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Abstract

Judith Butler in her work Gender Trouble (1990) regards the identity creation of a woman as “Women are the sex which is not “one”. Within…a phallogocentric language, women constitute the unrepresentable…women represent the sex that cannot be thought, a linguistic absence and opacity” (Butler 13). The relation of the othered ‘I’ in association with the Body creates a flux of discourse around the identities associated with or linguistically imposed on the body. The subject position given to characters in Desai’s works often reciprocates the cultural violence that the othered ‘I’ suffer. The mnemonic acceptance of the social mandates of gender constructions and validations results in the creation of entities whose scuffles are isolated and hardly retracted. The reframing of the marginalized narratives often goes veiled when we fail to critically perceive the voice(s) suppressed under the violent mnemonic horizons of body and identities, within a political framework. The speaker of many such stories often duped the voices of women under the cultural oppression of marriage to control and navigate the bodies of the ‘othered’. This paper hence would try to discuss following an empirical methodology of the patriarchal rebellion in Fasting, Feasting (1999) and voice(s) through Bim in the Clear Light of the Day (1980).

Keywords- Gender, Women, Isolation, Identity, Literature, Body

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Introduction

Anita Desai is acknowledged for her subtle yet strong expression of women’s subjective display of the inner “I”. Anita Desai is often regarded as a feminist writer due to her portrayal of complex female characters and exploration of gender dynamics in her works. While she might not fit neatly into the category of "feminist writer" in the sense of overtly advocating for feminist ideals in her writing, her works often delve into the experiences, struggles, and inner lives of women in Indian society. Desai's novels often highlight the societal constraints placed on women, their struggles for identity and agency, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. In works like Clear Light of Day, Fasting Feasting, and Fire on the Mountain, Desai presents female characters who navigate the expectations of family, marriage, and society while seeking independence and self-realization. Her nuanced portrayal of female experiences, along with her exploration of themes such as patriarchy, domesticity, and the quest for autonomy, resonates with feminist perspectives. Desai's writing captures the complexities of women's lives and challenges traditional gender roles, contributing to discussions about gender equality and women's rights. While not overtly activist in her approach, Desai's subtle yet powerful narratives often serve to illuminate the struggles and triumphs of women, making her a significant figure in the realm of feminist literature. This paper will follow an empirical methodology that will function on the previous research and the knowledge gained through study, to deconstruct the position of the ‘othered’ I in the above two selected texts. Using empirical methodology as a hermeneutical device will allow us to read the text alongside established research while using poststructuralist feminist theory to decode the meaning between the lines.

Fasting, Feasting - Through Uma

Desai’s work has functioned strongly as a marking parameter of literary convolution that talks about the peripheral emotive values of women as characters. The literary canon often shows the absence of female model writers that can serve as a pathway for the new writers to come which was a depiction in the essay of Gilbert and Gubar’s “The Mad Women in the Attic” where, “Unite the Angel and the madwoman in a single being, applaud her expressive transgressions, and identify her with the woman writer. When the monster-woman rose from the depths to the attic…provided ‘a paradigm of many distinctively female anxieties and abilities’” (Gezari 1). This emotional variation has a strong comparative analysis of the vulnerability constructed around the identity of women. The writings of Desai work as a subtle protest to the patriarchal domination of the expression of women as subjects or voices; wherein, their writings and r-presentation(s) are often clubbed under the concept of ‘kitchen writings’ in a phallogocentric society; for it is expected that women as an entity can only present what goes within the four walls. Fasting, Feasting is a novel written by Indian author Anita Desai. Published in 1999, it explores the cultural and familial dynamics within an Indian family, focusing on the experiences of two siblings, Uma and Arun, and their contrasting lives. The novel is divided into two parts, where each part reflects the title in use. The first part talks of ‘fasting’ in relation to the life of repression and suffering experienced by Uma because of her demanding parents in India, while the latter half talks of an abundance of ‘feasting’ in America, where Arun her sibling suffers isolation of identity and is trapped by the expectations of an American family under his exchange studies time. This novel tries to explore the gender roles under cultural expectations and the character of Uma is a strong portrayal of struggles under a fragile frame trying hard to deal with the cultural dominance of a woman’s identity.

Uma has been presented as a traditional archetype character whose formation is largely dominated by familial responsibilities and expectations, where she sacrifices all her desires to fulfill the demands of her aging parents until she finds herself trapped in the cycle of duty and sacrifice, having no agency or controls over her own self. The episodic plot of Anamika, her forceful declination studying at Oxford, her marriage and death (murder or suicide) and finally her floating of ashes serve as an embedded narrative with a clear message of marriage and women. The three women characters - Uma, Anamika, and Aruna are victims of patriarchal submissions and abandonment due to cultural domination influenced by phallus-oriented discourse. The character display of Uma is parallel to fasting indicating the deprivation brought upon a female body. Uma loved going to school despite her lack of gift for learning, which somewhere was a roué of escape and self-care for her, as she enjoyed the prayers, the discipline the mysteries the convent atmosphere presented - “Uma was at school before any other child, and every day she searched for an excuse to stay on” (Desai 20-21). Uma hated vacations for that drew her close to the prison, and this is similar to the sense of uncanny that any known place, space or identity provides - “There were the wretched weekends when she was plucked into the trivialities of her home, which seemed a denial, a negation of life as it ought to be, sombre and splendid, and then the endless summer vacations when the heat reduced even that pointless existence to further vacuity” (Desai 21). Uma’s several failed marriages made her parents retire her to a life of home care, decreasing all her emotional and physical needs. Uma is denied educational advantages and access whereas Arun is given the same in abundance. The denial of access to Uma is a cultural product of dominance that a woman’s identity faces in society channelled by the patriarchal virus. Uma always had an inward rebellion that she could never express for a lack of courage or will or something abstract that has camouflaged her inner protest to a silent outward acceptance of everything bestowed upon her. The inner desire for exploration Uma had always surpassed Arun and Aruna - “It had not occurred to her that she needed to know how to swim, she had been certain the river would sustain her” (43), but she never had the agencies to support herself, for she never knew she could.

The rebellion against the patriarchal structure Uma faced, always had an escape through the places she visits, particularly the ashram she visited with Mira Masi, where she rescued herself from the suffocating household and enjoys a freedom she can only have alone - “I do my work all the time, every day…Why can’t I go out sometimes? I never go anywhere. I want to go to Mrs O’Henry’s party’…Uma has got to her feet and flounced off to her room and banged the door shut in rage and determination” (Desai 114-115). Desai through the use of the word ‘never’ with Uma focuses on how the psychological conduct of moral discipline is always orchestrated with a ‘no’ to accessibilities when it comes to the desire(s) of a woman. Uma’s staunch rejection of her inner self against the desire for freedom draws the body which is dominated by social justice and the ‘I’ who wants the ‘soul’s justice’ gets a parallel display. The ‘I’ immediately becomes the othered; a compelling creation wherein the ‘I’ is accommodated, adjusted and accumulated under the series of oppressive social demands the body accepts to survive. This forceful ‘I’ always protests silently, accepts with a ‘but’ and survives silently, for this ‘I’ is silenced both in narratives and pens. Desai, through Uma’s character, creates this ‘I’ subtly strong so that her inner protests shout loud whole the readers read the narrative of cultural displacement and social control. Desai in her works always dealt with the inner truth rather than the reality portrayed, for truth and reality are not the same yet similar in their denotative meanings. Desai in an interview with Yashodhara Dalmia says -

One's preoccupation can only be a perpetual search for meaning for value, for - dare I say it - truth. I think of the world as an iceberg - the one-tenth visible above the surface of the water is what we call reality, but the nine-tenths that are submerged make up the truth, and that is what one is trying to explore (13).

This shows Desai’s deliberate creation of Uma’s character to navigate through her psyche as an oppressed heroine who is the focal point yet not the highlighted one, the marked but not the marker. Desai tried presenting Uma’s inner truth through her freed preferences in the ashram, while swimming and also how she encompassed herself through her image. The association of fasting with Uma is feasted upon by the situation Uma is put through, where fasting with her identity is celebrated and feasting is a ‘never’ granted option. Desai intricately orchestrated the narrative to present the ‘othered’ I of Uma through the dogged tensional forces that operated her inner truth- freedom.

Clear Light of the Day - Bimala

The novel, first published in 1980, talks about the aftermath of Partition in the lives of the selected characters wherein few chose to leave and few to stay; as we can see the Hyder Ali family and Raja went to live with Muslim-Pakistan or Muslim major population, while Tara and Bakul opted for a foreign country, and the majority remained like Bimala and Baba. The novel chose to narrate the lives of those who stayed and were trying to cope with the changing alters of buildings, as in Fakrul Alam’s words - “The decaying house of Old Delhi becomes a symbol of the passing of an older way of life to make room for a new and changing world” (91). Upon the many themes, this novel talks about, the creation of the character Bimala is my area of discussion to show the changing position of women in a patriarchal-dominated society post-independence era, posing a challenge to the patriarchal norms. The importance of family and the political dogmas creates a situation in the novel that dodges the past and the present simultaneously, pulling out the crux of how a woman responds to these clanging surroundings and her reception of the present realities. Desai has always focused on the characterization of women for their portrayal seemed to Desai a pilgrimage of thoughts unveiled as Sali Sudhakar in his work “Anita Desai’s Female Protagonists” states- “The portrayal of the woman, her emotional and psychological crisis, her status in the traditional Indian society, her responses to her surroundings, her physical and mental tortures, her ways to come out to surmount her calamities find the central place in Desai’s novel” (148). Through the characters of Bimala and Tara, we could see how the choices of women were modified, how much accessibility one had to accept and change societal expectations.

Desai through her works presents reality and not a dubbed fusion of romance or fantasy. Through the character portrayal of Bimala and Tara, Desai tried to plunge the political subjugation of the identity of a woman through the mincing narratives of Partition and Diaspora. The technical skill Desai focused on in this novel is a masterpiece of exhibiting memories through emotions and displacement; somewhere these identities flow through the mnemonic lane in search of their true identities. With the help of the technique of stream of consciousness and past clips, Desia portrayed these characters as pillars of entrance and exit to the narratives of others. The novel is divided into four important parts that order the mingling of past and present with chaos and uncertainty. The novel stitches the characters through each other as we delve deeper; we see we come to know of Bimala from Tara and vice-versa. As portrayed Tara, is a character earning security, hoping that her husband could provide it that her parents could not, quite unlike Bimala will never be bothered to clear the dust from the old household structure, for she symbolizes the same with the messed life she had. She grew out of the chaos and on her own. The shaping of these women characters comes from being the makers of history by being an agent to it, and just not mere silent observers that mainstream history often appreciates. Desai, through the women, tried to present the moral dimension that men lacked and created them as strong metaphors that defined the shapes of life. Both Bimala and Tara struggle to find their true identities, their own peaceful self and competence in their own way which could grasp the feminine sensibility that Desai acted to represent. The concept of the "other" in post-colonial discourse is indeed multifaceted and applies not only to cultural or ethnic differences but also to gender and physical or mental abilities. In the context of traditional Indian society, where women have historically faced marginalization and exclusion from various spheres, they can be seen as a "double other" due to their gender and their colonized status within their society. In Desai's novel Clear Light of Day, characters like Bim, Tara, and their aunt Mira exemplify the complexities of being marginalized within both the colonial and patriarchal frameworks. Their experiences highlight the intersectionality of oppression, where they are not only affected by colonial power dynamics but also by the gender norms and expectations imposed by their community. Clear Light of Day serves as a rich exploration of the complexities of identity and marginalization within the post-colonial context, shedding light on the experiences of those who exist at the intersections of multiple forms of oppression.

The historical outlook on the status of women in India has been a debate over the years between educated elites where the representing power had channels to operate the identities of women. Historically going back to the time, Desai’s focus through Bimala, makes us see how the issue of dowry-related violence and gender discrimination in India is indeed a complex and deeply rooted social problem. Historically, the practice of dowry has been deeply ingrained in certain cultures and socioeconomic strata in India, despite being legally prohibited by the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961. Dowry-related violence, including physical and mental abuse, continues to be a significant challenge, often fueled by greed and societal pressures. Also, the preference for male children leading to gender-selective abortions and infanticide has further exacerbated the gender imbalance in the country. This skewed sex ratio has significant social ramifications, including an increase in crimes against women and trafficking and the intersectionality of caste exacerbates the vulnerability of lower-class women to exploitation and violence, including sexual assault and rape, by men from higher castes. This highlights the structural inequalities deeply embedded in Indian society. Efforts to address these issues include legal reforms, awareness campaigns, and grassroots initiatives aimed at empowering women and challenging traditional gender norms. However, progress has been slow and uneven due to the persistence of patriarchal attitudes and systemic barriers. Through different women in her work Clear Light of the Day, Desai tried showcasing various solutions women may opt to relieve their selves from the patriarchal shackles. Desai also portrayed women who remained silent and accepted the norms and restrictions as imposed for they believed that is how this works. Bimala is portrayed as a figure who grew up differently compared to Tara (her sister); whilst, having separate attitudes to the concept of womanhood, we see Bim find interest in sports, play with her brother, help the needy, not be afraid to get her hands ‘dirty’. She keeps pushing the horizons that limit an anglicized middle-class woman and tries redefining herself every time, while Tara is sophisticated and does not share much ambition and force like Bim -

Bim of course worshipped Florence Nightingale along with Joan of Arc in her private pantheon of saints and goddesses, and Tara did not tell her that she hoped never to have to do anything in the world, that she wanted only to hide under Aunt Mira’s quilt or behind the shrubs in the garden and never be asked to come out and do anything, prove herself to be anything (Desai 126).

Within the microcosmic representation of Old Delhi and the Partition times, we see how the lives of two women centred on a family re-evaluate their values. Tara is quite traditional in her thoughts of marriage and having children, she only hopes to share a family where she will receive love and affection; unlike Bim who dreams of becoming a heroine and not someone’s wife. However, being the elder sister, she had to look after the siblings allowing Tara and Raja to leave Delhi for the lives they wished to live. Tara escapes (leaves) Delhi, leaving all responsibilities on Bim, and the same does Raja, when Bim realizes that her dream of being a heroine is shattered for, she has to take care of the household, her aunt, and father, and also become the surrogate mother of Raja’s child. Bim reinforces bitterness and anger when the nursing and shelter she provided talks of kindness to her- “You say that I should come to Hyderabad with you for his daughter’s wedding. How can I? How can I enter his house – my landlord’s house? I, such a poor tenant? Because of me, he can’t raise the rent or sell the house and make a profit – imagine that. The sacrifice!” (Desai 75). Even years after Bim, Tara and Raja settle down and appreciate the role they have received; the bitterness in Bimala for her surrounding people survives. For, Tara, as she left, for her father for not teaching her the business of insurance, on Raja for showing kindness. Critics have often stated that Bim’s clinging to the past is one of the justifications for the forceful subjugation she accepted upon herself and her dreams. It can also be understood that Bimala tried to adhere to the woman others needed to challenge the societal trials of how a woman should be. Evaluating the character of Bimala, we can see that tensional forces draw Bim apart and also shape her character (the I) which Desai wanted to show. The way she prominently chooses to become the surrogate mother to her brother challenges the subjective positionality of a woman, while this choice also draws the attention of the readers to the fact that how women are primarily perceived as reproduction machines, for which the tags of relationships also become blurred; rather what becomes clearer is the ovary the body is carrying which is dutiful to produce something (be its own or of others). Secondly, Bim’s rejection of marrying Dr Biswas was her choice of being independent of the responsibilities that society would bestow upon her as a married woman/wife. She challenged the role she was expected to play as a woman by rejecting to marry and stay single in a society where marrying was a mandate for any girl so that someone could look after the woman; whereas Bim showcased that she is sufficient and happy being alone- “I’ll go back alone,’ she said, her voice rising too high. ‘Really, I want to, I’d like to” (Desai 92) and she could not only look after herself but also a family dependent on her completely. She never stood up to the expectations of Mrs. Biswas of what a woman should be in a society like this and munched her way through goodies in the apartment of Dr. Biswas. This rejection, if put under post-colonial power intervention, also shows Bim functioned as a martyr, for being the eldest she was bound to look after all the duties leaving her young sibling guilt-free. Finally, Bimala’s anger is often perceived as how she keeps fighting between the lack of opportunity, she got to access the woman she dreamt of and the mandate positions she was placed into to become the woman she was most expected to be.

Conclusion

Circulating with theories through both the stories we can see how Desai’s creation of women characters survives as refugees to their thoughts and memories, where the creation of the ‘I’ mitigates as the othered subject the characters dutifully created. We can see a clear connection between Bimala and Uma, a comparison that draws our analytical frame to the isolated journey both these characters performed. Desai deliberately through Uma and Bimala portrayed how multiple oppressions function simultaneously creating the subjective ‘I’ just as a peripheral reflection. In Fasting and Feasting, the suppressed protest of Uma is vivid through the actions of Bimala in the Clear Light of the Day, but the way Uma takes responsibility and kills her inner self is similar to Bimla taking responsibility, killing her inner dreams. Identities are imposed on bodies, and as the body is created as an eccentric validation for societal control within a phallogocentric culture, removing the ‘I’ from the body (woman) is appreciated and demanded, which both Bimala and Uma silently take recourse to.

Works Cited

Alam, Fakrul. “Imagining South Asian Writing in English from Bangladesh.” South Asian Review, vol. 28, no. 1, Feb. 2007, pp. 37–49, 
https://doi.org/10.1080/02759527.2007.11932501. Accessed 22 Oct. 2019.

Butler, Judith. Gender trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York; London: Routledge, 2006.

Desai, Anita. Fasting, Feasting (1999). London: Vintage, 2000.
---------Clear Light of Day (1980). London: Vintage, 2001.
----------Fire on the Mountain (1977). London: Vintage, 1999.

Gezari, Janet, et al. The Madwoman in the Attic, Essays in Criticism, Volume 56, Issue 3, 
July 2006, Pages 264–279, https://doi.org/10.1093/escrit/cgl003

Sali, Sudhakar T., Anita Desai’s Female Protagonists Adhyayan Publishers & Distributors, Delhi, 2006

Yashodhara, Dalmia. “An Interview with Anita Desai”. Times of India, 29 August. 1979, p.13.