Creative Flight Journal: The Delineation of the Struggles of Female characters in Select Works of Jaishree Misra

The Delineation of the Struggles of Female characters in Select Works of Jaishree Misra

Priyanka Patle

Assistant Professor (English)

Lt. Ramanath Verma Govt. College Mopka-Nipaniya

Balodabajar-Bhatapara, Chhattisgarh, India

The struggles of women are common subjects in a daily life of the people within society. When we look into history, the status of women in India was gauzy. The women plays a vital role rather than the stereotypes of sacrificing mother, passive sister, complaint wife, docile daughter and obedient lover. In the patriarchal society women suffers a lot with a different challenges. My paper dwells upon the works of Jaishree Misra in which she represented a contemporary woman. She also emphasises the struggles of women in all her work. Misra is an ideal spokesperson and in her novels, she represents a woman as a modern woman who breaks all the encumbrance of the burden carried by women generation after generation. In her novels all the household setup of all the female protagonists in strictly patriarchal. Jaishree Misra is not only a powerful lady but she breaks all the clutches of patriarchy and she is also a truly daring female. The author also sketched about a domestic violence perfectly in her novels. In Indian writing in English many writers show how women suffer in the dominant society and seek to abolish the patriarchy.

In her novels, she worries about issues primarily limited to females, making them ideal for feminist reading. When we came to know about the feminist that they are not only females but also include men, that is men or women who support and respect the ideas of upcoming women’s movement. Sometimes we also came across that male suppressed a lot to a female because of the society. It is happened because of the male power and inequalities for women. But in my point of view it is not an ending process but a continuation process. It is a chain of a society that women have to suffer because she is a ‘women’ not a ‘men’. An effort is made in this article to probe into the struggles of women characters in her novels.

Keywords: Patriarchal Society, Suppression, Feminism, Challenging women, Struggles, Liberalization.

“Feminism is not a dirty word. It does not mean you hate men. It does not mean you hate girls that have nice legs and a tan, and it does not mean you are a bitch or a dyke, it means you believe in equality.” – Kate Nash

When we talk about the feminism, there are many male and female writers in an Indian writing, who shows how women suffers in the dominant society and seek to abolish patriarchy. Sometimes, we came to know that male also supported a woman of our society, nevertheless the opinion was different from the thoughts. We also know that feminists are not only females, but also include men; that is, men or women who support and respect the ideas of upcoming movements of women are who are considered as a feminist. When we turn a page of a history, the status of women in India was vague. In theoretical point of view, she enjoyed many privileges and also given an equal status as a goddess’s. In the past until the independence, men in India practised Polygamy. In our society the prominent members such as high ranking officials, landlords, merchants, and ministers, visited the brothel houses and felt no remorse. On the other hand, household women were kept in confinement as per the injuctions of the law books, which stipulated that a woman should not meet any outsider man of her family without a family member present.

In the contemporary scenario, there are women writers whose writings have been successful in projecting the existing social inequality and evils faced by women novelists comprises like Sobhaa De, Nergis Dalal, Anita Desai, Krishna Sobti, Indira Goswami, Gauri Deshpande, Bharati Mukherjee, Nayantara Sahgal, Ruth Jhabvala, Kamala Das and many more famous names. Among the writers of women’s support, novelist Jaishree Misra is one among them who writes about women’s identity and the pains of women in the cultural bonds. She was born in Delhi to Malayali parents and was brought up in Delhi. She has completed her M.A from Kerala University with special education. Later she swiped to England, and worked as a radio journalist at the BBC news and was a film classifier at the British Board of Film classification. She moved to Delhi again, where she started a long-term residential home for intellectually challenged adults. At present Misra is lived in Kerala. She has written many works which was related to feminism like Ancient Promises (2000), Accidents as Marriage and Love (2001), Afterwards (2004), Rani (2008), Secret and Lies (2009), The Little Book of Romance (2009), Secret and Sins (2010), A Scandalous Secret (2011), of Mothers and others (2013) along with a love story for the Sister of Mine (2015). She has authored nine novels and a book of poetry. Her novels also deal with women whom the institution of marriage dominates, who are not given space, and the rules of patriarchy restrict them.

Jaishree Misra’s female characters are free from all the bondage and her female protagonists are called as liberated women and they all are well educated and able to live individually. Especially they do not want to depend on men. Misra is not only against the marriage but against the compulsion of marriage, which turns into the tragic end of many a woman. She wrote many novels but some of the novels, the readers can find the portrayal of a meek, submissive female that plays a subservient function to her father, husband and son. In another side she shows a pictures of the truly daring female, who breaks the clutches of patriarchy and leads an unbiased existence.

In the Indian context family plays a vital role in creating a hierarchical system of the society, we also know that literature is the mirror of the society and it is the order in the state and educates their children but also creates and continuously reinforces that order. In the society boys are taught to be dominating and aggressive and girls are expected to be caring, loving and submissive. In our society the stereotypes gender discrimination of masculinity and femininity are not only in built but also have been imbibed by both men and women. It is deeply rooted that men is a bread winner of the family because of the sources of financial supports and going for work whereas the women are supposed to do menial jobs and look after the children and other members of the family. They all set their mind according to the society because we all know that our society is a patriarchal society.

“We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored”. – Sheryl Sandberg

In theory Simon de Beauvoir talks about the discrimination of men and women and also the imprisons of her freedom through his ‘Second Sex’. Life of a woman is within the clutches of a man. Woman is always made dependent on man. The two opposite sexes never shared the world in equality. Though there are laws to give equal opportunities to women it is never practiced anywhere. Even in the economic sphere men and women are at a great difference, men hold more opportunities in the office. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak also categorized women as a subaltern. Subaltern is a group of people that have been excluded from the society. A subaltern woman is the most suffered ones among the lot. They did not have a ‘voice’ of herself, they depend on the men or the other person to gave her voice as a supporting role that is why they suppressed a lot.

Jaishree Misra ‘Ancient Promises’ is a first novel which was published in 2000 and it is a semi-autobiographical. This novel is based on the unsuccessful arranged marriage and it turns into divorce. The main protagonist Janu is a young and she loves with Arjun, he enters as a first lover in her arranged marriage life. Later, she’s slowly shut out by the coldness of her husband’s family, and his indifference to her and her daughter’s requirements. The life goes on and she leaves for Delhi to make a scholarship and also to meets her lover Arjun passions are aroused and they both feel great for one another. Janu offers to file for divorce to end the unpleasant marriage, flees with Riya to England and her new life was restarted with Arjun. Magically Suresh, her husband reconciles himself to a divorce, hands above Riya and all are very well that ends well. Here Misra’s moving story about marriage motherhood and as well as divorce. It also shows that the magic ends without fighting and sorrow.

There are many other works of Misra n that the ‘Afterwards’ in an another novel which was published in 2004, Rahul Tiwari is a Protagonist of the novel, here the novel starts with Tiwari who arrives in Kerala for a brief break from London, he finds himself playing finally, he was also a best partner and friend, co-conspirator and the unanticipated Job of a saviour. Here Maya is a female protagonist and she is suffocating suspicious husband which turns to him for assistance. Misra also deals in the story of Maya her oppressive married life, her short deliance with independence and lastly her demise. Here Maya abused by the suspicious husband in Kerala and that is why she strikes up a friendship with Rahul Tiwari, an NRI that hires out the home next door. Rahul is the ticket to her independence. She coaxes him into taking her and the daughter, Anjali, with him to the U.K. after a brief life that is satisfying in England with Rahul and after that the story ends when she dies in a crash.

The woman’s position in a patriarchal society is reduced to the roles of silent daughters, wives and mothers. In our society the roles of a woman as a wife and a mother is very critical.

Murali Manohar also deals and holds the same view:

“Marriage is definitely a one-time bond since time immemorial, at least from the Indian traditional and conventional point of view”.

Jaishree Misra speaks about the different problems which lead into a relationship. She also points the complexity of relationships when elements such as loyalty and love are mixing.

According to the categorization of women's literature as feminine, feminist, and female by Elaine Showalter in her paper 'A Literature of Their Own’ British Novelists from Bronte to Lessing Ancient Promises would come somewhere between feminist and female. It is all about the self discovery of a woman by herself. Janu finds the ray of happiness only when she becomes aware of and the awareness is created only when one look at one's self. She is empowered to reclaim her lost love and releases herself from the hold of conventions and family expectation. She comes finally to her conclusion and feels at peace with herself and her world.

Works Cited

Primary Source

Misra, Jaishree. Ancient Promises. NewDelhi: Penguin Books, 2000. Print.

---. Afterwards. Newdelhi, Penguin Books, 2004. Print.

Secondary Sources

Agrawal, Anju Bala. Post Independence Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Author Press, 2008.

Dhawan,R.K.Indian Women Novelists.New Delhi: Prestige Books,1991.

Firestone,Shulamith.The Dialectic of Sex.London:The Women's Press,1979.

Muralidharan, Nandini. An Interview with Author JaishreeMisra. May 31, 2010. Web

http://bookshopblog.com/2010/05/31/an-interview-with-author-jaishree-misra/

Showalter, Elaine. A literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing. Princeton: Princeton University, 1977.

---."Towards a Feminist Poetics". Women Writing About Women. Ed. Mary Jacobus. USA: Taylor and Francis, 1979.