Susanne Allen

Dec. 7, 2011

 Gender Analysis in Colonial and Postcolonial Novels

     It is possible to bring into dialogue the novels of Mukherjee, Singh, Achebe, and Conrad and openly discuss gender in the colonial and postcolonial treatment of women in the novels. It is also easy to use the novels in nonfictional discourse to understand the commonality of violence against women. In order to gain insight into the real and prevalent treatment of women, literary scholars must address the violence and not read violence for entertainment purposes as an essential and normal part of literature. Social change is possible if the subject is addressed and not used as reading fodder. 

     Historicism is an approach to literature that emphasizes the interaction between the historic context of the work and a modern reader’s understanding and interpretation of the work. I will use historicism to explain the discourse between literary parables and the unchanging truth of human nature. There are many scholars who are addressing the treatment of women in a very real way through scholarly discourse. Mitra Channa, Subhadra in her study of Globalization and Modernity In India: A Gendered Critique, boldly states,

Colonial rule projected western science as the ultimate source of knowledge and western values as supreme. Stereotypes of oppressed non-western women had their counterpart in the male, rational western culture, coming to their rescue, both metaphorically and literally. Unfortunately, these stereotypes became so entrenched in the psyche of post-colonial nation builders that they and even third-world feminist activists confuse development with "westernization." The fallacy of such an assumption becomes clear when one takes a glance at the realities of everyday life where crimes against women and poverty, and marginalization of the masses is exploding in the most urban metropolises with the highest exposure to modernization and globalization. Urban India is replete with rising incidences of crimes against women. Conservative supporters of westernization would attribute such malaise to "tradition." But rational thought points to globalization, with its emphasis on material values, consumerism and "trashing" of traditional knowledge. Globalization has eroded the traditional resource base, as well as, the knowledge and power associated with it. (Abstract).

How can this bold statement be further examined using our four novels without losing sight of the postcolonial strife suffered by the people as a whole? Are women suffering more in the postcolonial literature and is that a symptom of colonialism or customs?

     Singh’s novel, Train to Pakistan, has at least ten references to sexual violence against women.  He begins his novel with a threat to “rape mothers and sisters” (10). The violence is perpetuated over and over again by Hokum Chand when he, both, holds the young girl against her will, and then rapes her for his own pleasure with her grandmother permission. The theme of giving young girls away to older men is a common one shared among our readings. However, In Mukherjee’s Jasmine, she is not raped, but given to an old landowner at the age of thirteen (Mukaerjee 48). She marries him against her will, but it all seems normal enough because it is the custom. The interesting thing about Jasmine is that she is outspoken and is allowed to go to school.  Her husband is not keen on having her pregnant at a young age. The novel is progressive and empowers the character of Jasmine to invent and reinvent herself over and over again in the book.  While she does not have a particularly fruitful live she is rich in her self-preservation techniques. The novel, possibly because it is written by a woman, gives the heroine a stronger constitution as a transnational migrant. Jasmine illustrates the women in the next phase of postcolonial women in literature. Postcolonial gender studies are particularly interesting because the resonating voice of postcolonialism is equality and independence, and this must translate to women as well. 

In Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, much of the traditional Igbo life presented in this novel revolves around structured gender roles. Essentially all of Igbo life is gendered, from the crops that men and women grow, to characterization of crimes. In Igbo culture, women are the weaker sex, but are also endowed with qualities that make them worthy of worship, like the ability to bear children. The dominant role for women is: first, to make a pure bride for an honorable man, second, to be a submissive wife, and third, to bear many children. The ideal man provides for his family materially and has prowess on the battlefield (Stanford Review). Okonkwo is extremely concerned with being hyper-masculine and devalues everything feminine, leaving him rather unbalanced. It is true that a balance must be found, but Okonkwo throws his family off balance with his violence towards his wife in the form of a beating for supposedly killing a banana tree (Achebe 38). The balance is again disrupted as the Umuofia elders decide that the virgin girl should be given to the man whose wife was just murdered. The boy’s fate goes undecided, so Okonkwo takes him home in the meantime (Achebe 27). There are also subtle references to the weakness of women, for instance, when Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna he thinks of himself a “women” (Achebe 63). And again, he is concerned that his son likes women’s work and stories (Achebe 33). The novel serves as an accurate depiction of the treatment of women and womanly things in colonial and postcolonial Africa. 

     The answer to avoiding the literary violence against women comes in the form of leaving them out or marginalizing their need in a manly world. Novels can only speak to the times in which they are written and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is no different. Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness, barely mentions women, but even the few incidences that women do appear Marlow has a common thread that lends to his sexist attitude towards them.  They play only minor roles in the novel and often live vicariously through their male counterparts. They are rarely given voices of their own and are more often seen than heard. The few exceptions – Marlow’s aunt and the Intended – often confirm Marlow’s assumption that women are naïve and idealistic. That they blind themselves to truths become Marlow’s sole belief, yet he seeks to keep them in their beautiful and idealized world. This novel is a perfect example of how literary works can ignore or expose violence against women. I contend that it is better to expose it and begin a dialogue among scholars who can begin to read the literature with fresh eyes and work towards change in postcolonial nations.  As the politics change, so must the ingrained ill treatment of women. (Class discussion 12/5)

     I am required to reference a student lead discussion – I want to refer to my own presentation.  This is not a criticism, but a realization on my part.  I was standing in front of the class, well prepared, and ready to lead the discussion on the Train to Pakistan. I watched the class perk up and get ready to eagerly discuss their literary impressions of the book.  When I asked them to turn to page one, while I read to them, then to page 10 and then page 29 etcetera, I could see their eyes go dead. Their verbal arsenal of imagery, prose, and interpretations flew out the door. The images of rape, molestation, and the murder of women were not literary allegories that could be discussed away or argued. I lost the class with my subject matter, and I run the risk of losing the instructor with this paper. However, I am insistent that literary minds must use the subject matter in novels to affect change in the way that violence is accepted as a normal part of literature without also using it as a tool for discussion and change.   

     I sit here at my desk with the novels piled one on top of the other.  They look like tapestry with the pages open and the covers exposed right-side up and right-side down. While the novels span decades and nations, they speak to each other in an intimate and undeniable way.  I hear them as they mesh together on my desk, “listen to me, protect me, and treat me like an equal.”    

Works Cited

Mitra Channa, Subhadra. "Globalization and Modernity in India: A Gendered Critique." Urban Anthropology & Studies Of Cultural Systems & World Economic Development 33.1 (2004): 37-71. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.