Table of Contents
Abstract
Chapter 1 Introduction ………………………………………………………… 1
Chapter 2 Marriage in Ismat Chughtai’s short
stories………………………......6
Chapter 3 Subaltern in Chughtai’s short stories…………………………………21
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….34
Bibliography
Abstract
The research
aims to study the status of women in early 19th century in North India from Ismat Chughtai’s short stories. To
comprehend the status of women, the research focuses on marriage of women in
early 19th century. The researcher concentrates on the concept of
marriage, problems faced by women after marriage, the changes in life after
marriage, age of marriage from chughtai’s short stories. Next the research
focuses on the study of subalterns in Chughtai’s short stories by using concept
of subaltern by Gayatri Spivak. She in her essay, Can the Subaltern speak?
mentions about the women who are voiceless and are represented by others, i.e the dominant group in the society.
The research wants to study how women were oppressed and what did they do when
they faced problems. The research analyses the short stories of Ismat Chughtai
to know the stratum of women in early nineteenth century in North
India . Research wants to study how the subalterns were controlled
by dominant group in the society. Researcher uses quantitative method in her
research to make an anlysis of women’s status in early 19th century
women in North India .
Introduction
“Her writing is
ironic, caustic, frank, and bold and, yes, irreverent if the occasion merits
it.
She is merciless
in her depiction of corruption, deceit, injustice and hypocrisy”[1].
These are the
words said by Tahira Naqvi in one of her interviews, with the news paper The
Hindhu , about Ismat chughtai.
Ismat chughtai is one of the famous Urdu
writers in India .
Chughtai wrote novels, plays, travelogues etc. But her most remarkable
achievement lays in short story form. Lihaaf is her well known
work and she is known by everyone for that work. Ismat Chughtai is one of
the prominent writers who wrote about the living experience which she
experienced in the society in which she lived. She uses the themes and
characters of her stories from the sphere she knew intimately—the Muslim
families of Agra , Aligarh and Bareily. She was
born in 1911 in Uttar Pradesh at a place called Badun, associated with the
memory of Gautama Buddha. Her father, Qasim Beg Chughtai, was a judicial
magistrate who served at different capacities as Agra ,
Kanpur , Luknow
and late in princely state of Mewar. She was known for her story “Lihaaf’,
which was famous in India
because it was the first short story which talked about the lesbian and
homosexual relationship.
Many short story writers have represented the
caste system, partitions, women’s problems etc. Ismat chughtai is also one of the writers in the progressive movements in India .
Her stories contributed for the betterment of
the society. She pointed out the evils in the society. Her short stories
concentrated on women issues, partition of India ,
development of political parties in India , communal relationships etc.
Researcher in this work studies some of her short stories to know the status of
women during early nineteenth century in India . The short stories the
researcher studies are Gainda, The
Quilt, The wedding suit, The homemaker, Touch –me-not, Sacred duty, Tiny’s
Granny, Mother –in-law, Roots.
The
researcher in this work is studying about the conditions of women in early 19th
century as represented in short stories of Ismat Chughtai. The work is
concentrating on the conditions of Muslim women. The researcher studies
marriage because after this important act of marriage the life of women changes.
From the childhood the girls are trained to live a perfect life after marriage
but even then changes happened in the lives of women. Next the researcher wants
to look at the life of subaltern in Chughtai’s short stories. Using Gayatri
spivaks concept of Can the Subaltern speak the researcher wants situate how
women were voiceless in that society and they had no right for representing
themselves rather they were represented.
This
work contains two chapters. In the first chapter the researcher concentrates on
marriage in the short stories of Ismat Chughtai. Marriage was an important turn
point for the women in early nineteenth century. Marriage is a point where the
life of women gets twist. After marriage girls are sent to some others house where
the girls parents anticipate a boy to take care of their daughter. Marriage was
a stage where parents used to get rid of their responsibilities. Marriage was a
secret act but it had various problems. The problems rose because women were
under men’s control—for money food and protection. Men had full liberty over
women. The researcher observes marriage as a concept and studies what was the
main necessity of marriage?, Why did marriages fail? Why were the women
suffering after marriage, what were the expectations of society and family from
a girl after marriage? Researcher sorts out all these questions with the help
of Ismat Chughtai’s short stories.
The
second chapter concentrates on gender subalternity. The researcher studies
Gayatri Spivaks can the Subaltern speak? Spivak in her essay does not ask whether the subaltern does speak, what she
asks is if it is possible for her to speak, in other words, she asks if the
subaltern has the agency to speak. Spivak talks on representation. She says
that when Western scholars say that there is a chance of representation; she
argues that representation is done by men i.e dominant group in the society.
She gives the example of sati, where sati is not given voice; instead she is
represented by white and brown men saying sati is a brutal act or sacred
religious act.
The
researcher from her literature review finds that most of the work of Ismat
Chughtai is done on her short story Lihaaf. This story is studied to know about
the sexual life of a woman in a high class society, to show the patriarchal
society, homosexual studies done on it.
Chughtai is also studied as a partition writer,
her stories as All Alone is studied extensively by different scholars. The
other short story which is used is Wedding Suit. It is learnt from the custom
were women gather to make dress for wedding and how beliefs were knitted with
the knitting of dress. The same story is studied in this work from the view of
marriage and subaltern. The following are the literature review done by
researcher.
In Haram
in the haren: Domestic narrative in India
and Algeria
by Mohanlakshmi Rajkumar. In this book the second chapter describes about Ismat
Chughtai and her short stories. Mohanlakshmi Rajkumar says, women were
considered as guardian of national culture, indigenous religion, and family
traditions in Muslim society by Muslim reformers. Chughtai stood against these
beliefs. Mohanlakshmi Rajkumar has taken two stories of Ismat Chughtai to
elaborate on this idea. The rock and the
quilt are the stories taken by the writer to describe about the women’s
oppression. In both the stories they were brought home after marriage and faced
disastrous autonomy, self esteem, and sexuality. Ismat Chughtai is described
as, one of the famous well known writer of (PWA) progressive writers
association. PWA focused on social inequality in the government. Writer
portrays that chughtai’s writings challenges, “Traditional view of fore
fathers” which focus on life within upper class Muslim household. (Monakshi
Rajkumar 29). Chughtai’s work challenges the idea of home as a continuous and
homogenously neutral place where culture is unquestioningly preserved and
protected from colonial forces. In her stories the threats to traditional
values originate from within the home itself and from within its desiring
subjects”.
Radicalism in India :
Gender nation and the transition to independence by Priyamvada Gopal. In the 3rd chapter of this book,
the writer talks about the Ismat chughtai’s Lihaaf.
She says about the story from the eyes of a girl. The story was filed in the
court as obscene. But at the end, the Lucknow
court said that story had no obscenity. The writer says that the work was a
step towards modernity. When modernity and nationality was there the writer
says how the women tried to adjust to the concept of modernity. She says
Chughtai clearly puts out the problems of women in the world of modernity and
nationality. She talks about how modernity influenced the members of family.
She describes how women had to be careful about keeping the norms of the family
after going out of the house. Ismat Chughtai is a writer when the problems of
modernity were in its peek.
Encyclopedia of women and Islamic culture; Family law and politics by Suad
Joseph and Afransh Najmabadi. The writers talk about the friendship among women
in South Asia . In that context they speak
about the middle class Muslim women. The writers give the examples of two short
stories the wedding suit and the quilt .In
the first story they say about the friendship of women within their family.
They had not only friendship with family members but with their neighbors which
is depicted in the story wedding suit.
In quilt writers said about the
relationship between two females which was a taboo during that period.
Friendship was accepted only between the two members of different sex.
Writers
said “Ismat in twentieth century initiated the spread the idea’s of women
education and social change” (194 Suad
joseph and Afransh Najmabadi). Ismat chughtai and other writers during her
period wrote about the changes of conventional beliefs and the real happenings
behind the veils. Thus they brought about changes through the short stories
they wrote.
A
history of Indian literature –Sisir kumar Das. The writer speaks about different
writers from India .
These writers from different states of India influenced the society. He
says Ismat Chughtai was one of the best writers who gave new direction for Urdu
literature. She had a very good family background, but she had to fight for her education. He says
Ismat Chughtai was known for her short story Lihaaf. He says rest of her life
she fought against hypocrisy and religious fanaticism.
Borders
And Boundaries; Women in India ’s
partition by Ritu Menon, Kamala Bhasin. The writers take the short story Roots
to describe about the
partition of India into India and Pakistan . Writer takes the lines
from the short story to quote in the beginning describe about the pains of
division. They use these lines to say how partition affected the lives of
people. The families had to depart from each other in the name of religion. The
families which were friends before partition became enemies after the marriage
in the name of religion. The writer describes about the conditions of
partition.
Ismat
Chughtai- -A tribute- TahiraNaqvi. Tahira Naqvi makes a complete study of Ismat
chughtai. She writes this article as a tribute to her. In the beginning she
writes about her family background, her growth in a middle class family. Later
she describes about her writings. She discusses about the writing style of
Ismat Chughtai. She talks about her short story Lihaaf
which had
undergone controversies. She explains the main themes of some stories as the
“veil, where we meet a woman whose loyalty whose loyalty to the institution
of marriage is has tragically consumed
her whole life, a phenomenon deeply ingrained in the very fiber of South Asian
culture”(Taqvi 42) She describes about the language used by the writer and the
themes and plots explored by her. She ends her essay by writing about the end
days of Ismat Chughtai, her contributions too literature after sixties was very
less.
Ismat
Chughtai Lifting The veil selected writings by M. Asadudin. In this book
Asadudin has collected different stories of Ismat Chughtai. In his introduction
he talks about Chughtai’s personal life in the beginning. Later he discusses
about her short story ‘Lihaaf’ for which she was taken to court for obscenity.
Then the writer discuses about different stories and gives a description of
every story as in wedding suit he says is the story of experiencing new
culture. He says she has not only written about women, but she also talks about
different issues as communal violence, partition etc.
The writer just takes only one aspect of a
story and does not look into the other phase which she brings into the story.
In wedding suit she talks about poverty, dowry, patriarchal society, and social
relation of women with the members of society, difficulties they face after
husbands death etc. Thus the writer looks into one phase and ignores. The
researcher wants to look into different aspects of the story and see how women suffered
in the society.
From all the writings mentioned above, it
depicts that Ismat chughtai was studied by different writers to represent the
South Asian women community, homosexual relation, the culture of women during
Ismat Chughtai’s period etc. Everyone took her famous short story Lihaaf. Her
other short stories are not considered. These stories talks about the women,
partition, communal violence during early nineteenth century in India .
The researcher is concentrating on her short stories s Wedding suit, Mother-In
–Law, Touch –me-Not, Sacred Duty, Lihaaf, Gainda, Homemaker to study about the
marriages during early nineteenth century North India. The researcher from
these stories wants to study about subalterns. Researcher wants to verify
whether the subalterns had voice, could they represent their problems or needed
someone to represent their problems. Researcher
in her literasture review did not find any work done on Ismat Chughtai’s
short stories to learn about the status of women in early nineteenth century in
North India .
Chapter -1
Marriage in Ismat
chughtai’s Short stories
In
India ,
marriage remains an essential step of any individual’s life. Very few remain
single, especially for women. Marriage is part of the religious, spiritual,
social, cultural and economical life. It is a bond between two families. The
majority of marriages are arranged in most layers of the society: rich, poor,
urban, rural, literate, illiterate, Christians, Muslims, Hindus. Marriages occur
mainly in the same caste, sub-caste and community. In 1991, the average age at
marriage was 19 for the women and 24 for men.
[2]Seemanthini
Niranjana in her book Gender and Space
says “Marriage is a critical turning point for a girl, allowing her to translate
into reality latent reproductive capacities and there by realize her claim to
woman hood in the eyes of the communit.The pressing obligation on the part of
parents to marry off a girl underlines the high cultural value attached to
wifehood”. Ismat Chughtai’s stories are a clear example for this statement. In
some of her stories, as the Homemaker, Mother-in-law, touch –me-not, etc the
girls life has a twist after marriage. Researcher observes the following
different tribulations in married life of a girl as their age of marriage,
barrenness, husbands disinterest in them, dowry etc Ismat chughtai has written
many stories which articulate about the married life of women in middle class
Muslim society. Marriage was done according to the wish of parents. The bride
or bridegroom had no chance of choice in their marriage. The one, who goes
against their parent’s verdict, is considered to contravene the laws of their
society.
Decent
Marriage: Decent marriage is a word used by Ismat chughtai in her short story
Mother-in-law to describe about a perfect marriage. The researcher finds out
from her other short stories that decent marriage means the marriage which was
done with parents and elders concern. The parents select the bride or
bridegroom, they will decide on dowry, marriage functions. The marriage will be
done between a family of equal economic and social positions
in the society.
The bride or bridegroom should have parents or relatives as their protector. A
decently married woman had better position than any other woman who indecently
gets into the house. Even though Muslim marriages was a contract, where a man
and woman decides to live together, the decision, who should live with who was
decided by the elders of the house. From the following stories, it will be
apparent, what were decent marriage and the importance of decent marriage in a
life of woman? A decent marriage really protected the women in society from
ill-treatment of the society. The society here includes all educated and uneducated
men and women.
In
the beginning of Chughtai’s short story Mother in-law, the mother- in- law gets
disturbed in her siesta by her daughter- in- law Bashariya who is called as
bahu throughout the story. She is scolded in the beginning of the story for
playing with boys and girls of neighboring house. Mother –in-law scolds her
daughter to sit at home without disturbing her in her sleep. Later mother-in-law
starts complaining about the dowry given to her in marriage, about
the food served in the marriage function by bahus’s father which was not tasty.
Next she complains about the dress her son got from his father –in-law which
was of low quality. But when mother in law says all these complaints her bahu
goes into a deep slumber. The son of the house has gone to the market.
When both mother-in-law and daughter were
sleeping the son who went to market comes. He wakes his wife by showing the
bangles he has brought. In the desire of getting the bangles, she goes into his
room. He had also brought watermelon and mangoes from the market. We hear the
screaming sound from inside the room. The mother in law is disturbed in her
sleep by the flies from the fruits. She curses the flies. Then she calls her
bahu, she comes in with a mango in her hand and front buttons of kurta open.
She asks her to get a glass of water. Son comes and sits near his mother and
starts complaining about his wife. He demands to get rid of his wife and get a
new a girl instead of her. He asks her to give permission to give her bashings.
Then mother says she has not eloped with you, she has come into the house with
a decent marriage. He pushed her down, hurting her legs. Mother in law takes
care of her bahu and solicits Ashgar’s help to bandage the bleeding leg. He
denies helping his wife in beginning, but later agrees to take his wife for his
mothers scolding. When mother goes into the kitchen,
Asghar carries Bashariya in his arms. Getting a chance, she bites in his shoulder because of pain he puts her down and starts
rubbing his shoulder. She laughs triumphantly, and mother in law started
murmuring from inside the kitchen. Nobody knows what she was murmuring. May be
she was cursing her bahu.
In
the story we come across main three characters, Bashariyha daughter in law,
Crone mother in law and Asghar son of the house. When Asghar complains to his
mother about his wife and asks her,[3]
“Shall I give her a good bashing? Asghar leapt up, planted a hefty blow in his
wife’s back and then sat cross legged on the cot” For this mother in law of the
story responds as “Beware!.....Listen, I’ll break your hand if you raise them
to hit her again,” Crone said in support of her enemy. ‘You had decent
marriage. Did she elope with you that you are treating her like this?’. So from
the above conversation it is clear that a decent marriage had a complete
support from the family members. Even though, the mother in law complains about
the property which she brought in her marriage or of the functions organized by
bahu’s father, the mother in law supports her bahu from the physical
harassments of her son. Thus we can see how family members of a girl support
her, because she had a decent marriage. Mother in law even warns about
informing the harassments to his uncle.
Mother in law takes care of her daughter in
laws bleeding legs. She does not encourage her son to beat or be harsh towards
her. Even though the crone scolds her daughter in law for playing with the
neighbouring children, she supported her .It was because Bashariya had no
reasons to be punished, she had a decent marriage, she is young so she plays with
the neighbouring children. But mother in law’s scolding is not taken seriously
because it is a usual practice in decent marriage, for a mother-in law to scold
her daughter –in-law. She will complain about the property which bahu has
brought, while coming to their house. A girl who had a decent marriage was safe
in the society. Contradictory to this story, there is another story of Chughtai
which talks about improper or indecent marriage.
The story Homemaker talks about a girl named Lajo. She was
an orphan, and she worked as a maid in different houses. When she was grown- up,
her body was used by many men in the society, and she
enjoyed it. Wherever she worked, she was used by the male member of that
family. But she was physically tortured and pushed out of the house after there
use. When Bakshi’s wife was full month pregnant, she was taken into his house
for his wife’s help. Then Bakshi brings her to his friend Mirza’s house, he was
a grocery shopkeeper. He did not like her in the beginning, but later
appreciates her for her work done in the house. Later he has sex with the girl,
which the girl was waiting for, because she knew Mirza went near the courtesans
for the sexual satisfaction which she did not want to encourage in that house
in her presence. She was so beautiful that everyone in the mohalla was
attracted towards her. The richest man in that vicinity offers her a bungalow
to be her keep. The girl is attracted to the house of Mirza, because she has no
one to order and control the house in which she lives. And she has the man whom
she has in her control without marriage. He decides to marry the woman which
she did not wish. After marriage Mirza tries to cultivate a decent behaviour in
her. She was forced to remove lehenga and she started wearing kurta which she
did not yearn. As the day passes Mirza
like all other married men started coming late to the house and advised his
wife. She is attracted to the neighborhood boy Mithwa who has sex with Lajo. She
was caught by her husband and beaten. He divorces her and the divorce brings
shame to Mirza. Then the chief of the religion says that there marriage was not
proper because she did not have parents or guardians to take care of her. News in
the village was spread soon and Lajo was happy to hear that. She was happy that
because of her Mirza did not lose his name or fame after his marriage with her.
In this story we find that the decision was
taken by the bride groom alone. He did not consier anyone for the marriage. The
line in the story [4]“That evening,
Mirza decided t that he would marry Lajo, and to hell with family honour”. This
line clearly states that Mirza did not take permission from his family elders
for his marriage. He married a woman who was an orphan. She did not bring any
dowry after her marriage nor was she a respected woman in the society. But Lajo
in the beginning refuses her marriage because she thinks that marriage was only
for virgins. So it is clear that their marriage was not proper, so the married
life of woman is very frail.
She will not be supported by anyone as Bashariya in the story Mother in law.
When she was beaten by Mirza for her relation with the neighbour boy Mithwa
nobody supported her. She was beaten till her death. He married the girl
knowing that she was a prostitute, and after marriage he started controlling
her in every way. He did not love her as he loved her before, so she was
attracted by someone. She had a reason to support for her act. No one in the
village supports her for her behaviour. From the above two stories we can see
how the society helps a woman if she is married in a decent marriage. Indecent
marriage is very likely to appreciate all the risks and no support from anyone
in the society.
In the story Sacred Duty, Samina was the daughter of Siddique Saheb and Begum. She goes for
her further education to city from her native town. Her marriage is decided by
her parents with a boy from Dubai .
But they got a letter from their daughter informing about her marriage with a
Hindu boy. The parents were taken aback by the news. People started commenting
them for sending their daughter for studies and her inter-caste marriage. The
parents of Samina get ideas, as killing their daughter and son in law, etc. But
finally they decide to go near them and bring them home. When the bride and
groom came to Siddique Sahebs house, he requested the groom to convert into
Islamic religion. But they both eloped from there keeping a letter set aside
for Samina’s parents. There they discussed about religion, and there plans
next. Thus the story ends by their quoting from The Quran and Bhagwad Geeta.
In this story we come across two marriages —
decent marriage and indecent marriage. In the beginning of the story parents
decides a decent marriage. They planned to marry their daughter to a Dubai groom. The factors
her parents looked for were, he had twelve thousand rupees salary per month,
had free board and lodgings, and was allowed a free vacation every year. Developments in Arab are opening new fortunes
for girls. The boy was from a decent family and had no family encumbrances
considering these factors the match was settled in phone. The groom was not
handsome and he was shorter tan the girl. But it was not considered, because he earned twelve
thousand every month
in Dubai .
It is said in the story, [5]“One
shouldn’t bother
about a man’s physical features; it is his qualities that matter”. The
qualities which the parents are looking for is the factors in which they
decided to settle their daughters
marriage. So
this was the marriage decided for their daughter. Decent marriage was decided
by the parents for their daughter but she does not agree to this
Samina marries a Hindu which was the first
reason for indecent marriage. Next she married without her parents concern. The
decision was taken by the bride and groom. In the story Siddique sahib is
described thus ‘Siddique Saheb was a progressive, a supporter of education for
girls’. Siddique Saheb being such a forward thinker could not appreciate his
daughter’s liberty in decision of marriage. He decides to kill his daughter
they are not worried about the qualities of groom or his position in society.
He is also educated and loves his daughter so much, and they are planning to
live happily. But only his religion is a big obstacle for siddique Saheb than
all other problems. Father is insulted by other members of the society for
educating his daughter. Education during that period in India was considered not suited for
women. The chapter named, The Progress of Women’s Education under Imperial rule
(1911) from the book, Feminist vision or
Treason against Men? the author says that [6]‘At
first our society was disturbed by the idea that women would become rowdy if
they were given an education, that they would disobey their husbands and insult
their parents –in –law, that they would feel ashamed to do laborious house hold
work, that they would cause domestic disorder, that they would spend more money
than their husbands and inflate their own importance, that they would tire of
staying in poor family and so on’ from this words from the writer Kashibai
Kanitkar, it is clear that education was not entertained by anyone thinking of
its flaws in society. So the father was abused by his neighbors and relatives
for being so progressive and getting the bad effect of being progressive.
The Wedding Suit
is another story were the mother works for her daughters. Bi Amma lost her
husband when her elder daughter was young. Now it was her responsibility to
marry her two daughters. She used to stitch clothes and make embroidery designs
in clothes. She used to collect money for her daughters dowry. On a fine day
they hear about Kubra’s – elder daughter’s maternal uncles’ son Rahat’s coming.
He is having police training in their village and he was staying there with them. In the midst
of poverty Bi Amma decides to treat their
guest properly
thinking one day he will be her would be son in law. He receives food and hospitality
given by them. But later, Rahat complains about the food which they gave him
amidst their poverty. Kubra does everything for him thinking sooner or later he
will be her husband. But at the end, his marriage is settled and he goes back
to his town. Kubra was teased by the other women of mohalla. She was an active
girl who becomes silent and dies of the disease tuberculosis.
In
this story Bi Amma decides to marry her daughter to a man whom she thinks
proper. But she did not speak to his parents or to him about marriage. So
nobody knew about the desires in Kubra’s heart. Kubra’s mother wanted to give
her daughter a decent marriage, so she started preparing dowry for her daughter
at early stage. Dowry was considered as a boon to get a good marriage. In one
of the conversations between Bi Amma and her cousin they discuss about the
dowry and they say [7]‘Well,
if one can afford to give fifteen tolas of gold as dowry and a job in the Burra
Saheb’s office thrown in, there should be no dearth of suitable boys.’ This
statement is evident to say that for a decent marriage dowry was also an
important factor.
From the above stories it is comprehensible
that only decent marriages were significant in the society. For a decent
marriage—parents should decide the relation, dowry should be decided, marriages
within the same caste was necessary, the girl should have parents. Always a
woman was given to a man in good status—having jobs, no encumbrances even
though if he does not have good behavior or good personality he was accepted. In
the story Sacred Duty, Samina is engaged to a man who is not handsome but he
has good economic power. In the story The Wedding Suit, Bi Amma decides to give
her daughter to the boy who is coming to have police training in her house. She
knows about his behaviour from her younger daughter, that he tried to hold her
hands when she went to give him food. Instead of confronting the problem with
Rahat, mother scolds her daughter and saying nothing happens if he holds you, you
are not made of wax. Mother knew the boy was not good in nature but she was
impressed by his job and wanted to marry her elder daughter to someone who has
some good economic background. The protection that women
got from the society after decent marriage is not gained by a woman in indecent
marriage. Protection and safety that Bashariya enjoys in the society was not
enjoyed by Samina, because of her inter caste marriage and by Lajo, for being
an orphan who was married to Mirza without elders concern. Kubra in The Wedding
Suit did not have marriage because she was poor and had no dowry
to get a suitable boy. Beyond all these beauty of a woman was also a factor for
marriage. Kubra was not attractive, her hands were rough and she has lost her
beauty working for others in the house. Her hair started growing grey. Lajo was easily married by Mirza because she
was very beautiful and was attracted by many men in the society. So beauty was
also an important aspect for women, but it was not considered for men. After marriage
women were considered to be the property of husbands. Nobody had control over
them as their husbands. They were the masters, rulers of the wife’s body and
soul. In the story Mother-In-Law, Asghar enjoys physical pleasure with his girl
but he also asks his mother’s permission to beat her. Since he could not
physically torture his wife he makes her to fall down and hurted her. In the
story Homemaker it is clearly evident
that Mirza married Lajo only to make her his own— he did not want or liked the
claims, offers of other men in the society upon Lajo. So, in order to gain
complete autonomy over the girl he marries her. After marriage the same women
who pleased him was now different to him. He started beating, scolding her for
her behaviour. Knowing her behaviour he married her, but now he does not want
any body to share her body. It is now Mirza,s wish to decide whether he should
sleep with her or to go near any courtesan, but the woman was not expected to
have relation after marriage with anyone except her husband.
After
marriage there freedom was completely curtailed, in decent or indecent
marriage. Every woman is expected to live according to the wish of her husband
and she has to sacrifice everything after marriage. Lajo in the story The Homemaker
is a suitable example for this. She does not wish to marry Mirza, because she
was not virgin, but, she was forcefully entered into a married life. She was
happy with her job as a maid in the house and the freedom she enjoyed there.
She had sexual relation with the man and she was doing rest of her duties of
that house. But Mirza wanted her to be his personal property and marries her.
Soon after marriage she is curtailed from every freedom. She was not only
curtailed from having sex with many man, she could not use the dress of her
comfort and fancy. She was denied from roaming in the town and made her to sit
in the house. The following are the lines from story,[8]
“Mirza puts ban on lehenga and instructed her to wear tight fitting churidar
pyjamas. Lajo was used to open space
between her legs. Two separate clothes joined by a strip of cloth were really
bothersome”. Next line which says Mirza’s constant chastisement had put
restrictions on her freewheeling ways, and eventually she was tamed and reformed”
Here Mirza really put restrictions in her behaviour, he wanted to make her a
decent wife. For that he stopped her mingling with everyone, she was not
allowed to go for market. She was kept inside the house to become a decent
wife.
In
the story Mother- in -law Asghar has complete control over his wife. He can
beat her, divorce her for any small reasons etc. But women were not only
controlled by family members but also by other elder members. Bashariya could
not play with her neighbour boys or girls. Her mother- in- law used to control
her by scolding her. She had to listen to everyone in the family. In the story
Lihaaf, Begum Jaan who was married to a rich Nawab after marriage did not take
care of her. She was not given attention; instead he was possessed with taking class
for young boys. Begum Jaan was in her room .It was Rabbu her servant who used
to take care of her, massage her body etc. Nawab brings her into the house and
does not care for her. For everyone, she is perfect and does not have any worries,
but the Begum Jaan in the house does not get any care.
Divorce
is a terrifying thing for women after marriage. Women had trepidation of
getting divorced by their husbands for any reasons. The main reasons were like
not conceiving a child, women’s extra marital relationship, and disinterest in
wife. In the story Homemaker Mirza decides to marry his wife without bothering
about the relatives or society. After a few days of marriage, Mirza finds
mistakes in his wife. He fails in his effort to change her. So he decides to
divorce her. He consults his friend Mian for his advice to get divorce from her
.The response of Mian for his friends suggestion of divorce was,[9]
‘Divorce the whore, and get rid of her. Had she been from a decent family, it
would be different’. His friend knew everything about their relationship. He
was the one who supported them during marriage, but when Mirza decides to
divorce Lajo, Mian concur faults done by
women. Her faults are highlighted more than men. Even
Mirza used to go near courtesans after marriage, but that was not considered as
mistake but her being with other man was a fault.
Even though Mirza divorced her; he had a feeling
of guilty. Because, during the time of marriage he knew that she was not from a
decent family and she was an orphan. But he could not digest her attraction
towards other man after marriage. Lajo had no guilt of being caught with other
man. And when she was divorced she was happier than leading a married life. She
is a woman with different thinking and this is not appreciated by other women.
She lived a life with many men and she could not lead now a controlled
life. After divorce husband gave some
money to her. This is known as Mehr. Thus Mirza in the story could easily divorce
his wife for the reason that she was not from a decent family. And this is
further discussed with Mullaji the chief of the community. And Mullaji says
that the marriage (Nikah) was invalid. The following is the conversation
between the Mullaji and Mirza.
‘How about the Nikah? asks Mirza
Mullaji replies,
‘Absolutely impermissible’
‘What do you
mean?’
‘The Nikah was
not valid, brother. No one knows whose illegitimate brat she was. Nikah with a
bastard is haram-strictly forbidden’. Miran Mian declared the verdict.
‘You mean, the
marriage didn’t come into effect?
‘Absolutely not’
Later Mullahji
also confirmed that marriage with a bastard was not valid.
From the above talk we come to know that a
marriage was considered indecent without a proper family background. And the
fact that she was an orphan was known to them before itself. It was not the
reason for their divorce. They just wanted to justify their act of divorcing a
girl. Since she did not like a relationship of married life, and had no to
question her she happily accepted divorce. But in the story Touch –me- not we
have characters as bhabijaan who was very worried about the divorce which she
will get because of consecutive abortions she had. The story is about a girl
who was going to her native for better treatment and takes rest in her mother’s
house. After the first abortion the whole family was worried about the
daughter’s married relation. In the train they met a lady who was pregnant and
gave birth to a child in train. This incident shocks Bhabijaan and she had her
second abortion in train.
In
this story we clearly understand about the relation of abortion with divorce.
The woman is worried about divorce than that of abortion. Every body in the
family knows that if she gets an abortion then she will be divorced by her
husband. So, small reasons were responsible for the breaking of marital relationship.
But in the story Mother- in -law the girl does not know the difficulties of
being divorced. She does not have any tension but her mother in law realizes
the problems after divorce so she scolds her son. May be the girl was not so
matured to understand the problems of divorce.
Researcher perceives from Chughtai’s
short stories that girls were married at very young age. They will be in their
teen age when they will be sent in marriage to their in-laws house. It is
clearly evident from the characters in the story ‘The Homemaker’, ‘Gainda’ and
‘Mother –in- law’. The young girls did not have any seriousness after their
marriage. Their main intent was to play, eat and enjoy the days. They were not
bothered about their future or about the scolding’s from their in-laws and
husbands. Lajo in the short story The Homemaker always plays with the children
in her mohalla. She is not concerned about whether she is married or what
others will think about her. When she was asked to wear salwar kameez she did
not like because she was comfortable with the lehenga. This confirms that the
girl was very young and was not bothered to have a womanly look. This attitude
is seen in the girls from the age of twelve to fourteen..
In the book Visible histories, disappearing women:
producing Muslim womanhood by Mahua, studies on middle class women
and men. He says[10] ‘nothing
good comes out of the child marriage. The practice is more harmful for girls
than boys. After marriage girls are deprived of habitual happiness and care freeness
associated with childhood. Not only does early marriage disrupts their education,
but it also leads to inhuman treatment of girls in most cases, some women
conceive so early and give birth to weak and lifeless children’.
Bashariya, Lajo and Gainda are deprived of the happiness they enjoyed before
and soon after marriage. They had to control their behaviour in such a way that
nobody could complain about them and their activities. Giving birth to a child
was an important factor. When a girl is not fully grown up chances of abortions
are more than a fully grown up woman. So in the story Touch- me- not we see the
girl who had abortions twice. May be she was young and by seeing a stressful
scene of a girl giving birth to a child in a train carried her another abortion.
In
the story Mother-in-law, Bashariya also plays with other boys and girls of her
mohalla. She does not care when her mother complains her about the dowry and
the marriage function engaged by her father. She was very cool and says what
can I do, and sleeps when her mother in law goes on complaining about her
parents. Here it is clear that she does not have any seriousness about these
matters. Whereas when her husband requests his mother to give him permission to
divorce her, she is not worried about the matter, rather she is busy in playing
some mischief’s with her husband. She does not know the seriousness of divorce
.Her desires are for small things like bangles, mangoes etc. When Asghar comes
from bazaar he seduced her by showing the bangles. And her desire for bangles
made her to go into his room. After a while
when mother in law calls her she comes near with a front open kurta, licking
Mangoes. She does not have any shame in coming out with front open kurta. This
gives us a clear picture about the seriousness that the girl had about her body.
Thus this depicts that the girls were given in marriage at an early age.
Even in story Gainda, Gainda plays with her
cousins after her husband’s death. They play the games of bride and bridegroom.
Gainda is seduced by her cousin. She does not realize the problems of such kind
of relationship. By this relationship with her cousin she conceives a child whom
no one takes care of. Narrator in the story says that Gainda was between fourteen
or fifteen years old. Narrator of the story is the younger cousin of Gainda and
she says this when she observes the way in which Gainda holds her new born
baby. The lines [11]‘Gainda
hardly fourteen or fifteen did not understand many things’ explains us that
small girls were married at early age where they do not know anything of family
life. Characters in all these mentioned stories get scolded by their in-laws or
elders for the misbehavior they craft in the house. The mischief is clearly
evident as playing in the ground with the lads or girls in their environment. After
marriage they do not have nervousness to play with the neighbour children. Their
playing is not encouraged by the elders of the house, because it is a shame for
the elders to see their daughter-in-laws playing in the ground with other young
children. So it is clearly illustrates that Indian middle class Muslim women
were given married early to the men who were much elder than them.
In the story Mother-in-law Asghar complains
to his mother that he wants to get divorce from his wife. After marriage he
starts finding faults in his wife as all the other men in chughtai’s stories.
We can see it in the stories as The Homemaker, were Mirza finds faults in his
wife such as her friendship with other men, her bad sense of dressing, immaturity, and doubts her
chastity. In the story ‘Mother- in –law’ Asghar , wishes to divorce his wife
Bashariya. He gives the reasons as she is gaining fat and growing like a fat
buffalo. A woman who is overweight indicates to have problems in bearing
children. Bearing a child was important after marriage. Woman who does not have
a child is not worth of being kept at home. Bearing a child before marriage
wasn’t appreciated in the families. For example we have Gainda conceiving after
her husband's death and an unknown woman in train who delivers a child in the
story Touch-me-not, is not appreciated in the story. In the story ‘Touch –me-
not’, the character named Bhabijaan is undergoing tensions for not having a
child. She lost her first baby and the second conception is taken much care by
Bi Mughlani her aunt. The tension which they have is about the divorce from
bhabijaan’s husband. Child bearing before marriage was not appreciated but if a
married woman does not have child then she is dangers.
The women were always with one or the other
problem after marriage. Seemanthini Niranjana says marriage always brought many
problems into women’s life and this marriage twisted their life. For example in
the story Lihaaf, were Begum had to
depend upon her husband knowing his homosexual relation and his uncaring nature
towards her. Babijaan in the story Touch -me not is worried about her future
where she has to live without her husband. In the story Gainda, she’s shown as
a woman who suffers without a man to take care of her and her child. Her
relation with the man from whom she had a child was not encouraged by his
family members because they wanted to marry their well educated young son to a
young and beautiful girl. His faults were forgiven because he is a man and the
woman had to control herself from all her desires.
Marriage was done between the cousins.
The blood relations were encouraged for example Gainda has relation with her
cousin. And in the story The Wedding Suit the women wishes to marry her daughter
with her brother’s son. Marriage is not only a man and woman coming together
but it had many complicacies after wards. Marriage ritual brought position to
women in the society.
She was safe
and secure after marriage but she was under the dangers of the same security
she gained. Divorce, problems in child bearing, early marriage, and tortures by
husband and in laws, young marriage age was the problems faced by the women in
the society. Even though she had many problems after marriage it was better to
have a married life because women could not have a happy life without man in
the society during early 19th century. In the story Tiny’s Granny we
see the grandma suffers a lot because she doesn’t have a husband, a son or a
grand son. She had no men to take care of her. Since she had no male support
she had to suffer in the society. This clearly says us how important was to
have a man to lead a happy life in the society.
To conclude, marriage was done between two
families, with the concern of the parents. Decent marriage was the accepted
kind of marriage, love marriages, eloping with a boy or girl and inter caste
marriage was not accepted by the family and the society in which they live. The
marriage needed to have dowry and bride’s parents used to organize the marriage
functions. The marriage function and the dowry paid by girl’s parents
represented their status in the society. Girls were married in their adolescent
age. Divorce was in convenience with the man’s wishes. Whenever man lost his
sexual interest in his wife and wants to have a new partner, he used to give
some reasons to divorce so that his reputation is not affected in the society
in which he live. For example we have the characters as Asghar in the story
Mother –in-law who gives the reason for divorce as his wife is getting fatter
and she is disobedient to his mother. In the story Homemaker, he gives divorce
to his wife whom he married knowing that she has no one to take of her. After
his divorcing of Lajo for her extra marital relation, he tries to prove his
marriage was invalid because she had no parents and relatives. And this news is
spread in the entire village that Mirza’s marriage was illegal because he
married an orphan.
Women should be obedient to their husbands and
his family members. Child bearing was an important act after marriage. In the
story Mother in law Asghar complains that his wife is getting heavier which
directly means that she is not worth of child bearing. And in the story Touch -me -not the woman and her
family is tensed about the abortion the girl had in her first issue. In her
second conceiving she is taken to her home for better treatment. But she has
her abortion on her way to home. The story ends by saying that the woman will
end up with divorce from her husband for abortion. So it was necessary for a
woman to have a child after marriage.
After marriage
woman was under the control of husbands. Marriage welcomed most of the problems
for women, but unmarried women’s life was more difficult than that of a married
ones. They had to face insults from the society and she was not safe in the
society. She will be considered as everyone’s property. Poor girls were forced
to accept any man in the society for example we have Lajo in the story The Homemaker
before marriage and Tiny in the story Tiny’s Grandma. These two girls did not
have anyone to take care of, so they were used by most of the men in the society.
They worked as maids and they were maid for the house and men of that house. In
the story wedding Suit, the mother tries to marry her elder daughter Kubra and
entire village is interested in their marriage. But when she is not married,
she dies of the disease. Thus a position of married woman was much safer than
of being alone in the society.
The stratum of
women as married was much safer than that of unmarried or without men’s
protection. The women did not have education and they did not have any
economical support if they don’t have male members in the family. The only work
they could do was to work as maids in others house or do some stitching. For
this work they did not get good income, so they became lower strata of the
society. The people in lower strata were not helped by the members in society.
They were marginalized from the society they lived. So they were forced into
prostitution and thus had no power, respect, position in the society. Women
were exploited by the society they lived, to have a better life they needed man
to support them.
Chapter-2
Subaltern in Chughtai’s short
stories.
[12] “ Let us now consider the margins (one can just
as well say the silent or silenced center)of the circuit marked out by this
epistemic violence, men and women among the illiterate peasantry, the tribal’s,
the lowest strata of the sub proletariat”.
Spivak in her essay talks about
the ideas of Foucault and Deluze, where they say that if an oppressed is given
a chance with the political alliance they may speak and know their conditions. Using Marxist analysis, Spivak highlighted that exploitation against the oppressed lies in
structural domination, which emerged from
international division of labor. In other words, Spivak is highlighting the
problems and politics of representations. In
all claims to represent the most marginal/oppressed group, the Subject (i.e.
the Subaltern) is further rendered voiceless.
This is because within the structural domination characterized by the international division of labor, all forms of
representation must necessarily come from a
privileged position or of power, i.e. from comparative privileged position
accorded by educational opportunity,
citizenship, class, race, gender and location.
Gayatri
Spivak in her essay ‘Can the Subaltern Speak? argues that the abolition of the
Hindu rite of Sati in India
by the British has been generally understood as a case of White men saving
brown women from brown men. Spivak states that when Sati system was considered as
an act of offence by Britishers, but Indian men found that sati rite was a sacred
act. But nobody knew what did the real sati wanted to say. Her voice was not
heard, she was represented by the men in two different ways. How can we
understand subaltern ? Can we understand from the English, as the slaughter of
innocent women or, from the male Hindus who spoke for the female Indians, as a
voluntary act? Spivak describes that in the case of Indian sati rite, sati is
still illustrative of how subaltern cannot speak.
Representation: What
is representation? Spivak in her essay discusses that scholars uses two kinds
of representation for describing representation as representation as speaking
for as in politics and re –presentation as in art or philosophy. Spivak uses
two German terms Vetreten and Darstellen to describe these differences.
Vertreten means (to stand in for) and darstellen to (describe for). Hence the
western approach to the subaltern is either to speak for or to silently let
them to speak for themselves. Both strategies silence the subaltern because
they ignore the positional relations of the dominant to the subaltern .Thus
the amalgamation of the two notions of representation establishes a silencing
of the subaltern. They can never speak because they are both being ‘stood in
for’ and ‘embodied’ by others in the dominant discourse
In her famous
essay entitled “Can the Subaltern Speak?” she provides a poignant analysis and
critique of attempts to speak for the most marginal/oppressed (or the
‘subaltern’).
What Spivak wants to highlight is that the
subaltern cannot be represented. Having discussed some aspects of Spivak’s
pivotal thought on the issues of the voiceless
ness of the subaltern and how one’s privileged position ought to interact with
the subaltern Other, it becomes apparent that
much of Spivak’s insights can be useful in analyzing Ismast Chughtai’s
short stories. As Spivak mentions, “If, in the context of colonial
production, the subaltern has no history and cannot speak, the subaltern as
female is even more deeply in shadow.” The
researcher concentrates women characters in Ismat Chughtai’s short stories as
Homemaker, Touch –Me-Not, Sacred Duty, and Mother-In -Law in terms of gender in
Ismat chughtai’s stories.
Subalternity is a place where hegemonic power controls the rest of the
persons in the society. In Chughtai’s short stories we find religion as a
hegemonic power in the society. The Muslims of early 19th century
was controlled by religion and religious leaders. These religious leaders were
men. So men in the society perpetuate the rules for enhancement of society. The
power transmitions happen from the super most power to the subaltern .The
hegemonic power here is the religion and the religious leaders. The women who
are under the surveillance of men do not have any power of their own. Their
power is transmitted from the powerful man with them. It is evident that, the
subaltern in the stories of Ismat Chughtai are
widows, educated women, women without men’s support, poverty of women
etc.
The
control of religion and men over the subaltern women is like the colonial rule
in India .
Indians were subaltern and the British rulers were dominant power who posed rules
from their super power, queen of England . The government of England
under the power of queen gave common rules for every British officer for the
colonized countries. The rule which had to be implemented in the land was in
the hands of British officers. They could change any rules according to their
comforts. And these officers had some supporters from India . The Indians, who were in
contact with them, enjoyed the privileges and prestige in society. They were
the communicators for the Britishers and enjoyed all the privileges as
education and other basic requirements .The privileged women in Ismat
Chughtai’s stories are parallel to the Indians who were allied with the
Britishers.
British officers used the power from their
authority for their betterment in the land which they ruled. They accomplished
everything for their pleasure and ease. The researcher examines that the men in
the early 19th century Muslim society in India was not poles apart from the
British officers. They used the religion to control over the women who were
under them. They took the liberty to modify everything according to their
wishes. Women are the subaltern, everything is laid upon them. As, Indians did
not realize, that they are being controlled by the Britishers in the beginning,
the Muslim women did not realize it. Some of the woman raised voice for their
equality and freedom. But they were not appreciated by others in the society,
like the leaders in the freedom struggle who were not acknowledged in the beginning.
From the short stories of Chughtai, it is
very clear, that those women who had their husbands or sons for their
protection were safe in the society. The men are controlled by the religion. And
the religion is manipulated by men. Thus men have the liberty to have complete
control over the religious rules. They adopt everything according to their wish
and fancies. They were the learnt and the liberated. The women had the only
choice of obeying to anything laid down to them by their super power or their
controller without questioning it. So the women who were subaltern had no power
to speak.
The researcher observes that women in
Chughtai’s stories were voiceless. Even though they wished to say something as
Spivak says they had no voice they needed to be represented by some others
in the society. And the representation was done by the men. Chughtai was a subaltern because of her gender. She was not
allowed to have education, even when her parents were from higher strata of society.
She had to fight for her education. When she got education she was not given
equal position as that of men. As a woman when she had to get education she had
to sit behind the curtains of the class. She being a woman who was suppressed a
lot she had to raise the voice of injustice done to the women in Middle class
Muslim society in North India .
She
represents the subaltern women from the short stories she has written. She has
lifted the veil which covered them from the society in which they lived. The
women had to wear veils which they could not lift amidst the men or in the
society they live. By lifting the veil the reality is shown to all of them in
society. Are they really happy inside the veils or are they suffering and
suffocated being inside. The short stories of Chughtai are in a way is lifting of
the veil and representing the problem to the society that they are really
suffering.
The researcher observes the subaltern women as
Tinny’s Grandma who does not have a son or a husband to take care of her and
her granddaughter. In the story Home maker the servant girl Lajo is married to
an old man and later he divorced her for his inconvenient life with her. She is
separated and looked down upon by the society because she is not having a
husband to take care of. In the next story, ‘Touch- me-not’, we see a woman who gives birth to a child in
the train, which nobody could think of, because she had no husband nor any
parents to take care of. The child was illegal. She was an orphan or a woman
used by many men for their pleasure. In the story Sacred Duty we find a Muslim
girl marrying a Hindu man. She was not appreciated, because she married a Hindu
(out caste) and the second reason for her rejection was her education. So from
the characters mentioned above we come to know that women who were subaltern were
uneducated, divorced, widow, illegal pregnancy and marrying other caste.
From
Spivaks subalternity it is clear that all these aforesaid women were subaltern
in the society in which they lived. They didn’t have voice to rise against the
injustice done to them. For example Ismat chughtai, when wanted to go for
education she had to get permission from the dominant section of the society, i.e.
her father, uncles and brother. Her brother Mirza Azim Beg Chughtai,
already an established writer, when Ismat was still in her teens, was her first
teacher and mentor. After her marriage she was supported by her husband. So it
evident that even though she had a talent of being a good writer she was
supported by the dominant section in the society. She had no voice to go
against them. When she started writing directly breaking all the conventional boundaries,
she was put into great troubles. She was branded as bad writer and a bad female
for her work Lihaaf. The women were not allowed to break the conventions and
talk to the society. She had no voice to say about the truth which they are
facing in the society. She had no voice if ever she had to raise voice it was
by her men’s permission.
In
the story Tiny’s Granny (Nanhi ki Nani) brings to light the social and
religious insincerity of the society. It shows how poverty and circumstances
can change people and how the poor girls are sexually exploited by the upper
class men and difficulty of girls from lower strata of society to live a decent
life. The very beginning of the story brings forth the question of identity
into focus. The first line says, “God knows what her real name was, as no one
ever called her by it. She has no identity of her own and as the years pass,
she is called ‘Baftan’s kid,’ ‘Bashira’s daughter-in-law,’ ‘Bismillah’s mother’
and ‘Tiny’s granny.’ She never had a childhood. When she ought [13]“to
have been laughing and playing with other children,” she had started working in
people’s households. The woman being poor is exploited by the society.
As
the years pass, Tiny’s granny tries all trades for her living. She had been a
maid, a cook, a beggar and even a thief. The miserable condition of the poor
people is brought out in the story. Poor people do not get enough to fill their
stomach and Granny, who was living a life of utter poverty, did not leave any
opportunity of grabbing food for herself and her granddaughter, Tiny. Everybody
knew about her stealing things but nobody questioned as she would threaten to
take an oath on the Holy Quran. And nobody wanted to risk on religion or
religious text. Since the granny had to live the life she promised in the name
of Quran. For her food for a time was important than any other consequences she
faces. But others wanted respects and positions, and never questioned religion.
The cruelty and hypocrisy of the rich people who hold
positions of power is also brought out in the story. The poor women were of no
respect to the powerful in the society. The girl was physically punished and
tortured by the Deputy Saheb, where she works as a maid. The story says, Tiny
did “job at the Deputy Sahib’s for her food, clothing and one and a half rupees
a month”. Granny always stuck to Tiny “like a shadow” but “a pair of old hands
cannot wipe out what is inscribed in a person’s fate”. These lines illustrate
that old and weak in the society suffered. They could not go against any other in
the society.
This is how Ismat Chughtai describes
it in the story:[14] “Tiny,
who was supposed to be pulling the rope of the ceiling fan, was dozing with the
rope in her hand. The fan stopped moving, the lord and master woke up, his
animality was aroused, and Tiny’s fate was sealed” This depicts how brutally
she was treated in the house. Deputy Sahib was known as a religious man who
said his five daily prayers and had provided water vessels to the mosque. This
is ironical, as in real life he had no religiosity and the image he portrays in
society is completely false and deceptive. The Quran says to respect every
human being in this world. The deputy a religious man uses religion for his
comforts and pleasures.
Even society is callous and cruel towards the
poor people and does not raise its voice against the injustice and wrong done
to the poor. Instead it makes fun of the poor for no fault of theirs. After
Tiny’s fearful encounter with the Deputy, her Granny comforted the” wounded
bird” with sweets. Instead of sympathizing with the poor girl whose innocence
and childhood have been ravished by the Deputy, the women of the society would
ask Tiny all that happened to her on the pretext of giving her something like
bangles and after hearing the details from her, would laugh out loud. This shows
the callous and unsympathetic behaviour of the women who are neither angry with
the Deputy’s behaviour nor do they try to comfort and understand Tiny; instead
they mock at her. The women who are privileged do not understand the sufferings
of the poor. Tiny instead of growing into a child grows into a woman in the
story. She goes to some
unknown city, where she works as a prostitute. Her grandma lies after that her
granddaughter is killed by cholera disease.
From
the story Tiny’s granny it is obvious that woman who did not have any one –
husband or son was victim of society. Grandma who had to suffer also could not
speak in the society about the difficulties she had. She had to keep her grand
daughters suffering within herself. Tiny
who was working Deputy Saheb’s house had to bear beatings than questioning or
saying her problems. She was sexually harassed, physically beaten and mentally
tortured in the
Even when she
was teased in the society by men and women in the society she did not voice
against them because she was from a poor family and she had to live her life in
that village depending on those people—people of higher strata. So she had no
right to speak. If she wanted to speak she needed some one to represent her
problems to the society. But in the story we do not find any one helping the
girl or her grandmother. But Ismat Chughtai is a writer who is representing
these peoples voice to the society by her short stories. These stories are
written of the place which she live in.
The
poor women had no voice to ask any one about anything. Bi Amma and her two
daughters in the story Wedding Suit were three women who had no voice to rise
against any one. Bi Amma’s husband dies when her daughter was very young. She
had no one to look after. She collected money for her daughter’s dowry by
stitching clothes. If she goes to work in others family then it will bring a
bad reputation to her. Every maid was exploited by the men of the house. It is
shown in the characters of maid servants in the story Homemaker, Tiny’s Granny.
In order to get a decent marriage from a decent family, she had to stitch
clothes which were the only source of income. Since hey had no education and
could not go outside for work they had no source of living. Stitching was the
only way. Nobody supports a woman who has lost her husband by giving any aid;
instead they will be used for their purpose.
Soon after the
death of the man, father of the house, the writer talks about the situation
thus [15]‘After
that, Hamida gave up making demands for sweet roti, and Kubra’s marriage
proposals
Some how lost
their way. It was as if no one ever knew
that behind the ack –cloth curtain someone’s youth was at its last gasp. And
there was another whose youth was raising its head like a serpent’s hood’ these
lines talks about the condition in Bi Amma’s house after the death of her
husband. The younger child controlled all her wises as asking for rotis, sweets
etc. And the elder daughter’s proposals were blocked. They had no one to talk
for them in the society. The one who was representing them was dead and they
were completely in problems. When a man in a house dies then the house is
ruined. Since Bi Amma knew stiching she stitched clothes without losing the
hopes.
The
boy who comes to stay in their house was treated very well. When they had
nothing to eat, he was served well. The main intention behind was that he will
marry the elder daughter of the house and they will have some strand in the
society they live. But there was no one to say to him about their wishes. Since
there was no man to speak to the other man, their wishes were not conveyed.
Since the women were under veils they could not talk to a man face to face. The
only one to speak was the younger daughter, because she was not grown up. She
was sent to know about his mind and his desire towards the elder daughter. But,
Hamida could not do it because Rahat the boy played some pranks with her. Even
if he does something to the girl he knew no one was there to question him. Bi
Amma or any other member in the family could not reveal their desire towards the
boy. He did not know their desire in mind, it was hidden, nobody could
reveal. Rahat got a message from his
house informing him about his marriage. He went to his town for marriage. The
desire in the mind of these three women was closed in the minds. Kubra becomes
silent and later she dies of fever. So the Subaltern here is the three women,
who could not speak to a man who is considered to be superior and powerful in
the society. They had no voice to speak to or they had no one to represent
their wish.
In the story The Home maker Lajo is the
subaltern. She is an orphan who does not have anyone to claim as her own. No
man or woman to support. She worked in everybody house and they used her to the
maximum as working in the house as well working for men’s sexual thirst. Finally
she gets into Mirza’s house. She liked the house more than any thing, because
there was no one to command her. The man did not like to keep her in the house
but when she made everything proper in the house he was satisfied. He has sexual
relation with the girl. But when everyone looks
at her and offers her bungalows and houses to be with them, she rejects. He did
not want to share her so he decides to marry her. She did not like to marry
him. She did not want a life of binding. She did not have respect in the
society because she did not have a man. But she was happy with that life of
being alone. She worked in houses for livelihood. She did not care about the
position or reputation in the society. So, she did not wish for a marriage. But
she could not say her wish to Mirza. She had no voice to speak because she was
a woman, servant girl and it was a great generosity in the part of Mirza to
offer a slave girl such a status in the society. People in the village started talking
about the luck of the girl, but nobody could listen to her inner voice nor she
had courage speak loudly her wish.
After marriage, when she had a man with her
does not mean she was happy and could say anything as she wish. She was
controlled by him for everything she did. She had to wear salwar kameez instead
of lehenga which she was not comfortable and did not like. But can she say, no,
she cannot say because she is a woman and has to listen to her husband who has
provided everything for her in life—including shelter, status food etc.
Whatever order he puts on her, she had to listen. She had no choice to alter it
or question but to listen and obey. She was not allowed to walk in the streets,
play with friends, she had to remain inside the house and do house hold woks.
So she had to listen and obey.
When Mirza decides to divorce he
does not ask her permission or her opinion on continuing his life with her. He
did not ask because it was no necessary to take permission of girl to decide anything
by a man. When he divorced her, no one in the society supported women. Everyone
was in favour of man. She was given a certain amount of money, and she did not
ask any thing on the amount given to her as Mehr. Before divorce, Mirza beats
Lajo, when she was caught with Mithwa. The line in the story ‘ people came in
droves to see the fun, but they felt sorely disappointed when they found that
Mithwa had bolted and Lajo was beaten up but alive. She’ll live. Ramu’s grandma
will bring her round’, they said. In the above lines of people’s conversation
in village by seeing Lajo beaten brings sympathy in them. They all wish to save
her but no one had courage to speak up and question to the supreme. Here her
husband has full power to do as he wishes to his wife. Nobody had right to
question. She was helped by a
woman who was very poor and did not care for any status in society. Helping a
poor also mattered a lot. After all these sufferings Lajo did not say a word.
She could ask you married me against my will I did not force anyone to marry
me. But this did not happen because she had no voice. And she had no one to
represent her voice. Even when Mirza decided to divorce her, he had guilt of
doing that. But other men in the society supported him by consoling him about
his marriage was illegal because she was an orphan. So they decided that he had
not married at all because the woman he married did not have anyone to claim
for as relatives. So he does not have any shame on his part for marrying the
woman, because the mistake was from woman’s side. The news of his divorce is
quoted in the story as ‘This news also spread soon throughout the village, that
Mira’s marriage with Lajo was not valid, and there was no divorce, though Mirza
had lost thirty two rupees in the bargain’. Man was safe in the society and
women became the cheater, betrayer etc.
After divorce Mirza keeps the girl with him and has
relation with her as they had before marriage. In this story the women was
controlled by man who were the super powers and the subaltern women had to
listen to everything, whatever happens to her life. Whether it is good or bad
it is their luck. Women were not given any respect. Even though Lajo was a
woman, she had no one to represent her in society; she represented herself in
her own way. She questioned the act of marriage. When she could not speak she
showed it in her actions. When she did not like marriage and was forced to be
under a man. She was not a virgin and she liked the life being with many men.
She could not say that but she did it after marriage. She used to talk with
milkman, had physical relation with Mithwa. At the end she did not care Mirza’s
divorce or his beatings, he remained in his house. But opposing like that did
not bring any fortune or status to her. She was again degraded by the society.
Whatever women do was not respected. Men could not tolerate the power of women
in society.
Mother- in- law is another interesting story from
Chughtai which atleast has some voice for women. The mother in law of the house
supports her daughter in law from the abuses and ill treatment of her husband.
The Asghar does not like the wife he has and to push way that girl from the
house he needs his mother’s support. But mother does not support him in this
act. He pushes her down and she falls with a glass tumbler and it hurts her
leg. Husband does not have any sympathy towards his wife. When mother in law
sees her daughter in law leg bleeding, he does not help. Later he agrees for his
mother’s scolding.
When Asghar talks about her divorce, Bashariya the
daughter in law of the house does not speak a word. She knows that her speaking
in the house will not do any good. Women did not have voice to speak in that
society. But mother in law spoke instead of daughter in law. She was
represented by someone. So he, the son could not say anything to his wife. His
mother did not have power but she gets power using his uncle’s name. In the
story when Asghar does wrong to his wife, Mother warns him on complaining to
his uncle. Bahariya was complained by Asghar as getting heavier and did not
obey his mother’s words. When he was saying the girl was doing her work which
was ordered by mother-in-law. Asghar wanted to get rid of her and have a new
wife, and this is the reason which he finds for this.
Bashariya had this voice, support from her mother in law
because she was brought into the house with a decent marriage. Even then she
was disturbed by man. She could not oppose him or argue against him. Mother got
voice in the name of other powerful man. At the end when Asghar lifts her and
take her to the other room she bites in his shoulder. In this way she showed her
anger or may be she was still clinging on him for his love and attention. The
reason for biting is unknown; still he puts out her in that form.
So from the above examples of the
short stories, the researcher concludes that man was important for a perfect
and a happy life of woman. Men and women are made equally by the god but when
the stories says about different instances then we come to know that the laws
given by the superpower god was manipulated by the man in the society for his
benefits. Man made himself powerful by taking away all the powers of women. Now
the women are powerless. If they have to get any power then they have to depend
on the man. So by using the laws man is having complete control over women. Man
is the hegemonic power and the women are the subaltern.
In the story, Mother –in –law the son wants to divorce
his wife for the reason saying that she is growing fat and she is disobedient
to her mother in law. The reasons given by him are naïve. The reason he wants to divorce is he wanted her only for
sexual pleasure. He wants some other woman now. He is not satisfied with this
girl. Thus he gives the above reasons. From his behaviour in the story we come
to know that he is algolagnia i.e one who derives sexual pleasure by inflicting
or experiencing pain. The woman is refusing his own wife for his personal reasons.
But the girl was not bold enough to protest or talk against her husband. So the
husband is happy to divorce the women for his desires. From the stories
mentioned above it is clear that women were suffering in the society.
In the story Touch-me-not, Bhabijaan is undergoing the
tensions of divorce, which is awaiting her, if she loses the child. The tensions
in her and her family member’s mind in the story clearly tell us, what will be
the condition of married women after divorce. These two stories is the examples
which gives a complete idea about the divorces, which were handled by the male
members of the society. They really used the divorce for their conformity. The
women were just the body of sexual pleasure; they had no state in society.
A man was an utmost need for women to have a happy life in the society.
The woman who is married and lives happily in the society will have a man to
protect her. So the main aim of every parent was to get a man to their
daughter. In the story wedding suit the mother wishes that her brother’s son
who is coming for police training is taken care of by the mother. Mother treats
him properly thinking that the boy will marry his elder daughter. But he does
not care the lady. The small girl in the house who communicates with the man finds
faults in the man. She says about the disinterest of the man in his sister. At
the end of the story the girl dies and she puts the wedding shroud on her
daughter. So the importance of man in married life was important.
The above stories clearly depicts that women were not
allowed to have any freedom in the society they lived. They were scrounger on
their husbands and other members in her house. She had no voice in the society.
Nobody cared for her decisions or opinions. Whatever she wanted to say was
suppressed in her mind. She was represented by some others as mother-in-law in
the story Mother- In-Law represents her daughter in law. She was supported by
the mother in law. In rest of her stories, as Homemaker, Touch- Me-Not, Sacred
Duty, The Wedding Suit women could not voice their problems to the society.
They had to listen to the norms and conventions laid on them by their dominant group. The
status of women was very low; they had no power, no voice, and no one to
represent their problem. Chughtai is representing the problems of women by her
short stories.
Conclusion
Marriage
was done between family of equal status and with approval of parents. The girl
and boy had no opportunity in selection of partners while they marry. The
marriage was based upon the dowry, the position of boy in the society—as his
job, economic status. The girl was married on her beauty and the dowry from her
parents. Marriage was done on this basis. The marriages done in this process is
considered as a decent marriage. Decent marriage had position in society and
the girls were much safer in this decent marriage, because she will be
supported by her in laws and family members when they face problems after
married life. Indecent marriage are – when marriage is done without elders
consideration, marrying a girl who have no relatives or history to trace behind
in the society, and the inter caste marriages, no dowry for women, no good
looking girl.
Divorce was one of the threatening factors in
married life. Women were uneducated and knew only house hold works. When they
get divorced they should rely only on their parents. And for parents, keeping a
daughter after marriage is a shameful act. They don’t like their daughters to
be in their home after marriage. So women will become really an orphan after
divorce. So divorce was a scary dream for women. Divorce in a decent marriage
was given for not having a child and extra marital relation of women. Sometimes
divorce may happen when man loses his interest in his wife and gets attracted
to another woman.
The
age of marriage was in between thirteen to fourteen, as soon as they attain
puberty. The girl’s family had to give their daughter at this age because if
she crosses her age of marriage there will be difficulty in getting boy. In the
story Wedding Suit the elder daughter, Kubra is not married because of hers
father’s death. When her maternal uncle’s son comes there for police training,
they have a hope of marrying their daughter with him. But he is attracted
towards the younger daughter of the house. This portray that aged girls were
not liked by boys. Bashariya in Mother-in-law and Lajo in the story The Homemaker
are seen playing with the boys and girls in Mohalla after marriage. This shows
their interested area .It is clearly predictable that woman of adolescent age
does all these acts. Marrying a small girl is expected to play than taking any
responsibility.
In Ismat Chughtai stories marriage was an act were women were under complete
control of men and his family after marriage. Marriage really brought a wind in
women’s life. A girl who was free and enjoyed in her parents house was given to
a grown up man in her young days. She was then controlled in her in- laws
house. She had to work in the house throughout the day for her in laws family.
She had no recreation instead she was scolded for her work, behaviour etc. They
were criticized for dowry. Even if the marriage is a decent marriage dowry was
important. If a girl brings lot of dowry then husband’s family will be happy.
Dowry was an important fact in which the woman was weighed in the society. The
family which could afford lot of dowry would conveniently get a big family.
Women were not at all free from the authority
of male in the society. Men were powerful and women had to listen to their
advices. They had no voice to speak in the society. They were subaltern. They were out of the
hegemonic power system. Every rule was done upon them; rather they were just
listeners and not speakers. Even if they knew that society was going wrong
towards them, they had no right to speak against. They covered everything
within themselves. Ismat Chughtai through her short stories tried to lift the
veil the women wanted to say truth to the society. Ismat Chughtai represents
her disapproval to the society by writing short stories on the problems she
faced and found in the society. And it was not appreciated by the society in which
she lived in.
She
was a courageous woman, who dared to go for education after having big fights
in her home. During her time the only education given to women was to talk
slowly, play with girls, behave like woman, learn to cook, clean etc. Doing the
house hold duties was important, because after marriage this is what she will
do in her husband’s house. She came out of this tradition and got educated. She
could represent the problems of other women only by writing stories. She was a
subaltern and she could not question the hegemonic power in the society. If she
does she will be criticized and marginalized in society. As Spivak says , for
sati system where English men says sati is bad and brown men says sati is a
sacred ritual ,nobody knows the real voice of sati who has to sacrifice her
life. Chughtai’s stories also have a same attitude.
Women do not
have voice of their own and their problems are not represented in the society,
and if it is represented then it will be by men.
Thus
in Chughtais’s stories we have as complete study of middle class Muslim women
in North India . Educating the women and making
them economically strong is a way of resolving the problem. When women are
educated, she doesn’t have to rely on man for everything. She will have courage
to do any thing by her own. Job is another chance of getting rid of sufferings
of women. When she will have money to spend, she can lead a comfortable life
even after her husband’s death or divorce. But this fact should be again
approved by the dominant persons in the society again that is men. He will
decide his daughter to be educated or not and after marriage whether wife should
go for job. Even though Chughtai has written her stories in the early
nineteenth century, the conditions are not so good for women till now. Women are subaltern till today. Even though she
has job and education her conditions are not far better than the women of early
nineteenth century.
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