Feminism
and the Shifting Attitudinal Spectrum of Woman in R. K. Narayan’s Novels
Dr.
Divya Bala Pathak
Postdoctoral
Reaseach Fellow
ICSSR
Delhi,
India
Abstract:
R. K. Narayan portrays
female characters in his novels with utmost sincerity and sensitivity. In his
early novels the women were meek and humble on the contrary the woman became
rebellious and independent in his later works. On the one hand he depicts
Savitri on the other there is Daisy. A variety of characters is seen in his
works like Shanti, Grace, Bharati, Shanta Bai, Bala, Rangi, Daisy, Rosie,
Savitri and many others. Sometimes they are sufferers and oppressed and
sometimes they are vocal to their rights, dedicated to their aim, passionate
for their dreams. Most of the times, the women are homely and docile. Narayan
is worried about the role and responsibility of Indian woman who has to realize
her worth as a producer and preserver. Although ‘gender discrimination’ is
highlighted by the author yet he believes in a balanced society of mutual
understanding and love. Impact of western culture on modern Indian woman and
orthodox tradition is reflected in the later works of Narayan and women are
also in a dilemma to choose between the old and the new i.e., traditional or
westernized values.
Keywords: feminism;
modernism; patriarchal society; marriage; motherhood
Woman, in the novels of
R. K. Narayan is typically Indian. Although several critics criticized Narayan
for his portrayal of women as ‘insignificant beings’ yet some of his female
characters represent certain elements of ‘emerging modern women’. When Narayan
started writing novel it was mid twentieth century, feminism as a movement
already began in European countries as a result of two century long struggle
for the recognition of women’s right to equality. Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
(1792), John Stuart Mill’s The
Subjugation of Women (1869), Margaret Fuller’s Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845) brought recognition of
women’s social and cultural roles and achievements. Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1929), Simon de Beauvoir’s
The Second Sex (1949) and Mary
Ellman’s Thinking about Women (1968)
threw light on the condition of women in ‘patriarchal’ society. The male
dominated society has prevented women from visualizing their own productive and
creative strength. Unlike western feminist movement, India’s feminist movement
started by men and forwarded by women. In the late nineteenth century women
education, equally and independence were the major issues. By the late
twentieth century women obtained greater independence. Apparently, Indian
feminists countenance several difficulties in Indian society that are
immaterial in western countries. Therefore, Indian feminism was different in
many ways from western feminist writers like Kamala Das, Bapsi Sidhwa, R. K.
Narayan, Shashi Deshpande, Veena Paintal, Shobha De, Manju Kapoor, Kamala
Markandaya, Anita Desai, Mulk Raj Anand, Salman Rushdie raised their voice
against social inequality against women. Narayan is worried about the role and
responsibilities of homely woman she has to realize her worth as a producer and
preserver.
The
way R. K. Narayan writes on men characters with all their merits and demerits,
similar is the attitude to the portrayal of the woman characters. The world has
woman as blend of vices and virtues. Occasionally, the balance is towards one
side but its mixture is also found. Many woman characters have a binding of
their circumstances. Often modernity is associated with the courage of woman
and be active outside the boundaries. Narayan’s last novel, Grandmother's Tale projects the
mythological Savitri like courage in Bala to bring her a strayed husband back
home. In this novel, satire is on child marriage but this is real life
narration of R K Narayan's grandmother of the life of her mother. Viswa a boy
of ten years and Bala a girl of seven years is married but as per tradition the
girl would not go to the house of in-laws till puberty. During this time of
their estrangement Viswa goes away. Bala is unhappy and collects information
from various sources and locates her husband. It's not easy to take him back so
she joins as a maid the household of the wealthy woman whom Viswa has married. With
the passing time conditions change and Bala brings Viswa back to their place.
They live there as man and woman. Bala is an example of extreme sincerity,
courage and traditions with the following of proper values.
There
are Shanta Bai and Savitri in The Dark
Room; The Painter of Signs has
Daisy; Mr. Sampath has Shanti; Grace
in The Vendor of Sweets; Bharati and
rural women in Waiting for the Mahatma;
and Rangi in The Man- Eater of Malgudi.
The above listed women do cross the threshold but all are not successful in
their endeavor. Only Bala and Bharati have positive outcomes of their
adventures. The women followers of Bharati are equally sincere in their effort
of participation in Quit India Movement. Law-abiding, sinless, courageous and
goal- oriented achievers they come out as. Somehow, the rest of the ones going
out are not so simple with virtues and selflessness.
The Dark Room
has a comparative study of women characters, viz. Savitri and Shanta Bai.
Savitri as per nomenclature leads a docile and domestic life. The entrance of
Shanta Bai, a valueless woman in the life of Ramani proves nuisance to all
inclusive of Savitri. Ultimately one day she tries to commit suicide but of no
avail and she is back to pavilion. No doubt her adventure teaches her the value
of domestic life. Shanta Bai and Ramani establish carnal relationship but this
too is short termed. She moves out of his life. This move is again to show lack
of settlement of hers. The novelist attaches purity to domestic life.
Mr. Sampath
faces failure as a film producer because of immorality. R K Narayan always
projects so. Mr. Sampath must have impure relations with the film heroine
Shanthi and the novelist must prove human utterly ruined person. In The Vendor of Sweets Grace out of her
failing live-in relationship with Mali the son of Jagan the vendor of sweets.
Grace is a half-American and half-Korean girl who Mali projects as his wife.
This ironical situation is a height because Jagan is a man of Gandhian values.
In
The Man-Eater of Malgudi, Rangi a
nautch girl supposedly immoral plays a positive role by letting out the vicious
plans of her paramour, Vasu the taxidermist. The Man-Eater of Malgudi has the belief that evil is
self-destructive like mythological Bhasmasura. Vasu the taxidermist is a cruel
being who starts bringing Rangi a notorious nautch girl to his lodging. Much
disgusted already this raises further furore over his attitude. The pressure
starts arising from the neighborhood to make him shift to some other place.
This task to go against the wishes of a bad character is beyond a peace-loving
landlord Nataraj. While this confusion is going on time comes for a religious
procession in the city. In this Kumar the temple elephant too has to move
along. Rangi gets to know of that Vasu plans to shoot the elephant in the
procession but Rangi comes to know of this and she informs Nataraj. He is too
weak to oppose but God saves the crime. Like Bhasmasura Vasu the fear-causing
taxidermist meets his end by hitting self and Kumar the much-loved animal is
saved. Here the novelist adds the fervor of sincerity and religiosity to a
much-defamed woman. 1930s mark a beginning of film production in the South of
India. Both the novels, Mr. Sampath
disapproves of blasphemous film production and The Guide alleges professional dancing as immortal. Mr. Sampath and
Raju the Guide meet failures because of the respective immoral heroines-actress
Shanthi and dancer Rosie.
Her
immoral relationship with Rahu makes him mentally unsure of her. Grace as her
name maintains grace in her attitude. The man in her life, Mali proves
graceless as he has no appreciation for the virtues of Grace. Surprisingly
enough she accepts the Gandhian way of life as practiced by Jagan. Much
favouring multiculturalism Mali ignores father the birth giving figure and
these two are like two poles apart. Grace puts in the best efforts to bridge
the gap but meets an utter failure. In The
Painter of Sign, Daisy a central figure works at a family planning clinic.
The other central figure the painter of Signs and Daisy accept live in
relationship but God forbids she is transferred to another city. Her
job-oriented attitude makes her leave the Raman and go to her job.
Rosie
or Nalini a central figure in The Guide
moves out of her premises. The consequential panorama of her life deserves an
analytical study of her person. The most gruesome step she takes is to involve
illicitly with Raju--an inexperienced person with a young man's ambitions.
Raju, the man without wisdom so far, creates hurdles for Marco a historian of
international fame. To reach the levels he devotes himself day and night. Rosie
being the daughter of a Devdasi with post-graduation still has interest in
dancing career. Raju recognizes her talents and devotes himself to her
promotion. All the problems in the life of Marco are because he is over
occupied and rather incapacitated. Thus, this dissatisfied couple is generally
quarrelling. Raju is god sent for her. She as an over enthusiast leaves husband
and grips the hand of a guide.
The
character of Rosie is complicated. She has qualities of an innocent wife as
well an undaunted ambition for dancing. Knowing the fact that her husband would
not allow this she has boldness to overcome traditional shackles thinking and
breaks the shackles of male dominated society. When she chooses the path of
being a dancer she emerges as a bold, modern woman who is able to govern her own
life on her own conditions. Though her character undergoes several changes, she
is frustrated by the maladjustment in society. In the beginning she is
presented as meek and humble but as the time passes her boldness reveals as if
layers are being removed from her inward beauty. She is courageous enough to
determine her own path of happiness but she never lacks sympathy for others.
Her internal and external nature differs. She seems to be a mature woman in the
beginning and sometimes in the middle and end of the novel, on the other hand
she becomes a dreaming child. According to T. Pushpanathan, “Rosie is an
enigma, not much concerned with her body but with her soul. Deeply concerned
with her inner self, she moves with perfect spiritual freedom. She is pathetic,
for she has a bruised inward life. She is great despite being her victim to the
search for inward adjustment” (1). In spite of her conflicts with Marco, she
does not have malice for him in her heart. Raju’s mother the second woman
character in the novel represents traditional and even orthodox mentality while
Rosie represents a sharp contrast to her and becomes a symbol of revolt against
traditional thinking.
In
The Dark Room, Narayan portrays the
character of Savitri vividly, who has three children a dominated by arrogant
husband. She is a symbol of traditional Indian woman often seen in the kitchen
(dark room), she is timid and self-sacrificing woman, neglected and rebuked by
husband. When Shanta bai, a beautiful woman arrives after deserting her husband
and joins Englandia Insurance Company. Ramani attracts towards her coquettish
ways. Soon he indulges in infidelity. Knowing the fact, Savitri sinks only in
self-pity and melancholy, tries to revive her charm so that she would win her
husband’s love ‘as he loved her in the first week of her marriage’. Soon she
loses all hopes. Her heartrending cry: “I don’t possess anything in the world.
What possession can a woman call her own except her body? Everything else that
she has is her father’s, her husband’s or her son’s” (2) pierce the heart of
the reader. Seeing no hope of correcting her husband, she revolts against him
in utter frustration and disgust, consequently she quits her husband’s house to
commit suicide. Fortunately saved by Mari the blacksmith, begins her life in a
village where she emerges as an independent woman, who earns her livelihood by
her own work in temple. Since memory of children and homesickness compel her to
come back to her husband’s house. Realizing the futility of her escape from worldly
sufferings, she would again be in the ‘dark room’. The novel highlights the
condition of women in rapidly changing India i.e., modern India. The reality is
woman is marginalized and limited to only bedroom and kitchen so that she could
serve man.
Daisy,
in the novel, The Painter of Signs, a
bold and ultra-modern girl believes that marriage and motherhood are
unnecessary part of a woman’s life. Therefore, she decided to live free and
dedicated herself to duty. Contrary to Savitri, she is educated, single and
independent woman. The author keeps her free from the social roles of wife and
mother. Her boldness is reflected at the age of thirteen only when a boy and
his family coma to inspect her as a would-be bride, she feels it as a
humiliation and speaks courageously: “I’d not allow anyone to inspect me as a
bride and that I’d rather do the inspection of the groom!” (3). To break the
orthodox norms of a shy girl and docile would-be bride she walks before the boy
and his family like a soldier to battle. Instead of answering the questions of the
boy, she wants the boy to answer her questions. Although she is only thirteen
years old, yet she has her own notions of what is good for her and what should
she do in life, which exposes her liberal nature. She prefers to be recognized
as a skilled and modern working woman not as a charming woman who is considered
as a sex object only. Simple living and unorthodox thinking is the key motto of
her life. Her mission is to educate people about family planning and feels
nothing awkward in explaining the methods of family planning with the help of
charts and chalk. Contrary to the traditional heroine of Nararyan’s novels she
is an in charge of family planning scheme, who avoids love and marriage as
obstacles in her ways of social service.
R.K.
Narayan has portrayed woman not only physically but also psychologically.
Several aspects of feminine sensibility are touched by him while throwing
sensibility are touched by him while throwing light on woman as a custom build
house holder, as an ambitious person and craving for liberty. He skillfully
distinguished between modern and traditional woman, while portraying woman in The Dark Room, The Guide and The Painter of
Signs. When a woman is harassed or suppressed to a great extent, she
becomes revolutionary and dare of her personality reveals and she becomes a
courageous and bold woman who faces male dominated society confidently.
Like
many other novelists like Shashi Deshpande, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande,
Manju Kapoor, Kamala Markandaya, Mulk Raj Anand, Narayan too depicts woman in a
central role. Such protagonists struggle to find their own worth and
continuously try to attain liberty. Society treats woman with partiality which
Narayan highlights through the character of Rosie and other protagonists of his
novels, woman’s desires ambitions, agendas, struggles and triumphs. He presents
a woman who wants to unburden herself from the social norms and unusual
expectations of society from a woman.
Through
the character of Savitri in The Dark Room
Narayan deals with the discomforts experienced by woman in male dominated
society. She is the embodiment of feminine sensibility, cultural values womanly
devotion, dedication, faithfulness to her oppressive and tyrant husband.
Considering her home and children as everything she bears everything to a
certain extent but one day the limit of her patience crossed and she leaves her
husband’s home, refusing to bow anymore. The docile lady comes back for the
sake of her children which show her motherly tenderness. She becomes a representative
of emotionally and psychologically exploited woman. Who face everything for the
sake of children and family and always depend on others sometimes on father on
husband or on son for livelihood? Due to their Savitri wants to educate her
daughter so that she might live a better life.
On
the one hand Savitri feels liberty may be obtained through education and
financial independence accompanied by a lovable supportive husband, on the
other, Rosie, female protagonist of the novel The Guide is well educated and financially independent even then
she turns to Raju for emotional fulfillment. She uses Raju as a medium to
attain her dream. Her passion for name and fame was not taken seriously by her
husband Marco which becomes the root cause of her attracted by her charm. She,
bold enough to break social norms, lodges into Raju’s house, leaving her
husband for the sake of her dream. To be a famous dancer, this is what actually
happens too. Her craze to fulfill the dream of becoming a dancer fades away her
affection for husband. But in the heart of hearts she is suffering from the
guilt of leaving her husband.
To
some extent, it is right to say that she was suffering for her identity in male
dominated society. In her search to find out the meaning of her existence, faces
selfishness of man too. Finally, she according to the accepted norms of society
unites with her husband presenting the image of an Indian wife. Western
feminist, Germanie Greer observes: “If independence is a necessary concomitant
of freedom, woman must not marry.” (4)
In
the same way, female protagonists of Narayan find marriage not as a sacred knot
of the two lovely souls but as a barrier in search of identity and liberty.
They are adhering to culture values and eager to step forward to prove their worth
to the world. Such woman charterers suffer because they are unable to decide
whether Indian conventional belief or modern culture is good. Thus, they stand
on the verge of modern age facing a transition period under the dilemma of
choosing between the old and the new. Ideals of spiritualism and cultural
values are depicted as barrier of success and a clash between myth of the past
and the reality of today is treated on a larger scale.
Savitri,
Rosie, Daisy are purely feminist characters who search for their own inward
happiness i.e., existence and identity. Nevertheless, the author is in favour
of balance of everything for the betterment of society. He gives proper space
and improvement to his woman charterers for they are the half of the world. They
deserve love, care, respect and support to fulfill their dreams as man does.
According to Tejinder Kaur; “Undoubtedly Narayan has highlighted the cause of
woman by presenting three stages of woman’s journey in her quest for identity
and the changes in her attitude; assertion and firm will and he has given a
voice to what was submerged in the male dominated world. But the extreme of
Daisy’s kind of attitude leave before us the issue of woman’s liberation open.”
(5)
In
Daisy Narayan has observed the model of woman who would be prospering after the
women’s liberation movement and such other hue and cry rose for the betterment
of women kind all over the world. If that is so, every Raman must be cautious
to call a lady his life. Kate Millet a well-known feminist, believes that
marriage reduces the status of a woman to a mere object of man’s sexual
gratification, a tool of decoration and a servant to man. Narayan hints at
unequal power structure in marriage, which is no longer a scared knot only.
Hence the author releases Daisy from the shackles of tiresome marriage.
Hence,
R. K. Narayan skillfully depicts woman characters in his novels covering almost
all the domains of her life including psychological, emotional and social
aspects. Thus, the woman characters in Narayan’s novels have a strong desire to
prove their worth. There are docile characters like Savitri in The Dark Room and radical woman
characters like Daisy and Rosie in the novels like The Painter of Signs and The
Guide respectively. Such characters are influenced by the situation of
their lives like real beings since they are not portrayed on heroic scales. A
realistic picture of domestic life and social norms is reflected in the novels
like – The Vendor of Sweets, A Tiger of Malgudi and Talkative Man. Although the impact of
western culture upon traditional Indian woman charterers is apparent in
Narayan’s novels, yet most of his female characters adhere to the traditionally
accepted roles and values. Being a keen observer of society, he presents a base
truth of woman’s life without any discrimination. Woman’s rebellious mood,
anger, ambition and search for identity are some of the major factors,
highlighted by Narayan while portraying woman in his novels. In the beginning
of his literary career his woman characters were meek, humble and sufferers but
in his later works woman is presented as rebellious and bold.
Works
Cited
Pushpanatahan, T.
“Portrayal of Women in R. K. Narayan’s The Guide.” 6th International Conference on Emerging Treads in
Engineering, Technology, Science and Management, 7th Oct. 2017. www.conferenceworld.in.
Narayan, R.K. The Dark Room. Macmillan & Co., Ltd:
London, 1956.
Narayan, R. K. The Painter of Sign. Indian Thought
Publication: Mysore, 1998.
Greer, Germaine. The Female Eunuch. St. Albama: Paladin,
1976.
Kaur, Tejinder.
“Feminist Concerns in the Three Novels of R. K. Narayan The Dark Room, The
Guide and The Painter of Signs.” The
Quest, vol. 8, Dec.1994.
Further Reading:
Narayan, R. K. The Guide. Indian Thought Publication:
Mysore, 1958.
Iyenger, K. R. S. Indian Writing in English. Sterling
Publishers: New Delhi, 2020.