoir, Shulamith Firestone, Kate Millet and Betty Friedian. With large critical discussions and advent of psychoanalytical theories the mother daughter relationship followed by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan insights deconstruct into three stages of child development: Imaginary-stage; Mirror-stage and Symbolic-stage. In Imaginary stage-the child finds one to one relationship with mother where complete identification takes place, in Mirror stage-the child begins to conceive a separate self of itself, different from that of the mother and in the Symbolic stage-the child asserts its own identity represented by the language system.

                    Difficult Daughters is a debut novel of Manju Kapur. It deals with the story of three generation women, Kasturi is the Mother of Virmati, the protagonist and Ida her daughter who reveals her mother past. The story is set admist the time of partition. The novel primary deals with both mothers and daughters and the complicated relationship there share. In other words,it capture the complex relationship between mothers and daughters over a period of three generations. The story is narrated by Ida, daughter of Virmati, a divorcee and childless lady. As a daughter, Ida feels alienated from her mother who is presented in the opening lines of the novel as she says: “The one thing I had wanted was not to be like my mother” (1). This line plays the keynote to project her relationship to her mother. Therefore, in trying to reconstruct the history of her mother, Ida tries to search out a better understanding of her mother. Ida has a different impression on her mother before looking into her past but after looking into it she discovers what it is to be a mother.

                   Virmati, in Difficult Daughters, is the eldest daughter of respectable “Arya Smaji” business family at Amritsar. Kasturi enjoys her fecundity and every year she gives birth to a child and so she remains sick or pregnant most of the time which made Virmati the second mother for her brothers and sisters. She longs for love and affection but fails to get any. Most of her energy is wasted in rearing and caring for her younger siblings. Kasturi says, “You are the eldest. If you don’t see to things, who will?”(7). After her primary education, she is further trained into domestic chores that are considered to be the essential pre-requisites of an Indian marriageable girl in a traditional family. When Virmati reveals her wish to study further instead of marrying her relationship becomes a problematic one. This is because of Kasturi’s world which is not a female world but a world of man-made values. Through this we can understand that Mothers are merely exercisers of the patriarchal ideology under the pressure of their own gender. As from an orthodox background, the daughters are married off after receiving the basic qualification of housekeeping. But Shakuntala, cousin of Virmati, does not adhere to this family tradition. She studies, teaches and takes part in the political-Gandhian movement in Lahore. Thus, she becomes the role model for Virmati. Kasturi was not given a choice by her mother and so she is not ready to give any choice to her daughter too. But Shakuntala had planted the seeds of aspiration in to Virmati. Thus, she tends to think a life without marriage, husband and children. But, Kasturi is unable to understand her daughter’s ideas and views on life. For Kasturi, education has a corrupting influence over her daughter and so she is least concerned about educating her. She intensely seeks to shape Virmati after herself, and considers any attempt of her towards independence as an ungrateful act of selfishness. Hence, Kasturi here unknowingly voices the ideology that is integral to patriarchy. It is the hollowness created by her mother and her carving to be loved compels her to seek love in her relationship with a married professor, Harish. Virmati succumbs to his requests and implorations, and gets into useless love affair and unwed pregnancy. Later, understands that there is a vacuum existing in their relationship. By becoming the second wife of the professor, Virmati completely breaks away from her family and mother. Her marriage proves unfortunate for herself and her family. She led a life of a stranger in her husband home. Ganga, the first wife of the professor and his mother treat her as an outsider and untouchable. On the other hand, when her father dies in the partition riots, Kasturi blames Virmati for her father’s death. She began to consider herself as an isolated being that is unwanted both in her paretal home and in her in –laws’. Virmati does not attend any of the rituals after her grandfather’s death, she hardly spoke to her husband too.

                   In Ida’s memory, Virmati is in Lahore doing her MA in Philosophy, the partition riots force Ganga, with family to shift to Kanpur and thus she gets a chance to come back to her own home. There she gave birth to a daughter Ida. Virmati tried not be like her mother, and portrays herself as a sheer opposite of her mother, Ida confirms her inheritance. As a daughter, Virmati who was difficult for her mother to handle, herself becomes the mother of a daughter, then she realizes the meaning of being a mother. She imposes the same restrictions over her daughter, and then she realizes the meaning of a mother. She imposes the same restrictions over her daughter, Ida, which was once imposed upon her by her own mother, Kasturi. Ida , in her journey to her mother past measures her own state with the situation of her mother. She comes to know why Virmati, as a difficult daughter herself to her mother Kasturi, turns to be a stern and strict mother, as in patriarchy, a mother has to become strict for the safety of her daughter. Ida wistfully remembers how her mother had tried to teach her to ”Adjust, compromise, adapt”. The daughter confronts the fact that it is not as simple to be a mother in a male dominant society. Ida as being educated can see with a drive on her mind motivated and brimming with gumption to leave no stone unturned in the search of identity. For Virmati, marriage was scared and an institution that can be revoked and a broken marriage reflected her women’s failure. Ida, portrayed by the author is a down to earth, straight forward person. She recognizes Virmati’s failure, flaws and shortcomings even after her death and she does not want them to haunt her. Ida’s reason rejects Virmati not as a mother but as a woman in the following closing lines.’ This book weaves a connection between my mother and me, each work a brick in a mansion I made with my head and my heart. Now live in it, mama, and leave, me. Do not haunt any more (258).

                   It is clear that in the novel Difficult Daughters, it is clear that the narrator Ida has achieved a lot more than her mother Virmathi and her grandmother Kasturi with the simple fact we can understand that it the courage that she took to write it down her own family history. This novels touches a various dimensions of the mother and daughter relationship. Initially, the daughter identifies herself with her mother but later breaks off and feels alienated. Later, as the same daughter being an experienced self, looks back at her mother’s past and realizes what it is to be a mother in a patriarchal society. In this way we can find that there is again identification and understanding takes place between the mother and daughter.  

                                                                              By, 
                                                                                     S.T.Sreenidhi
                                                                                  I M.A English Literature

Themes of Alienation and Isolation in ‘Manju Kapur’s “Difficult daughter”

                           Manju Kapur is one of the best known celebrated post-independence writers exploring sociological and psychological sensitive issues. Difficult Daughters is a novel set in pre partition scenario of India. It’s the story of 20th century Punjabi family. The political and social issues are effectively woven in the story with the issues regarding women, education versus marriage.

                   Kapur tries to explore the insight or human psyche of her protagonist Virmati, which torn between desire for love and duty towards family. Thus conflicting internal and external experiences, pressures and expectation produces anxiety. The essay as an article seeks to explore the perspective of alienation, Isolation and Assimilation from social and psychological viewpoint.

                    We know that man’s life is tight with busy and hectic schedule in this modern era.  Emotion, feeling, understanding each other seems very less compared to ancient era. During Renaissance period ‘MAN’ was at the centre, in the same way today ‘MONEY’ has become the centre in man’s life. The importance of nature, spiritualism has declined as man started approaching towards materialism. The term such as stress, feeling of isolation, alienation, identity and psychology has its crucial effect in present lifestyle. Stress has become part and parcel of man’s life. This stress has its tremendous effect on person’s attitude. People who take stress in positive way can able to come out with good result. But when a person who is unable to come out will become very introvert. And later they would go in depression which will even lead them to commite suicide.

                   Alienation problem can be easily traced in Virmati. Due to her love for professor, she was not willing to marry Inderjit and for this she was locked in ‘kotha’ room. There she felt alienated for the first time away from all her near ones. She even wrote her feeling in letter to professor, “This long period is the first time serves my life I have been left completely to myself. Away from my brothers and sisters, away from household activity, I feel strange.

                   Virmati used to get angry at the kotha room. She felt very abandoned and disturbed. She just had the form of exchanging her feeling with professor through letters. She writes, “Each time I hear the door shut, I burn with anger and humiliation. What have I done? I am just like the sacks of wheat and dal here, without my own life”. Thus no one to understand her in her own house.

                   Even the same condition is reflected in the life of professor. Even though he is married but still he craves for someone with whom he can share his intellectual, which he found in Virmati. He tells Virmati, “What is takes me away from the women I live with? Apart from the planets in the house of marriage, of course! She is a good woman, runs the house to perfection, and looks after my family as though they were her own. Despite all this, I am lonely, lonely, lonely”

                    The tremendous inner conflict in the novel is depicted in Virmati when she was at Lahore. She isolated herself from the place as some past memories with professor made her unable to move forward in life. She came at Lahore but Professor chased her here also and again intimacy grew among them. Though she was getting the love but still she was confused with her own life. At Punjab Women’s Student Conference she was tapped in her own thought about her existence, and the importance she gave in her life. At this point she felt isolated by sitting there, and by listening to Mohini Datta’s speech on how freedom was necessary for the human development of the human spirit, how war especially affected women.

Am I free…I came here to be free, but I am not like these women. They are using their minds, organizing, participating in conferences, politically active, while my time is spent being in love. Wasting it. Well, not wasting time, no, of course not, but then how come I never have a moment for anything else? Swarna does.

                    Even after her marriage the way she was treated at her husband’s home make her feel insecure. She use to think over why can’t she do all her husband’s washing, cooking, clean his books, fill his pen with ink, all work which Ganga supposed to do. Even on the first day in her husband house she felt isolated which made her to give statement, “I should have never married you”

                     In her own house she felt alienated. Thus the small tit-bits between the wives made professor little bit worry. Even Virmati got pregnant but within no time got miscarriage. After her sulk period she was sent to study M.A. here she felt alive again. She didn’t want to face Ganga again. And during the time of partition she accepted to go to her house as she was quite aware of Ganga’s absence. During this time again she was pregnant. Hence after tremendous suffering’ at the end she resolves these stages and gives birth to a baby girl named Ida.

                     At the end of the novel one can see India achieved Freedom and even Virmati too was happy with professor at her home.

                                                                           By,

                                                            B.J. Merina Delfin,     

                                                                              

Tradition versus Modernity in Manju Kapur’sDifficult Daughter

The contemporary society in India happens to be an indefensible and at risk of cultural, social, political and religious outbreaks. The conflict of Indian society, which is fundamentally uncontrollable and flexible with the attack and the onrush of growing modernization and technological development has unfortunately led to the shift of traditional social and moral systems. The ignoble and unpleasant features of modernization are demonstrated in the frantic progression of urbanization and technological innovation and robotics mode of life. Man in current society seems to have lost his long-cherished traditional roots, cultural heritage and value systems amongst the ongoing progression of urbanization and industrialization.

                         Modern Indian novelists in English voice their excessive concern an unambiguous way for the loss of human, moral values in the midst of ruthless urbanization the far-reaching western influences. They restate in their novels how the spiritual omission and emptiness which existed during the transitional phase led to the disappearance of old-age cultural and moral values in traditional societies. Several novels written by these writers disclose this predicament very clearly. The contemporary novelists in Indian English also display how the widespread Westernization and the rapid process of urbanization ultimately led to the peasants being uprooted from their native lands and the vulgarization of the villagers’ traditional life and their ancient culture. The traditionally fond people who get stuck with cultural norms and practices are very much traumatized and unnerved by the slow but steady interruption of westernization and its evil consequences.

                             Manju Kapur’s novel Difficult Daughter was published in 1998 deals with a different story and a quite different theme and tone. This novel is set at the time of partition, and it presents the realistic picture of the pre-partition era, the communal riots and the freedom. The postcolonial women writers started portraying emotional and psychological themes with the partition experience in general and by referring them to women’s experience thereby adding a gender perspective to the issues related to partition.

                               The people who sustained the ancient customs and tradition are termed as ‘traditionalists’ and the one who advocated against such customs and traditions are termed as ‘modernists’. Most of the women writers have presented the clash of tradition and modernity with the aid of their characters in the novel. The novel is written during the pre-independence background of Indian society which is in the rush of modernity in form of ‘New Education’.

                         Virmati, the epitome of modernity has tried to break the trammels of traditions that have been an obstacle for her to cross the boundaries of customs and traditions that have been imposed by male-dominated society. In her quest for identity, Virmati rebels against tradition. The struggle against the male chauvinistic society, the search for identity, the defiance of male dominance and the protest against family and society are also a sort of clash against tradition by a modern woman. The clash of tradition and modernity continues in three generations of Kasturi, Virmati and Ida. Manju Kapur has successfully depicted the clash of tradition and modernity through her characters especially that her female characters are only involved in the clash against the male-dominated traditional world but they have suffered this clash for three generations.

                         Virmati, the protagonist is a ten-year-old girl and the eldest daughter of a Punjabi family who from the very beginning of the novel itself revolts against the deep-rooted family tradition and succeeds to some extent. Ida the daughter of Virmati. Similarly, revolts the tradition of her mother in a more aggressive manner. The chain of clash weaves the major plot of the novel. Virmati after a number of trials and tribulations ends up in her own marginalization by her family as well as by society. The seed of modernity is sown in the heart of Virmati who decides to study further and leaves to Lahore. The longings and aspirations to rise high in education have been the effective cause of the revolt against traditions because Virmati aspired to lead a life against traditional norms. The new education and close observation of the life of Kasturi generate a new urge and emotion in Virmati to get herself free from the bondage of tradition. She also succeeds in her attempt to live a life of her own. Here it is clearly pointed out that modernity has defeated tradition but towards the tragic end of Virmati’s life and the hardships faced by her in the novel, makes Virmati a victimization of modernity.

                               In constant revolt against tradition, Virmati loses lots of thing in life. She has lost much more than what she gained. The continuity of clash between tradition and modernity in the women of three generations from Kasturi to Ida ends both in admittance and rejection. Kasturi yields to traditions but Virmathi and Ida reject the ancient customs and tradition. Another significant point is that female characters of Manju Kapur are more influenced by the thought of modernity contrary to the male-chauvinism in the family and society.

                                 The conflict between tradition and modernity is deliberately not settled by Manju Kapur as this is still debatable and an unanswered question. The women who raise voice against odds of their life has to suffer and even one who suppresses their emotion will definitely have to suffer admitting it as their misfortune. At the close, the tragic end of Virmati determines the idea that even in the post-independence period of modernization the two poles tradition and modernity are making the human more and more oscillating.

                                                                                              Submitted By

                                                                                         SHERLIN JOHNSON

                                                                                 I M. A. English Literature     

SOCIAL ISSUES IN ARAVIND ADIGA'S
                  WHITE TIGER

Corruption
Poverty
Class and caste system
Pollution

                  CORRUPTION

corruption is a form of dis honest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority to require personal benefit. In India corruption is a major issue that hinders the growth of our country. It is found everywhere from the higher officials to the lower and it affects the financial and economic system of the country.
     It prevails in every nook and corner of the country, it has become the predominant theme in many of the Indian novels right from the earlier period to the contemporary scenario. In this novel Aravind Adiga highlights the corruption which is plaguing around the corners of India which has been crippling the country. The entire novel is narrated through a collection of letters.
  Balram escapes from the darkness of life and enters into a corrupt system of life in order to climb up the social ladder. Balram states that, "The tale of how I was corrupted from a sweet innocent village fool into a citified fellow full of depravity and wickedness".Balram was born in the village of Laxmangarh and is raised in a large,poor family, he belongs to the Hawaiian caste, the caste which indicates the sweet makers. This village is under the control of four landlords namely the buffalo, the stork, the wild boar and the raven.
     Balram's mind is corrupted right from his school days. He sees the educational system which is corrupted. The school teacher of Balram has not received salary for six months. So he corrupts the educational system by teaching nothing to the students. He determines not to teach, until he receives his pay cheque. In order to make profit he steel the food and uniform that are offered to students by the government.Balram's father is a rickshaw puller and he suffered from tuberculosis. When he goes to hospital he finds no one in hospital when enquires to the ward boy he replies that a government medical superintendent alone checks the doctor's visit to the hospital. Balram also comes to know that there is an open auction for that post. Thus the corrupt system in the hospital and the ignorance of the doctors has lead to death of his father. In Dhanbad he exposed to the evils of corruption in politics. A politician known as the great socialist controls the mass through election in deceptive way. It is responsibility of each and every citizen not to indulge themselves in activities that harm both the self and society. The white tiger is an exposure to corruption and exploitation.

POVERTY:

      The novel white tiger mainly focus on the problems of people who are living under poverty. The protagonist of the novel Balram Halwai is a servant from Bihar who has travelled to the city Bangalore to earn his living. He is an intelligent boy at school. Due to his poverty he discontinues his studies. He wants to lead an independent life like the white tiger. India is a land of democracy but the poor people continue to live a poor life. They don't fit d any opportunity to cherish their freedom.

CLASS AND CASTE SYSTEM :

         Indian society has the segmental division of caste and class system. The caste system is the major cause of obstruction in the growth of the nation. The rich people are given many opportunities when compared to the poor people.In this novel,landlords and the upper-class people control the poor and the working class people. Balram is suppressed due to his caste system. Through him author portrays the pen picture of people belongs to the lower class people. In the Indian society people give importance to their caste than name.Drivers are made to the floors and to massage the masters. Thus the class and caste system in the novel is distinct.

POLLUTION

     WATER POLLUTION
    AIR POLLUTION

WATER POLLUTION:

        Duting festival seasons the people use to take bath in Ganges river to clean their sins.They leave the remaining things in the river especially plastic, flower waste.This cause water pollution and this leads health problems. The poor became the direct victims of this pollution. Adiga tells about Balram's father who is affected by tuberculosis like him mamy are affected due to their unhealthy living conditions.

AIR POLLUTION:

       Adiga also conveys about the climatic conditions and rise in level of pollution in Delhi in the novel. People cover their faces with handkerchiefs to escape from the coarseness of their air pollution. The usage of automobileshas increased mainly in developed cities like Delhi which leads to the increased pollution. In Delhi vechicles fight for space on the road. Thus he presents the polluted Delhi and the social issues in the novel.

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