A Reading of Identity through Violence: An Analytical
Discussion Based on Select Texts through Feminist Eye
Ankan Biswas
Independent Researcher
Dum Dum Motijheel College
West Bengal State University
West Bengal, India
Abstract: The analysis
regarding identity specifically women’s identity is widely discussed as their
life was not easy as nowadays. In the pages of various literary documents the
historical struggle of women and how patriarchal system dominated them through
violence is portrayed with minute details. Not in India but this struggle for
women is global issue. This article contains the analytical discussion of how
violence impacted the lives of women, by focusing on the selected texts. This
article proposes to highlight the psychological and physical impact of the male
domination on women and their identity through feminist view point.
Keywords: Identity, Violence, Patriarchy, Dominated, Society,
Struggle, Women.
Introduction: Many
literary documents carry the issue related to women violence. For several
decades how they tolerate the inhuman behavior of male dominated society and
how this violence dominates their life both inside and outside of the household
and make them feel inferior class in society which leads to their loss of
identity is a widely analyzed topic. This view is clearly portrayed in the
literary pages. Alongside Alice walker many other writers like Temsula Ao,
Virginia Woolf have written through their literary hand, the scenes of the
domestic violence and how a woman survive this situation in a patriarchal
society.
This work has allowed the desktop research method and
also incorporated various other information gathered by reading many journals
and research papers, and this writing also uses the feminist lens to bring
forth the violence against women.
Alice walker masterfully portrays the picture of
psychological and physical violence throughout the pages of her novel. Walker
minutely draws the picture of women’s life in the time of 1930 to early 1940s
through the character Celie. The Color Purple reveals the face of
violence in the form of harsh socio-economic and emotional condition. With
minute details this novel draws the struggle of women from the first half of
the twentieth century through the character of Celie and how she survives the
oppressed situation in the male dominated society.
The central point of this novel is to highlight how Celie
is being oppressed by her Step father in the household. As her mother was
unable to respond to her father’s sexual appeal so her step-father makes her
the substitute of her mother. This description of Sexual assault triggered the
readers against the oppressive child abuse. Though this sexual harassment is
not just limited to her father but on the other point her father make her marry
to other person as his age and then her husband also starts harass her
sexually. The body of Celie here in this novel represents that the woman body
is a site of oppression, whether it is white male or black, women’s body is the
stage of presenting domination and a stage for showing power. The combination
of psychological and direct physical assault to which Celie is subjected on
regular basis led to her loss of identity. In the patriarchal society a woman’s
identity is being diminished by the oppressive force of the male. But the
condition for the black woman is more critical as they are woman and on other
hand they are black, because of this issue they got doubly colonized in the
society. This violence and torture on the women body led to the idea of their
loss of identity. The woman body is nothing but the site of projecting power
and domination, women did not have any control over their own body as in this
novel Celie does not have any control. The body is main subject which dominates
the novel entirely. Celie’s marriage to Mr._ is not the end of her physical
assault but it is the beginning of a new oppression in her husband’s household,
as her husband mentioned “cause she is my wife”. Also In this context Celie’s
acceptance of her husband’s beloved Shug Avery is the proof of her
psychological identity. On her own view point she has no identity or contains
any sense of individuality. The picture of psychological and racial violence is
masterfully portrayed through the other character Sofia, who refuses to serve
Mayor’s wife a maid. For this refusal she spent some time in jail. Even it is
also mentioned that when Sofia taught driving to Mayor’s wife she was not
allowed to sit on the front seat with Mayor’s wife. Neeru Tandon mentions that
the jail in which Sofia held is actually a metaphor that all the black people
are captivated in the cage of racism. The white people made them inferior
through oppression and violence. This violence replicates through the action of
the black male in household, as they brutalize their women by violating them.
In the “Third Life of Grange Copeland” Walker mentions this scene of
oppression, where the black male after being brutally tortured by whites, they
beat their women in household. This Psychological oppression mixed with the
racial difference which creates another level of brutality for the Black women.
The Black people were psychologically captivated through the regular oppression
done by the whites but on the portion of women it became even worse as first of
all they are black and secondly they are women. So, on the side of women they
were doubly oppressed in the male operated society. Alice walker in this novel
pasteurizes the condition of women both psychologically and physically through
the female characters and the male characters are the representations of
oppressed condition of the society.
The
condition of women in the patriarchal society is not same for all over the
globe. It is based on some factors mainly on the geopolitical and social
constructions. In the writings of the North Eastern part of India the writers,
it can be witnessed that many eminent writers documented the condition of women
during the time of insurgencies and how they were treated by the security
forces. This geopolitical condition inspired several writers to write down the
emotional situation of people of those regions. On view of this context this
writing proposes to illustrate the condition of the people mainly women of
North East India through the writings of Mamang Dai and Temsula Ao. Their
writings also provide the information of how the violation of women is
equivalent to the violation of nature. As in the culture of North East they are
close to nature, and the writers are portraying it through their work. Mamang
Dai’s “The Legends of Pensam” is a mirror of cultural belief of the
people of North East India. Throughout the story Dai depicted the rituals and
cultural beliefs of this region through the characters of the story. But more
specifically this novel explores the experiences of women among the societal
changes and how they adopt the modern culture while simultaneously maintaining
their own identity. These Hills called Home: Stories from a War Zone is
a picture in which Temsula Ao depicted the situation of the people of Nagaland
also how the women were brutally tortured by the government security forces can
clearly be seen throughout the chapters of this novel. ‘Virginia Woolf’ in “A
Room Of One’s Own” depicted the situation of a woman in the patriarchal
society. How women were dominated in the field of education. Woolf also
mentions that at that time it was rare to have a private space for a woman
where they can pursue their own artistic expression. In “A Room Of One’s
Own” Woolf analyzes the limitations imposed on the women. Her main argument
was for women to have metaphorical and a literary space so that they can
improve their ideas regarding the artistic and literary expression.
Literary Identity in Male Dominated Literary Canon:
Throughout the generations various books and literary
documents has contained the proof that gender based societal practices were not
only cultivated in society but it had its impact on literature. Women were not
only dominated in the society because of their gender but they were also
limited in the selection of themes for writing. Women at a patriarchal society
were limited in themes to write about, women were allowed to write about food,
clothing fashion, domestic problems, and children. Many feminist critics have
argued that women were excluded from the literary canon, which actually
circulates stereotypes of women and neutralize their gender roles. Female
author’s texts were excluded from the canonical track by indicating it as less
meaningful or fully meaningless. The most significant contribution of the
feminist thought in cultural theory was the critique of the Eng. Lit canon. In
cultural practices and societal structures, the unequal power relations between
men and women are reflected. Also in the literature female authored texts were
seen as secondary text in front of the male authored texts. This kind of
situation can be seen in the reading of Elaine Showalter’s “A Literature of
Their Own” where Showalter portrays how male dominated literary canon
suppressed the woman author’s texts by incorporating limited themes.
Critique of Domestic Violence in Afro American Families:
Though for many years people have heard that domestic
violence happened in all classes, races and ethnic groups, multicultural
critics have challenged this view by arguing that the poor black women are the
victims of intimate relationships and dangerous social situations. But the
violence among the Afro-Americans was not for the societal issue but mainly for
the poverty. They were not only poor but many of the Afro Americans were lived
in the urban areas and they were unemployed. This state of poverty is the main
cause of the domestic violence in Afro American families.
To understand the reason of domestic violence in lives of
marginalized women it is not sufficient to understand the gender inequality.
Gender inequality is just a part of their oppressed life. Bograd argues that
inequality in gender is determined by various other social factors. Though one
can only experience the status of those marginalized women through the relation
of other social locations.
Understanding Sandra Gilbert and Sussan Gubar’s Theme of
Madwoman:
In The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) Sandra Gilbert
and Susan Gubar argued that women writers of nineteenth century were limited in
their literary work. That can be understood through the works of then woman
writers. As Gilbert and Gubar argued in their famous work “The Madwoman in
the Attic” (1979) that the writing of the woman authors are palimpsests or
double voiced. On the surface level the woman authored texts were normal and
balanced with the male fantasies but in the profound level as Gilbert and Gubar
argued that the woman authors inscribe a different meaning. Their works are
double voiced, on one point the works are actually represents their
schizophrenia of authorship and at other point their rage for creation. Women
authors had to balance with the male fantasies of the female: on one hand women
as an angel and on other hand women as monsters. As Gilbert and Gubar argued
that on the surface level women authored texts were normal and balanced with
the male dominated literary fantasies.
Understanding patriarchy through Simone De Beauvior’s
view Point:
Through De Beauvior’s famous work The Second Sex
(1949) it is clear that men are able to mystify women. This kind mystification
and stereotyping are actually instrumental in creating patriarchy. In this
point she argued that women accept this kind of stereotyping and became the
instruments of their own oppression. Also she argued that women were always the
negative of men and a flawed version men. Women were always be judged by the
society through the patriarchal view point. Where men are the dominant force
and the norm, and the potential of women always measured by comparing their
potential with men and found inferior. De Beauvior also pointed out in her
arguments that in the patriarchal society women were the other, who are not a
match for men, in this way men and women are engaged in a subject-other
relationship, where men are the subject and women are other. In other words
patriarchal system somehow construct them as inferior other, who are
negativeand a flawed version of men.
Conclusion:
Throughout this writing the main focus is to keep light
on the condition of women throughout the years and how the writers portray them
in their work. Various feminist writers have put their view in front of the
world through their artistic talent. This work is a highlighter of the
condition of women in various social condition, and how they were marginalized
in a society where men are the operator. As many critics have stated in their
documents that men are able to mystify women and this mystification is the
instrument by which women become their own oppressor. Also many writers put
their view on the life of the women of colour in a societal system where whites
are the controller. Not only in particular society but in every social
condition all over the world women are being oppressed by the dominant force
that make them inferior other.
Works Cited
Sokoloff, Natalie J. "Domestic Violence
at the Crossroads: Violence against Poor Woman and Women of Color." The
Feminist Press at the City University of New York, vol. 32, no.3/4, pp-
19-147 http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004584.
Nayar, Pramod K. Contemporary Literary and
Cultural Theory: From Structuralism to Ecocriticism. Pearson Publiction,
2010.
K, Priya. "Violence in Alice Walker's
The Color Purple." IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS),
vol. 19, no. 7, 2014, pp. 51-54. www.iosrjournals.org.
Naik, Rashi. "The Position of Women in
the Short Stories, The Last Song, The Pot Maker, TemsulaAo." International
Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, 2020, pp.
317-21. https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.51.55.