The post-Independence, postcolonial narratives work out the constructs of the nation and analyze its text The dis¬courses or narratives written then and later address the issues of the 'new' nation-mapping of territorial spaces, the re¬grouping of communities, peoples, cultures, languages into a homogenous identity of being Indian and belonging to India. Within this text of national identity runs the sub-text of centrality and marginality. The schemes of the nation include or exclude people, communities from its centre space. In this article I will attempt to look at the issues of marginality as dealt within the gender narratives and also how these narratives construct the nation in the short stories. I will take up short stories written in
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In many stories, this figure is validated and valorized and occupies a centre. In Shivani's story 'Dadi' [Grandmother] the maternal figure of the grandmother is emblematic of a national figure that endorses the age old customs and traditions. However, she has a more humanitarian and secular perspective than her daughter-in-law who is a pale copy of westernized modernity. The story also builds up the polarities of visions that seemed to confuse a nation that had western models of progress pitted against the traditions of the historical past.
In Mahasweta Devi's story 'Stanadayin’ [breast-giver], the maternal figure becomes a critique of the nation construct. Jashoda, the lactating, bounteous woman who becomes a wet-nurse in the Haldar household to support her impoverished fam¬ily, is a metaphor for the exploited nation. The author wrote the story as a parable of the nation, impoverished of its resources by its own people and then left to die a slow and painful …show more content…
In one of the stories, 'Draupadi’. the heroine Draupadi or Dopdi Mejhen bears a semblance to her mythical counterpart in more than the name that she shares with her. Both become territories the enemy has conquered, the prize he has won and the female body that he has to dishonour. The mythical Draupadi cannot be disrobed, after she is dragged into the court to be dishonoured. Lord Krishna saves her. Dopdi Mejhen, a Santhal, a tribal and part of the insurgency group that the state forces have to subdue, is captured and raped repeatedly. The attempts to 'make her' or subjugate her fail. Her violators can only mutilate her body but cannot subdue her spirit or make her give way to tortures. When she refuses to clothe her body the subsequent morning, her captors and violators do not know how to confront an 'unarmed target* that attacks them with its naked, mutilated body. They are afraid of her, scared of her
In many stories, this figure is validated and valorized and occupies a centre. In Shivani's story 'Dadi' [Grandmother] the maternal figure of the grandmother is emblematic of a national figure that endorses the age old customs and traditions. However, she has a more humanitarian and secular perspective than her daughter-in-law who is a pale copy of westernized modernity. The story also builds up the polarities of visions that seemed to confuse a nation that had western models of progress pitted against the traditions of the historical past.
In Mahasweta Devi's story 'Stanadayin’ [breast-giver], the maternal figure becomes a critique of the nation construct. Jashoda, the lactating, bounteous woman who becomes a wet-nurse in the Haldar household to support her impoverished fam¬ily, is a metaphor for the exploited nation. The author wrote the story as a parable of the nation, impoverished of its resources by its own people and then left to die a slow and painful …show more content…
In one of the stories, 'Draupadi’. the heroine Draupadi or Dopdi Mejhen bears a semblance to her mythical counterpart in more than the name that she shares with her. Both become territories the enemy has conquered, the prize he has won and the female body that he has to dishonour. The mythical Draupadi cannot be disrobed, after she is dragged into the court to be dishonoured. Lord Krishna saves her. Dopdi Mejhen, a Santhal, a tribal and part of the insurgency group that the state forces have to subdue, is captured and raped repeatedly. The attempts to 'make her' or subjugate her fail. Her violators can only mutilate her body but cannot subdue her spirit or make her give way to tortures. When she refuses to clothe her body the subsequent morning, her captors and violators do not know how to confront an 'unarmed target* that attacks them with its naked, mutilated body. They are afraid of her, scared of her