LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13 : 3 March 2013
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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Conjugal Cacophony in Daughters of Shame
by Jaswinder Sanghera

Ms. Riju Sharma, M.A., B.Ed.
Ms. Sudha Sharma, M.A., M.Phil.

Abstract

Unabated in every country and continent is the issue of the status of woman once she enters the institution of marriage. It is a kind of collective victimhood which all women suffer where the patriarchal elements of the society name them as ‘home breakers’ as depicted in Daughters of Shame. Women have no shelter to seek, their freedom, money and lives are controlled by men in the patriarchal set up leading to their oppression, suppression, repression, victimization and marginalization. Discordant notes are struck in a relationship when young girls are forced to marry someone who is a stranger to them. This paper aims at studying how such an arrangement where marriage takes place against the wishes of the girls is taking a devastating toll not only on them but also on their family and society depriving them of their freedom. This paper is an attempt to search a world for these women where they are treated at par with men as they have always yearned to create a kingdom where they shall be heard some day.

Introduction

Undeniably, family is a vital principal group in a society. Family and marriage are the two pillars of any societal institution. Marriage is hallowed as sacred and is for most Asians, more particularly Hindus, not merely a sacrament but is sacrosanct. Conjugal cacophony’ means marital discord. The discord is not just because of the ego-clashes, dowry, mismatch or of incongruity between man and woman in a relationship but due to the forced marriages of minors who are aware of their rights but unable to protest against their very own parents and community. Those who rebel or raise their voice against the set norms have always been under the threat of the people of the community so much so that sometimes they are even killed for honour.

The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women, not only in Asian countries but also in the Asian families settled abroad. On daily basis, we read in newspapers about honour killings, forced marriages, dowry cases which show the inhuman side of man in a patriarchal system which creates the mindset of a man being an owner and a woman being a commodity. When these Asians go abroad and assimilate with their unfamiliar way of life, it is expected from them that they should be open-minded and should shed the burden of age-old canons of patriarchy. But being a part of Asian community, as a reader when we go through the work of Jaswinder Sanghera, it comes as a shock that even in the European countries the immigrant Asians are still carrying the load of patriarchy and passing it forward to their families, or, as one can say, they are forcing their future generations to follow the same rituals even if their progeny are not able to adapt themselves in that atmosphere because of the cultural clash.

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

Ms. Riju Sharma, M.A., B.Ed.
rijusharma5@gmail.com

Ms. Sudha Sharma, M.A.,M.Phil.
sudhasharma25@yahoo.co.in

Assistant Professors in English
Post-Graduate Government College
Sector-46
Chandigarh
India
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