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Example research essay topic: Arranged Marriages Hindu Religion - 2,239 words

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... ation. During the train journey back, he beat his head with his fists, and moaned aloud about the dowry and the wedding expenses while everyone, all of them strangers-women with babies and baskets of food, men reading newspapers or playing cards or discussing business-turned to listen with the keenest of interest, throwing significant looks at Uma who kept her head wrapped up in her sari in an effort to screen her shame. (Desai: 1998: 94) Papas behaviour is typical of the Indian male whose pride is the determining factor of his status in society. (Momsem and Kinniard: 1993: 120) Uma has caused him to lose this manly position in society. Being the typical Indian male, he never considers the feeling of his daughter who is equally wounded emotionally by the trauma she underwent. Unlike her mother, Uma tries to break free from the subaltern ity her father subjects her to. A career.

Leaving home. Living alone. These troubling, secret possibilities now entered Uma's mind. (Desai: 1998: 131) She finds a way to depart from her fathers hegemonic ruling when she is offered a job by Dr. Dutt to help as a nurse in the doctors hospital. However, Papa once again dismisses Uma's advancement in life.

Papa was very dissatisfied with the fact that Uma eagerly wanted to leave home and leave his patriarchal command. He was locking his face up into a frown of great degree. The frown was filled with everything he thought of working women, of women who dared presume to step into the world he occupied. Uma knew that, and cringed.

Papa, she said pleadingly. It was mama who spoke, however. As usual, for Papa. Very clearly and decisively.

Our daughter does not need to go out and work, Dr. Dutt, she said. As long as we are here to provide for her, she will never need to go to work There is no need, Papa supported mamas view. In double strength it grew formidable, Where s the need? (Desai: 1998: 143) From the excerpt above, it is clear that Papas patriarchal standing was very firm. This is evident in the sentence The frown was filled with everything he thought of working women, of women who dared presume to step into the world he occupied. Although Uma tries hard to cajole her father into letting her take up the position offered by the doctor, she is immediately dismissed, just like in the manner the colonies dismisses the colonized.

Thus, it is apparent that Uma wants to break free from the captive nature of her colonial minded father, but is unsuccessful in doing so. She fails to break free because she is unable to refrain from the subjugation of her patriarchal father. This is because she is too afraid of him and also because his stand is too firm for her to defeat. Thus, Uma's attempts at moving away from the traditional enduring, self-sacrificing woman, towards a conflicted female character searching for identity is futile and unrewarding.

In the paragraphs above, I have discussed the effects of patriarchal constructs in the subaltern ity of female characters. In the following paragraphs, I will analyse the manner in which Indian societal and cultural constructs contribute to female subjugation. Two key elements found in the novel will be used to analyse the subjugation of women through societal and cultural norms of the Indian society. These elements are the system of arranged marriages and the dowry system. The system of arranged marriages have been practiced widely in the Indian society since ancient times. (Kabeer: 1994: 53) Arranged marriages and the giving of dowry are still practiced in many parts of India and even in countries in which the Indian population is of considerable stature. (Kabeer: 1994: 53) In the modern times, Indians are trying to break away from the constraints of arranged marriages, especially urban Indian folk who think of these systems as forms of demeaning women and at the same time oppressing them. (Kabeer: 1994: 53) The notion of arranged marriages have been dealt with in Fasting, Feasting.

In the novel, Papa eagerly looks for suitable candidates to take his daughter Uma's hand in marriage. However, Uma proves difficult to pair off. Her parents worked hard at trying to dispose of Uma, sent her photograph around to everyone who advertised but it was always returned with the comment We are looking for someone taller / fairer /more educated, for San/Pink/Dimpu. Two attempts at getting her married end in disaster. In the first, a family cons her father into giving them dowry and then breaks off the engagement, keeping the dowry. In the second, Uma actually gets married.

But she gets married to an already married man, not knowing the truth of the situation. Her parents urge her to get married because in the Indian culture, it is an embarrassment for the younger daughter to get married before the elder one. There were so many marriage proposals for Aruna that Uma's unmarried state was not only an embarrassment but an obstruction. (Desai: 1998: 85) Realising this, her parents got Uma married off to a candidate which they thought would suit her, not acknowledging the fact that she too should have a say in determining her life partner. Uma's husband was a merchant. The man looked as old to her as Papa, nearly, and was grossly overweight too, while his face was pockmarked. (Desai: 1998: 88) In the marriage ceremony, Uma was viewed merely as an object in a business transaction between her father and her husband.

Uma realises this but is unable to voice her opinions out of fear of being subjected to marginalization and subaltern ity by her in- laws and the Indian society. However, as mentioned earlier, Uma's marriage proves a failure as Uma and her parents are conned into getting her married to a man who was already married. When her father realises this, he brings her back and gets her divorced. The marriage was somehow cancelled, annulled. Uma was never told of the legal proceedings involved. It was assumed she would not understand. (Desai: 1998: 95) Although Uma felt ashamed of the situation that befell her, there was nothing she could do to mend the situation.

For one, she could not go against the orders of her father. For the other, it was unbecoming and degrading for a woman to question the cultural and societal constructs of the Indian society. Expansions of the traditional image of Indian women like Uma who want their individual worth realised and attempt to break through the suffering that traditional society offer them proves worthless. Taking all this into consideration, Uma felt that it was best to leave the matter to rest and carry on her life serving her parents.

Indian women were not only oppressed by the system of arranged marriage but also by the system of dowry. When a family gets their daughter married off, it is compulsory for the parents of the bride to present a substantial amount of dowry to the family of the groom. Failure to do so could result in the bride being abused and alienated by her in-laws. In the novel, Uma was lucky to have been spared the tortures of her in-laws. Her parents were grateful that Uma was not married into a family that could have burnt her to death in order to procure another dowry! (Desai: 1998: 83) The dowry system and arranged marriage system prove that societal and cultural constructs have the ability to marginalize, displace and alienate women. The instances in the novel prove that these two issues are still widely practised in modern India.

In addition to societal and cultural constructs, female subaltern ity is also seen through religious constructs of the Hindu religion. Dharma or duty is an essential part of the Hindu religion. (Nikhilanda: 1968: 58) Women in the Hindu religion are expected to carry out their duties as wives, mothers and daughters for their male counterparts. Dharma is an important theme in the novel as it hints at postcolonial and feminist ideologies. It is my belief that dharma is oppressive in nature and tend to marginalize women and treat them as colonized subjects of the male gender. In the novel, Mama, Uma and Aruna are bound by their dharma towards their husbands and father. In the case of Mama, she has been portrayed as the ideal wife for Papa as she fulfils all his needs.

Mama has been described as a complementing figure of Papa. Mamapapa. Mama Papa. Papa Mama. It was hard to belief they had ever has separate entities and not Mama Papa in one breath. (Desai: 1998: 5) Although Mama proves to be a duty bound wife Mama has failed as a mother as she neglected to consider the feelings of her eldest child, Uma and enslaved her under the instructions of Papa. Mama also failed to give equal attention to her daughters, Uma and Aruna and her son Arun.

Mama placed more attention and importance on her son as sons continued the legacy of the family and brought pride and status to the family institutions. As a result, daughters were marginalized and viewed with less importance, as they would leave their family to serve in the family of their husbands. In the case of Uma, her dharma towards her parents is fulfilled. The fulfilling of Uma's dharma towards her parents was sometimes done on a willing basis. However, most of the time Uma's duty towards her Mama and Papa are induced by the subaltern ed position she was subjected to by her parents, namely her father. But, the outcome is rather disappointing to her.

Instead of feeling self-fulfilment for serving her parents, she feels neglected and restricted. She is not allowed to reap the fruits of her labour as her parents do not allow her to create a life of her own, in fear that she would not be able to cope with it. Uma tries to resist the subjugation she is subjected to but remains passive and silent when her attempts at departing from the oppression prove pointless. Aruna's dharma towards her parents on the other hand is short lived after she settles with marriage and moves to Bombay.

However, she is still bound by her wifely duties towards her husband, her children and her in-laws. In comparison to Uma, Aruna was able to withstand Papas oppressive. Being the smarter, prettier and more vocal of the two daughters, Aruna was able to keep Papas patriarchal ideology at bay. It is no doubt that dharma induced male hegemony and female subordination.

Mama, Uma and Aruna took it upon themselves to serve their husbands and father, as it was customary in the Hindu religion to do so. Attempts to break free from the conventions and constructs of religion were made but these proved worthless. It is my belief that dharma can be parallel to colonialist ideologies departed to natives in the era of colonialism. In the paragraphs above, I have examined the position of subaltern ed Indian women in the novel Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai. My findings point to the fact that the subaltern ity of women is caused by three major constructs, which are patriarchal ideology, Indian societal and cultural norms and Hindu religious concepts. The subaltern ed conditions of women create devastating outcomes for the women.

This is due to the fact that women are subjugated, marginalized, alienated, emotionally colonized and even become victims of gender biased patriarchal societies. Parallels between feminist concepts and postcolonial concepts have also been drawn as the analysis as the analysis encompasses feminist concerns in a postcolonial context. Textual evidence has also been extracted to showcase the above findings. However, I would also like to point out the difficulties I faced in my attempt to prove my thesis, the main difficulty being ambivalence. The ambivalence I encountered was contemplating the position of the female characters as the colonized or as the empowered. Although the bulk of my analysis points to the fact that female characters like Mama and Uma were oppressed, there are other female characters like Aruna who empower.

Although attempts have been made by characters like Uma to depart from her subaltern ed status, failure seems to overpower her efforts, hence making her efforts insignificant. Then, there is also the character of Mama who gives in to patriarchal ideologies of Papa for fear of being ostracized by the Indian society. To sum up, female subaltern ity will continue to prevail if women allow for it to reign. Thus, it is up to us women to be empowered beings to put a stop to the oppressive attitudes of men and society at large.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Abrams, M. H. 1999. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Fort Worth. Harcourt Brace Publishers. Ashcroft, B, Griffiths, G, Tiffin, H. 1998.

Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies. London. Routledge. Desai, A. 1999. Fasting, Feasting. Great Britain.

Random House Limited. Kabeer, N. 1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. London. Verso Publications. London, S.

M. 1989. Anthropology 302, South Asian Women Writers: Another Approach to Feminism. Princeton University. Mitra, I. 1991. The Discourse of Liberal Feminism and Third-World Womens Texts. College Literature 18. 3 page 53.

Momsem J and Kinniard, V. 1993. Different Places, Different Voices. Gender and Development in Africa, Asia and Latin America. London.

Routledge... Nikhilananda. 1968. Hinduism: Its meaning for the Liberated Spirit. Madras. Sri Ramakrishna Math.


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