Abstract:
It is almost generally agreed that the history of mankind is the history of mistreatment and domination. Literature is the process of humanization of the world. Such a humanistic approach is manifested in Dalit Literature. The present study is an attempt to account for Dalit Literature which focus on democratic values such as liberty, equality, fraternity and justice. The millions of downtrodden people could not fulfil their fundamental needs to survive in India. Dalit literature raised the problem of the marginal world. The social transformation, self-dignity and equal justice are the basic principles of Dalit literature. The oppressive social system necessitates hunger, poverty, humiliation, superstition, practice of untouchability and casteism among these oppressed and miserable communities. Subjugation of women is a major theme of discussion. These suppressed communities are victimized socially, economically, culturally and physically in the name of religion, caste and gender. They try to escape from the man-made barriers that made their life excruciating. They want to liberate themselves and their community from the age-old habits and customs.
The present research paper is to evaluate and interpret the condition, the sufferings, the survival problems and difficulties faced by Dalit women in Indian society especially, based on characters portrayed in Mahashweta Devi’s Rudali. Women face plenty of social issues and problems all through their life and become sufferers silently from their beginning of life. Women in Indian culture considered as a trouble and burden for their parents and life partners as they believe that women are only to consume money the whole life. In the Indian society women have been considered as an ordinary compared to men in every phase of life. Due to such mind set of patriarchy for women, create so many issues and problems in their life. They should go extra miles with men to prove their ability and equality in every aspect of life, but unfortunately, they do not get any scope or opportunity in throughout their life. In patriarchal structure people considered women as a key to devastation, so they never allowed women to go outside and contribute in the social behaviour and activities like men. Women have been facing so many plights because of male-dominated, patriarchal social system. More ever in the modern age also women are facing same problem. They should face many more troubles in their day-to-day life; they should give fight back to set up their career and unique identity in society. Steadily some changes are happened in the mind set of patriarchy. Still, there are many parents who wish to have male child to continue their hierarchy and allow education and freedom only to boys. Women for them are only means and subordinate to keep a family happy and healthy. The researcher has also focused on gynocentric approach as being of female. The problem under study in the present research is to examine and understand why and how females in India face plenty of social issues and problems all through their life which is a huge struggle for them right from their beginning of life. In nut shell, the researcher has tried to find out similarities which are in existence in Indian Society regarding the condition of women in India, from women in Mahashweta Devi’s Rudali.
Key Words: Patriarchy, structure, Gynocentric, Dalit, Marginal, Downtrodden, Subjugation
Introduction:
It is crucial to identify the social, religious political, and educational background of Indian civilisation to study Dalit Literature. The socio-cultural condition of Indian society was based on the Varna system. The Religious scriptures were the base of Varna system in India. The religious texts were the guiding principles for the Indian people. It was obligatory on everyone to follow the religious order talk about in those spiritual books. The rubrics of these books were supposed to be a code of conduct for all the individuals.
There are some disparities in every civilised society that leads to social discrimination and in India it come under the garb of Casteism. The hierarchy of caste was supported by the Hindu laws to exploit the subjugated people in India. The distribution of work was done on the basis of their caste. On one hand the lower classes were deprived of opportunities and rights, and on the other hand the handful of people from the upper caste enjoyed every kind of freedom and liberty. Such varied discrimination between the lower and upper classes were done on the basis of their higher and lower caste.
The marginalised people were far away from education and modernisation. It was a domination of the upper caste to receive education and every opportunity. The Indian caste system always supported such unjust social order. The people were categorised as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras according to their status in the society. The status of the community was supported by religious scriptures. The Shudras were the lowest in the hierarchy of the caste system. They had to serve the superior Varnas in the caste system of Indian society. Shudras were considered as polluting the society and they tended to live the life of servitude, moreover they were banned in many religious ceremonies. It is observed, such man-made caste distinction supported the mainstream society to dominate the millions of lower classes. As a result, the life of these suppressed people had been gone through injustice, atrocities, ignorance, poverty and exploitation. They were demoted to menial work like butchering, cleaning sewers, removing garbage, animal carcasses and waste. In the late nineteenth century, they had no access to public amenities like, well, rivers, markets and education places. The Dalits and other minorities were in the bondage of ageless slavery. It depicts the life of Dalits who were poorer than animals in Indian society.
In the passage of time, the social reformers such as Rajaram Mohan Roy, Dayanad Saraswati, Ramkrishna Paramhansa and Vivekananda analysed social conditions of India. They strained to talk about social evils and prevalent unjust social order. The social activists opposed caste restrictions, early marriages, the purdah system, illiteracy and the practice of untouchability. But the agenda of these social reformers and their movements were to defend religious, idealistic philosophy of Hinduism. During freedom struggle, the leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, also attempted to oppose untouchability and caste discrimination.
There came an essential revolution in every aspect of Indian society with the beginning of the Anti-caste Movement initiated by Jotiba Phule in Maharashtra. He put immense efforts to fight against the caste system and untouchability. It is to be noted that “Jotiba Phule saw the caste system as the essence of Hinduism and sought to unmask the culture of oppression that it sustained, the brutal slavery that it sanctified.” He recognised that education can create awareness among the people of lower castes. He countered against the monopoly of upper caste and started a school for children of untouchables in 1858. He established the movement entitled “Satyashodak Samaj” to uplift the lower classes from the domination of established Brahmin culture.
Lord Gautama Buddha, the earliest Dalit reformer gave preaching of eradicating the untouchability. The legacy of this anti-caste movement was continued by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. He contributed to the anti-caste movement very significantly. He struggled for equality, social justice, self-respect and freedom for so-called Dalits and down trodden throughout his life. He urged for social liberation, economical emancipation of the oppressed classes. Such revolutionary thoughts of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is not equally found in other social movements. The caste based social order was forcefully challenged for the first time by him in the history of India.
The attempt of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was to establish equal status in social, economic, religious and political affairs of all the masses of India. He wanted to wipe out all the social, legal and cultural disabilities in the life of downtrodden classes. He fought for equality, liberty and justice for the oppressed classes. The self-awakened Dalit were inspired and motivated by the legacy and thoughts of Phule, Shahu and Dr. Ambedkar. The purpose of these missions is to liberate the repressions on the vanquished Dalits in Indian society.
Dalit Literature discusses classless and casteless social structure. They wanted to stop established social values and structure which are against humanism, liberalism and democratic values. Dalit Literature is closely associated with the concept of freedom, equality and justice. It is a voice of the deprived and oppressed class in the caste hierarchy of Indian society. Dalit literature is not the propaganda against any specific community or cluster. It is associated with a movement to bring about change. It represents the hopes and ambitions of a new society and new people. It is a movement for the betterment of society.
According to Dr. Beena Agrawal
“Dalit Literature is a manifestation of cultural conflict of the socially, economically and culturally deprived group. It is not a Literature of caste but of a specific consciousness that deprives innocent individuals from their basic rights of self-survival, self-preservation and self-expression.”
Women conventionally had been observed as lower to men physically and intelligently. Women could not obtain properties in their own names, involve themselves in business, or control. Women in Indian society have been considered inferior compared to men for many years. Females want to go extra miles than men to prove themselves comparable to men but they do not get a chance. The Indian women have lived an inarticulate life for ages and ages. The long silence in women’s life has caused domination and suppression.
Women’s duties and services were confined to the domestic areas within a private world designed by men as per their convenience and comfort to confine women. Women have been suppressed, dominated and troubled for centuries as silent sufferers without having any voice in India. The voice of females does not have any worth or prominence, even not tolerable and acceptable to say anything against the wishes of patriarchal society. Women have almost all potentialities, qualities and talents equal to men still, they are not considered as comparable to men. Patriarchy has always been associated and related with authority, control, self-discarding of their family or even of their own persons. The male state of mind is so formed and nurtured with the notion that women are inferior to men in family as well as in society. The patriarchal system booming in India is always motivated by the enlargement of the roles and aims of men. Indian society does not give any importance and furthermore tries to minimize the status and desires of women in all spheres of life. Women are considered in a second-grade position. Indian tradition has taught the minds of men to treat women as objects for the use and pleasure for them not more than this.
Woman’s struggle in the context of Contemporary Indian Society is to find and preserve her identity as wife, mother and most important of all, as human being. In India, a girl is married not only to a man, but also to his family and family customs. Sanichari says, “You know when I was a girl my mother used to always tell me that a woman’s worst enemy was other women (Devi 51).” because to behave like a puppet is taught by mothers from childhood.
In patriarchal society women revolve in contradiction of the social norms and duties which are made for them and they try to search for their own identity in the intolerant world of male. Female asks and suggests to be silent all the time without any arguments. She must acclimatize herself according to her husband’s family rituals and traditions without any complaint and with the mind set of this Sanichari tries to fulfil all the rituals after the death of her husband and mother-in-law. Pandit (person who performs religious duty) orders Sanichari to perform rituals as per the tradition of that village otherwise she will be punished by him so that Sanichari borrows 20 Rs. with the condition to repay 50 through bonded labour over the next five years and Sanichari was ready for that only for sake of rituals of her husband and mother-in-law.
The husband is customarily given the role of supporter and leader. Husband is considered like a god in society and that’s why women have to serve their husband like God. She has to sacrifice her own needs and desires every time. She is supposed to accept her mistreatment and suffering silently as her fate.
The Indian woman is mostly accustomed to tradition and conventions and willingly accepts the responsibility of being the keeper of the family and reputation. It is widely agreed that family constitutes the dominant setting and constructs the primary identity of women. Women emphasize male domination society by zipping their lips and surrendering themselves to male as a slave.
Female characters of Mahashweta Devi have learnt to break the stereotype images which surround them with mother, sister, daughter, daughter in law and wife who remains silent in every situation weather it’s favorable or unfavorable and sacrifices their own needs and themselves to the family. One of the Characters Bikhni was like that one. She was ready to do everything what she likes and her actions were breaking the stereotype image of woman. No one was ready to go in that place where whores have been living. But Bikhni was ready to go there. Once Dulan has asked to Sanichari to arrange more rudalis for the funeral:
Go to Tohri. Randi Bazar.
My God!
Will your friend go?
Bikhni said, yes I’ll go. (Devi 93)
Mahashweta Devi’s novels are centered on women characters and the whole plot is constructed around the female characters.This research paper explores the gynocentric approaches which are a mere reflection of society. Gynocentrism is about women and women writings. In male dominated society, male can be free from duties and responsibilities but females can’t. It is taught by mother to daughter as a first duty of her in life. She must know the household work. “Did she ever cook, clean, fetch water? (Devi 18)” asked by Sanichari to Budhua about his wife as the normative standards of expectations of a wife’s duties.
Women have been suppressed, subjugated and oppressed for centuries as silent sufferers in India without having any voice. The voice of women does not have any significance or importance, even not acceptable and tolerable to say anything against the wishes of patriarchy. Women have almost all potentialities, traits and abilities equal to men still, they are not considered as equivalent to men. Masculinity has always been connected and associated with supremacy, power, self- rule and domination. Indian women idealized the mythic models from the Ramayana-Sita, the Mahabharata-Gandhari and the Purana Shastras- Sati for ages. Indian women were asked to get motivated by the representative women like Sita, Gandhari and Sati, as a silent sufferer as per the demand of patriarchy. Great Indian epics defined a woman as an essence of patience and tolerance.
Society is a mesh of mutual agreements and conventions. In India, caste relations are further diversified along the lines of male and female. Male and female correspond to the respective gender under the influence of the caste hierarchy. Sometimes it seems Dalit woman's identity rooted in a caste- and class-based society.
Rudali is a clear picture of the especially subjugated feminine gender within the social and cultural sphere of uneven power paradigms. Rudali, clearly highlights the situation and treatment of females given in society. This paper centring on exploring women's predicament takes into consideration certain common grounds. Sanichari is the representation of the dominated sections of the society and made courage to revolt against oppression. Women characters in the Rudali struggle to develop their own individuality. The prime issue of concern is to comprehend women's struggle and existence in the patriarchal society. The problems of rejection and the subsequent exercise of rights become the contested grounds in the struggle.
Rudali is the illustration of a woman trapped into conditions of life and her persistent attempts to break free from the contracting chains that society has imposed upon her and forces to perform the duties of all as a being of woman. The social positioning in the lower levels of a mostly society accepts the remainders. Rudali grounded the land of Rajasthan, related to the Indian consciousness and reality. The society steeped in patriarchal domination and hierarchically divided along the lines of class and caste still carry out various practices, which are not in keeping with the democratic growth agenda of the country. An uneven sex ratio, child marriage, female infanticide, and the lowest rate of female literacy in India together contribute to the pathetic state of women in Rajasthan. The 'Panchayat' system and their so-called ordinances, which are deemed golden rules by the community, perpetuate separate state orders within the state of Rajasthan.
Rudali is the grief-stricken story of women funeral-goers. The upper-class families of landlords were hiring Rudalis (female mourners) to lament over the death of their family members. Rudalis belonging to the lower castes and classes are summoned on these occasions, for the upper classes never overtly communicate their grief. It shows that upper caste and class people were unable to lament on the deaths of their own people. Dressed in black with unkempt hair, the rudalis shed tears profusely, lamenting over the dead by dancing occasionally and stridently praising the deceased.
Rudali throws light on the painful experiences of Sanichari, a widow whose life has been exhausted by troubles. Sometimes, that lament was like modes of amusement for the aristocracy which was just a showcase without sentiments. She can hardly shed a tear, let alone cry because she faced a lot in life which was the harsh realities for her. These rituals expose the rude behaviour towards the women of the lower caste which were condescended to serve as rudalis. Mourning is gendered and women become the role bearers. On the other hand, aristocratic women, who are kept isolated, cannot express their sorrow in public, constrained by their social ranking as per the social norms which were made to maintain the standard in society.
The evocative musical hammering, the background score and the spasmodic dance in Rudali are prominent emblems used to highlight the conflict. The ideology of gender is perpetuated in the novel. The women characters are bold and aggressive. Female characters were struggling to get food and basic needs. We can see problems, responsibilities, forceful duties and problematic issues in their tragic life.
Family and society manifest the power inequities leading to the oppressed state of affairs of females. The patriarchal family model centred on masculine self-hood, considers Sanichari the widow as an outcast in her village. She is the ill-fated woman whose father met with a sudden death and was abandoned by her mother. At an early age she was married off to a drunkard who later succumbed to an outbreak of plague. Later, her only son Budhwa also deserted her. Sanichari is overwhelmed by miseries and, unable to shed tears, has become the butt of ridicule among the villagers.
Every society is structured and differentiated through language. Language viewed from a social perspective replicate, represents, reforms the racial, religious, class, caste, ethnic and gender interests. Power is manifested in the interplay of language, which simultaneously communicates and exploits. The rustic version of Hindi in Rudali exposes the supreme and invincible gradations of class, caste and gender among village folks. The choice of words, phrases and conversational styles reflect the social class positions in Indian society. In Rudali, the common folk never dare to address the Zamindars by their first names. They were addressed as Hukum, Sarkar and Malik. But we can see the worst treatment not only for this but also the language especially used for women which is really harsh and dominating. They were not addressed with respectful manners. Throughout the novel, we have read the words like whore, bitch and randi for female characters. When the oppressed (woman) slowly redeems a voice to oppose oppression, in a world of differences, society's typical norms control any sign of revolt. Within the Hindu religion women are forbidden from snatching religious power and authority as is clearly visible in Rudali. When Sanichari undertakes the funeral rites of her mother-in-law and is unable to pay the village priest, Mohanlal, she has to bear his abusive words and curses. Languages are also 'gender inscriptive'. The voice of a selfless Indian woman is silence where a smile connotes sexual insinuation.
The human body, used as a metaphor for society, possesses immense symbolic and cultural values. The human body is the focal point of social control and the bedrock, upon which gender equality is built. Sexuality, an innate emotion of every man and woman, is also a social construct operating within diverse domains of power. The notion of body is crucial in the Indian context, especially the woman's body which is associated with varying power paradigms, notions of purity and identity together with the diverse socio-cultural markers.
The over indulgent yet strictly cloistered upbringing of the Zamindars acknowledges the legitimate right of the ruling class to toy with the emotions of the lower class, especially women. Centuries old Shastras (rukes) relegate women of the lower castes to the status of mere sexual objects-virtual slaves to be used to satisfy men. In the movies under discussion, Lakshman Singh, the Zamindar, takes a fancy to Shanichari. Gendered power inequalities also lead to the social control of women through sexuality. Patriarchy calls for the control of women's sexuality to perpetuate gendered power inequalities and caste ideologies. The concept of being impure is ingrained in the female psyche.
Domination and resistance are opposing effects of the same power relations, which are not inevitable, unchanging and unalterable. No relations of power exist without resistances. Women's attempts to unshackle themselves from stereotyped roles are met with resistance. Society resists the hostile behaviour of women by using violence against them, denouncing them or taking revenge against the entire society to which they belong. physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and the general community including battering, sexual abuse of female children, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women, forced prostitution and violence perpetrated or condoned by the state. The flashbacks in these movies are suggestive of the time lapse as well as the tenacity and the fortitude of these women to face the adversities. Sanichari's consistent refusal to be a Rudali poses a challenge to the redundant caste system, which defines a Dalit as a mute, bound to obey the diktats (norms) of society.
The empowerment of women can be achieved through legislation or by bringing up the contentious issues open for discussion and creating a change in the mind-set of social beings by questioning them. Cinema, as a channel of communication, reflects society and holds the power to redefine it. By highlighting the different social constructs used as tools to sustain uneven balances in society and by focussing on how the same are being redefined by the downtrodden, cinema not only shows reality but also points to a possible redemption.
Rudali holds a mirror up to society and brings to light the trials and tribulations of Dalit women, who are victimised both for being a woman and for belonging to a lower caste. The mental and emotional traumas of women are poignantly delineated in Rudali through the atrocities perpetuated on them under the guise of religion, caste, class and gender discrimination. Sanichari representatives of 'woman caste' celebrate the distinctive self-affirming characteristics of women's subculture, which enable them to resist dehumanising patriarchal practices.
In the past, women have faced many problems, and they have been continuously struggling to find a considerable and respectable status for themselves. Feminism is not against men or not a view to oppose or deny them, but it is against those social codes which treat women ruthless and unequal. Women devoted all their lives to obtain and perform their duties towards their family and society that crushed women's unique identity. Women were subjugated in all places due to their femininity. It can fairly be said that almost all the parameters of gynocentric are applicable to the text-Rudali, so it can be considered as Gynocentric text especially in context to Dalit women:
Discrimination by sex
It is ironic that if a woman fails to give a male heir to her husband, all the blame is put on her. Women are the victims of generations of conditioning in which a woman is unchangeably suppressed. They also show us how women across class lines remain objects of similar kinds of discrimination and social prejudice. In the text Nathuni’s middle wife complains to Sanichari about how she is looked down upon and denied respect because she is the mother of a girl, whereas her co-wives, by giving birth to sons, have secured their privileged positions. This type of social attitude is to be solely responsible for all so-called misfortunes. Women have been consistently shown as exploited, physically and financially by men. ‘I’ m telling you Bhikhni, in my whole life nobody has ever done so much for me as a human being’( Devi 50).
Search for Identity
Women’s identity is only as someone’s wife, daughter in law or as mother. In Rudali we can see the same image of Sanichari and Bhikni. But when Sanichari had given up hope of recovering Haroa that time she met Bikhni. At that time, she was a woman shorn of all roles- no one’s daughter, wife, mother, mother-in-law or grandmother. She is free of all other ties and relationships, as is Bikhni, who has been abandoned by her son, and has left home with no plans and nowhere to go. Both were without family
Sexism
Women as sex objects to men, Woman have been seen primarily as mother, wife or mistress. Woman is used as an object and she is essential to man for his pleasure and family need. The concept of patriarchy or sexism is realistically represented by women novelists through the depiction of many situations where women are made to be subjugated by male. Many a times a woman gets raped by her husband in the sense she should surrender herself to the desire of her husband even though she may not be physically or mentally prepared for it. Even during the physical activities, she has no right to say “NO” to her husband because it has been planted in her mind that it is her duty to fulfil physical desire of her husband at any time without any complain. Unfortunately, in India thousands of rapes by husbands to their wives are not noticed by the society. Women are portrayed in such a way that they become instrumental for the subversion of androcentric ideologies which have been dominating the attitude and actions of the people around them.
Mahashweta Devi expands the notion of community to include the prostitutes, women traditionally seen as outside the community, or as forming an outcast, separate community of their own. We see women from the village who have become prostitutes- they have mothers and families within the village community. “Some have been used by Malik- Mahajans and the discarded, some have mothers who were kept women and are forced into prostitution in their turn, others become prostitutes because they have run away from home, looking for better options to the humdrum, circumscribed existence their poverty and social class locks them into.” Is woman a property of someone? Women is like an object for patriarchy who transfers her from one person to another. She does not have any right to live her own life as per her desire. Gulbadan self-worth was shattered when her natural father Gambhir Singh ordered her to submit to the lust of his nephew and calling her as whore like her dead mother. As Dhatua’s son is killed by the landlord because landlord wants his wife on the first night. He was burnt to death.
Concerned with only Women
The opening paragraph is about the cursing of Sanichari’s mother-in-law on Sanichari born on an unlucky day of the week, Saturday, she was cursed as manhoos, doomed to suffer. But Sanichari can’t see that those born on so-called ‘lucky’ days have an easier time of it. It’s not fate, not a question of being born on this or that day.
Rudali is a woman’s text because whether it’s Sanichari or someone else is highly exploited in our society. Sanichari represents women in general. The relationship between Sanichari and Bikhni, lonely women who decide to team up, is the major statement of bonding and support within a community made in the text. These women are not related but they have their circumstances in common. Both have been abandoned by members of their family. Both are poor, struggling to find means of survival. If a man had directed Rudali it would have been totally different. For example, the relationship between Sanichari and Bikhni was based solely on the author's inner experiences.
Male as Repressive Force
When the female characters in the story Rudali are rebuked for unseemliness and ingratitude that time showing their anger in a different way as one of the prostitutes says:
“Yes, yes the master was like a god to us! He made whores of us, fed and clothed us and his death left us five whole rupees! How can we not mourn him! Come on, let’s start!”(Devi 168).
Dulan informs Sanichari that Gambhir Singh wanted the Randis to act as rudalis at his funeral. That Sanichari says,
“He expects the very women whose lives he ruined to cry over his corpse”(Devi 59).
Conclusion
The work sees an evolution in the central character, Sanichari, who emerges at the end as better equipped to adapt, survive and manipulate the system. In other words, more empowered than she was at the beginning. There is no doubt that the text does privilege class and community over women’s issues in isolation. And it has special significance when read as a feminist text. This story is about the survival of female characters. The ending is a triumph of this major theme. At the end of the story, we can see female characters more confident and empowered. Sanichari was relaxed and friendly while addressing Parbatia and Gulbadan as the former Bahus (daughter in laws). By the end of this text, the custom of the Rudali has been politicized. Being a Rudali was not only as a means of survival, it is an instrument of empowerment, a subaltern tool of revenge as the other women are, which shows a glimpse of the survival journey of women in Indian Society.
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