AN EARLY START: EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN IN SOME MAJOR NOVELS OF R.K. NARAYAN

Abstract

The present research work is an analysis of R.K. Na r a ya n ’ s f emal e ch a r a ct er s to trace the gradual emancipat ion of women in his works. Most ly taken as a tradi t ional ist , Narayan, nevertheless, has clearly revealed the changes coming i n t o women ’ s approach towards how to lead l i fe in his six decades of creat ive career. In his novels he clearly highl ights his progressive and forward looking ideology regarding women. He has cr eated the proto-type of modern Indian woman in his fict ion at a t ime when Indian society was st i l l in the vicious gr ip of both al ien authori ty and nat ive orthodoxy. This work probes deeply the confl ict that women face when they are forced to take extreme s teps for carving out their own rightful space. This study also aims at clari fying the const raining cri t icism of people l ike V.S. Naipaul , Meenakshi Mukherjee and Harish Raizada on R.K. Narayan that his characters and Malgudi mindset remained stat ic and did not change throughout his works. The scholar has taken up the changing women in the selected novels of R.K. Narayan to point out that his women characters symbol ize the growing at t i tude of the novel ist as wel l as of his locale, keeping pace wi th the changing t ime. This work has been divided into eight parts. First chapter clarifies the object ives of the study and also covers major l i terature review on the works of Narayan. The subsequent five chapters ar e a r r a n g ed a c co r d i n g t o t h e p er i o d o f Nar a ya n ’ s ch i ef female protagonists; this ar rangement bypassing the year of publ icat ions of the novels, helps in char t ing the emancipat ing spi ri t in a bet ter way. The second chapter analyses the strong character of Bala of Gr a n dmo t h e r ’ s T a l e that how during rigidly conservat ive social mores of 1850s, she could claim her husband back in the face of many ch al l en g es . T h e t h i r d ch ap t er d i s c u s s es Na r a ya n ’ s The Dark Room in which the author port rays the predicament of Savi tri in a fossi l ized mindset of 1930s. Taking a lop-sided view of her return to her husband, some cri t ics cal l i t her dismal defeat . The present scholar chal lenges this stance and finds that Savi tr i vii is not a fai lure; she rather paves the way for the next generat ion of women pining for emancipat ion by her courageous protest . The fourth chapter on Wai t ing for the Mahatma i s en t i r e l y d i f f er en t f r om Nar a ya n ’ s e ar l i e r wo r k s as the author has completely reversed the roles played by male and female protagonists; here Bharat i wears the pants. The fi fth chapter discusses how the t h eme o f woman ’ s d es i r e t o b r ea k h e r c o n f i n eme n t t ak en u p i n Wai t ing for the Mahatma, finds extension in The Guide. Rosie, female protagonist of the novel , is an ambi t ious, educated and unor thodox lady of complex character who overcomes her sense of inferiori ty and despai r to emerge stronger by the day. She starts her journey f rom ut ter dependence on men, but ends i t wi th a successful career and complete independence. The sixth chapter on The Painter of Signs is another novel in which Narayan cont inues to strengthen his female character wi th more power and capabi l i t ies. The female hero, Daisy, is an iconoclast , and stands in a sharp ironic contrast wi th tradi t ional Indian womanhood. The seventh chapter comprises discussion on such women characters, who, despi te occupying less space, play otherwise vi tal roles in thei r path to emancipat ion. They are: Shant i in Mr Sampath, Ambika in The Vendor of Sweets, Rangi in The Man-Eater of Malgudi , Si ta and Saroja in The World of Nagaraj and Sarasa in Talkat ive Man. The actual importance given to them in the story- l ine is far beyond the space provided to them. The last chapter presents the conclusion of the present study that cri t ics who cal l Narayan a mere tradi t ional ist wi th no growth in his out look, are unjust i fied because the way he has depicted his women characters makes his changing sensibi l i ty qui te clear.