Prof. D. Amalraj
Vellalore-641111
Coimbatore
Tamilnadu, India.
Abstract:
Good relationship among human beings is the greatest and most unique virtue without which cordiality
can never be achieved. There is a relationship between a man and a man, a woman
and a woman, and a man and a woman. If there is a relationship between two men,
it is between a father and his son, or between two brothers or between two
friends or between a father-in-law and his son-in-law. If there is a
relationship between two women, it is between a mother and her daughter or
between two sisters or between two friends or between a mother-in-law and
daughter-in-law. If there is a relationship between a man and a woman, it is
between a man as a father and a woman as his daughter or between a man as the
husband and a woman as his wife or between a man as a lover and a woman as his
love or between a man as a brother and a woman as his sister. If every type of these
human relationships is to remain healthy and exemplary, it should mainly depend
upon certain virtues. Such virtues are “[reciprocal] understanding, acceptance,
patience, adjustment, [forgetting and forgiving], and kind-heartedness” (Smith,
Virtues of Healthy Relationship
n.pag.). All types of human relationships except sexual reveal explicitly both
pleasantness and unpleasantness through the behaviour of the people involved. However,
sexual relationship between a man and a woman is private and personal, and it
is not meant for public discussion and consumption. It may be between the
lovers, or between the married partners or between the married men with the
women who are married to other men or vice versa. Whatever may be the nature of
sexual relationship, both the partners in sex behave in a way that pleases both
in a given situation and thereby they can enjoy the sexual pleasure to their
hearts’ content. However, their behaviour during sexual relationship may not be
similar. Though both will not behave identically during sexual relationship,
their acts may certainly place them in a state of excitement. Besides, sexual
relationship other than conjugal is not a preplanned one but it is entirely
spontaneous in a situation suitable to it. Of man and woman who are involved in
sexual relationship of any nature, it is only the woman who is the more
imaginative, impulsive, and strange in sexual behaviour with her man. The
writer of this article has taken Arun Joshi’s The Last Labyrinth to study the eccentric behaviour of women
characters during their conjugal and extra-marital relationship with Som
Bhaskar.
Key Words:
Women, Sex, Relationship, Behaviour, Conjugal,
Extra-marital
Introduction:
Man and woman enter into sexual relationship either for pro-creation
or for relaxation or for enjoyment during their sojourn on earth. If both are
married, they enter into a conjugal relationship not only for enjoyment but
also for procreation of their future posterity. While indulging in sexual
relationship, their enjoyment is legally a personal affair. If both are
unmarried, if they are lovers, and if they enjoy sex for a short and happy
togetherness, theirs is called premarital relationship and it is against all
moral norms. Such a relationship is only the result of their violation of the
well established cultural habits with which they have been brought up. If a
married man has sex with the other woman who is married to a different man or
if a married woman has sex with the other man who is married to a different
woman secretly, their relationship turns to be an extra-marital one. This kind
of extra marital affair is not only their betrayal of marital accord but also
that of the love and trust of those with whom they have already been married. They
indulge in secret sex to quench their extra thirst as and when this
relationship is available. However, all those pairs involved in sexual affair
should experience real and reciprocal love between them. If it is a real love,
both of them will enjoy ecstasy and contentment in their sexual act. If it is
absent, their sexual relationship will turn out to be mere mechanical and they
cannot derive sexually any satisfaction from each of them. Moreover, if both
entertain an attitude “Come what may, let us enjoy sex so that we can feel
relaxed from mundane realities of life,” their attitude will pave the way for
their sexual relationship turning into a mere casual affair. Men and women of
all ages who are prone to their enjoyment of premarital or extra marital
relationship carry out their sexual acts only for individual but more extra exciting
pleasures.
Both unmarried man and woman who get
attracted to each other sexually will try to utilize the chances available in
order to indulge in pre-marital relationship secretly. Their indulgence in sex
may be due to the lack of friendly environment at home. It may be due to non
availability of loving and affectionate parental relationships at home. It may
be due to patriarchal attitudes of the parents, controlling the freedom of
their wards. In the article titled “Premarital Sexual Relationship:
Explanations of Actions and Functions of Family,” it has been observed:
If families don’t take care of the emotional needs
of their youthful daughters or sons or
if they don’t pay personal attention to them, their children will be attracted
to outside sources. When such girls
or boys meet the opposite genders and if they find them showing interest in them, they spontaneously accept.
When such opposite genders become
very thick and close friends, their close relationship may lead them to premarital relationship. Most of the
times, families of our society bring up their children,
girls in particular, in a completely closed environment. Such girls are always instructed ‘not to make friendship
with the boys, do this, don’t do that, and don’t take the boys into your personal confidence.’ In such forced
restraints on their friendly relationship
with the boys, the girls may
voluntarily enter into pre-marital sexual relationship
with them for pleasure to assert their individuality. (Noroozi et al. 428)
Thus,
the unmarried young men and women who become very intimate friends cannot but resort
to enjoying premarital relationship as and when they have the chances. It is
their independent action that is carried out as their silent opposition against
the dominating, controlling, and loveless attitudes of their respective
parents. Sometimes, the parents’ sexual acts without minding the presence of
their grown up children at home may also act as an indirect motivation to the
children to violate their cultural habits.
Conjugal relationship is between two life
partners who get united permanently as husband and wife though the traditionally
arranged marriage. After their marriage, both become independent individuals
and they have sexual relationship for the procreation of their own posterity
without much ado and without any societal and familial restrictions. In the 7th
chapter of 1Corinthian of The New
Testament, it is stated:
Each man should have a
woman as his own wife and each woman should have a man as her own husband. The
husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. But the wife
does not have authority over her own body,
but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Both
should not deprive each other [of the right to sexual
relationship], except perhaps by agreement for a limited time that both may devote themselves to prayer [and other
activities for the betterment of their family]; but then they come together again, so that Satan may not tempt
them [to go astray] because of their
lack of self-control. (New International
Version 2-8)
Thus,
marriage is binding force of a man and a woman as husband and wife. Each should
live only to take care of the other’s physical and emotional need as and when such
needs are necessary. Both thus united in marriage will never deviate from the
path of marital peace and happiness to preserve their earthly togetherness
intact and act as the creators of their own posterity. This is the significance
of conjugal relationship.
Sometimes, both the husband and wife
do not remain satisfied with each other in their sexual gratification.
Sometimes, both of them are quite indifferent to each other’s emotional and
bodily needs due to pressing parental activities and professional duties. Such
situations make either of them or both get tempted to violate their marital
accord and bliss if they always think of sex. As a result, they find ways and
means to satisfy their sexual needs with the other married women and men who
are also sailing in the same boat like them. They may sometimes get more
attracted to physical and sexual appearance of their opposite genders and
indulge in extra marital relationship without the knowledge of their respective
marital partners. During their secret sexual act, they do not behave similarly.
Both behave in a quite unexpected way to the expectations of each other. In an
article entitled Differences of Sexual
Desires between Men and Women, it is clearly brought out:
[Married] men and women daydream of their sex with various partners
and in various situations before they actually indulge in. Most men just want
sex for the physical sake of sex itself without the entanglement of a
relationship. . . . However, many women are usually more interested in intimacy
with men than in sex. A feeling of intimate closeness takes time to develop
into extra-marital relationship. Therefore, women want to take their own time
with a relationship. Eventually, both the genders get around to sex when they
feel closeness and believe that they are in love . . . Moreover, women want not only to be
approached in a loving romantic way but also to be caressed tenderly by men
before they enter into actual sex with them.
(2004)
The writer has taken Arun Johsi’s The Last Labyrinth to study how women
characters such as Geeta, Leela Sabnis, and Anuradha behave quite strangely as
and when they indulge in sexual relationship, both marital and extra marital,
with Som Bhaskar, the son of a wealthy industrialist. Through this article, he
drives home the eternal truth that every woman whether she is married or not
will never behave identically during her sexual act with a man as he expects.
Every woman is quite different from the other because one is used to behaving
quite strangely and in an unexpected way but the reason for this is known only
to such a woman. It should be her unique and individual trait. One woman’s act
in sex with a man can never be generalized, stating that all women, whether
they are married or not, behave uniformly in their sexual relationship. Only
the involved in relationship know or realize the difference in their sexual act.
Analysis:
Som Bhaskar is a blessed man for
having been born as the son of the wealthy parents. He has all the civilized
amenities to enjoy his earthly life as per his heart’s desires. However, he is
not content with enjoying his material wealth. He is not a man to have sexual
enjoyment even before his marriage with any woman he likes. He only wants to
enter into a traditional marital life with a woman of his liking and enjoy
conjugal relationship with her without any hindrances. He also feels certain
that as his wife, his prospective life partner will cater to all his physical
and emotional needs not only in the way he wants but also as and when he wants.
But he is quite ignorant of the nature of each and every woman and her
attitudes to sexual relationship before, during, and after her marital life. He
looks totally confused whether the woman he will marry will act according to
his whims and fancies during his conjugal relationship. Yet, he is very
positive that his life partner and helpmeet will certainly behave as he
expects. Being rich and an independent individual, he does not experience any
ado in getting his life partner. An extraordinary looking and well mannered
woman by name Geeta becomes his wife through an arranged marriage.
Som Bhaskar finds Geeta extremely
beautiful and he is very happy to see his wife a well mannered lady too. He thus
appears completely satisfied with her appearance and manners. But at the same
time, he expects his conjugal relationship with her to be very intense, equally
reciprocal, and full of excitement. But Geeta begins to behave more like a
woman being acted upon during her conjugal relationship on the bed than acting
herself to the level of the expectations of her husband. Being traditional and
highly religious, Geeta feels that her sexual satisfaction lies in satisfying
her husband but not in acting with the wings of wild imagination during her
sexual relationship. Moreover, she is also quite ignorant of the expectations
of her husband regarding how she should behave while enjoying conjugal
relationship with him. She does not make any attempts to understand whether her
husband is satisfied or not with her behaviour after every conjugal love too.
Neither is she interested in asking him how she has behaved on the bed during
her sex with him. Som Bhaskar feels that his sexual relationship with his wife
is purely one-sided though she simply obeys as and when he approaches her for
sex. Therefore, he does not feel both sexually excited and satisfied with his
wife though she has begotten him two daughters. Even after his marriage, he
continues to suffer from an insatiable “hunger of the body and
hunger of the spirit” (11). He decides to find more sexual pleasures outside
his marital bond with other women who are ready to fall in line with his
thinking and cooperate with him in satisfying his sexual hunger to his level of
imagination.
As a man, Som is quite different
from all other men in his thirst for different varieties of sexual acts for
excitement during relationship. Since he is not able to get what he wants
sexually from his wife, he begins to search for the body of a new woman for his
more sexual enjoyment. Moreover, he is always disturbed in his heart for a lack
of emotional sexual relationship. His words express his heart’s desire:
I want. I want. I want [sex and
nothing but sex, which will place me in an excited state]. Through the light of my days and the blackness of my nights
and the disquiet of those
sleepless hours, I heard the same trident- ‘I want. I want. I want.’- it not
only starts echoing in my heart
frequently but also it becomes stronger and stronger every time as it is echoed
in his heart. (11)
Thus, he
wants a woman with the attitude to sex like that of his so that she can satisfy
the hunger of his soul. But at the same time, he does not know how every other
woman he will meet for sex will behave with him not only during sex but also
soon after her sexual relationship with him being over. He forgets his cultural
and traditional brought up in his search for women who can give him complete
sexual satisfaction. In this state of mind, he remains ignorant of the
behaviour of both unmarried and married women in sexual relationships. He also
looks clueless whether all his expectations on the bed with different women will
be to his liking or will turn out to be a greatest disappoint to him. Dr. Neeti
Agarwal in an abstract of her article titled “The Reverberation of Indianness
in Joshi’s The Lat Labyrinth” has clearly
brought out the state of mind of young men like Som Bhaskar:
The
Last Labyrinth by Arun Joshi is not about mere Som Bhaskar alone and his attitude to [sexual] life but it is about
all the post colonial youths like him. All the youths
including Som Bhaskar have lost not only their spiritual and cultural moorings in their search for worldly
pleasures. Through the character of Som Bhaskar, the novelist tries to
say that the westernized way of [sexual] life can never give happiness because real happiness lies
in one’s culture and traditions. (14 Nov.2016)
In such a situation, in such a state
of mind, and with such an attitude, the woman whom Som Bhaskar comes across for
his extra marital relationship is Anuradha. As an eligible woman, she is living
with a man called Aftab but she is not his wife. On seeing her, Som Bhaskar gets
greatly attracted because “she looks a monument to him and like any other monument,
she appears tall, handsome, ruined” (12). He also finds her having dark and
sexy eyes and graceful and sensuous body. He looks startled on hearing her say
about her philosophy of life that she cannot marry everyone she loves. As far as she is concerned, it is better for
her not to get married to any man. She informs Som Bhaskar, “I can imagine I am
married to Aftab. I can imagine I am married to you. But my mother used to say
that I have been married to Lord Krishna” (128). Moreover, she is not ready to
part with Aftab in any situation and at any cost for the sake of sex with
others, even if not with him. During his stay for the night at Lal Haveli for
the first time, Som Bhaskar has the chance of giving a concrete shape to his
soul’s sexual desires through his erotic foreplay with Anuradha:
He kisses her hand, and her arm. He
also breathes in great gulps her strange [body] perfume. [She does not just keep quiet]. She responds to him
positively by taking his face in
her hands and continues to look at him in silence. But when he tries to kiss her, she moves away from him, looking annoyed
as if she were not interested in having
sex with him. (55-58)
Hence, Som
Bhaskar feels disappointed at her attitude towards him and her reluctance to
have sex with him. But he does not lose his hope that he will one day possess
her entire body for himself. However, he realizes that his enjoyment of real
sex with her mainly depends on his understanding of her real self.
Som Bhaskar gradually becomes
obsessed with her body wherever he is and whatever he does. He makes frequent
visits to her in order to win her from Aftab for his sole possession. But her
way of behaviour towards him is beyond his comprehension. The more he thinks of
her, the more he gets excited sexually. During one of his visits, he informs
her of his disturbance in his dream and the words heard in his dream, “I want.
I want. I want, May be it is you I want” (160). At once, Anuradha understands
the intensity of his love for her and gives herself to him for his sexual
enjoyment. During their first sexual relationship, there are scares on her
belly, her breasts, scars that he feels but hardly sees. They communicate with
each other through the trust and push and pull of their bodies. Both are
reciprocal in their response to each other during sexual act. Both are acting
equally and erotically to satisfy each other. This kind of response from his
wife he has not got during his sexual act. Som Bhaskar considers this kind of
sexual relationship with Anuradha real and genuine. Thus, his soul at last finds its sexual
fulfillment with the body of Anuradha and he has thus become successful in his
quest.
Som Bhaskar feels satisfied after
the attainment of real sex but he decides to leave her forever. However hard he
tries to avoid her, his soul takes him to her and makes him enjoy excessive
sex. As a result, he has a massive heart attack. Being true to herself in his
love for Som Bhaskar, she prays to Gargi, a woman with supernatural powers,
that she should save him. If Gargi saves his life, she promises to her that she
will disappear from him never to return. Her prayer for Som Bhaskar’s survival
from heart attack is answered. As she has promised, Anuradha disappears into the
maze of Lal Haveli and reaches the last labyrinth of her life in the maze.
Thus, her love for him is true and she has sacrificed her love and life for his
well being. As he is not able to see her again, he feels guilty of having used
her body in his state of excitement. He seeks her forgiveness by appealing to
her:
Anuradha, listen, listen wherever
you are. Is there a God where you are? Have you met Him? Does he understand the language that we speak?
Anuradha if there is a God and
if you have met him and if He is willing to listen, then, Anuradha, my soul,
tell him, tell this God, to have
mercy upon me. Tell him I am weary of so many fears; so much doubtings. Of this dark earth and these empty
heavens. Plead for me, Anuradha. He
will listen to you. (222-23)
Som Bhaskar then comes across a
woman named Leela Sabnis, a Professor. He does not know that she strongly
believes in free love and she has also the same state of mind like him in
enjoying sex with different men. She is the one who cannot act as per her bed
partner but only as per her liking. Her male partner cannot dictate her how she
should behave while enjoying sex. She will act as per her desire. She is a
divorced woman and as she is now an independent individual, she wants to enjoy
sex with any man she meets. During her sexual act with other men, she does not
bother about whether her male partner really enjoys sex with her to his heart’s
content or not. Her sexual satisfaction is the only purpose with which she
indulges in extra marital affair.
Som is not aware of the attitude of
Leela Sabnis to her sexual relationship. When he meets her, he begins to think
that he has met the right woman as his sexual partner, and he also believes
that she will satisfy him in the way he expects. But during her sexual act with
him,” She offers him the joy of her small and sweaty breasts but at the same
time, she analyses his entire sexual urge saying, you are much too high strung
. . . you are neurotic and a compulsive fornicator” (78-80). Som Bhaskar feels
disappointed because he cannot enjoy genuine love-making and her reaction to
sexual act with him is very casual and habitual. Her behaviour after sex
startles him too because:
To him, Leela Sabnis appears to be a muddled creature like him. She
is muddled by her ancestry, by marriage, by divorce, by too many books. She has
made love to him. After it, she stands smoking, looking down at him very
casually as if her today’s sexual relationship were over. She does not mind
with whom she has sex. For the day, she has had her sex and that is enough.
(77-78)
Hence,
Som’s extra marital relationship with her does not rise to a great level.
Neither does his soul feel content. Though she cannot provide genuine sexual
satisfaction to his soul, he has to keep his soul adjusting itself to the
available sexual partner.
Conclusion:
Som Bhaskar is not unique in his
thirst for sex. Universal attitude of men for sex with women has been portrayed
through the character of Som Bhaskar. His portrayal as a sex maniac is neither
exaggerated nor purely fictional but real. It also brings out different shades
of sexual relationship. It may be genuine or it may be for the sake or it may
be for time passing. Human relationships of all types pose great problems to
all human beings and one such relationship is pre-marital, marital and
extra-marital sexual. Arun Joshi brings out this truth through the search for
Som Bhaskar’s reciprocal and genuine sexual relationship with the women whom he
encounters during his quest.
Works
Cited
Agarwal, Dr. Neeti.
“The Reverberation of Indianness in Joshi’s The
Last Labyrinth.” Ashvamegh Indian e-journal of English
Literature, vol. 2, no.12, 2016, n.pag. www. ashvamegh.net/arun-joshis-last-labyrinth-indianness-novel/
Accessed 29 Mar. 2020.
“1Corinthian’7:2-8.” The New
Testament. Holy Bible: New International
Version, 2011.
“Differences of Sexual
Desires between Men and Women” Uncommon
Knowledge. 29 Feb. 2004, n.pag.
Accessed 26 Mar. 2020.
Joshi, Arun. The Last Labyrinth. Orient Paperbacks,
1981.
Noroozi, Mahanz et al.
“Premarital Sexual Relationship: Explanations of Actions and “Functions of Family.” Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, vol.19, no.4, 2014, pp.424-431.
Smith, Georgia. “Virtues
of Healthy Relationship.” Living Wellmag.com,
5 April 2017, n.pag. www.livingwellmag.com/virtues-healthy-relationships/
Accessed 26 Mar. 2020.