IN THE NAME OF ALLAH,
THE MERCIFUL THE BENEFICIENT
A Study of Marginalized Groups in our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things
Maqsood Ahmed
All Rights Reserved with The
Author and Publisher
Book Name : A Study of Marginalized Groups in our Lady of Alice
Bhatti and The God of Small Things
Author Name : Maqsood Ahmed
Publisher : Literary Prowess
: At (Amazon Kindle)
First Edition : June 2023
Price 600
Dedication:
Dedicated to my Dear Parents, Respected Teachers, My Family Members and Lovely Friends
Table of Contents
Chapter I
Introduction 01
Objective of the Research 08
Significance 09
Research Questions 09
Research Gap 09
Delimitation 10
Chapter II
Literature Review 11
Chapter III
Research Methodology 27
Chapter IV
4.1 Marginalization in Literature 31
4.2 Marginality in The God of Small Things 33
4.3 Treatment of marginalized groups in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti 48
Chapter V
Conclusion 62
Bibliography 64
Abstract
Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy are highly appraised and representative writers of Post Colonial era. They have been highly appreciated and criticized for their thematic concerns in their novels. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things portray how the people belonging to the lower strata undergo marginalization. They are discriminated and exploited by the rich. They are not given the right to get educated. Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy delineate the transformation of women who pass through the process of marginalization. This study explores the Marxist concerns of both the authors to find the concept of marginalization. It shows the status of women both in Pakistani as well as Indian society. It also shows the brutality of the patriarcheal society.
Acknowledgement
First of all I am thankful to the Almighty Allah Who has given me this opportunity to pursue my studies and enabled me to give a concrete shape to my research work. I offer my deepest and humblest gratitude towards Mr. Malik Muhammad Yousaf, Head of English Department Minhaj University Lahore, for facilitating me by providing an opportunity to explore something different in the field of Literature. I want to express my feelings of respect to my worthy Research Supervisor, Honorable Prof. Muhammad Amir Ch. who not only encouraged me but also developed my keen interest in Literature, and guided me in the right direction. I am highly obliged in recognizing the service of Mr. Muhammad Islam Khan, Mr. Malik Shamas ud Deen and Prof. Muhammad Afzal Khan Janjua (Lecturer GCUF),Prof.Dr Shahid CH, Prof Dr Sajid Waqar for their support and devotion to the subject of English Literature and commitment to their noble profession of teaching. I am indebted to my parents and family for their persistence and support. Their inspiration was an asset for me. I would like to thank all the teachers of English Department, Minhaj University Lahore, for their Literary discussions and persuading me to work harder.
I am pleased to acknowledge the support and affection of my class fellows, friends and colleagues for their forbearance, for encouraging me to accomplish this dissertation, and also for their discreet understanding when I could not spend enough time with them. Once again, I would like to express my gratitude towards my family for being confident and for standing by me during this painstaking span of these two years.
Maqsood Ahmed
A very pure and passionate soul
Maqsood Ahmed a very pure and passionate soul of my M.Phil class. He always exhibited a keen sense of learning and exploring the new vistas in the field of research. His humane persona compelled him to voice for the people in periphery. This work is an emblem of his commitment and dedication for the marginalized sects who are placed below the common strata of the society. I wish him more power to continue his contributions in academia.
Prof. Aasma Irum
National University of Modern Languages
Lahore Campus
An Inquisitive Soul
Maqsood is an inquisitive soul who has probed into the issues of marginality in a non-conventional way. This work is a challenge to the local authority that establishes a hegemonic relationship with native populace. His research establishes its ground on analysis of two contemporary literary texts: The God of Small Things and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. I wish Maqsood keeps reflecting on similar sensitive issues with same research fervor.
Prof. Amara Sajid
Govt. College Women University Faisalabad
A Passionate Researcher
Maqsood Ahmed is a passionate researcher who has explored historic consciousness, diverse expression and political question of marginality in his research. This study seems interesting because it does not repeat the jargons of marginality. It rather pays special concentration on the tangible aspects of marginality in South Asian context and substantiates the arguments with the aid of two contemporary literary texts: The God of Small Things and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. Arundhati Roy, the Indian human rights activist and environmentalist, has pioneered the case of marginality converging the hierarchical consciousness of the Indian society and colonial heritage of social inequality. The fiction of Muhammad Hanif can be aligned with this cause of social equality and inclusive society. Hanif’s narrative satirizes the fixity of hierarchy and cultural superiority in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. This is the subtle and reflective reading of Maqsood Ahmed that he has introduced these literary works as cultural protest against marginality. This study is vigilant to the norms of literary research. I hope the readers will enjoy it and the researcher will keep up this commendable practice
Prof. Muhammad Islam Khan
Minhaj University Lahore
Chapter 1
Introduction
Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy are highly representative writers of Post-Colonial Literature. Their works specifically construct the issues which are really considerable in the way of gaining an identity and self- esteem in the societies where marginalized community faces numerous problems. They through their works significantly raise a voice for the voiceless people of marginalized groups of the colonized societies. Muhammad Hanif writes articles, stories for children and fiction but his novels A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011) are the best fiction to understand the philosophy he conveys to the readers. In his novels Muhammad Hanif signalizes the relationships among caste, gender and religion in the modern Pakistan through his protagonist, Alice Bhatti. Hanif signalizes, “Women make you weak and impotent because they make perfectly normal men feel they are fools.” (p. 161) He explores that in recent decades with the rise of ceaseless and intolerant forms of Islam, the minor communities and their plight have aggravated. His novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is a case of studying the sad state of the nation. He tries to find an answer to the question namely what roles truth and order have in current Pakistani life and whether or not Muslim and Catholic relations can find common ground? On the other hand The God of Small Things (1997) reveals history’s cruel way of taking revenge at people who break the love laws. As Roy finds “Ammu told the twins that Mamma chi was crying more because she was used to him than because she loved him.” (p. 79) It puts light on the deep rooted prejudices about caste nurtured by people. The writer explicitly shows a glimpse of the influence of Communism in Kerala. The novel is a type of journey through the pages of Indian history, intense political drama, understanding the basics of the Indian Class System, social obligations to love, discrimination and betrayal seen by the eyes of a disabled family based in Kerala. The novel shows the extent to which people affirm their beliefs and punish those violating the norms laid by society
Different figures of speech can be seen through the works by both authors which show the social, political and moral instabilities in both societies. The present study offers a very different and distinguishing outlook to study the social and political discrimination found in these societies. Marxism and psychoanalytical theories are hereby related and referred for further explanation of cast, gender, social and political discrimination.
The rationale of the study is to explore marginalized groups in Our Lady of Ali Bhatti and The God of Small Things. These novels have been used as primary source according to the Marxist perspectives in order to explore the marginalized groups in the selected novels. The study is held through the major and minor characters of the selected fictions. |
The study marginalization in The God of Small Things and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti has been carried out having the aim to explore how far marginalized perspective illuminates selected novels of Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy. The study highlights the marginalized strata of Pakistani and Indian rural as well as urban areas and how these parts of the countries are affected by discrimination of caste, gender, religion and ill activities of their inhabitants. Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy belong to the Postcolonial era. Post colonialism deals with different set of terms which go hand in hand with the legacy of colonial rule. Confrontation, oppression, transgression and resistance are the main concepts of post colonialism. Gayatri Chakrovery Spivak (1988) uses the term Post Coloniality instead of Post Colonialism which deals with the capitalist strategies to marginalize the third world population. Marginalization has been the concern of various writers of Post-Colonial era. Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy use marginalization as a tool to analyze socio-political and economic spheres where the people belonging to the lower strata of society struggle to gain access to resources and wish to get full participation in the social life. They have been and still are ignored, neglected and excluded legally, politically and socially. The present research keeping in mind all these factors explores and offers some clarifications of marginalization
In spite of this explanation marginalization is generally described as the exclusion of someone by the tendencies of human societies. Marginalization usually deals with social stratification where one is at the top and the other is placed at the lower level of the society. For this classification many sociologists use the term social stratification. It is connected with the social inequality such as ethnicity, gender, and age and class discrimination. Marxian perception is much clear regarding social stratification. Marxists focused on the two classes; the bourgeois class and the proletariat. Economic structure of the society has been built on these relations of production. Capitalist society has been divided along these relations of production. The oppression of women can also be seen in this context because they are relegated to inferior positions to men due to their economic dispossession of this production. Because of the interests there exist a type of struggle between the upper and the lower class. Marxism apart from class structure is also a theory of class conflict and social change. The followers of this ideology opine that class division has been the root cause of all kinds of oppression in this chaotic world. A famous critic Tyson (2014) in his work Critical Theory Today states:
For Marxism, writing does not exist in some immortal, tasteful domain as a question be latently thought about. Or maybe, similar to every single social sign, it is a result of the financial and consequently ideological states of the time and place in which it was composed, regardless of whether the author planned it so. (p. 14)
Peter Barry (2002), another famous name in the field of criticism, in his Beginning Theory finds:
“The aim of the Marxism is to bring about a classless society based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.” (p. 156)
Barry also states:
Marxism sees the improvement as coming to fruition through the battle for control between various social classes. This perspective of history of class struggle (rather than as, for instances, a progression of lines, or as a steady advance towards the accomplishment of national personality and sovereignty) regards it as "motored "by the opposition for monetary, social and political preferred standpoint. The misuse of one social class by another is seen particularly in present day modern free enterprise, especially in its unlimited nineteenth-century frame. (p.157)
So Marxism is a kind of dialogue which challenges the class structure. It directly deals with the marginalization of the lower class people who are placed at the margin of the society. The marginalization in the other words is class stratification, social stratification which describes the division of upper and lower class population.
The sociologist Sengupta (1979) in his book Introductory Sociology has categorized the class structure in the following four characterization:
Firstly, the legal privileged, it creates the superiority and inferiority among the classes. Secondly, the style of life differentiates the class from each other. The upper class involves in shop keeping, business and white collar jobs and professions whereas lower level class do exactly opposite things. They live in nuclear where families, women engage in production work, eat-pig etc. Thirdly, the classes differ in the distribution of the technical culture. The upper class immediately adopts the technical perception whereas the lower do not and these classes also differ in their degree of political activity and organization in their non -reaction to political issues, in their intro-class communication and organization. (P.139-40)
Thus discrimination and marginalization based on gender and caste pass the inequality among the human being. This shows the class marginalization. Thus marginalization deals with class and caste differentiation in society. There are two differentiations; one is class differentiation and the other one is caste differentiation. Class has become the main and most powerful factor in the social canvass.
Habermas (1981) in his article entitled Modernity versus Post Modernity illustrates: “A class is a social group whose member shares the same relationship to the forces of production.” (p.46)
Marginalization is the second name of class differentiation. It results in the agency that isolates shames, excludes and discriminates subordinate groups on the basis of caste, religion and gender. Castes in India are fixed by cultural, economic and social rights by birth regarding behavior. Marginalization revolves around caste systems and tribes. The people belonging to the lowest strata of society especially women are deeply affected by disabilities.
Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy in their novels point out these systems of caste and behaviors. They focus on the marginalization and placement of people who are deprived of their basic rights. They emphasize the postulation about women. They contrive to restore females’ perspective by extending knowledge about the plight of people belonging to the lowest caste and especially of women to share their culture. So it is true when Simon -de- Beauvoir (1961) in Second Sex writes:
“One is not born but rather becomes a woman. It is civilization as a whole that produces this creature.” (p. 241)
Oscar Lewis (1969), another great name in the field of criticism, in Culture of Poverty says: “On the level of the individual the major characteristics are a strong feeling of marginality, of helplessness, of dependence and inferiority, a strong present- time orientation with relatively little ability to defer gratification, a sense of resignation and fatalism”(p.183).
Through the pages of their novels Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy delineate that the females are the most marginalized group. They are discriminated, violated at every level from female infanticide to widow marriages. They emphasize that the plight of women and social patriarchy against women focus the subjugation of women who belong to the marginalized group. They are prohibited to go beyond the paradigm of gender role which restrict them to march beyond certain steps. As a result they are relegated and segregated from mainstream. They are considered as inferior to men.
Kamila Das, (1973) a confessional poetess in her poem The Old Play House expressed a typical feminine rule as she writes:
You called me wife, I was taught to break
saccharine into your tea and
to
offer at the right moment the vitamins. Cowering
Beneath
your monstrous ego I ate the magic loaf and
became
a dwarf. I lost my will and reason, to all your
Questions I mumbled incoherent replies
This poem describes the confused state of women in the society.
Arundhati Roy in The God of Small Things explored the Indian social phenomena which describes that males have more authority and power than females. The novel portrays the condition of the untouchable in Kerala. She describes the pathetic and more inhuman treatment towards the untouchable. As she writes:
In her girlhood, when Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with a broom, sweeping away their footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by accidentally stepping into a Para van’s footprint....Para vans were not allowed to cover their upper bodies, not allowed to carry umbrellas. They had to put their hands over their mouths when they spoke, to divert their polluted breath away from those whom they addressed. (Pp.73-74)
Roy delineates the classification of Indian society into various classes such as upper class, the non-upper class and the depressed one. She depicts the sensitive issue of the marginalized sections of pre and post- colonial Indian society. She also portrays how these sections of the society are treated as impersonal and subjugated objects. As she describes the house of velutha:
It was dark and clean. It smelled of fish curry and wood smoke. Heat cleaved to
Things like a low fever… Velutha and Vellya Paapen‟s bedding was rolled up and
Propped against the wall….a grown man could stand up straight in the center of the
Room, but not along its sides. (p.208)
Through her characters especially velutha, Ammu, Mama Chi and Rahel she vividly puts light on the condition of the marginalized sections of the society. The relationship of velutha and Ammu highlights how it brings catastrophe on both of them. The critics are of the view that the god of small things by Arundhati Roy truly brings about the position of the women folk in India. It also brings before us the constant and persistent struggle of the women against their exploitation, struggle and torture which they undergo. The title of the novel is very much symbolic. It takes a note against gender bias, caste system and other things of the society. It vividly shows the condition of the untouchables. The title is associated with velutha who has been the most discriminated character of the novel. In the same but somewhat different way Muhammad Hanif provides relevant social and political commentaries and also provides insights into the complex cultural millea of Pakistan. Our lady of Alice Bhatti clearly presents the representation of women in Pakistani Literature in English. Marginalized, oppressed, discriminated and disempowered Alice Bhatti is the focus of Muhammad Hanif in this novel. . She is a marginalized being. She is treated as subhuman. She emerges as a counter voice to the religious and patriarchal hostility. He employs different techniques especially caste and ethnic differences to prove the subalternization of Alice Bhatti.
Objectives of the Research
1. To explore the concept of marginalization in the selected works of Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy.
2. To explain the socio-political, psycho-religious and class structural dimensions of the suffering and sacrifice and their consequences in the form of marginalization.
3. To affirm the importance of employing a variety of perspectives for understanding Literature in social context.
4. To explain how an understanding of Marxist and Psychoanalytical approach helps in a more insightful reading of Literature.
5. Significance
1. The research will help elucidate the point that a representative literary work is relevant in all circumstances.
2. It will show the causes, chances and implications of marginalization among the minorities.
3. The study is expected to make up for dearth of critical material on Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011) and The God of Small Things (1997) from this particular perspective.
4. It is helpful to arouse the interest of serious readers of Literature as it examines the works from a social viewpoint.
Research Questions
1. How do women automatically get relegated to the secondary strata of existence in a male-indoctrinated society?
2. How does Alice Bhatti undergo marginalization?
3. What are the fundamental causes of marginalization and emotional trauma which the mankind has to suffer?
Research Methodology
The methodology in this study will be based on qualitative inquiry because the goal of this research is the understanding of marginalization of the minority groups in the light of Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy’s works. Analytical approach will be employed for textual analysis of the seminal texts of the novels. For the purposes of this research, both primary and secondary sources will be used. The primary sources will be the novels themselves, as well as other writings of the concerned authors. The secondary source comprises all the critical material relevant to the objectives of this research. The researcher will employ Marxist and Psychoanalytical approaches to understand the concept of marginalization.
Research Gap
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things have primarily been popular with readers and critics alike just for the writers’ scathing caricature of the feminist philosophy as practiced in the most of postcolonial works. While Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy present societies where class distinction and gender based structure effects every aspect of life. As a result, a number of factors which contribute to creation of the tyrannical, heartless and cruel world of class distinction have been discussed in this masterpiece. The previous researches find the feministic dimensions of Hanif and Roy’s works and dilemma of the minority groups in terms of history, heritage and holistic image of the nations. The present work is hoped to awaken the readers’ sensibilities regarding exploitation of minority groups in the ideological world of Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things.
Delimitation
This research is confined to Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011), A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008), The God of Small Things (1997) and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017).
Chapter 2
Literature Review
This chapter deals with the review of Literature. It gives the idea of previous studies which have been conducted on The God of Small Things and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by the research scholars. It gives the detailed insights of the critics and literary scholars. Lastly, it gives the research contribution of the researcher.
There is a list of different writers in Post-Colonial Literature who have contributed a lot in the growth of Post-Colonial Literature. They have tackled and treated different issues that were common in those days and that were close to the heart of the common people. Marginalization is one of the resultant of the consequences of the Post-Colonial Literature. The quest for identity has been one of the major thematic concerns for all the major writers of Post-Colonial Literature. Like other writers of Post-Colonial Literature Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy have been praised and criticized for their thematic concerns in their novels from A Case of Exploding Mangoes to Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The formation of the empire , the impact of Colonization ,the socio-political patterns ,the emergence of colonized societies and the concern for marginalized groups have been their major concerns in their novels. Critics have named Post-Colonial Literature the Literature of the marginalized people. The tool of marginalization is employed to depict the socio-political concerns and economic sphere in which the disadvantaged groups of racially discriminated people struggle to sustain their participation in the social life. Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things has been praised and analyzed by different research scholars and critics alike.
Like The God of Small Things Muhammad Hanif’s Our Lady of Alice Bhatti has been praised and criticized for its thematic concerns especially that of marginalization. Muhammad was a young graduate of Pakistan air force academy but his interest in journalism dragged him towards writing for newspapers. His first acclaimed novel a case of exploding mangoes was typically a type of satire on Pakistani politics. Unlike Mohsin Hamid who focuses on the lives of the upper class Hanif focuses on the debased elements of society and on the failures of the country’s guardians. He uses satire to construct his narrative and in the end to construct the voice of the marginalized against the hegemonic and stereotypical practices of Pakistan. Like A Case of Exploding Mangoes, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti clearly portraits the facets of Pakistani society and politics. It also explores the power structure, political conspiracies, the status of women and the minority groups who belong to lower class.
Ashraf (2014) in A message of globalization: An analysis of contemporary South Asian English novels analyzes that Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is a novel in which Muhammad Hanif employs and uses power through his protagonist Alice Bhatti who is from low caste and whose presence seems to be absence because of being a girl from the minority group. Alice uses the knowledge of religion to cure her patients. Through his character Hanif created a homogenous world where every religion can be plasticized freely. Ashraf states that marginalized community is destined to face harassment even in the hands of somewhat lower class people. The attendant treatment and threatening of Alice shows that Alice is totally helpless in the hands of fate. The attendant uses the force of pistol to get his demands fulfilled. As it is stated that: “The barrel of the pistol hits her face and Alice is slapped again, hard. She still thinks she hasn’t done anything to deserve this, but she has made up her mind to go through with it”. (Hanif, p. 89) But the recitation of some Ayas by joseph Bhatti shows the tolerance, flexibility and respect for every religion. She states that this novel is an account or a sign of hope among the physical, national and cultural insecurities. Hanif’s presentation of social reality has been the focus of many critics. He presents the social reality from women’s perspective and reinforces feminism.
Atif (2016) in his article Feminist Concerns in Muhammad Hanif’s Our Lady of Alice Bhatti finds that Hanif declares that the state of women and their role in the society cannot be denied. But it is unfortunate that they have not been given the place in the society they deserve. Binary patterns are developed by patriarchal society which paves the way of proving women as inferior to men. In Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. Hanif has touched upon the bitter realities of Pakistani society in a very bold manner. Through his females characters Hanif depicts the psychological agonies of females. Hanif has given detailed account of the precautionary measures taken by Alice when she moves outside the confines of her home, the care about her dress, her gait, her manners etc. It is also evident from the novel that there are numberless problems for females with respect to their profession and work.
Same thematic concerns can easily be found in the research article of Maimoona Khan who in her article entitled the Melancholic Subjects in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti explores the idea and status the world of Alice Bhatti is a world of confused ideals and obscure relationship. The characters especially that of Alice and teddy suffer from low self-esteem. They are outcast even in their own demands. It presents that the post Deriadian world no longer provides a sense of security. Alice Bhatti’s life is a strive for Eros to thrive and eventually she becomes a victim to Freudian melancholic. Her state shows that she is helpless and hopeless. She not only suffers from her marriage but she is also on the verge of losing her own position. From her love affair to her marriage her intimacy is hardly touched by romantic zeal of sex. She suffers from lack of stability.
Mukherjee and Dr. Rath (2015) in their article entitled Desire and déclassé: Body and religion in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti critically explore the idea of physical body of a woman. They present that Alice’s body as a battleground which experienced deep and savage ramification. In The God of Small Things and Salman Rushdie‘s Shame (1987) the body of women plays a vital role in understanding the discourses of gender and religion. Alice appears as a connecting link between the space of a city, religion, cast and body. Alice undergoes the experience of being an untouchable. She develops a powerful healing power to cure the women and babies who rarely would survive in the maternity ward. She looked upon by many other people as “Holy spirit” (Hanif, p.272) as a lady whose prayers are lifesaving. Her desire to transgress the limitations set by the society by her caste and her body meet a sudden and with her untimely death. Her death signalizes an escape of marginalized people who toil under the pressure of caste, religion and gender overtones. Alice tries to break away from the stereotype assumptions of gender and religion. The desire of the self is very much there in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. As Alice overcomes the hesitation to start a new living with someone different from herself by marrying a massive man Hina derides her choice stating:
This is a free world. But you have to find your own freedom. And if you think you can
Find freedom by hitching yourself to someone like him, then good luck. Congratulations.
I should be happy for you. But I am worried. I hope you are not doing it just to get a
different name. A married Muslim nurse is not much better than a single Christian nurse.
You just become a slave multiplied by two. (Hanif, p.191)
Nazar (2016) in her article Silencing of Subaltern in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti explores the representation of women in Pakistani society by focusing on the character of Alice Bhatti. She finds that women are disempowered everywhere and they become the subaltern of Post-Colonial societies. Spivak has rejected the idea of representing subaltern. Spivak called it the silence center or margin. Marginalization, oppression, disempowerment and decenter are Spivak main attention. Nazar finds that representation of subaltern is a hideous task and when it is related with women it becomes impressive. Nazar also explores that Hanif himself has declared the marginalization of Alice Bhatti. He silenced Alice instead of giving voice to the sexed subaltern. She is marginalized on the basis of her cast, gender and religion. She is humiliated, exploited and treated badly again and again. Hanif writes,
Life has taught Alice Bhatti that every little step forward in life is preceded by a ritual humiliation. Every little happiness asks for a down payment. Too many humiliations and a Journey that goes in circles mean that her fate is permanently in the red. She accepts that Role. (p.55).
She is an untouchable of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Muhammad Hanif, being a genius and a comic genius presents the feministic agenda in his novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by giving extraordinary power to his protagonist Alice joseph Bhatti
Shaheen ,Qamar and Rehman (2014) in their article entitled Magical realism as a tool for Women Empowerment in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti find that Hanif clearly puts light on the plight of women of Pakistani society who are sexually harassed, tackled, suffocated and even buried alive. He presents the picture of the society where Christian chooras are exploited and which is the indication of massive intolerant attitude towards the marginalized groups of Pakistan. The scholars present that Hanif uses the technique of magical realism and restores the feminine prestige of Alice Bhatti in the phallocentric world. They explore that in the end Alice is proved a saint which is a highly place in the Christianity. They trace the formative development of this saintly figure. Hanif shapes his protagonist with the color of magical realism in this way he empowers Alice Bhatti and portrays that Alice is very much sticking to her gender and values. She can easily know the hideous desires of the people by reading their faces as she is bestowed with mystic nature. As Alice asserts:
“Ordinary people on the streets, I just know. I look at their face and then I see their dead face and I know how they will die.” (Hanif, p. 61)
Muhammad Hanif clearly depicts the attitude of Muslim society towards Christian minority. Alice the scholars find is fighting against the society where Christians are treated as worthless specie. Joseph describes this attitude in these words: “These Muslas will make you clean their shit and then complain that you stink.” (Hanif, p.01).
But she is under the shadow of Jesus Christ. Like Our Lady of Alice Bhatti Bapsi Sidhawa’s Cracking India (1988) also explores the relationship among gender, cast and religion. Many critics find that the female characters in the novel suffered and experienced oppression. Ayah, Lenny and grandmother are marginalized and face disempowerment in the same way as Alice Bhatti undergoes marginalization. She is trapped, deceived and ignored at every step of her professional as well as marital life.
Waseem (2013) in his article entitled darkly hilarious a study of internal racism in Muhammad Hanif’s Our Lady of Alice Bhatti finds and explores the possibility of forms of hybridity and incarnation in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti where gender, race and religion outsource physiological and the psychological ingrain for being a female. He raises a question whether religion, race or gender has to do a lot with the color conscious prejudices? The novel raises concerns with regard to the perspectives on the diasporic spread that redefines Pakistan.
In the nutshell Hanif’s Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is an account of understanding the condition of the marginalized groups as depicted in the treatment of Alice Bhatti. It throws light on the ways women are marginalized and are discriminated due to their gender, class and religion.
In the same way The God of Small Things has been criticized and appraised by different scholars who beautifully put light on the thematic concerns of the writer.
Chatervedi (2013) in his research article Conflict between the marginalized and the privileged in The God of Small Things explores that from the very first day of this universe until now the division of the rich and the poor, the center and the margin has been the basis of social set up. Specifically the age of machine and technology is a witness to the gap between the suppressor and the suppressed, the dominant and the dominated, the exploiters and the exploited, the big things and small things. The mighty people miss no opportunity to accumulate the unlimited wealth and power. The socio-economic norm of dependence on the rich for betterment and sustenance as still prominent writers belonging to different ages choose this subject to express their feelings. Arundhati Roy is one of them who in her novel The God of Small Things exposes the conflict between the privileged and the underprivileged. The entire novel is a study of the conflict between small things and the big things. Chacko, Pappachi and K.N.M Pilai represent the world of big things because they inhabited a world marked by arrogant, egoist, self-centered and ambitious people and the world of small things is represented by the marginalized people like Velutha, Ammu, Estha and Rahel. Chatervedi presents the idea of marginalization that is very much there in the novel. He explores that Roy draws the attention of her reader towards the character of Chacko who with a Marxist mine does not allow Ammu to have any interruption in his matters concerning the Ayemenam house and pickle factory. He says to her “what is yours is also mine “(Roy, p.57). The time when he comes to know about the relationship of Ammu and Velutha he asks Ammu “get out of my house before I break every bone in your body “(Roy, p.60). Chatervedi depicts that Roy actually wants to deliver the idea that the small things depend on the world of big things for their existence. Among the females characters of Roy, Ammu and Rahel are the most victimized and discriminated both by the male and the female characters. In case of Ammu Roy depicts that she is the most victimized of all the females’ characters. She is subjugated to marginalization first by her father who was conservative and had a discriminated attitude towards her. Secondly she is subjected to continuous physical and mental torture. She is even denied the opportunity to improve her career. She is further exploited by her husband who spoiled her life by his continuous addiction to alcohol. Same is the case with Rahel who does get the degree of warmth and affection. Thus the research scholar presents that the novel presents big boundaries between the big things and the small things.
Giles (2011) in his article entitled Post-Colonial Gothic and The God of Small Things presents the idea that Roy employs gothic conventions in her intricated postcolonial novel to create a more compelling sense of disorder. He presents the viewpoints of different scholars to further strengthen his point that Roy clearly uses gothic conventions in her novel. He explores that Roy intensifies the oppressive forces of national and international culture filter into Kerala’s society by utilizing the gothic tropes. The use of gothic conventions functions as a form of empowerment although it may appear undesired for Roy and other writers of the colonized lands to employ western narrative to investigate postcolonial issues. He finds that the writer combines the east and the west by creating a gothic hybrid. In doing so the writer creates a postcolonial gothic text that is uniquely her own and uniquely Indian. He further explores that Roy skillfully merges the good and evil and the innocent with terror in her dark imagery to illustrate the horror of oppression in Indian culture. Giles also asserts that Roy apart from the dark imagery also employs the gothic conventions of the supernatural, the haunted house, the ancestral curse, a threatening atmosphere and incest to personalize larger cultural horrors of India as experienced by one family in Kerala. But the focus of the critics are not the conventions but the marginalization of the people belonging to lower strata of the society.
Nimni (2016) explores the idea of speaking subalterns in The God of Small Things. She describes that The God of Small Things is actually a tragic resonance of the subaltern. The researcher finds that the subordinated and the marginalized condition of a person is due to his belonging to the lower strata of society. She describes that Roy unfolds the tragic story of each subaltern in social, political and cultural point of view. Roy describes an extremely traditional society in which the god decides every individual fate, gives punishment to those who try to overrule or transcends its laws, customs and conventions. The characters belonging to the both oppressive and the oppressed are the victims of these grand narratives. It also raises the questions how much liberty does an individual enjoy in the post independent India? It also brings to light that all the grand narratives of patriarchy, religion, culture and civilization which are considered to be the narratives for the emancipation of human civilization and the agencies that have deprived the individual for centuries. All the major characters of the novel are subalterns because they are marginalized by the caste, gender, race, religion and economic conditions. The researcher finds that the novel depicts the conditions of the untouchables in India and especially in Kerala. The question raised by the father of Indian Constitution Dr.B.R.Ambedkar has Christianity been able to save the converts from the suffering which is the misfortune of everyone who is born untouchable? We find the answer in Roy’s novel.
When the British came to Malabar, a number of Paravans and Pulayas (among them Velutha’s grandfather, Kelan) converted to Christianity and joined the Anglican Church to escape the scourge of Untouchability. As added incentive they were given a little food and money. They were known as the Rice- Christians. It didn’t take them long to realize that they had jumped from the frying pan into the fire. They were made to have separate churches, and separate priests… After independence they found they were not entitled to any Government benefits like job reservations, or bank loan at low interest rates because officially, on paper, they were Christians, and therefore casteless. It was little like having to sweep away your footprints without a broom. Or worse, not being allowed to leave footprint at all. (, p.74)
Ammu, a divorcee with two children Estha and Rahel, is the most sufferer of the novel. She is the image of a woman who is marginalized in a patriarchal society. In every role she assumes she seems to be the victim of patriarchy, tradition and religion. She is the victim of love laws, family laws and inheritance laws. Mamma chi also proves an instrument of patriarchy. She too submits to social norms. So the novel in the eyes of Nimni shows a woman’s social and economic agency is denied and not allowed but undervalued.
Olisson (2011)) in his research article Reclaiming voices of the margin in The God of Small Things talks about the marginalization of the unprivileged in The God of Small Things. He takes the character of Velutha, the untouchable and depicts how the characters are subordinated and given less importance. The society in which he lives still regards him as inferior. The writer of this novel also gives a euphemistic picture by showing his status. She describes: “He left no footprints in sand, no ripples in water, no image in mirrors” (p.206)
These lines shows the condition and position of Velutha and the untouchables in the ancient days that Mmmachi tells her grandchildren about the olden days when: “Paravans were expected to crawl backwards with a broom, sweeping away their footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by accidentally stepping into a Paravans footprint.” (Roy, p.71)
Olisson highlights that Velutha from the very day is marginalized as he was to go to school special for untouchables. But he instead of delimiting himself he crosses the limits and overrules the regulations of the society by establishing a relationship with the upper class woman. The other marginalized character is that of Ammu. Her children are even more marginalized. Olisson gives a different look on Ammu’s marginalization. He finds that she does have the desire to protect her children at all cast but she has to suffer other sufferings. In the nutshell the idea of marginalization prevails the whole of the novel.
Such a case as mentioned in the above written paragraph, can be found in the research article entitled Trauma and temporal hybridity in The God of Small Things. Outka (2011) traces out the traumatic and temporal hybridity in The God of Small Things. She presents a bewildering mixture of different things. She enlightens that time is a mixture of past and presents moments. She finds that the effects of traumatic experience is the disordering of time which presents the threatening of the events which belong to past to overtake the present moments in different forms such as hallucination, flashbacks and dreams. Outka finds the depiction of temporal hybridity within the characters’ lives and within Roy’s narrative. She tries to find the simple binaries where ambivalence and multiplicity are affecting forces. She traces that for the characters of the novel time is not a binary meeting but a hybrid. She depicts that Roy employs different techniques of temporal hybridity and traumatic influences to depict that hybridity is a sign of oppression or a sign of progression where new forms merge.
There have been chief critics who present the idea of marginalization by putting together the two novels The God of Small Things and Untouchable (1970). They depict that the writers of these novels show that women and untouchable are considered as marginal entity in the society. The Untouchable by Mulkraj Annand is the story of the trials and tribulations of the untouchables and the downtrodden people while The God of Small Things clearly enlightens the pathetic conditions of the people who are socially, politically and economically marginalized. These novels skillfully highlight the caste system rooted in the Indian society. These novels interpret the formation of the Indian image. Both male and female writers have enlightened the predicament of the backward classes and of the women who are treated as inferior and subjugated in hierarchal social structure. The marginalization of women in the orthodox and stratified Indian society can further be chronicled in the works of Shashi Deshpande and Gatha Harriman. It shows that how the untouchables feel themselves as inhuman in their surroundings. Many of the incidents of the novel Untouchable highlights the marginalization. The most heart rending is the incident of water. The untouchables are not allowed to touch the water. They are humiliated by their superiors who put the water into their pitchers. Bakha suffers marginalization in the hands of upper class people as he is not allowed to take the water. Annand also describes the realistic picture of the outcast’s colony. He in his novel Untouchable describes:
The outcastes‟ colony was a group of mud-walled houses that clustered together into rows, under the shadow both of the town and the cantonment, but outside their boundaries and separate from them. There lived the scavengers, the leather-workers, the washer men, the barbers, the water carriers, the grass cutters and other outcastes from Hindu society. A brook ran near the lane, once with the crystal clear water, now soiled by the dirt and the filth of the public latrines situated about it, the Adour of the Hides and skins of dead carcasses left to dry on its banks, the dung of donkeys, sheep, horses, cows and buffalos heaped up to be made into fuel cakes. (p.1)
Arundhati Roy depicts the pitiful conditions of the downtrodden and how they were treated as secondary. As she writes:
Paravans where expected to crawl backwards with a broom sweeping away their
Footprints so that Brahmins or Syrian Christians would not defile themselves by
Accidently stepping into a Paravans footprint…They had to put their hands over their
Mouths when they spoke, to divert their polluted breath away from those whom they
Addressed. (Pp.73-74)
So the critics find that comparatively the novels present the realistic picture of the downtrodden people who suffer in the hands of the oppressors.
Many critics and research scholars are agree that apart from marginalization and psychological scandal Roy uses other techniques in her intricate novel to create more compelling and magnetic sense of disorder and angst.
Sen (2017) in her article entitled Trespassing language: A study of transgressive discourse in The God of Small Things explores the use of transgressive discourses in The God of Small Things. She explores that transgression is expanded from individual to culture in terms of both laws and violation. Sen further notices that the most important system of expression is language which is considered central to our existence. Through the concept of transgressive language she finds that every marginalized character of Roy’s world came out of the continuous crossing of boundaries as set by dominant character. It is only language through which power can be exercised. Sen diligently puts this narrative into three broadly fit categories, verbal language, gestural language and silence. It is through these categories the characters are relegated to the margins of the society. Sen explores that it presents a non- linear narrative. The process of domination takes place in various cycles. The hierarchical system of the family is a key to learn the concept of marginalization. Power plays a vital role in the discussion of the discourse. The system of age, gender, linguistic, caste, identity, economic status and political identity shapes the various factors of power dynamics. She enlightens that Rahel and Estha are marginalized on the base of these factors especially that of age. Velutha and Ammu are also marginalized on the basis of caste and gender respectively. The consequences of transgression is the subversion that transforms and establishes societal norms. Through this transgression the hierarchical power structure is subverted. This subversion can be found in the case of Ammu and Velutha. In one way Ammu belongs to the upper caste but on the other way Ammu is marginalized. The subversion, Sen finds, is depicted and delineated at times through linguistic behavior of the characters. Sen sees how Velutha is silenced apart from the examples where he can be seen participating in political march. Sen finally concludes that manifestation of transgression can be found in the discourse that constitutes language. Such a splendid theme can be found in the writings of
Susan and Garnish (2013) in their research article Marginalization of women in The God of Small Things depict that people belonging to lower strata of society are even deprived of the basic rights they deserve. Historically the women are the most victimized creatures of this cosmos. They become the victims of alienation, violence and exploitation and even exile. This can easily be found in the case of the protagonist of the novel who is a woman and who violates the love laws by establishing a disastrous love affair with the untouchable. Like the other writers of 1980 who witnessed a new wave Roy uses marginalization as a device to explore the suffering of peripheral strata of society especially that of women. In the novel there are three generations of women who suffer marginalization.
These three are Mamma chi representing the old generation, Ammu, representing the second generation and finally Rahel who represents the third generation of women in the family. The social institutions like marriage, family, religion and government are responsible for their victimization and marginalization. Mamma chi suffers a lot because of the brutality of her own husband, Pappachi. She was continuously beaten with different tools. Her interest and talent for music especially for violin arouses jealousy which makes her beat her. Thus her marriage results in her marginalization.
Ammu the important character in the novel encounters the marginalization not only by the men but also by the women. She does get any love and care from her parents. She was mercilessly beaten by her father when she was a child. After getting school education she is denied the right to further continue her education.
Pappachi insisted that a college education was an unnecessary expense for a girl. So Ammu had no choice but to leave Delhi. This shows her position in the society. Her marriage proves a physical and psychological sufferings for her. Her affair with the untouchable also serves as a tool for her marginalization. The statement of the police officer about her that Kottayam police does not take statement from Vishays (prostitutes) and their illegitimate children shows that she faces marginalization. Rahel, the third marginalized character in the novel. She is less marginalized in comparison with her mother and grandmother. She is totally disturbed because of the flashbacks of the past events.
The above mentioned research articles give the different perspectives of research scholars. It also shares the diverse perspectives of different critics. It does not share the idea which is analyzed by the researcher. The contribution of the research is to explore the marginalized groups in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things.
Chapter 3
Research Methodology
Chapter three is dealt with the research methodology and framework of the dissertation. It gives the detail description of Marxism and Psychoanalysis and their relevance to the selected novels.
The methodology in this study will be interpretative, explorative, analytic and qualitative because the goal of this research is the understanding of marginalization of the minority groups in the light of Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy’s works. The texts of the novels help to explore the concept of marginalization. Analytical approaches will be employed for textual analysis of the seminal texts of the novels. For the purpose of this research, both primary and secondary sources will be used. The primary sources will be the novels themselves, as well as other writings of the concerned authors. The primary sources are reinvigorated by the use of secondary sources. The secondary source comprises all the critical material relevant to the objectives of this research. Books, journals articles, magazines, newspapers, reviews, thesis and research conducted in that field provide secondary sources. Internet, in these days, plays an important role to get a greater knowledge in every field of life. These sources have been used to collect arguments about the study. The researcher will employ Marxist and Psychoanalytical approaches to understand the concept of marginalization. .
Literature has been studied and criticized from different approaches and angles. In every age there have been poets, prose writers and critics who study the literature from various angles. They present the phenomenon of nature and culture and their interconnectedness. Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy have been praised and criticized for their subject which is a way to study and to evaluate the condition of the marginalized strata of society. To evaluate the selected novels the present is being analyzed keeping in mind the concept of marginalization in the light of Marxism and Psychoanalysis. Before going deep into the concept it is necessary to have a look at different angles of these theories and their interpretation by different theorists in order to understand the idea of marginalization or marginality.
In the 3rd edition of his Literary Theory: An introduction Terry Eagleton (2002) is of the view,
Marxism is a materialistic philosophy. It tries to explain things without assuming the existence of a world beyond the natural world around us and the society we live in. it looks for concrete, scientific, logical explanations of the world of observable fact. But whereas other philosophies merely seek to understand the world, Marxism seeks to change it. Marxism sees progress as coming about through the struggle for power between social classes. (Pp.156-57)
In their Coauthored text Marx and Engels (1848) develop their ideas. They maintain that the capitalists or bourgeois have enslaved the working class people through economic policies and production of goods. The proletariat must revolt and strip the bourgeois of their economic and political power and place the ownership of all the property in the hands of the government which will then fairly distribute the people’s wealth. Marxist theory is an explanation of social change in terms of both economic and social factors, according to which the means of production serve as the economic base which influences or determines the political and ideological superstructure. Marx and Engels predicted the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism by the proletariat and the eventual attainment of a classless communist society.
Meriam Webster dictionary defines Marxism as thus:
The political, economic, and social principles and policies advocated by Marx; especially a theory and practice of socialism including the labor theory of value, the class struggle, and dictatorship of the proletariat until the establishment of a classless society. Marx and Engels anticipated that the working class would overturn the capitalist means of production and it would lead towards a revolution which in the end would make the distinctions disappear.
Tony Benn (1979) in A Marxist Criticism writes:
The first major Marxist critic, however, appeared outside of Russia. He was Georg Lukas (1885-1971), a Hungarian critic who was responsible for what has become known as reflectionism. Named for the assumption that a text will reflect the society that has produced it, the theory is based on the kind of close reading advocated by formalists but now practiced for the purpose of discovering how characters and their relationships typify and reveal class conflict, the socio-economic system, or the politics of the time and place. Such examination, goes the assumption, will in the lead to an understanding of that system and the worldview, the weltanschauung, of the author also known as vulgar Marxism, reflection theory should not be equated. In the traditional historical approach to literary analysis, for the former seeks not just to find surface appearances provided by factual details but to determine the nature of a given society, to find a truer, more concrete insight into reality and look for the process of life .In the end, the reflectionists attribute the fragmentation and alienation that they discover to the ills of capitalism. (p.86)
Currently two of the best-known Marxist critics are Fredric Jameson (1971) and Terry Eagleton (1976). Jameson is known for the use of Freudian ideas in his practice of Marxist criticism. Whereas Freud discussed the notion of the repressed unconscious of the individual Jameson talks about the political unconscious, the exploitation and oppression buried in a work. The critic, according to Jameson, seeks to uncover those buried forces and bring them to light. Eagleton, a British critic, is difficult to pin down, as he continues to develop his thinking. Of special interest to critics is his examination of the interrelations between ideology and literary form. The constant in his criticism is that he sets himself against the dominance of the privileged class; Both Jameson and Eagleton have responded to the influence of post structuralism, and in the case of the latter, it resulted in a radical shift of direction in the late 1970s. In some ways Jameson and Eagleton are typical of the mixture of schools in literary criticism today. Charles Bressler (2011) in Literary Criticism: An introduction to Theory and Practice defines:
Unlike many schools of literary criticism, Marxism did not begin as an alternative, theoretical approach to literary analysis. Before many 20th century writers and critics embraced the principles of Marxism and used the ideas in their theory and criticism, Marxism had flourished in the 19th century as a pragmatic view of history that offered the working classes an opportunity to change their world and their individual lives. By providing both a philosophical system and a plan of action to initiate change in society. Marxism offered a social, political, economic and cultural understanding of the nature of reality, society and individual not a literary theory. (p.192)
The present research by keeping in all these approaches to Marxism has been analyzed to explore the marginalization in the selected works.
Chapter 4
Marginalization
Chapter four is the detailed analysis of how the concept of marginalization can be found in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things. It gives the detailed analysis of The God of Small Things and Our Lady of Ali Bhatti under the shadow of Marxist and Psychoanalysis theories. The theories have been aptly used in order to unfold the concept of marginalized groups in The God of Small Things and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. But before going deep into the detailed elaboration of marginalization and its impact on the lower strata people it is essential to know what marginalization actually is.
Marginalization is an exclusion or a removal of some people by the tendencies or overt actions of human societies. It is a process that leads to the sidelining of an individual to the verge of the social strata which finally restricts his/her choices at social negotiation, economic bargaining and political space. It is a complex contested umbrella term which is linked with the inequality of the people of lower strata. They are offered a little opportunity to survive. Marginalization means to relegate to powerless position within a society or group. It also portrays that to be marginalized is to be placed in the margins and thus excluded from the privilege and power found at the center.
The term marginalization has its two major conceptual frameworks. One is societal marginalization and the other is spatial marginalization. The societal marginalization demonstrates the dimensions which are very much related and confined to human population, culture, social stratification and religion. It pays attention to the factors which are responsible for inequality, social injustice and exclusion. On the other hand the spatial marginalization focuses on exclusion of people, gender stratification, social stigma and others. Apart from the two major conceptual frameworks it has its kinds in the form of social marginalization, economic marginalization and political marginalization. Social marginalization is concerned with the experience arises in many ways. It is related to birth, caste and ethnic grouping. In this form people are deprived of their social rights and opportunities. They are oppressed and stigmatized. Economic marginalization deals in economic structures particularly the structure of markets and their co-ordination. Political marginalization denies the right of people belonging to the lower strata, the decision making and their right to social, economic and political advantage.
From the very first day of the universe until now the division of the rich and the poor, the Centre and the apparent has been the basis of social set up. Specifically the modern age is a witness to the division and the gap between the suppressor and the suppressed, the dominant and the dominated, the exploiters and the exploited. The mighty people miss no opportunity to accumulate the unlimited wealth and power. The socio-economic norm of dependence on the rich for betterment and sustenance is still prominent.
Marginality in The God of Small Things
There are numbers of writers in Post-Colonial Literature who have contributed a lot in the growth of Post-Colonial Literature. They treated many of the contemporary issues that were common and close to the heart of the people. The formation of the empire, the socio-economic patterns, the influences of science, the emergence of the Colonized societies and the concern for the marginalized groups are some of the broad issues related to the Post-Colonial Literature. Their conspicuous literary creation makes an enviable contribution in the field of Post-Colonial Literature. Marginalization is one of the resultant of the consequences of the Post-Colonial Literature. As habitants of sub-continent they inherit a cultural heritage. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how? It is also an epitomizing story which offers more dimensions to study the crisis of Indo- Pak partition in a mental asylum. It is also through the juxtaposition of human baseness and seemingly miraculous events that they explore the bounds of humanity at both ends, in wickedness and in divinity.
The partition of India in 1947 results in massacre, exploitation, brutality and migration of almost ten million people. Many critics agree that the partition texts portray women as second class, familial victims and marginalized creatures.
Manju Jaidka (2010) in his article Hyphenated Perspectives on Cracking India specifies that writers belonging to 20th century focus on the victimization and marginalization of women because they served as: “Symbols of the community to be subjugated; their bodies became site of contested power”. (, p.48)
Indian writers after 1980s handled diversity of subjects ranging from the psychological scandal to the contemporary and political issues. Their works depict the marginalization of the peripheral sections of society. They realistically portrait and present the problem faced by the marginal sections of the society especially by women. Critics observed that class has always been a story of the human being since the very first day. Literature has portrayed the class struggle tremendously as Marx and Engels (2002) in their collective work The Communist Manifesto say: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle”. (p.1)”. Terry Eagleton in Marxism and Literary Criticism defined:
Marxist criticism is not only related to sociology of literature, concerned with how novels are published and whether they describe the working class. Its aim is to explain the literary work more fully; and this means sensitive attention to its forms, styles and meanings. But it also means grasping those forms, styles and meanings as the products of a particular history. (p.53)
At another occasion Terry Eagleton states;
Marxism is scientific hypothesis of human social orders and is the act of changing them; and what implies rather more solidly is that the narrative Marxism needs to convey is the narrative of the battles of men and ladies to free themselves from specific types of abuse and persecution (p.58).
Marx and Engels (2002) in their coauthored work The Communist Manifesto state:
The generation of thought, ideas and consciousness is first of all directly interwoven with the material intercourse of man, the dialect of real life. Considering, thinking, the spiritual intercourse of men, appear here as the direct efflux of men`s material behavior. We do not proceed from what men say, imagine, conceive, nor from men as depicted, thought of, imagined, conceived, in order to arrive at corporeal man; rather we proceed from the really active man. Consciousness does not determine life: life determines consciousness (p. 6)
The present research has so far observed multi-cultural realities of Pakistani society and Kerala society includes marginalization of women, untouchable issues, love laws and class discrimination along with economic, class struggle and ideological oppression. The present researcher keeping in mind all these factors will explore the relationship between Aye Menem family which stands for the higher class and the untouchable Paravans which represent the lower strata with special focus on the marginalization of female characters and Ammu – Velutha relationships. It will also present a comparative point of view of Pakistani and Indian culture and brutal caste system. In India there is a caste system which pervades the whole country, Braham, Kshatris, Vaishyas and Sundras. Critics found that some 3500 years ago invaders from the north imposed the caste system. These invaders are known as Aryans
Mulkraj Annand, Bapsi Sidhwa and Arundhati Roy are such writers who in their works Untouchable, Cracking India and The God of Small Things write about the contemporary controversial issues such as the issue of gender discrimination, caste discrimination and marginalization. Arundhati Roy as a Booker prize winning author interprets the brutalities which are found in the rapidly changing Indian society. Through her novels especially The God of Small Things she reflects the true picture of Indian society. The God of Small Things has primarily been popular with readers and critics alike just for the writers’ scathing caricature of the feminist philosophy as practiced in the most of postcolonial works. Arundhati Roy presents societies where class distinction and gender based structure effect every aspect of life. As a result, a number of factors which contribute to creation of the tyrannical, heartless and cruel world of class distinction have been discussed in this masterpiece.
She uses marginalization as a literary device to explore conditions of women belonging to the lower strata of Indian society. Her famous novel The God of Small Things clearly delineates the marginalization of three generation of women living in old traditional Christian family in Kerala. These women are Mamma chi, Ammu and Rahel. Mamma chi is representing the old generation of women. Ammu, another marginalized character in the novel, represents the second generation of women and finally Rahel the daughter of Ammu is a representative of third generation of women in same family. These are three women representing three different generations of women who are placed at the margin of society and who are brutally treated and deprived of their fundamental rights. These are the victims of patriarch society. Institutions which are termed as social institutions such as family, religion, government and marriage are those factors which are responsible for their marginalization. The attitude towards women has for centuries been cruel and vindictive. A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1989) by Marry Wollstonecraft is a plea for the rights of women of every era. The history of women education is seen as the conspiracy of male educators. They take women as inferior and less privilege. Wollstonecraft writes:
Women are not allowed to have sufficient strength of mind to acquire what really deserves the name of virtue. Men indeed appear to me to act in a very unphilosophical manner, when they try to secure the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state of childhood. (p. 8). She further asserts:
Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and should they be beautiful, everything else is needless, for at least twenty years of their lives.”(p. 19).
The present research explores how these women and the people belonging to the lower strata of society undergo marginalization? The detailed description of how the people belonging to the poor level of society especially women face marginalization is as below.
Mamma chi is one of the most important characters in the novel. She is placed at the verge of society. She brutally undergoes marginalization. She is the mother of Ammu and Chacko. She is the victim in the hands of her own husband. She is used as a puppet by her husband. Throughout her life she faces the brutality of her husband. She is beaten with a brass vase or an ivory handled crop by her husband. Apart from all these things she had a great talent. She cherishes the music especially violin which arouses jealousy in the mind of her husband. The problem occurs when the trainer makes the mistake of telling Pappachi that Mamma chi had great talent and she was an expert. Eventually her husband picks her violin one night and throws it in the river. The same jealousy is expressed when she starts pickle making business. Pappachi does not like the job as he considers that it is not a suitable job for ex government official. She is always treated as a slave. She faces the prejudice of belonging to the lower strata of society especially of women. She receives no love and affection from her husband. He never misses a chance to degrade her and uses derogatory language for her. Mamma chi’s agency is of course heavily socially constructed and her identity is a unique mix of caste, religion and culture, but she is nevertheless depicted as fully responsible for her actions.
Mamma chi is similar to Lenny’s mother, another major female character, in Ice Candy Man although there are instances which show the difference between these two characters. Lenny’s mother does have longer appearances and many significant traits. Somewhat she has a vital role in the novel different from the role Mamma chi has. Mama chi resembles her in her traditional role as a housewife but differs in their independence. Leny’s mother appears to be much more independent projecting the liberty that a woman has in her life. But soon this disappears and she performs the role much like as the role played by Mamma chi. She proves a traditional wife who follows the instruction of her husband in every matter of life. She feels guilty when she sees Lenny as handicapped girl. As Bapsi Sidhwa declares:
“The motherliness of Mother. How can I describe it? While it is there it is all-encompassing, voluptuous. Hurt, heartache and fear vanish. The world is wonderful, wondrous - and I perfectly fit in it. But it switches off, this motherliness.” (p.42).
Thus both Mamma chi and Lenny’s mother show that they have no liberty or independence rather they are the property of their husbands. Thus their marriage lacks love, understanding and mutual co-operation. Mamma chi was never given her rights as a wife. This results in her marginalization.
As the novel is a battle between the privileged and the under privileged, between big things and small things and the characters of the novel representing the big and small things. The world of big things is represented by the egoist, ambitious and self-centered people such as Pappachi, K.N.M Pillai and Chacko. On the other hand Velutha, Ammu, Estha and Rahel inhabit the world of small things.
Among the female characters Ammu is the most victimized and discriminated by both male and female characters. She has been victimized by her father from her childhood. Her father adversely affects her career. She was tortured physically, mentally and educationally. She is placed at the margin of society. She was beaten by her father mercilessly. This inhuman action of her father is an indication of her lower place and marginalization in the family. She marries in haste and repents at leisure. Her whole marriage life is spoiled because her husband is an alcoholic. He was convinced that once he married he could treat her as he liked. She was forced to yield and give her body to her husband’s boss. Her refusal to do so results in her domestic violence. Fed up with “his bouts of violence that began to include the children” (Roy, p.42) and disturbed with “medical smell of stale alcohol that seeped through his skin and the dry, caked vomit that encrusted his mouth like a pie every morning” (Roy, p.42) she leaves her alcoholic husband and returns “unwelcomed” (Roy, p.42) to Aye Menem house with her twins. She was not welcomed as she was expected. She is denied her right of love and care. Her marginalization was made possible by her patriarchal family structure. When she completed her schooling she was not allowed to continue her education. On the other hand her brother was allowed to go to Oxford University for his further education. The dual nature of her parents is the fundamental factor for her marginalization. Roy asserts:
“Pappachi insisted that a college education was an unnecessary expense for a girl. So Ammu had no choice but to leave Delhi and move with them.” (p.38) The house at Aye Menem is like a prison for Ammu.
There was little for young girl to do in Aye Menem other than to wait for marriage proposals while she helped her mother with the housework. All day she dreamed of escaping from Aye Menem and the clutches of her ill-tempered father and bitter long suffering mother. (Roy, pp.38-39)
She was in search of an opportunity for her better future in the form of her marriage and hoped to get affection and love which she was deprived at her parental house. But “her husband turns out to be not just a heavy drunkard but a full blown alcoholic”. (Roy, p.40) It was a horrible experience for her. Institutionalized motherhood of the patriarchal society often oppresses Ammu. Andrew Rich (2003) in his research article entitled Notes towards a Politics of Location Feminist Post-Colonial Theory writes:
Institutionalized motherhood demands of women maternal ‘instinct’ rather than intelligence, selflessness rather than self-realization, relation to others rather than the creation of self. ‘Motherhood’ is ‘sacred’ as long as its offspring are ‘legitimate’—that is, as long as the child bears the name of the father who legally controls the mother (p.43)
At another occasion Rich observes:
The institution of motherhood is not identical with bearing and caring for children, any more than the institution of heterosexuality is identical with intimacy and sexual love. Both create the prescriptions and conditions in which choices are made or blocked; they are not ‘reality’ but they have shaped the circumstances of our lives (p. 42)
Thus the marriage institution is a reason for her marginalization. Chacko follows his father and shows insensitivity to the plight of those who belong to the lower strata. He flirts with the female working in his factory by lecturing them. He never allows Ammu to say anything in the matters of Aye Menem. He says to her “what is mine is mine and what is yours is also mine” (Roy, p.57).
The way Ammu undergoes marginalization can be found in the character of Bim the central character in Clear Light of Day (2001). She dreams a lot and finally crosses the line what is termed as traditional behavior of women. She had her desires unfulfilled and was punished as well as silenced by the system in various ways. She ended up as depressed and unhappy. Her condition implies the question the narrator in The God of Small Things asks on breaking the social laws and norms, was it; “A small price to pay.” (Roy, p.336) Bim breaks the norms of the society much like as Ammu did. But unlike Ammu she appears to be much more educated and independent. Her mental strength gave her the courage to cope with the problems and to struggle to move ahead. Her decision not to marry shows her independence and disobedience to the norms of the society. She accepts the challenges of life bravely and gracefully. She was not intended to play the role of housewife. After having some dates and a meeting with her mother she finally ends everything between them. As Anita Desai observes:
“The tea party was of course a mistake and Bim scowled and cursed herself for having softened and let herself in for what was a humiliation and a disaster for everyone concerned”. (p.90)
So to say Bim much like Ammu breaks the norms and does not follow the life style as offered by the institutions like marriage, family and society. She even shows resentment towards her father who discriminated between his son and daughter and regards his girl as inferior being. As Desai writes:
I don’t understand the insurance business. Father never bothered to teach me. For all father cared I could have grown up illiterate and – and cooked for my living, or swept. So I had to teach myself history, and teach myself to teach. But father never realized and Raja doesn’t realize - that doesn’t prepare you for insurance business. (p.155)
The third marginalized character in the novel is Rahel. Introducing her the narrator writes: “Rahel grew up without a brief……without anybody to arrange a marriage for her. Without anybody who would pay her a dowry and therefore without an obligatory husband looming on her horizon” (Roy, p. 17)
Although with comparison to her mother she is less marginal. She never faces the domestic violence as her mother has faced. As a daughter, Rahel shares the feelings of her mother and realizes the tragic incidents her life. We find a strong bond of love and affection in the relationship of Ammu and Rahel, which is noticeably absent in the relationship between Ammu and Mamma chi. Mamma chi lives largely in deference to patriarchal social set up and believes in its misogynistic notions. She neither protects Ammu from Pappachi’s subjugation or Chacko’s eviction nor does she understand Ammu’s predicaments. As Andrew Rich (2003) in Notes towards a Politics of Location Feminist Post-Colonial Theory deliberates:
The nurture of daughters in patriarchy calls for a strong sense of self-nurture in the mother. The psychic interplay between mother and daughter can be destructive, but there is no reason
Why it is doomed to be. A woman who has respect and affection for her own body, who does not view it as unclean or as a sex object, will wordlessly transmit to her daughter that a woman’s body is a good and healthy place to live.(p.245)
Andrew Rich concedes that in the literary history, mother- daughter bond is rarely analyzed:
The loss of the daughter to the mother, the mother to the daughter, is the essential female tragedy. We acknowledge Lear (father-daughter split), Hamlet (son and mother), and Oedipus (son and mother) as great embodiments of human tragedy; but there is no presently enduring recognition of mother –daughter passion and rapture. (p. 237)
But she is marginalized because of being the daughter of neglected Ammu. Throughout her life she faced the effects of marginality by experiencing humiliation, violence and exploitation in her childhood. “Nobody said Hello to Rahel. Not even the Blue Army in the greenhead”. (Roy, p.173) Her past memories serve as deserted and disturbed. The role her mother plays in her life is a key to her marginalization. She does not get the degree of affection as offered to Sophie Mole in their house. The attitude of Baby Kochama and Mama Chi towards Rahel smacks prejudice to her. They provided, “the care (food, clothes, and fees) but withdraw the concern” (p.13). In her teenage she is blacklisted for “decorating a knob of fresh cow dung with small flowers”. (Roy, p.16) When she reached college education she was admitted in a mediocre college in Delhi where:
the fees were low and it was not hard to scratch out a living, staying in the hostel, eating in the subsided student mess, rarely going to class, working instead as a draughtsman in gloomy, architectural firms that exploited cheap student labor to render their presentation drawings and to blame when things went wrong. (Roy, p.18)
In their first conversation Comrade Pillai dropped the question in front of Rahel which shows the role of married women:
Any issues?” “No,” Rahel said. “Still in planning stages, I suppose? Or expecting?” “No. “One is a must. Boy girl. Anyone,” Comrade Pillai said. “Two is of course your choice.” (Roy, p. 130) Thus she is marginalized at every stage of her life.
Apart from the female marginal characters Roy expresses the marginalization of the male in the hands of both male and female characters. In the case of Velutha it is very much clear that he is subordinated and marginalized. The society which he inhabits still regards him as untouchable and unclean. Roy depicts the true picture of his status when the narrator shows how Velutha appears in Ammu’s dream. As Roy observes:
He left no footprints in sand, no ripples in water, no image in mirrors” (p.206). Velutha the god of small things belongs to the lower strata of society. He is treated as slave. He depends on the mercy of Mama Chi for his livelihood. He is a different person from Chacko. Chacko is the representative of higher class people. He belongs to the upper crust of Christianity and is gifted with “the prime ministered material (Roy, p.56)
Roy in narrating Chacko’s thoughts reports:
Chacko told the twins though he hated to admit it, they were all anglophile. They were a family of Anglophiles. Pointed in the wrong direction, trapped outside their own history, and unable to retrace their steps because their footprints had been swept away. He explained to them that history was like an old house at night. With all the lamps lit. And ancestors whispering inside. ‘To understand history, ‘Chacko said, we have to go inside and listen to what they’re saying. And look at the books and the pictures on the wall. And smells the smells. (p.52)
On the other hand Velutha belongs to lower class and is a representative of the untouchable. He is never allowed to walk on the roads which are public areas. He is denied the right of liberty and dignity although he is a technical expert when his father knows of his unfair relationship with Ammu he asks “God’s forgiveness for having spawned a monster and offer to kill his son to tear him from limb to limb” (Roy, p.256). Chacko’s unfair or illicit relation with his factory workers is not noted but Velutha’s love for his beloved Ammu is taken as a crime for which he is physically tortured and eventually traffic to his death. But Ammu too found pleasure in his company. He is definitely having an enemy in the form of Baby Kochama but he does have an alley in the form of Ammu. She found a compassion and potential in him and wishes “under his careful cloak of cheerfulness he housed a living, breathing anger against the smug, ordered world that she so raged against” (Roy, p.167).
Besides Chacko, K.N.M Pillai the Marxist leader is also very hard on Velutha. He is in considered about the condition of the marginalized people. Pillai keeps on frustrating Velutha instead of helping him in his difficult time. As “the man he was talking to was small”. (Roy, p.287) he said “you should know that party was not constituted to support worker’s indiscipline their private life” (Roy, p.287) Pillai always treats him as inferior to the touchable as he tells Chacko “better for him you send him off.” (Roy, p.229) His relationship with Ammu also proves as a crime which results in his marginalization. The last thing Mamma chi says to him is as under:
If I find you on my property tomorrow I’ll have you castrated like the pariah dog that you are! I’ll have you killed!” (Roy, p.269). It shows how cultural identity always comes out of this contradictory and ambivalent space which constructs this hierarchal system. Homi .K. Bhaba (1994) states:
It is only when we understand that all cultural statements and systems, are constructed in this contradictory and ambivalent space of enunciation that we begin to understand why hierarchical claims to the inherent originality or purity of cultures are untenable, even before we I resort to empirical historical instances that demonstrate their hybridity. Fanon’s vision of revolutionary cultural and political change as a ‘fluctuating movement’ of occult instability could not be articulated as cultural practice without an acknowledgement of this indeterminate space of the subject (s) of enunciation. It is that Third Space, though unpresentable in itself, which constitutes the discursive conditions of enunciation that ensure that the meaning and symbols of culture have no primordial unity or fixity; that even the same signs can be appropriated, translated, historicized and read anew. (p. 74)
Thus he is among those who are deprived of their basic rights. He is denied his fundamental right of livelihood. He is placed at the margin of the society. The way Velutha is treated by Chacko reminds us the way Hassan a Hazara boy was treated in The Kite Runner. (2003) He was molested by Assef the Sunni boy who once let him go because he threatened him by pointing slingshot towards him. He considered him as untouchable just because he belongs to inferior or marginalized sect of the society. Thus both Hassan and Velutha are placed at the verge of the society just because having an identity of being untouchables.
Arundhati Roy is much criticized that the action of the novel did not allow the reader to believe that the writer allowed the children simply be children. But after looking deeper into her presentation of children it can be found that the novel pertains to the perceptive of children. It shows that the writer uses the perspective of the children to put light on how children perceive the events around them. This technique of writing makes the reader able to understand the state of childhood in a different manner. Rahel and Estha are the two important characters that Roy reveals through this way of writing. The writer declares that among the major causes of that arouse confusion in the novel is the children’s perspective. It also shows Roy’s stance on the innocence of children. For example when Rahel sees the dead Sophie in the coffin she states: “Inside the earth Sophie Mole screamed and shredded satin with her teeth. But you can’t hear screams through earth and stone. Sophie Mole died because she could not breathe.”(Roy, p.9)
This quote shows Rahel’s lack of knowledge. She believes that Sophie Mole is still alive. It also highlights that Rahel’s version of reality is real. The writer is able to put light on how children’s perspective affect the plot of the story. She also sheds light on the fact that not only Ammu or Velutha is marginalized the children are also not given the right to speak out for their rights. But the novel would not be complete without the loss of innocence. When the orange drink man molests Estha his loss of innocence reveals. This gives a deep understanding as to how innocence is lost. Thus to sum up the above discussion we can state that the children of Roy’s fictive world are victimized and marginalized. They are put at the margin of the society. The way the drink man molests Estha shows that how the poor or people belonging to the lower strata of the society face violence, oppression and victimization. Through the perspective of the children Arundhati Roy depicts the bitter reality that the people who have no value have no identity and recognition in the society.
Marginality in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti
Muhammad Hanif has been appraised and criticized for his thematic concerns in his works especially in A Case of Exploding Mangoes and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. In Our Lady of Alice Bhatti he explores common grounds between two religions on the basis of nature as well as humanity. In the same way Khalid Hosseini in his novel Mountains Echoed (Hosseini, Mountains Echoed, 2013) tries to cross the national, geographical and cultural borders in order to promote globalization. These authors focus on the significance of human and humanity and stand against the stereotypical notions of caste, gender, economy and religious status. Muhammad Hanif deploys power through his protagonist Alice Bhatti. Alice Bhatti is an untouchable in the society which she inhabits. She belongs to the minority group which has always been placed at the margin of the society. Alice is a lower status lady and her presence because of being a girl from minority serves as her absence in the social set up of the hospital where she works as a nurse. Her status as a lower class woman reminds us the details Spivak in Can Subaltern Speak gives: “Between patriarchy and imperialism, subject constitution and object formation, the figure of the woman disappears. There is no place from where a sexed subaltern can speak.” (p.307)
Historically we find that the Post-Colonial society has created its own subaltern. Women have been disempowered in every society and eventually they are entitled as subaltern of post-colonial society. The tradition which is called the phallocentric tradition reduces the chances of the representation of women in literature. When a group is called as subaltern it can never be represented. Spivak calls it the silenced Centre or margin. Spivak’s main focus is on the marginalized, disempowered and oppressed. She has tried her best to highlight the problems of representation. Spivak asserts: “Certain varieties of Indian elite are at best native informants for the first world intellectuals interested in giving voice to the other” (p.308). They are unable to give voice to the subaltern. Secondly they are unable to stand for Pakistani women due to their privileged position.
Similarly Muhammad Hanif has struggled to present the life of a Post-Colonial subaltern in his novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. He has declared the marginalization of Alice Bhatti the protagonist of the novel. He uses the ethnic and caste difference as a marker to freeze her in the place of inferiority.
Muhammad Hanif has endeavored to capture the life of a subaltern but instead of giving her voice he further silenced her to show that subaltern can never be represented. She was marginalized on the basis of her gender, religion and being an untouchable. She was presented as totally an oppressed figure. The writer uses the term “Choora” community for Christian of Karachi streets. This is used to delineate the prejudice persistent in the people against the groups of different castes. Hanif has used this difference to create a stereotype social figure in the form of Alice Bhatti. He shows how Alice is humiliated, exploited and mistreated again and again. It shows how suffocating the atmosphere is for her. As he writes:
Life has taught Alice Bhatti that every little step forward in life is preceded by a ritual
humiliation. Every little happiness asks for a down payment. Too many humiliations and a
Journey that goes in circles mean that her fate is permanently in the red. She accepts that
Role. (p.55)
Hanif presents Alice as a tortured being who was humiliated at every stage of life. For her life is nothing just a sea of pain and she accepts that role. She is an outcast of Pakistani society. Much like that of Velutha she is an untouchable of Islamic republic of Pakistan. She is depicted as a total dependence of fate. She is aware of her position that she is from untouchables. Muhammad Hanif has portrayed her character as to be a pariah.
There is a binary opposition of self and other established in the fictive world created by Muhammad Hanif. Hanif presented the reality of post-colonial world in which the struggle between the haves and have-not is established. Like other writers of post-colonial era Hanif tried to create a balance between the opposites. The others are given voice but in case of Alice Bhatti Hanif has exaggerated the otherness of Alice Bhatti. The novel actually shows a pathological journey of female consciousness. In this novel there are three females characters physically present in this novel. Other than that there are allusions such as the nightmarish of Alice mother who was raped by her master. Hanif has depicted her as the mother of Alice. She was depicted as being marginalized. The three women who are present in the novel all are depicted as marginalized at one or another point. The details regarding the above mentioned females are given as under:
Robert J.C Young in Post Colonialism a very short introduction writes:
“Capitalist class is the root cause of female oppression, exploitation and discrimination. They are socialized into exploitative relationships; socialization is carried out into home and all male-female relationships.” (p. 1)
The above cited quote will be helpful in the following discussion
Alice Bhatti is one of the most important characters in the novel. She is the protagonist of this piece of literature. She is a beautiful but a poor girl who is humiliated at every stage of her life. The writer presents her as a passive Pakistani woman. She is portrayed as a pawn in the hands of male. She is facing the lust of wolfish society. She is fearful of the lusty males who are there to destroy her body and end her up. The writer by using the different techniques captured her in the frame of a powerless Pakistani woman. As Hanif writes: “She has a whole doctrine perfected over years to deal with all of that.’’ (p.9)
She was unable even to resist the attacks of males. Hanif finds: “When she walks she walks with slightly hurried steps, as if she has an important but innocent appointment to keep. She avoids eye contact, she looks slightly over people’s “heads as if looking out for somebody.”(Hanif, P. 98) It shows the madness of every day she faces in the hand of males and her husband as well. She faces harassment, sexual violence and daily oppression of being a Christian minority. This a world where her husband Teddy could fire a love loran
and where there was not a single day – not a single day – when she didn’t see a woman shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or buried alive. Suspicious husband, brother protecting his honor, father protecting his honor, feuding farmers settling their water disputes, moneylenders collecting their interest: most of life’s arguments, it seemed, got settled by doing various things to a woman’s body. (Hanif, p.96)
She avoids eye contact; she looks slightly over people’s heads as if looking out for somebody who might come into view at any moment. She doesn’t want anyone to think that she is alone and nobody is coming for her. She sidesteps even when she sees a boy half her age walking towards her, she walks around little puddles when she can easily leap over them; she thinks any act that involves stretching her legs might send the wrong signal…. She never eats in public. Putting something in your mouth is surely an invitation for someone to shove something horrible down your throat. (Hanif, pp 98-9).
Alice Bhatti tries to break the laws of gender and religion. Even in her failure to survive and live her desires, she comes across as a revelation in the South Asian literary landscape. She turns from being treated as a coarse physical creature by people in Karachi into a saint. There is a metamorphosis in Alice from being a physical body that is tormented and violated into and a saint like figure. It develops her as a cosmopolitan in Karachi and interweaves the finer threads of interaction between a place of settlement and a space of mind. Her experience rooted in Karachi helps her develop as a person who is undeniably native to an identity, but imaginative by this cosmopolitan.
She constantly exists between selfhood and otherness; the self being her class and caste identities, and the otherness being shown by her cosmopolitan desires to serve people not by their color , caste or creed but irrespective of gender, religion, class, and caste.
The critics of modern age state that the novel is a satire on the modern day Pakistani society represented by a Christian nurse who belongs to the downtrodden, marginalized and poor community. By showing resistance to patriarchy she is actually defining her place in the society. Unlike the characters of Mohsin Hamid’s novels Hanif presents Alice Bhatti as a key figure to challenge the discourses like patriarchy, religion and mode of suppression. He deconstruct the social and economic structures of Pakistani society. He tends to explore social strata of Pakistani society. Unlike other writers of south Asia Hanif tries to explore the lives and conditions of the marginalized and suppressed people belonging to the lower strata of Pakistani society. Alice is presented as the protagonist of the novel who is not just a witness but a victim of gender, social and ethnic divide in the Pakistani society. She is the woman who was marginalized, oppressed and colonized in the patriarchal and Islamic republic of Pakistan. Her whole life is an episode of religious and gender discrimination. It can be found in the words of the ward boy who describes Alice as: ‘her fatal flaw is not her family background but her total inability to say simple things like excuse me and thank you.’’ (Hanif, p. 22)
It shows the feministic concerns of Muhammad Hanif. It is also significant that the novel reveals the ills of society which keep females in perpetual psychological traumas. The writer gazed deep into the psychological realms of his characters especially of Alice Bhatti. Apart from physical and sexual torture she also faces psychological oppression. She got dispersed about her own identity in the society. Much like Alice Bhatti other female characters of Pakistani fiction in English have been depicted as the victim of cruel laws of patriarchy like Bapsi Sidhawa’s seducing female beauty shanta. She was physically tortured and victimized. After partition she was kidnapped by a group of local men who forced her into prostitution. Although she enjoys her influence over male before partition yet her power was primarily based on her physical beauty. Though she was presented as a victim of cruel laws yet in the opening pages of the novel we find that she has a degree of control and she is able to have a very noticeable impact on the men around her. Her beauty attracts men belonging to different parts of the society. Lenny describes how: “Stub-handed twisted beggars…drop their poses and stare at [Ayah] with hard, alert eyes. Holy men, masked in piety, shove aside their pretenses to ogle her with lust. Hawkers, cart-drivers, cooks, coolies, and cyclists turn their heads as she passes.” (Sidhwa, p. 12)
Her influence on men was so effective that Lenny details: “The tyranny magnets exercise over metals” (Sidhwa, p.29), which “galvanizes men to mad sprints in the noon heat.” (Sidhwa, p.41)
Even though the partition results in religious and ethnic violence which divides Lahore. But Ayah proved to be calming, unifying and safe. Lenny observes: “Only the group around Ayah remains unchanged. Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsee, are, as always, unified around her.” (Sidhwa, p.105)
Thus through Ayah the writer tries to demonstrate the awareness of traditional feminine loss of power that can easily be found in the character of Alice Bhatti. Alice Bhatti elevates herself spiritually and surpasses the defined boundaries and takes herself to the position of a saint. Muhammad Hanif at this position by using magical realism shapes her character. He empowers her and a common girl becomes our lady of Alice Bhatti. Thus on one hand she is marginalized at every level of her life but on the other hand she is satisfied with what she has. Thus the writer by using different techniques magnifies and empowers his Alice Bhatti. The writer also challenges the binary patterns which are developed to prove women as inferior to men. They face atrocities, cruelties, violence, suppression and humiliation in the hands of male counterparts. They are sexually harassed and abused at their homes as well as at their workplaces. So to conclude the writer depicts the marginalization of Alice Bhatti through different events.
Hina Alvi is another important character in the novel. She stands at the second stage of this journey of female consciousness. She adjusts herself into the absence. She undergoes the role of triply marginalized other. The writer delineates her uselessness into the interview panel that shows her contribution to the proceedings was of: “Licking the crimson juice occasionally dripping from the corner of her mouth.’’ (Hanif, p.2)
The way male persons treat her shows that she has to accept her status as a lower caste woman. This is the only way she will be acceptable. She has to acknowledge that men are the authority. They can do whatever they choose to do. It shows that in Hanif’s fictive world Pakistani women do not question their place. Teaching the same lesson Alvi declares to Alice Bhatti: “But your duty is to convince them to put it back in their pants. You are not taught to go around hacking them.” (Hanif, p.75). Thus she is the symbol of this adjustment with the darker world.
The third stage of traumatized female consciousness was deputed in the character of Zainab. She is a lead pencil sketch of female character. Muhammad Hanif keeping in mind the religion, patriarchy and social oppression dehumanized her. She was pampered by her son. She depends upon him. She lost the fight of tyrannies and oppression and put herself into a position liked by the male members. She depends on male. She was cared by them. Thus she represents the marginalized sect of the society. So to say that Hanif’s focus in this novel is on male evil and female helplessness. As he writes:
As she nears the Charya ward, she realizes that the usual smells –disinfectants, spirits, dried blood, stale food –have started to disappear. She can see potted plants, pots chipped and plants dead, and moss growing in the cracks on the walls. An arrow painted on the wall points towards the ward, with the words The Centre for Mental and Psychological Diseases written in English and Urdu.” (p.32)
Apart from the character analysis the thematic concerns also show how women of Hanif’s fictive world undergo marginalization.
If female bodies are presented as curved of exploitation they are the sites of resistance as well. The writer has declared the stereotypical position of Alice Bhatti through her body’s exploitation. At every stage of life she was brutally exploited by men. She was a helpless being in the world inhabited by men. Her body and sexuality were controlled by male members of the society she lives in. as Hanif writes:
Her twenty-seven-year-old body is a compact like war zone where competing warriors have trampled and left their marks. She had fought back often enough, with less calibrated viciousness maybe, definitely never with a firearm, but she has never accepted a wound without trying to give one back. (p. 174)
The war imagery is used to present the destruction of her body. Alice Bhatti is presented as miserable creature. Every man who becomes a part of her life eventually leaves scars over her body. The communist doctor has left the mark of his love over her left breast. This becomes a reminder for her throughout her life. Thus she was depicted as obsessed with her body.
Describing dehumanization in his novel Muhammad Hanif writes:
“A strange croak comes out of her mouth, a voice that surprises her, the voice of a baby
Frog complaining about being too small for this world. She notices, for the first time in her life, that the lizard has four feet.” (p. 7)
The above mentioned lines show that Hanif has employed the women’s infantilization to show that Alice is not normal human being rather she is fearful and infantilized woman. It is signified through her comparison to a baby frog. Like a frog her existence is useless and meaningless. It carries the connotation of helplessness and nothingness. She is standing nowhere in this vast cosmos. She is not having any importance to her existence. Her comparison to a baby frog shows that she is completely deprived her sense of identity. In this way Hanif’s writing style reminds us the technique Franz Kafka presents in his Metamorphosis (1915).
The Metamorphosis operates in a random and chaotic universe. It is an account of an absurd or vividly irrational event of Gregor waking up one morning and finding himself transformed into a giant insect. It is physically impossible but it is an action going on in the mind of Gregor Samsa. Thus in these two works both the authors dehumanize their characters by using different techniques which show the marginalization of the characters. The misplaced anger of the characters especially of Alice Bhatti gave birth to her inferiority complex. The filthy lizard is the result her inferiority complex. As Hanif writes: “She looks at the lizard again. It has moved but it isn’t going anywhere. It stays fixed on the wall like an emblem that has forgotten its purpose.” (p.10)
It symbolizes her meaningless existence. The above mentioned lines are also foreshadowing the miseries of her upcoming life. Nothing brings solace to her life, neither her wedding nor her job. Her life was not improved anymore. The stagnancy the writer has attached with Alice reminds the absurdity Samuel Becket employs in Waiting for Godot (1953) where all the efforts are meaningless and fruitless. All of their life they have been waiting for a mesiha to save them. Till the last moment “they do not move” (1953, p.98). Similarly Alice’s life is fruitless. All her efforts result in vain. The miserable creature becomes mere apathetic at the end. Thus her existence is zero in the fictive world of Muhammad Hanif.
Alice Bhatti was presented as a tortured soul in this novel. She was hopeless and deprived of her fundamental rights. The social institutes such as marriage, family, workplace and above all religion all these have destroyed her social life. Hanif‘s effort is to capture not only the geographical geography of her life but also her psychological understandings are drawn as a sub-plot in the plan of the story. Alice is physically present on every page of the novel but it can easily be seen that the writer has not used I for Alice Bhatti. The whole story is told in the third person narrative. This is her presence which is questionable not her absence in the story. The title of the novel shows her absence. Alice was delineated as a piece of property for all male members of the society. As the writer states: “A woman was something you could get as loose change in a deal made on a street corner’’ (p.96). Thus the technique Hanif employs shows her absence in the course of the story.
The novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is appraised as a Meta text. Banners, posters and wall chalking all are served as literary devices to show the stereotypical nature of women. Muhammad Hanif much like Samuel Beckett creates meaning through absurdity. As he writes: “The electricity pole is splattered with leaflets and stickers. It reads ‘the coalition for the Protection of the Mothers of the faithful’ reads the poster with a chador covering a faceless Woman.”(p. 12)
He has used the technique of absurdity as a tool to stereotype Alice Bhatti. The institutes which are called social institutes are moving around like a snake to suffocate her. It shows that the novel apart from being a satire on the developing Pakistani society is a type of Meta text which creates meaning through absurdity.
In the history of literature Pakistani women have always been described as meek, passive and depending on their male members for support and protection. They are unable to defend themselves and they have to rely on male counterparts. Again we see that Alice is stereotyped through the politics of dependency. She has to choose a person among the killers, oppressors and exploiters of male dominated society. She might have been conscious of the fact that she is helpless and weak without a male member. In the hospital she walks with hurried steps because:
“When she walks she walks with slightly hurried steps, as if she has an important but innocent appointment to keep. She avoids eye contact, she looks slightly over people ‘s heads as if looking out for somebody” (Hanif, p. 98).
She was aware of the fact that without a male member she had no value and would never be given any respect in the society. So to say that she is dependent which results in her marginalization.
In this piece of literature Hanif has used the term Endangered species for Pakistani women. We see the everyday killing of women of Pakistan without any reason. This can be seen in the eyes of Alice Bhatti. Marginalization is the status of women in Hanif’s fictive world. At one place they are the victims of domestic violence but the other way shows their suffocation which took them to death by their lover. In Pakistani society women bodies serve as commodities to be exchanged by politicians. It shows the status of women in Pakistan. They are depicted as passive actors and puppets who are brutally treated by male members of the society. They are marginalized both by colonizers and their male members. There is no place for a woman in Hanif’s fictive world. Alice is portrayed as a passive victim. She was not given a space to educate herself in order to survive in this chaotic world. She is the slave of Teddy Butt. The writer has presented a comparison between Alice and teddy butt. He compares their names. Teddy is addressed by his full name. He is given respect and honor throughout his life. But on the other hand Alice is addressed by the role she performs.
When Alice overcomes the hesitation to start living with someone different from herself by marrying a Muslim man, and choosing name like Aliya for herself, Hina derides her choice stating:
This is a free world. But you have to find your own freedom. And if you think you can find freedom by hitching yourself to someone like him, then good luck. Congratulations. I should be happy for you. But I am worried. I hope you are not doing it just to get a different name. A married Muslim nurse is not much better than a single Christian nurse. You just become a slave multiplied by two. (Hanif, p. 191)
Like Alice all women in this novel are stereotyped as slaves. They are mistreated by their cruel masters mercilessly. The writer’s depiction strengthened the opposites of strong /weak, male and female. Women are not given respectable place in the fictive world of Muhammad Hanif.
Much like Muhammad Hanif Bina Shah in her novel Slum Child (2010) presents the same thematic concern which shows how women are mistreated and considered as a burden.
The critics observe that Bina shah’s Slum Child shows that society in which women has no power, they are depicted as a burden. After Laila's mother's departure she gets married again, because at first her spouse could not bear closeness to women at home. The main cause of Laila‘s mother separation is her powerlessness to give birth to boys. Young ladies are considered as weight in patriarchal social orders. As Shah writes: “My father had left us after my brother‘s death because he couldn‘t bear to see the woman and the girls still loving when his only son had been put under ground in front of his eyes.” (p. 10)
She has to bring forth three young men in three years regardless of her weakness, terrible living conditions and ailing health however, because her husband is cheerful in view of the young men. They take up the part of grown up men by afflicting and disregarding their sisters. And whiling endlessly the greater part of their time in meandering about and making inconveniences for them “My three younger brothers came after the other like puppies. Now our house was filled with not one, but four men‖.” (Shah, p. 11)
The novel Slum Child describes all the social-political, religious and economic rifts Pakistan has experienced since its creation in 1947. The country after getting independence from the Subcontinent constituted a wide range of distinct religions, sects, sub-sects and ethnicities. Out of the minority sects, Christian sects have been the most prominent residing in different parts of the country. Most of them were inhabited the pieces of land they were given for rehabilitation. The state did not make any prominent effort to create harmony among the cultural, sectarian or ethnic differences through the application of an appropriate democratic mechanization. It instead imposed the ideology that was singularly constructed by the state and this state-run ideology gave rise to many differences and triggered them more rather. Thus both in our lady of Alice Bhatti and slum child the writers endorse the stance that women especially belonging to the lower strata are not given their fundamental rights and they are deprived of the basic necessities of life.
They are considered as slaves. Alice has never got the realization of her position other than the role she has to play. She has to accept that how the people suffer from mental anxiety and remain unable to emerge as mentally and emotionally fit individual. Thus these texts unfold all the evils prevailing in Karachi. So the critics find that comparatively the novels present the realistic picture of the downtrodden people who suffer in the hands of the oppressors.
Many critics and research scholars are agree that apart from marginalization and psychological scandal Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy use other techniques in their intricate novels to create more compelling and magnetic sense of disorder and angst.
Chapter 5
Conclusion
The chapter five is the conclusion of the research study. It gives the explanation of research questions and the objectives of the research. It also mirrors the analysis of the study analyzed by the researcher in chapter four of the thesis. It enhances the recommendation for the future research scholars.
The study marginalized groups in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things is supported with Marxism and Psychoanalysis. It highlights Marxist concerns of both the authors in their novels. This research is very much relevant and help elucidate the point that a representative literary work is relevant in all circumstances. It also shows the causes, chances and implications of marginalization among the minorities. This research is expected to make up for dearth of critical material on Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things from this particular perspective. It is helpful to arouse the interest of serious readers of Literature as it examines the works from a social viewpoint. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti and The God of Small Things are very much rich in their imagery and Marxist’s perspectives. These novels show class distinction as the prime factor to dehumanize and degrade the people belonging to the lower strata of society. In their novels Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy are compassionate as well as sarcastic to their characters and their efforts to form a self-governing and autonomous identity. They have been quite critical of the societies they inhabit. The main concern of these writers is the prevailing caste and class system in Indian and Pakistani societies. They show the Psychology and the behavior of the characters change. So this research work attempted to criticize and analyze the issues of minorities and marginalized sections of Indo -Pak societies. The marginalized people are represented as victims of cultural, religious, social violence and societal injustice. The women in these societies are treated as inhuman and inferior beings. They face societal injustice due to the male dominated and patriarchal systems of society. This research also highlights the issues of religious minorities and worse condition of their women who live a pitiable life of subaltern in Pakistani and Indian societies. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti puts light on the social evils of Pakistan. Muhammad Hanif describes the appalling and pathetic condition of women in Pakistani society. He clearly portrays the festering issues of women in his novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. He focuses on the issues of honor killing, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, gender discrimination, Psychological and emotional trauma in his novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. He vividly and clearly finds that in recent decades with the rise of ceaseless and intolerant forms of Islam, the minor communities and their plight have provoked. He observes that how women are being disempowered and how they become the subaltern of Post-Colonial societies. The phallocentric traditions are reducing the representation of women. Through his novel he presents the sad state of his nation.
In the same way Arundhati Roy in The God of Small Things exposes the conflict between the privileged and the underprivileged. She clearly depicts the harsh fact that how women are considered as marginal entity in the patriarchal system of society. The novel is a type of journey through the pages of Indian history, intense political drama, understanding the basics of the Indian Class System, social obligations to love, discrimination and betrayal seen by the eyes of a disabled family based in Kerala. Roy skillfully presents the struggle for existence of women in her novel The God of Small Things. She rightly highlights how women become victims of violence, alienation, exploitation and exile. This novel The God of Small Things examines the nature of subalternization and its impacts on the individual and on the society as well. It is a portrayal of personal relationships, class conflicts traumatic experience of family feuds, love, marriage and sex. It is also a story of identity crisis, marginalization of women and colonial legacy. It sheds light on the pitiable condition of the lower class people in Post- Colonial Indian society. Both Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy explain the economic exploitation, social injustice and oppression of lower class people especially of women. The female characters in both novels are highly oppressed by the male dominated society. They face a fanatic stigma imprinted by history and suffer from what is called symbolic violence. So to conclude Muhammad Hanif and Arundhati Roy show the socio-political, psycho-religious and class structural dimensions of the suffering, sacrifices and their consequences in the form of marginalization.
Bibliography
Annand, M. R. (1970). Untouchable. New Delhi: Arnold Publisher.
Anwar, W. (2013). Darkly Hilarious a study of internal racism in our lady of Alice Bhatti. Race and the South Asian Diaspora, 2-4.
Ashraf, A. (2014). A message of globalization: An analysis of contemporary South Asian English novels. International journal of Scientific and Research publication, 2-3.
Atif, M. (2016). Feminist concerns in Muhammad Hanif's Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. Gandhova journal of Research and Social Science KPK, 1-2.
Barry, P. (2002). Beginning Theory. London: Manchester university press.
Beauvoir, S. D. (1961). The Second Sex. London: Four Square Books.
Beckett, S. (1953). Waiting for Godot. France: Grove press.
Benn, T. (1979). A Marxist Criticism. London: Paperback.
Bhaba, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
Bressler, C. E. (2011). Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. London: Longman.
Chatervedi, A. (2013). Conflict between the Marginalized and the Privileged in The God of Small Things. The Criterion, 1-12.
Das, K. S. (1973). The Old Play House and Other Poems. Delhi: Indian ink.
Desai, A. (2001). Clear Light of Day. London: Vintage.
Eagleton, T. (2002). Marxism and Literary Criticism. London: Rourhledge.
Engels, K. M. (1848). The Communist Manifesto. New York: International Publisher.
Engels, K. M. (2002). The Communist Manifesto. London: Penguin.
Giles, M. (2011). Post-Colonial Gothic and The God of Small Things. International Journal of English Language and Literature, 5-6.
Habermas, J. (1981). Modernity versus Post Modernity. New German critique, 3-14.
Hanif, M. (2008). A Case of Exploding Mangoes. New York: Knopf.
Hanif, M. (2011). Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. London: Chicago.
Hosseini, K. (2003). The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books.
Hosseini, K. (2013). Mountains Echoed. New York: Riverhead books.
Jadhava, S. D. (2013). Marginalization of Women in The God of Small Things. Research Front, 1-4.
Jaidka, M. (2010). Hyphenated Perspectives on Cracking India. South Asian Review, 43-50.
Jameson, F. (1971). Marxism and Form: Twentieth century Dialectical Theories of Literature. Princeton: Princeton university press.
Kafka, F. (1915). Metamorphosis. Austria: Kurt wolf.
Lewis, O. (1969). Culture of Poverty. New York: Basic books.
Nazar, A. (2016). Silencing of Subaltern in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. International Journal of English and Education, 1-2.
Nimni, I. J. (2016). The God of Small Things: Speaking Subalterns. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 21-26.
Olisson, A. (2011). Reclaiming Voices of the Margin in The God of Small Things. Humanities and Social Science, 1-7
Outka, E. (2011). Trauma and Temporal Hybridity in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. Contemporary Literature, 1.
Rath, P. c. (2015). Desire and Déclassé. UOH journal of comparative Literature, 1-3.
Rehman, A. S. (2014). Magical Realism as a tool for Women empowerment in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. International Journal of Language and Literature, 8-9.
Rich, A. (2003). Notes toward a Politics of Location Feminist Postcolonial Theory. A Reader, 29-30.
Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. New Delhi: Indian ink.
Sen, M. (2017). Trespassing Language: A study of Transgressive Discourse in The God of Small Things. Social Sciences International Research Journal, 2-9.
Sengupta, S. (1979). Introductory Sociology. London: Prime Book Box.
Shah, B. (2010). Slum Child. New Delhi: Tranqebar Press.
Sidhwa, B. (1988). Cracking India. New York: Milkweed Editions.
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak: Marxism and Interpretation of Culture. Macmillan Education, 5-6.
Tyson, L. (2014). Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge.
Wollstonecraft, M. (1989). A Vindication of the Rights of Women. New York: Prometheus Books.
Young, R. J. (2003). Post colonialism: A very short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
0 Comments