LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 12 December 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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M. S. Thirumalai
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The Awakening: Significance of Rabindranath Tagore’s
“Strir Patra” in the Present World

K. Tejaswani, Ph.D.

Abstract

This paper considers the significance of the role of the family in a woman’s life as depicted in the short story “Strir Patra” by Rabindranath Tagore. Probably one of the first short stories to deal with feminism in colonial India, this short story confronts the age-old perceptions of the role of women in a family. The plight of the Bengali women in the 19th century was brought out in Tagore’s short stories like “Strir Patra”, “Nasta Neer”, “Ghare Bhaire”, etc.

Mrinal, a housewife belonging to a middle class family, writes a letter to her husband from a pilgrimage. Through the contents, we understand the trying times she endured in her attempt to give shelter to a young girl. Mrinal’s family makes every effort to stop her from helping the young girl, Bindu. Eventually, they get Bindu married to an insane man without considering the young girl’s predicament. When the girl tries to get out of that marriage and runs away twice from home, she realizes that she is nothing but a burden to Mrinal, given the societal and their family circumstances. She sets herself on fire and dies. Her death becomes a clarion call for Mrinal to awaken to her true self. The most remarkable part is that this short story also simultaneously endeavors to bring to light the role of a family in a woman’s life.

This paper would also look into whether the women in the present world have really awakened to their selves. The paper deals with the relevance in the present world of the issues raised by Tagore in the early 20th century.

Key words: Role of a woman, Tagore, role of a family, female sexual repression, Bengali women.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

K. Tejaswani, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in English
Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management University
Hyderabad Campus
Hyderabad 502329
Andhra Pradesh
India
tej_hyd@rediffmail.com
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