LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:1 January 2016
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.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Illusion Versus Reality in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s
To Whom She Will

I. Poornima, M.A., M.Phil.


Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927-2013)
Courtesy: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/ruth-prawer-jhabvalas-passage-to-india/208779

Abstract

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala confines her attention to the Indian middle classes and the expatriates and her novels deftly ring the chimes on the same themes, tracing numerous permutations on family conflicts. The first novel To Whom She Will treats the theme of disillusionment in its gentlest and most benign form. The comic mismatching of pairs of lovers who, as the novel progresses, discovers the difference between illusions and hard realities. The women protagonists are thwarted by their own romantic idealism, by the economic realities and by a social system that devalues them. In this novel Jhabvala has depicted a clash between tradition and modernism at a personal and familial level. In fact, modernism of Amrita and Hari in To Whom She Will is pseudo-modernism, which loses ground as soon as it faces real problems of life. In this novels when the parents come to know about the love affairs of their daughters, they don’t lose any time to arrange marriages for them. Irony of the situation is that the girls too accept the proposals made by their parents. This novels pose the question whether ‘arranged’ or ‘love’ marriage is conducive to happiness. Jhabvala excels in exploring the comic element in sentimentalized love scenes and also in exposing the hollowness of pseudo-romantic epithets. In the beginning, both the female protagonists are non-conformists who are trying to come out of a convention ridden and tradition bound society to an open, uninhibited society free from the shackles of social customs, but in the end, both become conformists and agree to marry according to their parents choice.

Keywords: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, To Whom She Will, Clashes between tradition and modernism, Indian middle class.

To Whom She Will

Marriage can be defined as a legal and union between spouses which is legalized by customs and beliefs that recommend the rights to the partners. It refers to the rules and regulations which define the rights and duties after marriage. Marriage signifies the equal partnership and intimate union between a male and a female. It is a strong association which connects not only two individuals but also builds up a relationship between two families. It brings stability and essence to human relations, which is incomplete without marriage. Its strongest function concerns with the care of children, their upbringing and education. The concept of marriage varies from culture to culture but its role is same i.e. union of two opposite sex. This bond is lifelong and special.

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

I. Poornima, M.A., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor in English
Kalasalingam University
Krishnankoil-626126
Tamilnadu
India
Poornimailango28@gmail.com
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