Indian Culture Portrayed in Amrita Pritam's A Stench of Kerosene
'A Stench Of Kerosene' is the damning and poignant indictment of an
archetypal marriage that commonly thrived in Indian villages, and
alas, still exist in the civilized world of today.
Manak and Guleri, the spouses' joint by marriage resided together in
the formers native village, where he was born and cultivated. Though
as soon as the marriage commenced, Manak's intrusive mother caused
problems in their hapless relationship. The story illustrates how a
marriage based on love that should have flourished into an attractive
venture turned out to be the complete opposite due to the parents'
'backward' ideals which gradually took effect upon the doomed pair.
Pritam's (the author) 'A Stench of Kerosene' palpably unearths the
reality of life in the rustic villages of India, and more
significantly the callous reality faced by married females, who live a
life of tyranny, discontent, and conformity to their male
'equivalents' in addition to their family folklores. One underlying
theme of the story is the representation of Indian people's bigotry
towards the female gender, causing the reader to truly empathize with
the evident quandaries for wedded women who not only tolerate this
prejudice in the East, but women experiencing this identical
predicament around similar parts of the world.
The tale unfolds with Guleri rushing out of the house to embrace a
farm animal that she recognizes arriving from her home village;
"She put her head against its neck as if it were the door to her
father's house".
The fact that Guleri "ran out to the mare", gives an insight into
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...fe, Manak once again opts to remain unspoken; conversely,
the silence he now bears is the result of sorrow for his wife's
demise.
Towards the end of the story, all of Manak's pent up emotions had
finally escaped through a fit of rage;
"take him away!…Take him away! He stinks of kerosene!".
The baby who he wishes to be taken away serves to be a horrid memento
of Guleri's 'needless' death.
Pritam's pessimistic perception of Indian culture also lacks
enthusiasm. She strives to convey her belief in that India ought to
make more of an attempt to dispose of the archaic beliefs that 'women
are inferior to men'. Nevertheless, I must also add that in some parts
of "A Stench Of Kerosene", it emerges that she dramatises the extent
of Indian females being oppressed, and also the authority of the
husband's mother.
Baby is an innocent young twelve-year-old, who undergoes negative changes throughout the novel. O’Neill was inspired to write Lullabies for Little Criminals because she experienced how quickly the border between adulthood and childhood could be erased by taking in
Walter is confronted by the event of having another child when his wife, Ruth, shares the information about what has happened and what her plans are to resolve and continue the scenario. Walter brings to topic of his importance to the scenario, and decides to break away from the event and think of his answer towards his wife’s information and response. He later is shown the understanding of his wife by the reaction of his mother, who questions his standing on how his father would have reacted. This brings Walter to think of why he should change and not walk out on times of importance. Walter discovers that his turmoil of drinking and appearance on the topic could lose the life of his newly developing child.
...rson and he knows that she will take care of the little guy even if the Guy is not around. A distort desire to be free of the situation drive the whole family into tragedy and leave them grieves
and the people around him. His mother did not even care enough to keep his birth
“Alcoholism is an epidemic among Native Americans”(KCTS9). Many people believe that alcoholism is in the Native’s blood, but it is truly just a situational problem. On the reservations a majority of families are poverty ridden, and these families normally stay on the reservation their whole lives. Junior, a 14 year old Spokane Indian, manages to break the cycle of hopelessness and alcoholism in his family by leaving the reservation school to go to the white school in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Another character that Sherman Alexie brings to life, Arnold, is the typical alcoholic indian stereotype who allows alcohol to affect the course of his life in the movie Smoke Signals. In both Smoke Signals and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, author Sherman Alexie shows how alcohol on the reservation can cause accidents, funerals, and heartache.
...sh world of the delivery room. He leaves you with the impression that's he's not happy with this process of growing-up and resents it as shown by the tail-between-his-legs posture as he and his mother's car limp together out of the parking lot.
As a result of his conscious going against his actions, he compromises by granting her the chance to guess his name which would allow her to keep the child. Regardless of his mixed feelings towards raising a child, he stuck with his word because he’s already made it clear of what he wanted therefore “[he] might as well forge on” (Cunningham, 70) and he was desperate for “another token, a talisman, a further piece of evidence” (70) which would slowly seal the space between himself and his true
...in his trying to act god like he actually kills her. The Birthmark is a story of how one man can think a little too highly of himself when he tries to change what is not meant to be changed.
...He clearly wants her to choose to have the abortion, but doesn't want to be seen as the bad guy having made the decision himself.
When this tale is looked at from a deeper perspective, it is learned that the mothers wish is to be loved and not have to worry about her child that has come in the way of her and her
Throughout the whole story, both of the two denied that anything was wrong. The girl saw everything they could have. She did not want to think about it, however. The man simply does not want to deal with the baby. They chose to not look at the unavoidable challenge in front of them. They did not see the life and innocence of the baby. They chose to ignore the two choices, life or death. They chose to see neither the dry hills nor the lively hills on each side of the Ebro. They did not see the hills like white elephants.
She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over...
Portrayal of the Curse of Barrenness in A Stench of Kerosene, and The Barren Women of Balramgaon
he is doomed to never take on the role of father again. Even though he
...t is given or kept as a reminder or memory of somebody or something. The movie Memento holds true to this definition with many symbols like tattoos, and polaroid photos that the films protagonist uses to remember incidents around the death of his wife. Momento provides a disturbingly familiar yet unconventional and clever twist to the classic film noir by starting from the end of the story. Despite the divergent story telling twist Memento is none the less a film noir with all of the archetypal characters (i.e. a suffering protagonist, an alluring and sexy femme fatale) and a visual style and mood which includes low-key lighting, the use of blinds; the play on black and white scenes and a story line based on a violent death. Memento is complicated, timely, thought provoking and subversive yet it is still reminiscent of the classic hallmarks of the film noir.