Silenced Desires and Objectified Bodies: A Nussbaumian
Reading of Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman and A Lonely Harvest
Haradri
Gauri Borah,
PhD
Research Scholar,
Central
University of Punjab,
Punjab,
India.
&
Dr.
Osheen Sharma,
Assistant
Professor of English,
Lovely
Professional University,
Punjab,
India.
Abstract: This paper examines the representation of
women’s objectification and the silencing of their desires in Perumal Murugan’s
One Part Woman (2013) and A Lonely Harvest (2018). Focusing on
the character of Ponna, it explores how women in rural Tamil Nadu are reduced
to reproductive vessels and denied autonomy within patriarchal frameworks.
American philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum’s theory of objectification,
particularly the notions of instrumentality, fungibility, ownership, denial of
autonomy, and denial of subjectivity, provides the theoretical framework for
analysis. The study reveals how Ponna’s identity is constructed around
fertility, with her worth tied to her ability to bear a child. In One Part Woman, her barrenness
becomes the justification for social exclusion, emotional abuse, and the
pressure to participate in the Ardhanarishvara festival. In A Lonely Harvest, widowhood compounds
her objectification, leaving her vulnerable to stigma, exploitation, and the
denial of individuality. The novels collectively highlight how patriarchal
structures enforce silence upon women’s desires, reducing them to instruments
for familial and cultural continuity. By applying Nussbaum’s framework, this
paper underscores the dehumanising consequences of objectification and how
patriarchal ideology erodes female agency and subjectivity. The analysis
demonstrates that Murugan’s narratives not only critique entrenched patriarchal
practices but also foreground the necessity of feminist re-readings of Indian
literature.
Keywords: Perumal Murugan, Objectification, Female Desire,
Patriarchy, Nussbaum, Indian Literature, Tamil Literature
Introduction
Perumal Murugan, one of the foremost voices in
contemporary Tamil literature, has persistently engaged with the intersection
of caste, patriarchy, and sexuality in rural Indian society. His novels often
foreground marginalized voices and reveal the silences embedded in cultural
traditions. One Part Woman (2013) and its sequel A Lonely Harvest
(2018), translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, constitute two of Murugan’s most
poignant narratives. Both novels follow the life of Ponna, a woman trapped in
the contradictions of love, fertility, and societal expectations. Her personal
journey illustrates how patriarchal frameworks consistently objectify women and
suppress their desires under the guise of cultural obligation and familial
duty. The third novel in the series, Trial by Silence (2018), is written
from the perspective of Kali as he withdraws from Ponna, and breaks all ties
with her (Sengupta 98). However, since Ponna’s perspective is the point of view
for this research, the third novel is outside the scope of the present study.
Patriarchy in rural Tamil Nadu, like in much of India,
locates women’s worth within narrowly defined roles—primarily wifehood and
motherhood. A woman unable to conceive is considered incomplete, sometimes even
cursed, her barrenness treated as both a social and spiritual deficiency.
Fertility becomes not only a personal aspiration but also a cultural demand
that ties female identity to reproduction. Murugan situates Ponna’s struggles
within this context: despite her love for her husband Kali, her inability to
bear a child subjects her to ridicule, pressure, and threats of abandonment.
This reveals how patriarchal structures reduce women to reproductive vessels,
stripping them of individuality and autonomy.
The objectification of women in such contexts can be
examined through Martha C. Nussbaum’s theory of Objectification, articulated in
her seminal text Sex and Social Justice (1999). Nussbaum identifies
seven dimensions of objectification—instrumentality, denial of autonomy,
inertness, fungibility, violability, ownership, and denial of subjectivity (Sex).
These dimensions capture how women are “dehumanized” and treated as “things”
rather than persons with agency (Nussbaum “Objectification” 249). In Murugan’s
novels, several of these dimensions resonate strongly. Ponna is treated as an
instrument to produce an heir; her body is regarded as the property of her
husband and family; her desires and subjectivity are disregarded in the pursuit
of social acceptance. Nussbaum’s framework thus provides a critical lens to
expose the mechanisms through which women’s identities are shaped and silenced
(Malinauskaite 2).
While Murugan’s One Part Woman has been widely
discussed for its exploration of caste, culture, and sexuality, there is
comparatively less critical engagement with A Lonely Harvest, which
extends the narrative to Ponna’s life after Kali’s death. The sequel
illuminates how widowhood exacerbates women’s marginalization, subjecting them
to new forms of social exclusion. Ponna, even after bearing a child through the
temple ritual, is reduced to a figure of stigma and is denied dignity in her
roles as mother and widow. By examining both novels together, this paper
demonstrates how objectification persists across different phases of a woman’s
life, rendering her perpetually vulnerable to patriarchal control. While
previous scholarship has examined Murugan through ecofeminism, cultural theory,
and disability studies, few have foregrounded the systematic reduction of women
to objects in his narratives. Moreover, A Lonely Harvest has received
limited attention in feminist criticism, despite its rich portrayal of the
afterlives of objectification. The present paper contributes to this discourse
by offering a comparative reading of the two novels, highlighting how
patriarchal ideology not only suppresses female desires but also constructs
women’s identities, beginning as early as their childhood, as contingent upon
male authority and social approval (1).
The significance of this inquiry extends beyond literary
analysis. In Indian society, where debates on gender equality and women’s
autonomy remain pressing, literature provides a mirror to cultural practices
and a critique of entrenched inequalities. Murugan’s novels, set in
colonial-era Tamil Nadu, expose how women continue to be denied autonomy and
silenced in matters of sexuality, fertility, and self-expression. In sum, this
study argues that One Part Woman and A Lonely Harvest together
dramatize the continuum of female objectification—from barrenness to
widowhood—illustrating how women’s worth is persistently measured against
patriarchal standards.
Theoretical Framework
The concept of objectification has been a central concern
in feminist theory, particularly in exploring how women are reduced to
“objects, things or commodities” that serve patriarchal needs (Nussbaum
“Objectification” 249). Among the many contributions to this discourse, Martha
C. Nussbaum’s theory of Objectification, articulated in Sex and Social
Justice (1999), offers one of the most comprehensive frameworks. Her model
is especially significant for literary analysis, as it allows scholars to
identify multiple dimensions of dehumanisation and apply them to characters and
narratives that reflect lived realities of women.
Nussbaum outlines seven dimensions of objectification:
1. Instrumentality – treating a person as a tool for
another’s purposes.
2. Inertness – regarding the person as lacking in agency or
activity.
3. Fungibility – seeing a person as interchangeable with
others of the same type.
4. Violability – perceiving the person as lacking boundary
integrity and subject to violation.
5. Ownership – treating the person as property that can be
controlled or transferred.
6. Denial of autonomy – viewing the person as lacking in
self-determination.
7. Denial of subjectivity – ignoring the feelings and
experiences of the person.
These categories do not always occur in isolation;
rather, they overlap in ways that reveal the depth of patriarchal domination.
For instance, when a woman is pressured to bear children, her body becomes an
instrument of lineage (instrumentality), she is denied the right to refuse
(denial of autonomy), and her emotions are disregarded (denial of
subjectivity). Together, these dimensions expose the mechanisms through which
women are stripped of individuality and reduced to objects of male or societal
use. Applied to literary texts, Nussbaum’s framework allows critics to examine
how narratives encode the reduction of women to passive roles. Objectification
is not only sexual but also social and cultural: it frames women’s lives as
vessels of continuity rather than as autonomous existences. In patriarchal
societies, women’s bodies and identities are often constructed as commodities
to be exchanged, controlled, or violated for the preservation of family honour,
caste purity, or religious tradition (Parveen and Radhakrishnan 55). These
insights are particularly relevant to Perumal Murugan’s novels, which
foreground women’s struggles within rigid rural communities.
In One Part Woman (2013), Nussbaum’s notions of
instrumentality, fungibility, and ownership is especially evident. Ponna is
treated as an instrument to produce a child; her inability to conceive renders
her replaceable, much like cattle that can be exchanged. Her body is treated as
belonging not to herself but to her husband and mother-in-law, who make
decisions about her participation in the temple festival without her consent.
These narrative moments exemplify how patriarchal structures enact
objectification by controlling women’s “reproductive capacities” (Reissman
112).In A Lonely Harvest (2018), the sequel, the dynamics shift but the
objectification persists. Widowhood, instead of liberating Ponna, further entrenches
her vulnerability. Here, Nussbaum’s categories of denial of autonomy, denial of
subjectivity, and violability become central. Ponna’s choices are disregarded
as her community dictates where she should live and how she should behave. Her
grief, desires, and aspirations are silenced, while her role is confined to the
preservation of caste honour and maternal duty. The text also portrays how
widows are socially “violable”—susceptible to exploitation and exclusion
because of their status (Nussbaum “Objectification” 258).
Importantly, the framework highlights that
objectification is not merely about physical or sexual reduction but also about
systemic social and cultural silencing of women (Jose 3360). Women’s emotions,
aspirations, and subjectivity are often denied validity, which reinforces their
marginalisation. Murugan’s narratives dramatise this silencing by showing how
Ponna’s voice is consistently overshadowed by societal expectations.
Thus, the theoretical framework provides two critical
benefits for this paper:
1. It allows a close textual reading of Ponna’s experiences
as structured by objectification.
2. It situates Murugan’s narratives within broader feminist
debates on autonomy, identity, and the politics of desire.
The analysis that follows demonstrates how One Part
Woman and A Lonely Harvest serve as cultural critiques of
patriarchal oppression, exposing the systematic denial of women’s humanity in
colonial rural Tamil Nadu.
Analysis of One Part Woman
At the heart of One Part Woman lies the question
of fertility. Ponna and Kali’s childlessness after twelve years of marriage
becomes not only a personal grief but a social scandal. Some abominable
socio-cultural customs like child marriage and celibacy in widowhood had
entered the 19th century rural Tamil Nadu society (Karthika and
Suganya 29). Motherhood was treated as the central marker of a woman’s worth,
while barrenness believed to render her incomplete. In light of this, Ponna’s
body is viewed primarily as a medium to fulfill the reproductive function; her
identity is subordinated to the community’s demand for an heir (Jose 3362).
This aligns with Nussbaum’s notion of instrumentality, where a person is
treated as a tool for another’s purposes (“Objectification” 257).The village elders
suggest to Kali that Ponna is just like “some cows” who “never get pregnant”
and advise him to “change the cow” (Murugan One 10). Such stark imagery
also reveals how barren women are equated with unproductive
livestock—replaceable, disposable, and stripped of individuality. This echoes
Nussbaum’s category of fungibility, as Ponna’s value is tied not to her unique
identity but to her ability to serve a reproductive function (“Objectification”
260). The emotional turmoil of being treated as an interchangeable thing
further underscores the depth of objectification.
The central event of the novel, the Ardhanarishvara
chariot festival, epitomises how women’s autonomy is erased in the pursuit of
patriarchal continuity. For a night, marital rules are suspended, and women are
encouraged to sleep with strangers to conceive children. Ponna’s mother-in-law
insists that she participate, framing it as a divine opportunity to overcome
her barrenness. Yet, strikingly, Ponna’s consent is never sought. Decisions are
made by her husband and family, treating her body as property to be managed. Here,
Nussbaum’s notion of denial of autonomy becomes crucial as Ponna’s agency is undermined;
she is treated with “ownership” as she is coerced into embodying the
community’s reproductive expectations (262). Even when she expresses
willingness, it is framed in conditional terms— “I will, if you are fine with
it” (Murugan One 117)—demonstrating that her choices are contingent upon
male approval rather than personal choice. Her subjectivity is subsumed under
patriarchal control, illustrating how systemic silencing operates within
cultural traditions.
Though Kali loves Ponna deeply, his behaviour also
reflects ingrained patriarchal attitudes. Their intimacy often prioritises his
desires, reducing her to an object of male satisfaction (Parveen and
Radhakrishnan 49). He visits her when he wishes, yet neglects her emotional
needs. Ponna, in turn, suppresses her own desires, embodying Nussbaum’s denial
of subjectivity—her emotions and aspirations are ignored, while her body
becomes the site of others’ will and purpose (“Objectification” 265).This
denial is compounded by social stigma. Ponna is barred from rituals, excluded
from communal life, and mocked by neighbours. Her pain is invisible to society,
which focuses only on her inability to bear a child. The silencing of her
voice—both within her marriage and community—exemplifies the structural erasure
of female subjectivity.
The festival also raises the issue of caste. Kali fears
that if Ponna conceives with a lower-caste man, both she and the child would be
deemed impure. This again reflects the category of ownership, where a woman’s
body becomes the repository of caste honour, belonging to her husband and
lineage rather than to herself. Nussbaum is critical of Kant’s ignorance
towards the “asymmetrical or hierarchical nature of marriage,” and believes
that marriages often fail due to this arrangement (“Objectification” 269). In One
Part Woman Ponna’s worth is measured not by her identity but by the purity
of her womb, reinforcing how patriarchy and caste intersect to objectify women.
Kali on the other hand is a man caught between his desire for a child and his
love for his wife. His painful yet derogatory shout towards the end, “You
whore! You cheated me! .... ‘You will not be happy” (Murugan One240) is
the vilest expression of the delusion he lived in.
In One Part Woman, Murugan exposes the manifold
ways in which patriarchal culture objectifies women: reducing them to
instruments of reproduction, denying their autonomy, disregarding their
subjectivity, and treating their bodies as repositories of caste purity.
Through Ponna’s struggles, the novel illustrates how systemic pressures
dehumanise women, eroding individuality and silencing desires. Nussbaum’s
framework provides a powerful lens to uncover these layers of oppression,
showing how objectification functions not only at the interpersonal level but
also through cultural traditions and social hierarchies.
Analysis of A Lonely Harvest
A Lonely Harvest begins
after Kali’s tragic death, positioning Ponna in a vulnerable space as both
widow and mother. In traditional Tamil society, widowhood stripped women of
dignity, marking them as inauspicious. Ponna, despite conceiving through the
temple festival, is ostracised and denied participation in rituals. This
reflects Nussbaum’s dimension of violability—her existence is treated as
lacking boundary integrity, open to exploitation, exclusion, and social
violation (“Objectification” 257). Her worth, once tied to fertility, is now
overshadowed by the stigma of widowhood (Karthika and Suganya 31).As a widow,
Ponna embodies contradiction: revered symbolically as pure, yet treated
socially as polluted. She becomes a paradoxical figure, simultaneously life-giver
and social outcast. The denial of her humanity underscores the deep
entrenchment of patriarchal norms.
Women in 19th century Tamil society were
denied basic human rights, as elucidated by Karthika and Suganya; Ponna’s
desires—emotional, physical, and existential—remain suppressed in widowhood
(31). While she longs for companionship and dignity, her community polices her
every choice. She is expected to withdraw from public life, maintain silence,
and submit to cultural prescriptions. This is a textbook instance of denial of
autonomy and denial of subjectivity. Her grief for Kali is never acknowledged
in full human terms; instead, her behaviour is judged against societal
expectations. By refusing her the right to express longing or desire,
patriarchal society reduces her to an empty vessel, one whose sole function is
maternal duty. Her individuality is effectively erased. Motherhood, which in One
Part Woman was denied to Ponna, becomes a reality in A Lonely Harvest.
Yet instead of liberating her, it further binds her identity to patriarchal
definitions of womanhood (Sujatha 44). Ponna is recognised only as a mother,
not as an autonomous being. Her individuality remains silenced, demonstrating
how objectification adapts rather than disappears. Here, Nussbaum’s
instrumentality re-emerges (“Objectification” 257). Ponna’s role is confined to
nurturing her child, fulfilling the community’s demand for lineage continuity.
Her identity is reduced once more to functionality, reinforcing the idea that a
woman’s value is contingent upon serving family and society.
Just as in One Part Woman, in the sequel too caste
continues to shape Ponna’s objectification. Her child, conceived through the
festival, raises questions of lineage and purity. Society regards both mother
and child through the lens of caste hierarchy, illustrating Nussbaum’s
ownership; Ponna’s body and its reproductive outcome are seen as belonging to
family honour, not as personal experiences. The idea that her intimacy with a
stranger taint her purity reduces her body to a symbol of collective identity,
rather than her self-identity (Divya and K. 261). A Lonely Harvest
extends Murugan’s critique of patriarchy by showing how widowhood does not free
women but deepens their objectification. Through stigma, silencing, and the
reinscription of identity around motherhood, Ponna remains trapped in
patriarchal expectations. The novel illustrates how objectification persists
across life stages, and “plurality of features” of the “cluster-term” can be
applied, such as in Ponna’s case, shifting from barrenness to widowhood but
never allowing her full subjectivity (Nussbaum “Objectification” 258). The
various categories—particularly denial of autonomy, denial of subjectivity,
violability, and ownership—illuminate the layered processes through which
Ponna’s individuality is systematically erased.
Discussion
Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman and A Lonely
Harvest together present a continuum of female objectification,
illustrating how patriarchal ideology constrains women’s lives across different
stages—marriage, barrenness, motherhood, and widowhood. When read through
Martha Nussbaum’s theory of objectification, these novels reveal how systemic
forces deny women autonomy, silence their desires, and reduce them to
instruments of cultural and familial continuity. The discussion that follows
synthesises the findings from both analyses and situates them within larger
feminist discourses.
In One Part Woman, Ponna is primarily objectified
through the lens of fertility. Her inability to conceive renders her
replaceable, subject to ridicule, and coerced into practices that deny her
agency. Fertility becomes the sole measure of her worth, reducing her to an
instrument for lineage. In A Lonely Harvest, objectification persists
but takes new forms: widowhood transforms her into a stigmatized figure,
vulnerable to social exclusion and denied recognition as a full human being
(Sengupta 96). Together, the novels demonstrate that objectification is not
confined to one stage of life but adapts to ensure women’s subordination
throughout their existence. This continuity echoes Simone de Beauvoir’s
observation in The Second Sex (1949) that women are “not born” but
made—their lives are shaped in compliance to male authority (330). Murugan’s
narratives dramatize this by showing how Ponna’s desires are consistently
overshadowed by social obligations, first as a barren wife, then as a widow and
mother.
A striking feature of both novels is the systematic
silencing of female desires. In One Part Woman, Ponna’s yearning for
motherhood is framed not as her personal aspiration but as society’s demand.
Her own emotions are denied validity, as even her willingness to attend the
chariot festival is contingent upon her husband’s approval. In A Lonely
Harvest, her longing for dignity, companionship, and selfhood is similarly
suppressed, as her grief and aspirations are deemed irrelevant to cultural
prescriptions of widowhood. This reflects Nussbaum’s categories of denial of
subjectivity and denial of autonomy, where women’s feelings and choices are
disregarded. It also resonates with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s argument in
“Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988) that women in patriarchal societies are
“doubly in shadow”—first due to colonial or cultural authority, and second by
the structures of patriarchy itself (84). Ponna embodies this double silencing,
her voice mediated through the expectations of family, caste, and community.
Both novels also highlight the intersection of patriarchy
and caste. Ponna’s body becomes the repository of caste honour, particularly in
One Part Woman, where Kali fears her intimacy with a lower-caste man
during the festival. In A Lonely Harvest, questions of lineage continue
to haunt her child, reinforcing how caste hierarchies inscribe themselves upon
women’s bodies. Nussbaum’s notion of ownership is central here. Ponna’s body
does not belong to her but to her husband, family, and community. Her sexuality
is regulated not only to ensure reproduction but also to preserve caste purity.
This mirrors Uma Chakravarti’s argument in Gendering Caste (2003), which
asserts that women in caste societies are controlled as custodians of lineage
and purity (30). Murugan’s fiction illustrates how this control translates into
objectification, where women’s bodies are stripped of individuality and
transformed into communal property.
Motherhood operates as both aspiration and burden in the
novels. In One Part Woman, Ponna’s yearning for motherhood drives her to
endure humiliation and coercion. In A Lonely Harvest, motherhood finally
materialises but does not liberate her; instead, it confines her identity even
further, reducing her to maternal function. This paradox underscores how
patriarchal culture constructs motherhood as the essence of womanhood while simultaneously
denying mothers autonomy and respect. Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born
(1976) is instructive here, distinguishing between the “experience” of
motherhood (potentially empowering) and the “institution” of motherhood
(patriarchal and controlling) (ix). Murugan’s novels capture precisely this
tension: while Ponna’s desire for a child reflects her emotional yearning, the
social institution of motherhood constrains her, objectifying her body and
silencing her individuality.
Although Murugan’s novels are set in colonial-era Tamil
Nadu, their concerns resonate strongly with contemporary society. Women across
India—and globally—continue to face pressures linking their worth to fertility,
family honour, and conformity to patriarchal roles. Practices such as child
marriage, widow stigmatisation, and fertility-related discrimination persist,
albeit in transformed ways. By dramatising these issues through Ponna’s story,
Murugan critiques not only the past but also the enduring structures of gender
inequality. Furthermore, applying Nussbaum’s theory highlights how
objectification is not merely interpersonal but systemic. It is embedded in
cultural rituals, familial expectations, and caste hierarchies. Recognising
these layers is crucial for feminist critique, as it shifts the focus from
individual acts of oppression to the cultural logic that sustains them.
Murugan’s narratives, therefore, invite readers to confront the deep-rooted
nature of patriarchy and the urgent need for change.
Conclusion
Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman and A Lonely
Harvest together present a powerful critique of the systemic forces that
reduce women to objects within patriarchal society. Through the story of Ponna,
Murugan dramatizes how women’s identities are constructed not by their own desires
but by social expectations tied to fertility, motherhood, caste honour, and
widowhood. When examined through Martha C. Nussbaum’s theory of
objectification, the novels reveal how women are persistently subjected to
instrumentality, fungibility, denial of autonomy, denial of subjectivity,
violability, and ownership. These forms of objectification not only silence
female voices but also erode the very foundations of individuality and agency.
In One Part Woman, Ponna’s worth is equated with
her capacity to bear a child, reducing her to an instrument of reproduction.
She is treated as fungible, comparable to cattle, and her autonomy is
consistently undermined by familial and social pressures. In A Lonely
Harvest, widowhood and motherhood reinscribe objectification in new forms.
Ponna, though a mother, remains socially stigmatized and denied recognition as
a full human being. Across both narratives, the silencing of her desires
underscores the systemic denial of subjectivity, illustrating how patriarchy controls
not only women’s bodies but also their emotional and existential realities. Such
analysis underscores that liberation cannot be achieved merely by altering
women’s roles within patriarchy; rather, it requires dismantling the cultural
logics that sustain objectification itself.
Ultimately, Murugan’s novels compel readers to recognise
the silent suffering of women like Ponna, whose desires are denied and whose
humanity is eroded by patriarchal norms. Literature here functions as
resistance, exposing the structures of oppression and imagining the possibility
of feminist re-readings that restore women’s subjectivity. Future research may
build upon the study of objectification by exploring intersections of caste,
religion, and sexuality in Murugan’s works, thereby broadening the
understanding of how systemic objectification operates in diverse cultural
contexts.
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