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FEMINISM IN SHOBHA DE'S SOCIALITE EVENINGS Dr. Ram Sharma Sr. Lecturer in English C-26, Shradhapuri, Phase-II Kankerkhera Meerut Cantt-250001 Tel/Mob-09219710874 E-mail : dr.ram_sharma@yahoo.co.in dr.ram_sharma@rediffmail.com
Quest for feminine identity is largely a post-Independence social phenomenon in India, a phenomenon influenced by various changing forces of reality - freedom movement, progressive education, social reforms, increasing contacts with the west, urban growth etc. The emergence of women writers in the last quarter of the 19th century carried with it a double significance. It bore testimony to the birth of a new era of emancipation for the Indian women, an era of increased opportunities and a more dynamic participation in the social and intellectual life of the country ushered in by the great social reorientations which came at the turn of the century. Secondly, it was also a commentary on the rise of individualism in the life and letters of the age, an individualism which is closely associated with the rise of the novel in India in the same way in which it was associated with the rise of the English novel. Feminism emerged as a worldwide movement to secure women's rights on the one hand and love, respect, sympathy and understanding from males on the other. It focused on women's struggle for recognition and survival and made them realize that the time has come when they should stop suffering silently in helplessness. Shobha De, an eminent modern novelist and journalist has presented feminism in her novels, like Socialite Evenings, Strange Obsession, Sisters, Sultry Days and Starry Nights. Gayatri chakravorty Spivak writes in her article "Can, the Subaltern speak?" "Between patriarchy and imperialism subject constitution and object formation the figure of woman disappears not into a pristine nothingness, but into a violent shuttling which is the displaced figuration of the 'Third - World Woman' caught between tradition and modernization."(p-80) Simone De Beauvior has very precisely exposed the condition of woman in her most famous book 'The Second Sex'. Of course, the miserable condition of woman all over the world inspired the women of talent like Virginia Woolf to do something in this field and the result was the emergence of Feminism, a great movement in the western world in 1960. It is a movement for the emancipation of women and their fight for equal rights. The condition of woman is equally miserable in Indian society. The Indian society is basically patriarchal where a woman is given the secondary role. Even in Anushashan Parva it is being said. firk j{kfr dkSekjs HkkkZ j{kfr ;kSous iq=kkLrq LFkfofjHkfo u L=kh LokrU=k;;ZgfrAA (All her glorification, all her fulfillment lies in sacrificing her life and happiness for the sake of man in different forms father, husband and the son). The modern woman does not find any sense in such self-sacrifice and yearns for self-expression, individuality and self-identity. She is trying to free herself of the dependence syndrome as says Chaman Nahal "I define Feminism as a mode of existence in which the woman is free of the dependence syndrome. There is a dependence syndrome, where it is the husband or the father or the community or whether it is a religions group, ethnic group when women free then selves of the dependence syndrome and lead a normal life, my idea of feminism materializes."(p-30) Socialite Evenings gives us the picture of the marginalisation of Indian women at the hands of their husbands.Simone de Beauvoir expresses his own views on man - woman nexus --- man represents both the positive and the neutral, as is indicated by the common use of man to designate human beings in general, where as woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria without reciprocity." (Seldom; 1988 : 534) A woman is never regarded as an autonomous being since she has always been assigned a subordinate and relative position. "Man can think of himself without woman. She can not think of herself without man. And she is simply what man decrees ---. She appears essentially to the male as a sexual being. For him she is sex.... absolute sex, no less. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to man and not he with reference to her, she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential." (Seldom, 1988 : 534) Shobha's is the picture of woman not only as protagonist but also as motivating factors in society, Karuna's marriage is a failure since it is loveless, joyless and bridgeless. She hates the stand-offish and cruel behaviour of the husbands who often kept themselves busy in drab monotonous activities like reading the business pages of the Times of India. Karuna says, "We were reduced to being marginal people. Everything that mattered to us was trivialised. The message was "you don't really count, except in the context my priorities." It was taken for granted that our needs were secondary to their. And that in some way we ought to be grateful for having a roof over our head and four square meals a day."(69) Karuna, the main character and narrator of Shobha De's Socialite Evenings is not concerned with the lot of women. But here that concern changes to 'I am the good thing' and even this 'I' does not stand for any commitment to spiritual and moral values but it is 'a good thing' because it can be dressed up and presented as an extremely marketable product over the media. Karuna's pre-occupation with 'I' and 'the good thing is me' becomes clear when the journalist of a foreign magazines comes up with a proposal to make a documentary with Karuna's experiences as the focal point of such a film. Karuna's reply to such an idea is "I think it's a great idea. Infact; I think I'll steal it. There may be a documentary in it but I'm going to give a book, a shot. I've always wanted to write one - so you can take a walk, Yankee agent. I know when I'm on to a good thing and the good thing is me. If anyone is going to cash in on this, baby, it isn't going to be you .......' (SE 306) Even during the period when she has been divorced by her husband and has to more from place to place in search of job. Her sole concern during this stage, too, is how she can shake off her middle - class background. "And I hated the poverty, this meager income forced on me. I suppose I was a bit too old for the drastic changes I had to adjust to or perhaps I just wasn't cut out to be middle class, lower middle class. For a start, there was the matter of transport. I'd never traveled by bus since my school days. Or waited in queues for anything. Getting into a local train and commuting to town was a major trauma. I could not relate to the other women in my compartment. I felt revolted by their small concerns. I'd watch with horror as they squabbled over small change and petty issues. Their conversations depressed me. It was all so much stomach - Turing, their talk of vegetable price and milk strikes. Sometimes I'd over - hear a husband being discussed, but it was invariably in servile terms. Every problem of theirs seemed trivial and insignificant to me. The quotidian detail of their lives spats with the mother - in - law, a child with mumps, school admissions and donation money, husband's stalled promotions, office gossip, a crisis at the neighborhood crche, an ailing parent, a relative's hernia operation, saree sales at Kala Niketan, haldi verses cold cream, Garden Vareli at a suburban store, discounts at Sahakari Bhandar. I hated to be in that environment." (SE 240-41) In a patriarchal male - dominate society, it is the male who abuses and subaltern attitude of woman finds their tongue in the deletion from their mind of all thoughts of feminine liberty and equality. "He brainwashes me constantly. I'm made to feel obliged and in debt. It's awful, but even my insistence on working and contributing to the running expenses of the house has become a battleground. I don't know what to do - either way I'm stuck." (SE 69) Karuna's husband is inadequate and incomplete since he lacks the traits of an ideal husband. Karuna wonders, "...... how could we communicate anything at all to men who perpetually sat reading pages of the Times of India while concentratedly picking their nose?" (SE 68) Karuna's imaginary craving for the fulfillment of her physical desire finds reflection in her fantasies. Anjali's fancy place in Malabar Hill where Karuna usually goes is symbolically the projection of her fancy, her dream which is reality. "I think our marriage was over the day our awful honeymoon started. We've got have. As for you I really don't know to this day why you chose to marry me. I don't think you even know who you married. You don't have a clue what sort of woman I am." (SE 185) Karuna faced all difficulties but she did not protest but obeyed her husband dutifully. Her husband is not a cruel person and he even throws away all her (Karuna's) sins like her affairs with Girish. Later also when she leaves her husband's house and starts living with Anjali "the idea of keeping the baby' does not sink into her system firmly. Once again the consideration is herself whether her parents would accept her with the child. She gives an inkling of her thoughts after her husband has talked to her at length about the settlement. "For a couple of day after his call I actually toyed with the idea of keeping the baby. May be it was just spite, may be a felt 'it was what I needed ... someone to call my own as the clich goes." (SE 222) But the moment her friend Anjali hears of such an 'idea' germinating in Karuna's mind, she decides to nip it in the bud. She tells Karuna, "Don't be crazy A baby is a life-long responsibility ... book at me. Are you prepared to tie yourself down for ever? Get a puppy or a kitten if you are feeling all that motherly, forget about a kid. Besides, you won't be able to handle the scene. You are nit cut out for a single parent situation. You can't go around with an orphan Annie like kid, with no father on the scene." (SE 222) Women in Shobha's novels symbolise the overpowering materialism and the lack of spirituality, that characterises modern age. With the crumbling of moral and ethical values there is an inner conflict which drives the modern Indian women to take shelter in different identities for momentary solace. Girish, the great art film maker, exhorts Karuna to take life more seriously and commit herself to some serious thing like cinema "But life is about more than just goofy kids and surf - boards. I want you to get involved. Commit yourself. Get into the mainstream 'The mainstream of what? Cinema? Life? I find all that very complex." (SE 255) What Girish implies is that Karuna should take her role of Shakuntla in his film more seriously. Even her intellectual pursuits suggest that she is in capable of involving herself in anything serious, for her preoccupation is with only 'cross - word puzzles' and 'newspaper - chess'. It appears that Karuna has just a formal relationship with her husband. Intimacy between the husband and wife is lacking for Karuna who never calls her husband by his name but derogatorily as 'Black Label'. Helena Cixous observes "A male privilege can be seen in the opposition between activity and passivity. Traditionally, the question of sexual difference is coupled with the same opposition; activity/ passivity." (Lodge 1989 : 288) Anjali throws off the traditional conventions of moral values. She enacts a marriage of her choice with Abe. Karuna too discards conventions and she had extra - marital relationship with Krish. Even she dares to restrain her husband from a week long sexual orgy with Krish Kukherjee in Rome. As a house wife. Karuna remembers "I felt like an indifferent boarder in the house, going through the motions of the house keeping and playing wife but the resentment and rebellion remained just under the surface, ready to break out at the smallest provocation." (SE-69) When Karuna's husband comes out with a 'package' deal containing an assured income and all the luxuries which she had hitherto been enjoying. Karuna's only remark is "(the package) sounds sweets'. Similar is the case with Anjali, Her second marriage to the homosexual Kumar is nothing but an exchange for 'the Porches emeralds, holidays in Biarritz, shipping along the champs - Ely sees, a villa in Oaty, parties every night, unlimited champagne and the choice to pick my own bed - mate but only discreetly." (SE-217) Ritu exploits her sexual breakthrough, her female potentiality to keep her husband within her reach, within her control. Look, what she tells Karuna about her strategy.. "... make them feel you have done them a favor by marrying them - make them feel insecure. Let them think you'll walk out on them if they don't toe the line. That's what keeps them in their place." (SE-86) Even the one role that of providing security to the wife which the traditional society has assigned to the husband and against which the so-called emancipated women revolt. The only thing which these emancipated women can do in a fit of boldness is abuse the man in words which even coarse, illiterate women would not use in public. We have only to recall what Karuna tells Karan when she meets him in the Oberoi Hotel and enquires about her friend Anjali, "Listen Asshole Don't give me your fancy lines. You are nothing but cheap male whore. Why don't you leave Ritu alone? (SE-112) Also, Karuna thinks she has become one-up and vindicated herself as a woman by abusing her husband verbally when he comes with the proposal to remarry her "And you waited all this while to tell me. Just get the hell out of my house and life. I don't ever want to see you again. I let you in this time .... but never again I'll call the cops if you try and invade my home in future. You are even more of a warm than I thought. You deserve Winnie I hope she's got a wax doll of yours. I'll send her some extra pins to stick into it. Now take your frigging pipe and out!!?" (SE-264) For the likes of Anjali and Co. marriage also becomes a necessity because it not only provides them security, status and luxuries, but it also enables them to indulge in adultery, for adultery is possible only within marriage. It might begin as a possible escape from a 'meaningless marriage' as happens in the case of Karuna's affair with Krish but once it is discovered she is advised against going on a 'guilt-trip' by Anjali. Despite these facets of a woman's personality, Socialite Evenings is a success story. Karuna fights her way up after her divorce, gets recognition in advertising and television productions and becomes financially independent. The author also seems to approve of the kind of life Karuna has led becomes clear in the brief third person one paragraph Epilogue wherein she says ".... It has been very hard work, this packaging of her life, and often it had almost seemed impossible to finish the book. But now that it was over she felt a certain sadness, autumnal in its intensity .... she loved this time of the day and she willed herself to relax. Tomorrow's anxieties could be dealt with later, today she would rest." (SE-307) In the end we can say Shobha's Socialite Evenings presents aesthetics of feminism and emancipation of woman. WORKS CITED 1. Beauvoir, Simone De. The Second Sex, transl and ed. H.M. Parshley, (London : Penguin, 1974). 2. Anushashan Parva, Chapter 21, Verse 19. 3. Nahal,Chaman, Feminism In Indian English Fiction, Indian Women Novelists ed. by R.K. Dhawan, Prestige Books, New Delhi, 1971, p.30. 4. De, Shobha, Socialite Evenings (New Delhi : Penguin Books, 1990) (All citations in the paper are from this edition of the text, followed by page numbers in parentheses). 5. Lodge, D. Modern Criticism and Theory : A Reader, (London : Long man, 1989).
