Motherhood: Marking Boundaries for Women in the Socio - Cultural milieu as observed in selected novel of Jaishree Misra
Abstract
Patriarchal societies often celebrate motherhood as one of the highest feminine virtue. Through literature, religion and epics the stereotype of the ideal mother figures is eulogised to the extent that women tend to embrace them as a great honour. This assigns a dependent status to women in the society. The idealisation of motherhood restricts movement of women beyond the boundaries marked by patriarchy. The benefits of having good education, a satisfactory career and enjoyment of financial freedom can change the overall perspective of women towards themselves and life. But there are many women in India who still face the division of domestic labour on the basis of gender. This paper studies the standards set by a patriarchal society which focuses on the biological utility of women and examines her role of servility through subjugation. The trauma and stress a woman have to undergo when motherhood happens outside the boundaries permitted by society is tactfully problematised by Jaishree Misra in her novel A Scandalous Secret.
Key words: motherhood, status, patriarchy, society, trauma, power, new woman.
Indian culture holds values of family integrity at high esteem. Stretching or challenging these values, which are predominantly gender biased, brings stress and disintegration to woman’s peaceful existence. Various implications of the theory of ‘Anatomy is Destiny’ (Sayers Janet, 19) influence women’s life in all the possible spheres. We find the physiognomy of women’s body shaping and dictating the course of her life. Male approval and boundaries demarcated by patriarchy limits her accessibility to any noteworthy achievements-be it education or career. As Pandora of the classical story, Neha becomes solely responsible for all the sufferings that she undergoes due to her unexpected pregnancy and the box symbolically becomes the female body.
The taboo of being a mother outside wedlock can affect a woman to the core of her existence both physically and mentally. It is a stigma which can shatter her sanity, social status and security of life. Strangely enough it is illogical, but true, that the man who is her partner in the act is never considered responsible for the situation and emotional anguish that Neha undergoes throughout her life. The whole burden of the stigma falls on the woman and puts her in great emotional immanence and fear of being out casted by the society. As a proof to the magnitude of the male dominance and biased power structure operating in the society, the man involved in the situation is conspicuous by his absence in the novel. The social structure favours men and establishes that men are superior to women. This difference hinders equality in a society where only the dominant standards of men are considered and the positive attributes of women are ignored perpetually.
Misra invites her readers to bear witness to the psychological trauma her heroine undergoes in the novel. She presents Neha Chaturvedi in unavoidable situation and proceeds to examine the workings of the feminine psyche and the social system side by side. It is about emotional servility which woman pays for the cost of safety and security of a family which fulfils her sense of belongingness.
It was Neha’s dream to study at Oxford that made her land at London when she was eighteen. But due to the unexpected turn of events at Oxford, Neha had to walk out without a degree and also an experience which proved disastrous throughout her life. Had she not been pregnant by her professor at Oxford, her life would have been entirely different. This point to the mystery associated with feminine chastity and the charm it holds for the patriarchal society as that of a gift delivered well wrapped and unhampered.
Neha had to give up her dream of Oxford graduation, come back home and hush up the whole events for the rest of her life as per her parents wish. Premarital sex and motherhood are issues which are looked upon as sin and waywardness of the female only. The double standards and hypocrisy of the society at large, which has two sets of values for men and women, are widely exposed. Whether woman is to be considered as a human being or a subordinate or ‘other’ to man is time and again raised by Neha. As Simon de Beauvoir remarked: “Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. . . She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute - - she is the Other. . .” (de Beauvoir ,18)
Through presentations of subtle stereotypes, women are coerced to accept their secondary status. It is always the woman who has to pay for any transgressions of the established code of conduct in a patriarchal society. The male counterpart, a British Professor at Oxford who disappears after impregnating Neha, who was his student then, simply vanishes. The onus of the sex and pregnancy falls heavily on Neha. This situation was culturally and socially demanding that it could exert tremendous pressure on a woman. The mind and body of Neha as a woman is entrapped in a live trap which is her biological body itself. As Young says that the root of all feminine confinement and inhibitions: “is the fact that the woman lives her body as object as well as subject. The source of this is that patriarchal society defines woman as object, as a mere body, and that in sexist society women are in fact frequently regarded by others as objects and mere bodies” (Young, 155). It was not so easy for Neha to shake it away from herself. She had to live her life with this secret trapped deep within her consciousness.
Neha, after eighteen years, is happily married wife of the affluent, influential and dignified Sharat Chaturvedi. It was when Neha and her husband Sharat were hosting a party to celebrate Sharat’s political career as a member of parliament that she received a letter which shattered her whole existence. The eighteen-year-old secret which she had consciously tucked in to the dark corner of her heart starts to gnaw at the peace of her soul. Neha is totally upset: “Sinking into the chair, Neha tried to contain her runaway thoughts. The baby... the baby she had given away had not even had a name....” (Misra, Scandalous 28)
A traumatic and stressful period of Neha’s life starts with that letter which she received with British postal stamps .This shocking letter was followed with the arrival of Sonya- Neha’ s daughter whom she gave up for adoption at her college days at London. She goes down the memory lane, though not so happily, and relives her infatuation for the Professor to whose lust and wanton ways she surrendered herself. Neha’s past haunts her and she is made to feel ashamed of her sexuality.
Sonya is presented as a stronger character than her biological mother. She was adopted and brought up by a British couple, Richard and Laura. She was lucky to have a blessed and loved childhood with every amenities and facilities, lessons in ballet and horse riding being some of her achievements in childhood. The fact that Sonya comes from London with a question regarding her birth and parents gives a universal realm to the issue of marginalisation based on gender which women had to put up with since time immemorial. The western and eastern perspectives are alternatively presented in the novel through Sonya and Neha. Through this mother-daughter duo Jaishree Misra problematises the issues of their hidden relationship and its socio -cultural implications. Sonya wanted to know what made Neha abandon her as an infant. Also, she wanted to find out why Neha does not wish to search or own her now, that she is well settled but issueless in her marriage with Sharat.
Neha’s situation is problematised so realistically that it becomes the point of reference from where the issue of women’s subjugation can be discussed in the most apt manner. Sonya is a charming lady who has obtained an admission to the Oxford University and decides to find out her biological mother and arrives in Delhi with her friend Estelle and manages to stay at the accommodation provided by Mrs. Mahajan.
Misra’s heroines are those who have walked directly to the readers from the pages of a novel and present very realistic situations of life. Through her novel Misra presents the much-glorified motherhood in a new light. Neha’s relationship with Sonya and its consequences which splits her between head and heart is the conscious installation of a male dominated system of values established through ages. This marginalisation based on gender, that innumerable woman has lived through is discussed through the experience of Neha and Sonya. Women are subordinate and subject to the dictates of a male dominated system which are indelibly imprinted in every root that run deep through the fabric of a male dominated society.
The weight of this dark secret comes heavily on the grandeur of Neha’s life .She becomes a confused emotional wreck unable to make a decision -whether to confide in her husband ,will he be able to accept her ,will their relationship turn to one of mutual fear and suspicion, will it withstand the secret, will Sonya and her presence spell a doom to their social image and status. Neha becomes heavy hearted and everything she does seem meaningless around her as: “But suddenly, it all seemed so inconsequential, this ridiculous bid for perfection. What had been the point of all this? These famed parties, this stunning mansion, the dream life that she and Sharat seemingly had...perhaps she had been trying to make things look so perfect because she knew that they were not perfect at all”. (Misra, Scandalous 30) Neha wanted to escape from Delhi. She was unable to imagine the situation of telling Sharat that she had a baby before marrying him. As giving a feministic interpretation of motherhood, Neyer, and Bernardi says:
Linking maternity to the gender, racial, social and economic structures also challenged the assumption of a universal concept and experience of motherhood, and it called attention to the special discrimination and exploitation of mothers which were not termed “true mothers” in particular single mothers, step mothers, mothers of colour and mothers of different ethnic and national background. (Neyer and Bernardi, 166)
The experiences of threat and shame continues through Sonya .It was through her relationship with Keshav that Sonya realises what her mother had gone through her tender age at London. Sonya becomes a pawn through which patriarchy executes its vicious power game. It does not spare any women –no matter a mother or daughter. In the novel we find Keshav trying to blackmail Sonya, demanding her to take him to England or else he would announce her relationship with Neha through the tabloids. It is at this state of mind that Neha meets an elderly lawyer Arif who brings the light of hope to Neha’s conflict ridden self. Arif brings relief to Neha by bringing her out of this regret and shame of all that happened in the early stages of her life at Oxford.
Neha is able to confide in Jasmeet, her bosom friend and be relieved of her company who says “You know we keep secrets, fearing the day they may come out. But in fact, the worse thing is when they never come out at all and people die with those secrets having burnt great big holes in their lives (Misra, 336) Neha evolves gradually as an empowered new woman in a tradition bound society. The novel deftly traces, the journey of Neha’s life passing through three different stages- of tradition-from which she diverts, transition -which she brings to her life and modernity- with which she emerges as a new woman at the end. We also find changing thought patterns in men like Sharat who had full control of the situation when he decided to come back to Neha. He points out that it was hurtful for him when Neha thought that he wouldn’t understand if she ever told him of what happened in her college days. Sharat is in close contrast with the character presented by Sonya’s friend Keshav.
The structure of a patriarchal family and the confinement of values associated with its honour becomes a stopping ceiling for a woman’s dreams. We can see that the early pregnancy and the following distress that overpowered Neha in her life pressurised her to abandon her education for good. Neha marries an effluent Indian as per her parents wish and upholding the social prestige of Sharat Chaturvedi becomes Neha’s responsibility. She meets Sonya and their relationship is not revealed to Sharat. This hidden relationship between the mother -daughter duo itself is a strained position which makes Neha unable to take a stand point between truth and trauma.
Neha regains composure and emotional balance and decides to cast away the burden that she has been carrying throughout her life. Surprisingly enough Sharat also, though after a short span of incommunicado with Neha and a week away at Bangalore, comes to terms to accept the reality and supports Neha in dealing with the blackmailer that Keshav turned out to be.
Neha is not portrayed as a victim of any system but as a warrior who challenges the system and successfully establishes her due position. Though there is no solution offered for all the issues which continue in women’s lives, the novel provides some awareness to women in general and urges modern women to think away from patriarchal standards and ethics and find their unique solutions as their problems are. It is always praiseworthy for a woman to fight all her might to challenge the oppression meted out to her and question the double standards rather than being a silent victim.
Works Cited
Vinitha Vakkayil, Research Scholar, Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
and
Seema R Gida, Research Guide Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat