The dialectics involved in the perception of problems agitating the minds of sensitive people cannot be partial; one must take a holistic view of the complex issues. While the instances of sexual abuse, domestic violence and gender discrimination in the patriarchal societal setup, which are on the rise in recent times, deserve to be condemned, it should not lead to sexual anarchy evident in increasing cases of premarital and extramarital sexual relationships. While some observers feel that Sita and Draupadi are cases of female subjugation, there are a few who argue that Sita is a feminist archetype. Most of the detectives of earlier generation presented a detective as an omnipotent watcher of the ‘criminal’ but in the post-modern fiction he is more watched than a watcher.

In the first paper, “The Politics of Watching in the Narratives of Detection and Crime: A Study of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Erasers”, Anindita Dey examines the change of role between the pursuer and the pursued based on a study of classical and post-modern detective fiction in Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s The Erasers.

Shruti Das, in her paper, “Dialectics of Perception: Europe as a Subtext in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things”, looks at the Europeanization of mental universe of the elite in the postcolonial period, presented by Arundhati Roy in her novel, The God of Small Things. The continuing exploitation of the marginalized classes, in spite of phoney socialistic claims, draws trenchant sarcasm from the novelist.

The objectivity of a narrator is suspect when the protagonist-narrator turns out to be hysteric, who resists her plight as victim and yet surrenders. The psychological ambivalence of the victim is brought out by Niranjana Ghosal and Srirupa Chatterjee in their paper, “The Hysteric as a Chronicler in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale”. The novel highlights the power imbalances in man-woman relationships, while at the same time indicating the freedom Offred enjoyed in her sexual experiences with the security guard. And in the end, Offred shows her will in choosing life over death.

Raj Kumar Mishra, in his paper, “Arthur Miller’s All My Sons in the Light of Aristotle’s Poetics”, presents the unscrupulous means adopted by Joe Keller in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. The killing of 21 air force personnel, when Joe Keller supplies defective aircraft shocked his son. His shock was all the more intense when he learnt about the unjust punishment of their neighbor. The author makes a new approach to the play when he studies it in the light of Aristotle’s Poetics.

Nationalism is usually associated with masculinity and the country is evoked as Mother. If the attribute of Shakti is lacking, the country will be the subject of colonization and for achieving independence, use of strength will be required. In his early phase, poet, patriot and revolutionary, Aurobindo championed the use of force—even violent means—to free the country from foreign yoke. Uttam Jadhav and Tripti Karekatti, in their paper, “Masculinity and Nationalism in Aurobindo’s Perseus the Deliverer”, examine the need for Shakti, as against Bhakti, for nationalism, based on the pervasive theme of the play, Perseus the Deliverer.

The quest for selfhood by women and the attendant failure is almost universal. The urge to seek their identity can arise from diverse socio-psychological factors, but it is existent in both the East and the West. Kirti Rajhans, in her paper, “Analyzing Modern Woman’s Quest and Suffering: A Psychological Exploration of Muriel Spark’s Novels”, examines three novels of Muriel Spark: The Public Image, The Driver’s Seat and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. In the first novel, Anabel Christopher desperately seeks to escape from the public image as an adventurous tiger, with a happy family, and realize her real self in a remote place, unrecognized by the people around. In the second novel, Lise contrarily seeks to be noticed by public gaze and for that purpose plans her own sensational suicide by occupying the driver’s seat. In the third novel, the dictatorial teacher Jean seeks to mould her students as she pleases but in the end she is betrayed by her own favorite student Sandy, while she takes her teacher’s former lover, Teddy, as her own lover, leaving Jean emotionally broken. In all the cases, the women suffer the pangs of emotional failure.

We offer in this issue three papers discussing the issue of feminist approach to the reality of social structure. GRK Murty, in his paper, “Sita in : A Feminist Archetype!” shows that instead of being a weak woman, obeying the dictates of her husband Sita of asserts her individuality. She takes the decision to accompany her husband to the forest, in spite of the wish of Rama. She orders Lakshmana to prepare fire so that she would sacrifice herself, when Rama refuses to accept her after she is freed from captivity in Lanka and asks her to go where she pleases. She has the wisdom and courage to tender advice to Rama of his dharma as an ascetic during his vanavaas. And finally, she refuses to join Rama after she is sent to forest just to perform his duty as an ideal king but instead chooses to go into the happy embrace of Mother Earth. These instances show that Sita is an Archetypal Feminist. Hetal M Doshi, in his paper, “Feminist Reading of Indian Epics: Exploring Sita and Draupadi Through the Current Perception” looks at Sita and Draupadi from a contemporary feminist perspective and argues that in their conduct both come across as strong women who wreak vengeance against those who misbehaved with them: Ravana and Duryodhana receive the deserved punishment. In crossing the Lakshmana Rekha, Sita asserts her free will, the author feels. It is difficult to see how the acceptance of five husbands by Draupadi is an act of assertion of free will. As against the fashionable urge for freedom of the usually discriminated gender, Anupama Shekhawat, in her paper, “‘I Want You Together, Mummy and Papa’: Detrimental Effect of Divorce on Children – A Study of Aapka Bunti”, presents a contrary picture, when she brings out the problems involved in divorce, even when the grounds for seeking divorce by a couple are justified. When the husband, Ajay, develops an extramarital relationship, the wife, Shakun, divorces him and finally remarries. But the trauma experienced by the child Bunti and his pathetic wish to have both his parents together is sensitively presented by Mannu Bhandari in her famous Hindi novel, Aapka Bunti. The papers would hopefully provoke debate and even dissent from discerning readers.

-- S S Prabhakar Rao
Consulting Editor