LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 21:6 June 2021
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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In Search of Woman Self, Challenges, and Ultimate Destiny in
Tagore’s “Subha”: An Existential Approach

Md. Ibrahim Khalil

Abstract

Rabindranath Tagore, the leading Bengali literary gem and Nobel laureate (1913) in literature, has been largely enchanted by several vital worldwide issues such as recognized woman self, hearty care and compassion in troubles and distress, and more interestingly the ultimate purpose of a woman. From his life-long experience and passionate literary adventure, Tagore observes everlasting picture of Bengali rural women, their life styles and the inherent miseries from the context of patriarchal mechanism. In most of his short stories, he always keeps a permanent platform to examine the society as well as its traditional beliefs and barriers against the emancipation of women. The short story “Subha” is one of them. Through the deaf and dumb girl Subha, Tagore explains how cruel and terrible role a system can play to make one’s life so devastating. The study demonstrates what sort of challenges this wretched girl has faced entirely to meet her “Woman Self” along with the ultimate destiny of life. Applying existentialistic approach, this study follows qualitative and descriptive analysis to get a comprehensive insight.

Keywords: Tagore, Subha, Woman Self, Individuality, Freedom, Anxiety, Destiny, Existentialism

Introduction

In the context of human existence, individuality and freedom, existentialism is one of the much discussed issues. “Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself” (Sartre 24). Due to the impact of modern civilization and industrial revolution people began to judge everything applying science and reason. This scientific and enthusiastic sense forced human civilization to be detached from the traditional beliefs and systems once they had. To comment on this radical change, Panza argued, “As the scientific and Industrial Revolutions came to a head in the 19th century, and society became increasingly secularized, the traditional social order underwent radical change in a very short time” (9). It has raised some fundamental questions towards the so called established systems and principles. “During this period, people began to feel disconnected from the traditional belief systems that had helped them make sense of the world and of their lives. In these conditions, people may not literally commit suicide, but a kind of spiritual death — a spiritual suicide — becomes a very real danger” (Panza 10). In fact, people began to feel a tragic concern of human relationship. According to Macquarrie, “For the existentialist, man is never just part of the cosmos but always stands to it in a relationship of tension with possibilities for tragic conflict” (17). Finding no possible ways to be followed as a part of the consequence, man abides by the command of the unending destiny. “It occurs when people give up to resignation and surrender in the face of what they see as the pointlessness of their existence” (Panza 10).

One of the best short story writers in Bangla literature is Rabindranath Tagore. “Tagore’s stories are relevant to the current society thematic reviews and readers perceptions will definitely promote idealistic views in the minds of the readers. Tagore had the unique natural genius to read women’s minds and analyze their strange structure, through his stories” (Prasanna TVN 143). In most of his stories, he has depicted multidimensional role of women as he had close connection with them in his childhood. “Rabindranath’s sympathy for the cause of women struck roots during his teenage years” (Unger 272). At the same time, he was influenced by some women. The reflection has been seen in his creative works. Unger commented, “Throughout his life several women had much influence on Tagore. Together with other impressions all this genuinely would become amalgamated in Rabindranath’s creativity in many fields” (284). He never supported the strong grasp of patriarchies. “Tagore was very dissatisfied with the prevailing patriarchal system which suppressed the basic human rights of a woman” (Banerjee 272). He observed that women cannot cross the box due to their limitations. “Most of the women in Tagore’s writing suffer to a greater extent, but few women stand out” (Rani B. et al. 11976). The study analyzes Tagore’s short story “Subha” from existentialistic perspective focusing the woman self, commonly faced challenges as a woman and finally the ultimate destiny of an individual.

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

Md. Ibrahim Khalil
Lecturer
Department of English
Pabna University of Science and Technology
Pabna - 6600, Bangladesh
ibrahimkhalil@pust.ac.bd
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