Vol. 4(10), pp.

566-573, December, 2013

DOI: 10.5897/IJEL2013.0489
International Journal of English and
ISSN 2141-2626 ©2013 Academic Journals Literature
http://www.academicjournals.org/IJEL

Review

Identity, culture, and sexuality in Githa Hariharan’s ‘The

Thousand Faces of Night’
Bhasha Shukla Sharma
Department of Humanities, UIT, RGPV, Bhopal, India.
Accepted 18 September, 2013

Human beings have a complex network of power relations and there are various models of submission
and domination in this power struggle. Dualistic thinking based on the binary oppositions such as
‘culture/nature’, ‘head/ heart’, ‘form/ matter’ is related to the opposition between man and woman.
Inequality between women and men can appear in many different forms- it has many faces and
sometimes the different asymmetries are quite unrelated to each other. In recent times, feminist
theories have paid attention to the narrative texts based on culturally constructed gender. While
analyzing a narrative text culture, identity, sexuality and power tend to form the major part. This work
looks closely at The Thousand Faces of Night published by Githa Hariharan which takes a gender
centered platform. In this analysis, the author tends to look primarily for ways in which Hariharan’s
narrative deconstructs binary oppositions underlying mainstream assumptions about identity, culture
and sexuality. Some feminist critics advice to keep the Indian social structure in mind when attempting
feminist criticism in India. While studying Indian women novelists we have to understand the difference
between east and west. The model should not be rigid. The ‘female’ body can be made docile,
submissive, erotic, usable and productive .The Thousand Faces of Night represents a variety of female
characters, mythological (ideal) and real, with varied wishes and frustrations, desires and agony,
searching for self-identity or self liberation. Hariharan’s female characters revolt against considering
marriage and motherhood as ultimate goals of an ‘ideal woman.’ They truly represent contemporary
Indian women who are bringing about a silent revolution. Here, they stand with the third wave of
feminism strongly advocating individual liberation. Through the study of women characters, Githa
provides us with a peek into the Indian tradition and culture and the position of women in the Indian
society. It is about the journey of Indian women through tradition to modernity in search of self-identity.
It also discusses the ways out. It tells us how the characters, mythological and modern cope with
passive victimhood. Issues raised by Hariharan are social, cultural and ethical. The vision Hariharan
has for womankind is of empowerment. The protagonist finally disowns her status of ‘other’ finally to
return to her mother or her roots to rediscover her true identity.

Key words: Identity, culture, sexuality, liberation, myth, ideal woman, feminist theories.

INTRODUCTION

Ramchandra Guha feels that ‘Economic growth in con- these inequalities intensify, one half of India will come to
temporary India is marked by considerable disparities of look and live like California, the other half like sub-
region and class.’ (2007:711). He quotes noble prize saharan Africa.’ Gender disparity in India is a ‘multitude
winning economist Amratya Sen who ‘worries that as of problems.’ There are ‘many faces of gender inequality’

E-mail: [email protected].
 Sharma 567

(Sen, 2005: 220). The plight of women is similar through- sexuality. He is interested in reading and examining the
out irrespective of religion and class. Economically, images of women portrayed in the novel and to create
women might not be equal to men, socially they are characters that move outside expected sex roles. He
deprived of power and culturally they are not given similar would also analyze how these female characters match
treatment. In a recent interview, Honorable judge of or strike a balance with the stereotypical mythological
Supreme Court of India, Ms Gyansudha Mishra herself ‘ideal woman’ and how they contradict the conceived
accepted that the respect of women in modern days has image of the ‘ideal woman’. He seeks to keep the com-
declined. Society has a very deep command of male plexities of narrative technologies for endowing a literary
dominated ideology. She said when she was Judge in character with interiority and a persona on the thematic
division bench of Supreme Court and High court then level. He would be watchful for the signs of feminism in
advocates used to communicate directly to male judges Githa Hariharan’s text (TFN). In the patriarchal third world
with a thought that ‘she cannot understand’ as she is a Hindu society, Hariharan is fiercely feminist in her
female (Dainik and Bhopal, March 2013, pp13). This is an outlook, and critiques the patriarchal power structure of
empowered woman stating her own condition as a judge the Hindu society. She questions the deciphering of
in India. This is a major indicator of social pressure on myths (borrowing words from Spivak, Draupadi: tran-
women to neglect their own identity as an independent, slator’s foreword in Mahashweta Devi’s Breast Stories,
educated mind and perhaps a verdict to limit their po- Spivak 1997) ‘written into the patriarchal and authoritative
tential to contribute to national progress. Although more sacred text as proof of male power’. Although her novel
women in India are entering into various professions than seems to be engaged with inner recesses of a woman’s
ever before, it is not possible to see a drastic change in mindset, it tends to maintain freedom that is to be found
their condition. Perhaps, the socio-economic conditions in romantic transcendence, perhaps a product of the
and cultural over-bearings have to be reconsidered and melancholic tradition of Indian women writers like
restructured. The mindset of the patriarchal society will Nayantara Sehgal (Rich Like Us, 1985), Shashi
need still more time to transform. Sen feels that Deshpande (That Long Silence, 1989), Gita Mehta (The
‘Inequality between women and men can appear in many River Sutra, 1993), Anita Desai (Feasting, fasting, 1992),
different forms- it has many faces and ‘sometimes the Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things, 1997) and
different asymmetries are quite unrelated to each other… Meena Alexander (Manhattan Music, 1997).
However, gender inequality of one type tends to ‘Masculinity and femininity are not essential qualities of
encourage and sustain gender inequality of other kinds. embodied subjects but matters of representations. Barker
Consequential analysis can be critically important even (2000: 316) in Cultural Studies notes further, ‘A good deal
within the large corpus of gender relations in general, in of feminist writing in the field of culture has been
order to examine and scrutinize how the different aspects concerned with the representation of gender, and of
of gender inequality relate to each other. For, while women in particular. As Evans (1997) comments, first
gender inequality has many faces, these are not indepen- there was a concern to demonstrate that women had
dent. Rather, they speak to each other and sometimes played a part in culture, and in literature in particular, in
strongly encourage each other. For example, when the face of their omission from the canon of good works.
women lack decisional power within the family, which This was coterminous with a concern for the kinds of
amounts to a deprivation of women’s effective agency, representations of women which had been constructed;
this can also adversely affect their own well-being. The that is ‘the thesis that gender politics were absolutely
two kinds of deprivation may not only move together- be central to the very project of representation’ (Evans,
‘covariant’-but they may be linked with each other 1997:72). Most of sociological, cultural and feminist
through casual connections’ (2005:220). writing, including MacKinnon’s, have considered gender
In recent times feminist theories have paid attention to to be ‘malleable’ as it is a cultural construct. Barker
the narrative texts based on culturally constructed (2000: 300) further notes that early feminist studies made
gender. While analyzing a narrative text culture, identity, the realist epistemological assumption that representation
sexuality and power tend to form the major part. The was a direct expression of social reality and/or a potential
author looks closely at The Thousand Faces of Night and actual distortion of that reality. That is, represen-
published by Githa Hariharan in 1992 (TFN from now tations of women reflected male attitudes and constituted
onwards) which takes a gender centered platform. The misrepresentations of ‘real’ women (Tuchman et al.,
author will try to follow a methodology so as to find out 1978). This is known as the ‘images of women perspec-
the questions being raised by ‘a self-conscious’ narrative tive’. However, later studies informed by post structura-
feminism (term used by James, 2012) and how will we go lism regard all representations as cultural constructions
about answering them. In the analysis of TFN, the author and not as reflections of a real world. Consequently,
tends to look primarily for ways in which Hariharan’s concern centers on how representations signify in the
narrative deconstructs binary oppositions underlying context of social power with what consequences for
mainstream assumptions about gender, identity and gender relations. This exploration of ‘women as a sign’
568 Int. J. English Lit.

(Cowie, 1978) we may call the politics the ‘politics of after following the norms set by the society. She con-
representation’. The concept of the stereotype occupies stantly faces the dilemma of tradition versus modernity,
a prominent place within the ‘images of women’ perspec- dilemma of cultures western versus eastern, dilemma of
tive. A stereotype involves the reduction of persons to a mind (knowledge) versus heart (true knowledge) and
set of exaggerated, usually negative, character traits. dilemma of being a ‘good girl’ versus ‘bad girl’, The crisis
Through the operation of power, a stereotype marks the ‘to be or not to be a good girl’ haunts her and the agony
boundaries between the ‘normal’ and the ‘abjected’, ‘us’ of identity crisis attains the desired intensity through the
and ‘them’. An early example of the ‘images of women’ use of myths. Devi plays the role of (objectified) suave
approach is Meehan’s (1983) analysis of women on US young charmer in Dan’s life, host and home-maker
television. Her study combined with a quantitative waiting for her husband, Mahesh who comes home as a
analysis, which counted the number and kind of repre- guest, and a muse for Gopal, the musician. She is unable
sentations of women, with a qualitative interpretation of to see herself completely in any of these roles. She
women’s roles and power (lessness) within those realizes that all the three men in her life- Dan, Mahesh
representations. She suggested that representations on and Gopal had their own identities and she was expected
television cast ‘good’ women as submissive, sensitive to fuse herself in their identities. The Hindu society in
and domesticated while ‘bad’ women are rebellious, which she grew up demanded her to be a virtuous
independent and selfish. She concludes that ‘American woman and a ‘good girl’ to merge herself with the identity
viewers have spent more than three decades watching of the man in her life. She has a problem when she
male heroes and their adventures, muddied visions of becomes aware that men rule the world, in a patriarchal
boyhood adolescence replete with illusions of women as society like India. She also finds that here, in India,
witches, bitches, mothers and imps’ (Meehan, 1983:131). females are raised in the world with different expec-
Globally, women in media are considered as ‘com- tations. As soon as Devi realizes this, she promptly
modified’ and ‘stereotyped into the binary images’ of comes out of it, to find her own identity individuality.
‘good’ and ‘bad’ (Gallagher, 1983:110). ‘Bad’ probably Structurally, the novel is divided into three parts. The
referring to what Mahasweta Devi calls ‘liberated anti-bra first part introduces the protagonist and her inner conflict
girls’ (Behind the Bodice, 1997:135). Menon (2005: 212- of becoming a ‘good girl’ (as her mother wants following
213) notes that ‘commodification and alienation of the the norms of a traditional society) or a ‘bad girl’ (shedding
self, particularly of the female body, which is typical of the traditional norms and leading her life on her own
modernity’ and ‘autonomy, equality, and freedom are terms). It introduces Devi (the protagonist), trying to shed
archetypically modern values’ whereas ‘nurturing and her traditional Indian self (trying to be a ‘bad girl), in a
caring’ are traditional values. She further explains that North-American university campus and her life in India
‘womanhood,’ especially ‘Indian womanhood,’ is after coming back to India (the overpowering of the ‘good
‘represented as a perfect mix of tradition and modernity.’ girl’ who accepts its cultural heritage). Devi belongs to a
Partha (1997) refers to this conscientious mix as ‘our’ traditional Hindu Brahmin family that believes that
modernity. marriage is the ultimate goal of a woman’s life. Devi
The structure of TFN is rather traditional. Githa plays exhibits enough control compromising with her indivi-
with the binary images of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ women. She duality agreeing for an arranged marriage. The narrative
shows struggle between tradition and modernity. Githa also takes us to, Devi’s childhood, Devi’s grandmother’s
tells us the story of five women- Devi, Sita, Pati, house where the seeds of such a conflict were sown. It
Parvatiamma and Mayamma. Patterns of women’s life in was here that Devi learns the rules of being a good girl.
a Hindu cultural society can very well be observed in She does not pursue a career after her graduation from
TFN. There are other narratives of women linked with USA. In US, she is with Dan but Dan’s culture was totally
these women. Mythological female characters, like Sita, different from Devi’s and she felt like a stranger, different
Amba, Gandhari, Ganga, Gauri are strongly reflected in and unfit for Dan. She hears her ‘culture calling’. The
the characters of the novel although there is a vast ‘good girl’ in Devi wins. She leaves her past life in U.S
difference in the time zones of the two. Plus all these, and comes back to India to marry. Devi is tamed by
women are connected by their quest for identity, unhappy ‘memories’ of all the stories told by Grandma. A victim of
marriages and disgruntled ambitions. These stories of her own imagination of herself as a ‘Devi’, she is trapped
middle and working class women are juxtaposed with the easily into a traditional marriage forgetting her past.
mythological stories of ideal women. And instead of The second part explores Devi’s life after an arranged
suggesting a way out of the complex situation the marriage. Mahesh, Devi’s husband takes her for granted.
mythological stories tend to cross-examine them. The Devi is unable to adjust in the new atmosphere. She is
protagonist refuses to follow the preaching from mytho- unhappy, dissatisfied and lonely. Devi says, ‘This then is
logies blindly. She challenges the ‘moral’ of these stories marriage, the end of ends; two or three brief encounters a
and tries to decipher these ‘morals’ in a new light. month when bodies stutter together in lazy, inarticulate
Devi, the protagonist, undergoes an identity crisis even lust. Two weeks a month when the shadowy stranger
 Sharma 569

who casually strips me of my name, snaps his fingers other. Consequently, the category of women has no sub-
and demands a smiling handmaiden. And the rest? It is stance as an extension of male fantasy and fears. And
waiting, all over again, for life to begin, or to end and since all cultural representations of the world around us
begin again. My education has left me unprepared for the have been produced by men, women must ‘dream
vast, yawning middle chapters of my womanhood (TFN: through the dream of men’ (The Second Sex, 1997: 48).
54). Lonely Devi feels protected in presence of her father Thus a woman is required to accept her status of other,
–in –law, who again nurtures the ‘good girl syndrome’ in ‘make herself object’ and ‘renounce her autonomy’ (The
her and through this books of philosophy shows her the Second Sex, 1997: 280). Hariharan works in synchroni-
path of becoming a virtuous wife. After he leaves for US, zation with Beauvoir. Devi’s decision not to have children
Devi observes and listens to the stories of Mayamma-the is also feminist. When she asks Mahesh why he wants
housekeeper. She also observes and feels frustrated with children, Mahesh answers because everyone has them.
the repression of women surrounding her. The ‘bad girl’ Devi does not want to produce children because
in her starts overpowering. everyone is doing so. This is a condition where she tries
The third part of the novel explores the other women to overcome the pressure of the society or expectations
characters of the narrative like Sita (her mother, who of femininity by her independent decision. Here,
leaves her musical career to become an ideal daughter-in Hariharan’s perspective matches with Shulamith Firestone
–law), Mayamma (her housemaid, who is unable to bear (the dialectic of sex, 1970) who believed that women’s
children and suffers cruelty and even after bearing a male capacity for reproduction was the source of their oppress-
child suffers exploitation until her son dies), and Gauri sion. This distinction allowed her to examine reproduction
(her maid-servant who collects money for her marriage as the driving force in history. Women should seize
and then falls in love with her brother-in-law). Devi control over the means of reproduction in order to
explores the myths and questions their relevance. She eliminate sex class discrimination. This can be achieved
explores her own self. Her decision of not having through wider access to contraception, sterilization and
children, by not trying continuously and ‘hysterically’ to abortion.
conceive, symbolizes her search for self. Inspired by her Githa, in TFN, has revisited the women from the Myths.
mother-in –law who left her husband’s house to lead a Mukherjee (1985: 39) quotes Mircea Eliade and remarks
religious life, she also leaves her husband’s house with that, ‘mythic time of a pre-modern culture is cyclic, in
Gopal. However, soon enough, she begins to see her which the same primordial drama is continually re-
role (search for identity) in Gopal’s life and finds it a little enacted.’ Githa looks at these myths from the eyes of a
more than an object. Towards the end of the narrative, modern, educated woman. She challenges the patriar-
Devi realizes that all this while she was trying to be a chal archetypes of these myths in TFN. There have been
‘good’ girl and was trying to please society. Devi plays a many women characters in Mahabharata and Ramayana.
role of the ‘other’ in lives of three different men. She is These epics have laid down the principles of social power
frustrated in these roles that she was playing. She structure. In Hindu Mythology, the women are treated as
realizes that she, like all other women around her, has sacrificing, dependent, anxious to please, subordinate
spent her life in becoming the ‘virtuous women’ or playing and submissive. This depiction of woman stands true in
the role of the ‘good girl’ or ‘ideal woman’ who never the present time as well and these are still the popular
existed or who has grown obsolete with the passage of themes in a study of television serials as quoted by Chris
time. She realizes that she will not be able to do justice Barker as ‘Attributes of masculinity and femininity on
with herself if she continues to behave like a ‘good girl’ Indian television’ (Krishnan and Dhinge, 1990). Since
from the mythologies. She rebels. She decides that she ages, the Indian culture has been operating on the basis
will not fight with her own self anymore and would resolve of the norms laid down by these epics. The women
the conflict in her. She decides to satisfy nobody but characters may have been powerful enough but the
herself and then onwards does not have any qualms in society has been modeled on ‘Sita’ in Ramayana. In the
quashing all myths and becoming a ‘bad girl’. And finally Hindu Mythology ideal women is ‘Sita’.
comes back to her mother to re-define her individuality. Wendy Doniger calls Sita the ‘official role model’ for
Simone de Beauvoir (the second sex, 1949) explained Indian women and laments, ‘How different the lives of the
subjectivity- our sense of self- through existence philo- actual women in India would have been had Draupadi,
sophy. Existentialism proposes that one exists first, and instead of Sita, been their official role model! Many
through one’s acts, one becomes something. ‘One is not Hindus name their daughters Sita, but few name them
born a female; one becomes this’ (The Second Sex, Draupadi’ (1990:298). According to Doniger ‘the women
1997: 301). She reasoned that an individual has absolute of Mahabharata are extremely prominent, feisty, and
control over their fate, and neither society nor organized individualistic, in part as a result of changes that were
religion should limit our freedom to live authentically. But taking place in the social structures at the time of the
since men have claimed the category of self, of subject, recension of the text.’ (1999:292). ‘There are some
for themselves, women are relegated to the status of women in Ramayana who behave badly, like Kaikeyi,
570 Int. J. English Lit.

Manthara- the hunchback women or Ahalya- the archety- community and family, food and drink, personal habits
pal adulteress … the polarized images of women in the and character, all seem to be involved in the
Ramayana led to another major split in Hinduism, for maintenance of health. Yet these and other factors such
though the Brahmin imaginary made Sita the role model as biological infection, social pollution, and cosmic
for the Hindu women from this time onward, other displeasure, all of which Indians would also acknowledge
Sanskrit texts as well as many vernacular versions of as causes of ill health, only point to the recognition of a
Ramayana picked up on the shadow aspect of Sita, the person’s simultaneous existence in many different orders
passionate, sexual Sita, an aspect that is also embedded of being…for most traditional Indians, the polis consists
in this first text, only partially displaced on to other, not only of living members, but of ancestral spirits, other
explicitly demonic women. Yet the later Brahmin spirit helpers, and –for the Hindus-the familiar gods and
imaginary greatly played down Sita’s dark, deadly aspect goddesses who populate the Indian cosmos. Sub-
and edited out her weaknesses to make her the perfect jectively, then an Indian is inclined to believe that his or
wife, totally subservient to her husband. How different the her illness can reflect a disturbance in any one of the
lives of the actual women in India would have been had orders of being, whereas the symptoms may be
Sita as she is actually portrayed in Valmiki’s Ramayan manifested in the other orders. If a treatment, say in the
(and in some other retellings) been their official role bodily orders, fails, on is quite prepared to reassign the
model. The Valmiki Ramayan thus sowed the seeds both cause of illness to a different order and undergo its
for the oppression of women in the dharma- shastric particular curing regimen- without losing regard for the
tradition and for the resistance against that oppression in other methods of treatment.’ Mayamma opts for many
other Hindu traditions’ (Doniger,1999:232). The twentieth alternative treatments like lighting lamp under a tree,
century women authors are trying to challenge the observing fasts and her room was covered with photos of
traditionally represented ‘ideal woman’ model of female gods and goddesses and ultimately she delivered a son.
representation or the oppressed. They represent a She suggests these ways to Devi who follows hem half
conflict between the ideal woman and the real woman. heartedly. However, Devi herself wants to explore her
TFN explores many facets of womanhood. Strangely own self and is not prepared for any responsibilities of
enough all women characters are unhappy in marriage, motherhood. She is able to liberate herself from the
unhappy with motherhood- if attained-is forceful and desire of attaining motherhood. The desire to conquer
unwanted, Devi and others including Parvatiamma or herself is the strongest in her. She is educated and
mayamama who even after attaining it reject it. Kakkar knows that she needs to find her own identity before
and Katherina (2007: 56), talking about marriage while motherhood. She is marginalized and alienated to such
discussing ‘Indian women- traditional and modern, asks, an extent that she loses faith in herself. She is completely
‘is love necessary? Devi has no desire to have children drained out by ‘giving’. Now, she wants to stop and think
but Mahesh believes that she should have children not and again generate her inner strength. She wants to
out of love but because everyone has them. Mahesh is revolt against Mahesh, who has brought her in this
practical enough to understand that children are the condition and her body helps her in her silent revolt
logical outcome of a marriage. He is one of those against Mahesh by not conceiving. Devi remarks, ‘In my
members of traditional society who consider motherhood waking hours I am still no conqueror. My petty fears, and
as the final goal for attaining womanhood or becoming a that accursed desire to please which I learnt too well in
complete woman. He pressurizes Devi to visit gyneco- girlhood, blur the bold strokes, black and white, of
logists. She visits the hospital regularly so that her revenge. I write elaborate scenarios in my mind for the
ovaries can be ‘mended, an efficient receptacle for last act -humiliating Mahesh, saying all the things we
motherhood’ (TFN: 89). Mahesh begins to neglect her have left unsaid. I do something bloody, final, a mark of
more when she is unable to conceive despite prolonged protest worthy of the heroines I grew up with’ (TFN: 95).
efforts. She can sense this alienation. She says, ‘I feel She interrogates the social pressure of attaining complete
myself getting blurred in Mahesh’s eyes. The focus gets womanhood and says, ‘Am I a neurotic because I am a
softer and softer, till everything dissolves into nothing- lazy woman who does not polish her floors every day? An
ness, everything but my stubborn, unrelenting womb’ aimless fool because I swallowed my hard earned
(TFN: 93). Mayamma suggests other ways out, through education, bitter and indigestible, when he tied the thali
pleasing gods- her room is full of gods and goddesses, round my neck? A teasing bitch because I refuse him my
as she herself had undergone similar circumstances. body when his hand reaches out; and dream instead, in a
Kakkar and Katherina (2007: 109-110) studies the nature spare room, of bodies tearing away their shadows and
of health and illness in the Indian setting and finds it melting, like liquid wax burnt by moonlight?’ (TFN: 74).
rather complicated. ‘To use western categories an indivi- These women in Hariharan’s narrative are perhaps
dual exists equally in a soma, a psyche, and a polis; a happy to be single, widowed or divorced. In The Art of
person is simultaneously a body, the self and a social Dying (1993), Hariharan again narrates a short story,
being.’ In the Indian concept, ‘Gods and spirits, ‘The Remains of a Feast’ with similar implications. It tells
 Sharma 571

us about the explosion of the suppressed desires of a even quotes and refers to existentialist connotations in
Brahmin widow. She is unable to control her secret the mythological stories of women. She also supports
desires beyond a limit. The ninety year old cancer struck women in their choice of bearing children. However, the
Brahmin widow, who has practiced austerity since a very next or the fourth wave of feminism seems to develop on
young age, suddenly revolts and desires everything that the lines of social justice and spirituality and the
has been prohibited for her - bhel-puri from the fly ‘subaltern’ would have a strong role to play in future
infested bazaar, perhaps touched by untouchables, feminist developments. Gandhi points out that ‘The
cakes with eggs in them, from the Christian shop with a feminist movement has constantly demanded equal
Muslim cook, Coca-cola laced with the delicious delight access to the means of knowledge and also equal
that it might be alcoholic. Finally, when she dies the participation in the making of knowledge on the grounds
granddaughter, a medical student who was her partner in that inherited knowledge are hopelessly constrained by
crime, covers her body with a bridal red sari, as her the preoccupations of the predominantly male institutions
grandmother must have desired. ‘The remains of a feast’ within which they have been developed and validated.
have greater connotations and give us a look into The feminist intervention into the humanities academy
Hariharan’s point of view. ‘Single’ in Hariharan’s point of has thus posed a challenge to the normative and univer-
view does not mean isolated or lonely but empowered salist assumptions of gender-based or ‘phallogocentric’
and in control of one’s time, space, solitude and freedom. knowledge systems, and attempted, in turn, to make both
Hariharan looks at the condition of being single, the ways of knowing and the things known more
widowed or divorced as liberation. In TFN Devi finds representative. Its aim has been to enable women to
liberation in adultery, the only escape from her lifeless become the active participating subjects rather than the
confinement. She flees from ‘unconcerned’ husband passive and reified objects of knowledge’. (Gandhi,
Mahesh and elopes with the ‘concerned’ lover Gopal. 1998:44). Feminism argues that there should be no
She says, ‘I will gather together the fragments which pass gender inequalities in representation of women in society.
for my life, however laughably empty and insignificant, Feminists argue that it is high time that the power
and embark on my first real journey. I would like to do structure of the Indian society must undergo a makeover.
better than sneak out, a common little adulteress... so They support neutralization of gender in the society.
that I can learn to be a woman at last. I will soar high on Feminist critics like Madhu Kishwar and Chandra
the crest of Gopal's wave of ragas, and what if I fall with a Talpade Mohenty advice to keep the Indian social
thud, alone, the morning after? I will walk on, seeking a structure in mind when attempting feminist criticism in
goddess who is not yet made’ (TFN: 95). She becomes a India. While studying Indian women novelists we have to
muse for Gopal and stays with him for some time but still understand the difference between east and west. The
feels trapped. She finds herself to be a reflection of her model should not be rigid and we must keep in mind the
partner’s self image. One fine day she ‘throws her sari silent revolution that is being brought about by the
over the mirror to blot out her reflection: She stood in women in India. However, their silence and speech are
front of the ornate, teak-bordered, full-length mirror that designed by their historical or contemporary experiences.
she and Gopal shared,... she looked into the mirror, but it These women in India may not have participated in a
was as if she was still looking at Gopal's sleeping face. It great feministic movement but silently and strongly are
threw back at her myriad reflections of herself. Devi changing their behavior, dressing, distribution of power,
undraped the sari and folded it carefully, lovingly, till it values and mindset without any organized appeal. In fact
was one long, multi-layered curtain. She covered the during the author’s visit to Rajasthan in 2012, his family
mirror with the silk so that the room suddenly became observed that the adolescent tribal girls wear modern
darker, and everything, the beds, the table, the sleeping attire jeans and tee shirts under the traditional ghagra
body of Gopal, were themselves again, no longer and dupatta. Duncan (2004) argues that silence is not
reflections’ (TFN: 138). merely a sign of absence of voice or power. Finding a
The history of feminism talks of the first wave of femi- voice may not be a matter. While that might be the case,
nism in the nineteenth century when it was concerned it is also crucial to recognize the ways silence can signify
with economic equality and women’s health care. The resistance and the ways of speaking can be used in the
second wave of feminism in early eighties was a little service of dominance and subjugation. Mix (2005) quotes
longer and dealt with the ‘burning the bra’ and existential Duncan in her analysis of Patti’s book in Modern Fiction
concerns. The third wave of feminism that coexisted with Studies (volume 51, number 1, spring 2005) and remarks
the second wave of feminism for a long time in nineties, that early in her study of contemporary Asian American
advocates more freedom and power over one’s own body women's writing, Duncan notes that too many critics have
and reproduction therefore freed the women over the read silence as ‘antithetical to the liberation of oppressed
burden of mothering children they did not want. Hariharan groups of people’ and have ‘fail[ed] to recognize . . . the
in TFN advocates for both the second and the third wave ways in which speech acts, too, are limited and con-
of feminism. She supports existentialism strongly and strained’ (13). Not all silences are equivalent; nor are all
572 Int. J. English Lit.

speech acts equal in their implications and effects. Githa (TFN: 139).
in TFN agrees completely with feministic ideologies and In this regard, it would be interesting to know what
supports and suggests a changed system where women Kakkar and Katherine (2007: 132-133) note about
have greater control of their lives. She advocates Hinduism where coming back to the mother is regarded
individual rights and freedom over their body. However, as death and rebirth. They remark, ‘Hinduism does not
questions have been asked and alternatives have been hold out the consolation of St Paul’s promise that at the
suggested. The silent revolution has begun. Within a few moment of death we come close to god and that then
years the quest for self will become the quest of the ‘shall we know even as we are known.’ Instead, it seeks
nation where the myths would be re-written and the rules to mitigate the universal dread of death by viewing it as
of the power-game will be changed. The world rests on an interval between lives, not as an end to the often
hope. As Victor Hugo says ‘Our life dreams the Utopia. painful, sometimes happy, but always engrossing and,
Our death achieves the ideal.’ above all, familiar life-in-the-world. In the words of an old
Panjabi woman, as reported by the anthropologist Veena
Das, death is ‘like being shifted from one breast to the
Conclusion other breast of the mother. The child feels lost in that one
instant, but not for long.’
TFN represents a variety of female characters, with
varied wishes and frustrations, desires and agony, sear-
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