Analysis Of Shilipya Gowda's Secret Daughter

Values shape the person that one becomes; they are either those that one learns to values or the ones that are instilled through others. Often values are shared with people without them being aware of it, through ones’ actions and thinking. The author of Secret Daughter, Shilipi Somaya Gowda may or may not be aware that her values were transmitted through her literature. Through her work, readers can distinguish many of her values that shaped the characters as well as the story itself. Gowda used the values that she believed in to connect with the characters almost sharing her life in the form of a novel. Gowda’s values were evident even in a small excerpt of Secret Daughter. It is clear to the readers that Gowda deeply values family, equality,

Through these values were the events of the novel were shaped as well as how the characters’ act and think.
One of Gowda’s prominent values that was evident in her novel was family and the importance of it, distinctly, as family was the centralized conflict of the novel. Family values were passed on to Gowda from Gowda’s parents. “Growing up in Toronto, we didn’t have much family around. So, we became really close to one each other more” (HarperCollinsCanada). As Gowda is of Indian descent living in Canada much of her family wasn’t around. Her parents worked hard, long hours to support their family. Thus, leaving Gowda to value her time with her family as it was rare. In the novel Secret Daughter, Jasu and Kavita were hesitant to leave their family behind as all their life they had their family with them to support as well as help in times of need. “How can I leave you?... He is taking me away from you, from Rupa, all my relatives, my home, my village.” (Gowda 92) Kavita and Jasu

Gowda came face to face with this problem during her time in India, volunteering in the orphanage. In Secret Daughter, one of many moments of gender prejudice occurred when Jasu killed off his two children because they were girls. “We can’t do this…She will become a burden to us, a drain on our family. Is that what you want?” (Gowda 16). Jasu believed that a daughter was a burden. He had hoped for a son to carry on the family name as well as work in the fields with him. His closemindedness to the value of females was the cause of two children that were let down by their dad. When Asha was in the slum parts of Bombay, interviewing mothers, she found that their sons went to school while their daughters stayed at home with them. “Why aren’t you at school? [laughs] girls don’t go to school, only boys do.” (Gowda 109). Not only is gender inequality present throughout India, it is also being taught to little girls that it is normal. Allowing them to think that it is normal to be worth less than their male counterpart and that’s how it will always be. Another occurrence of gender inequality in the novel was when Saria told Somer that she should not go out alone without a male with her. “It is not appropriate for women like you to walk on the streets alone. You should not have gone without one of is for your own safety.” (Gowda 72). The treatment of women in India is so terrible that a woman is unable to