Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel, Water, realistically presents the circumstances of women and, in particular, widows in 1938 Colonial India. It exposes the gender inequality and double standards that govern that society for no other reason than that is what tradition dictates. Sidhwa presents complexities in her characters, which make them very human and very real, and the widows’ reactions to each other and to the world outside of the ashram create a feminist message. Water poses the problem of gender inequality in India by presenting a realistic and typical situation, and it allows the readers to draw their own conclusions while experiencing the intricacies of the Indian culture.
The most obvious example of inequality or mistreatment of women is Chuyia’s situation of becoming a bride and soon after a widow at age eight. By becoming a widow she is forced into the ashram and into isolation from the rest of society. This is a situation that is common in India due to the fact that tradition dictates “a woman is recognized as a person only when she is one with her husband” (Sidhwa 14). It shows that society views women as worthless unless they are under the control and service of a man. Furthermore, this tradition means that women are married off as soon as possible as to secure their future and purpose in life, while men are able to wait longer to marry. In Indian culture, men are worth more than women, and the novel shows this fact by contrasting Chuyia’s marriage situation with Narayan’s situation. Chuyia has no say in who she must marry because she is female, and her marriage is entirely dependent on her father, who marries off six-year-old Chuyia to a forty year old man. Even though Chuyia’s mother tries to stop the marriage a...
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...t “By drifting almost unnoticeably from the commonplace to the horrific, Water implicates the reader” (Jaiarjun). It does more than rant about a feminist agenda; it calls the readers to action by deeply involving them first-hand in the atrocities that are taking place against women.
Works Cited
Arora, Kamal, Saydia Kamal, and Usamah Ahmad. "Water: Drenched in colonial benevolence." Seven Oaks. 05 Oct 2005. Web. 13 Apr 2010. .
Seton, Nora. "Honoring the abandoned." Houston Chronicle (2006). Web. 5 Apr 2010. .
Sidhwa, Bapsi. Water. Toronto, Canada: Key Porter Books Limited, 2006. Print.
Singh, Jaiarjun. "Whirlpools on the Ghats." Indian Express (2006). Web. 5 Apr 2010. .
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Feminist Theory is an aspect of considering feminism as having been based on socio-phenomenon issues rather than biological or scientific. It appreciates gender inequality, analyzes the societal roles played by feminists in a bid to promote the interests, issues and rights of women in the society. It is also based on the assumption that women play subsidiary roles in the society. The whole idea of feminism has however experienced hurdles in the form of stereotyping by the wider society. This paper tries to examine some of the effects of stereotypes that feminism goes through, what other philosophers say and the way forward towards ending stereotyping.
The Scarlet Letter can easily be seen as an early feminist piece of work. Nathaniel Hawthorne created a story that exemplifies Hester as a strong female character living with her choices, whether they were good or bad, and also as the protagonist. He also presents the daughter of Hester, Pearl, as an intelligent female, especially for her age. He goes on to prove man as imperfect through both the characters of Dimmesdale and of Chillingworth. With the situation that all the characters face, Hawthorne establishes the female as the triumphant one, accomplishing something that, during Nathaniel Hawthorne’s time, authors did not attempt.
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Feminism constantly works to eliminate oppression, inequality and discrimination. A highly important tool used by feminists to assess differences among individuals in society which the author of “Feminisms Matters”, Victoria Bromley critiques is called intersectionality. Intersectionality enables one’s critical thinking about a person’s multiple identities and also goes into a deep investigation about how these identities are interconnected as to discover the roots of inequality. These multiple identities are interwoven throughout society’s power structures. The general misconception and approach of power is that it is zero-sum, which Bromley counter argues by supporting how power is instead about empowerment and can be shared with all (Bromley
“Why are you taking a Women’s Studies class? Feminism is stupid…I’m definitely not one of those girls who calls herself a feminist,” I was shocked to hear my freshman year roommate exclaim her distaste towards the feminist identity. Despite the incredible strides that feminism has made and is still making today, there are no shortage of individuals who see feminism as a movement that doesn’t align with their personal beliefs or values. So many different groups and individuals have defined—often times in contention with each other—what it means to be a feminist. To many individuals, the overwhelming and varied definitions of feminism have made the term lose some of its meaning. Additionally, while feminism today appears to be more inclusive
Feminist sociology focuses on examining and understanding gender in its relation to power within society as well as individuals. The fundamental principle of feminist sociology is the idea that in most societies, women have been oppressed and that men have been more dominant throughout history. Feminist theory directly relates to feminist sociology. According to the Introduction to Sociology 2e textbook, “feminist theory is a type of conflict theory that examines inequalities in gender-related issues. It uses the conflict approach to examine the maintenance of gender roles and inequalities” (Openstax 261). This paper aims to analyze feminist theory, discuss its history, as well as emphasizing a current social
Ramamoorthy, P. “My Life is My Own: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s Women” Feminism and Recent Fiction in English Ed. Sushila Singh. New Delhi: Prestige, 1991.
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