Re interpreting partition from feminist perspective in selected partition novels

Gupta, Priyanka
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University
2020
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Summary: 
The partition of the sub-continent into two countries during 1947 made a vast dislocation of people and the mass exodus of people from one place to another. The partition results in the violence that it unleashed were unprecedented, unexpected and barbaric. Provoked by the actions of hooligans and other political people the common folk suffered the communal frenzy. The consequences of the freedom struggle include the cynical brotherhood and Hindu Muslim relations are looked upon with great suspicion. The main focus of research in this thesis is that women are doubly suppressed and victimized before and after partition. Moreover, the research objective will trace out that from how long women have been victimized and traumatized and they were targeted during that time. The women have been treated as inferior beings and besides that the object of sexual pleasure at the time of partition. Also, the women at that time were treated as a mere tool to fight against the other communities. The partition of the country and the displacement of a large number of people made this historical episode of separation more and more significant. The history would have been different if it would be seen from a feminist perspective. The result may be the same but the statistics of the hundreds and thousands of killings would be saved. An analysis concluded that women were maltreated and humiliated, and not only that but also they were dishonored. These results lessened the taste of freedom. The partition novels can also be included in the group of historical novels because the history has the witnesses and records of the partition. It also included the study of history through different facts and figures. The partition of countries ended in the cooperation of the two groups and society. Also, we can say that partition has both the positive and the negative impact on the people and countries of both sides. The partition of India and Pakistan set new challenges to the whole world either in the one way or the other. The trauma, pain, sorrow and mourning over the distortion of the healthy relations between the people of the nation were terrible. The justification for the selection of literary texts and the theory of post-colonial feminism is because of the unexplored approach. Earlier this perspective of partition is not studied. The post-colonial approach is discreetly studied in this doctoral thesis. The post-colonial feminists and theorists argue different perspectives of class, gender and subjugation regarding third world women. The division of the country into two halves not only pointed to the integrity of the people but, also to the security of two countries. The objective of this work is to figure out the reason and motives of this cataclysmic separation. The writers in this study entail portraying the real society and milieu at the time of the partition. All the writers in the study worked on the communal theme more and less on women as victims. They are portrayed as victims and fatalities. The entire works marked on the women-centric incidents and also on the causes that why women are targeted and mutilated. The religious controversies, political, social and economic pressure are there. The Britisher’s rule in India looted the integral property and ultimately played the game of divide and rule and separated the whole nation. India and Pakistan attained independence on August 15 and August 14, 1947, respectively. Link - //bit.ly/3gX3iCc
Language: 
English