AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ARFIANA KHAIRUNNISA Student Number: 044214039
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2009
Nama : ARFIANA KHAIRUNNISA
Nomor Mahasiswa : 044214039
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
GENDERED EXPERIENCES IN INDIAN AND AMERICAN FAMILY AS PORTRAYED IN ANITA DESAI’S FASTING, FEASTING
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me-ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun mem-berikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 31 Januari 2009
Yang menyatakan
(ARFIANA KHAIRUNNISA)
memuat karya atau bagian yang lain kecuali yang telah disebutkan dalam kutipan dan daftar pustaka sebagai layaknya karya ilmiah.
Yogyakarta, 31 Januari 2009
Arfiana Khairunnisa
blessing and giving me opportunity in completing this thesis. I would like to give
my deepest gratitude to my mother Sumarti, my father Arifin, and my only sister Bella. Their love gave me the strength to finish this work immediately.
My special thank to my advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum., for her smile, advice, discussion, patience, and guidance in working in this thesis.
I thank my co-advisor Harris H. Setiajid, S.S., M.Hum., for so many inputs regarding my writing content. I thank my examiner, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum., for the funny defense. Thanks to all the lecturers and all staffs of English Letters Department, especially to my class advisor, Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M.Hum. Mbak Ninik, despite of all the confusion that I gave her in regards to my schedule every semester, I thank to you.
Thanks to my friends Shanti, Acid, Toni ‘Item’, Rani, Lisis, Deva, Ison, Lutfi, Oos for the fun time in class and all my friends in English Letters who I have not mentioned yet. Easynet crews, Putri, Om Sulis, Rini, Dodi, Hari, Bayu and Nylla, I thank for filling my shifts when I have to write this thesis. I thank to Destila and Chietra for the strong ties of friendship. My special thank to Letyzia for borrowing me her books, Eka for the discussion and grammar lessons, Ibu Noeri and Bennet for making me feel at home in Nagan house. The last, I greatly thank Anugerah Wicaksono for guiding me to the better life ☺
Arfiana Khairunnisa
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ... iv
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN KARYA... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii
ABSTRACT ... ix
ABSTRAK ... x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 5
C. Objectives of the Study ... 5
D. Definition of Terms ... 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 7
A. Review of Related Studies... 7
B. Review of Related Theories... 8
1. Theory of Characterization ………..…………... 8
2. Theory of Gender………..……...………. 11
a. Gender Differences………... 11
b. Gender Inequalities…... 13
c. Gendered Experiences ………….…..………. 15
3. Review on the Family ………..…………....… 16
a. Review on the Indian Family……….... 16
b. Review on the American Family……… 19
C. Theoretical Framework ……… 22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ………. 23
A. Object of the Study... 23
B. Approach of the Study... 24
C. Method of the Study ... 25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ………. 27
A. Character and Characterization…. ... 27
1. Female Characters .……….……… 28
a. Uma ……… 28
b. Aruna…… ………..………..………. 31
c. Mama………..………. 33
d. Anamika……… ….……….………... 35
e. Mrs. Patton……… ………..………... 37
d. Mr. Patton…… …………..……….………... 48
e. Rod Patton………..…..………..…..………... 50
B. Gendered Experiences in Indian and American Family………. 51
1. Gendered Experiences in Indian Family…..……… 52
a. Domestic Life..……… 52
b. Relationship between Men and Women………. 58
c. Education and Career………….………. 62
2. Gendered Experiences in American Family.……… 66
a. Domestic Life..……… 66
b. Relationship between Men and Women………. 69
c. Education and Career………….………. 73
C. Women’s and Men’s Position in Indian and American Family 74 1. Women’s and Men’s Position in Indian Family…..…….…… 75
2. Women’s and Men’s Position in American Family.……….… 80
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION …... 86
BIBLIOGRAPHY …... 89
The novel Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai depicts the life journey of a middle-class Indian family throughout the years. The plot alternates between the present and flashbacks to various moments in the past. The novel itself is divided into two parts; India and America. The plot reveals through the perceptions of Uma, in India, and of Arun, in America. Both of them are entrapped, irrespective of the culture and enveloping situation, by oppressive bonds exercised by their own parents, MamaPapa, who are prototypical parents that can be found in middle-class family in India.
There are some objectives that the writer wants to achieve through this thesis. The first is to analyze the male and female characters in Fasting, Feasting in order to understand the characters deeply. The second is to classify the gendered experiences that are experienced by the characters in the novel. The last objective is to see the women’s position and men’s position in the family as reflected in both families in the novel.
In order to analyze the problem, the writer is employing gender study as an approach. Gender study is considered appropriate to be applied to this topic because the discussion in this work is about men and women and their experiences in gendered experience, how they experienced it, and the result of those experiences. In this study, the approach only focuses to discuss the male and female characters and their problems of the novel.
The study has found that each character in the novel experienced different gendered experiences. The female characters are obliged to do things that are regarded as ‘feminine’. They responsible for all domestic chores, take care of children, etc. In opposite, the male characters are obliged to do things that are regarded as ‘masculine’. They work outside home, get good education and career, etc. Those kinds of activities give more advantages to men than women. The gendered experiences always make women in subordinate position. As the result, both Indian and American families are male-centered family system. Moreover, as shown in the characters in Fasting, Feasting, culture has demand differently over sex. Culture determines what should be achieved by men and women. Different background culture of India and America constructs different gendered experiences. However, the form and degree of inequality in Indian family differs from the ones in American family.
Novel Anita Desai yang berjudul Fasting, Feasting menggambarkan perjalanan hidup sebuah keluarga kelas menengah India dari tahun ke tahun. Alur ceritanya bergantian dari masa kini ke masa lalu. Novel ini dibagi menjadi dua bagian, India dan Amerika. Alurnya dideskripsikan melalui persepsi Uma di India dan Arun di Amerika. Keduanya tertekan dan terjebak dalam budaya dan situasi oleh orangtua mereka sendiri, MamaPapa, orang tua konvensional yang biasa ditemui di keluarga kelas menengah India.
Ada beberapa tujuan yang ingin dicapai penulis dalam menyusun karya tulis ini. Yang pertama adalah menganalisa karakter perempuan dan laki-laki di Fasting, Feasting untuk lebih mengerti karakter-karakter tersebut lebih jauh. Yang kedua adalah mengklasifikasikan pengalaman gender yang dialami oleh para karakter dalam novel. Yang terakhir adalah untuk melihat posisi perempuan dan laki-laki yang tergambar di kedua keluarga dalam novel.
Untuk menganalisa masalah, penulis menggunakan pendekatan studi gender. Studi gender dirasa tepat untuk diaplikasikan dalam topik ini karena bahasan dalam karya ini tentang laki-laki dan perempuan dan pengalaman gender mereka, bagaimana mereka mengalaminya, dan hasil dari pengalaman ini. Di dalam karya tulis ini, pendekatan difokuskan hanya pada karakter laki-laki dan perempuan juga masalah mereka yang ada pada novel.
Penelitian ini merumuskan bahwa setiap karakter mengalami pengalaman gender yang berbeda. Karakter perempuan berkewajiban melakukan hal-hal yang dianggap sebagai ‘feminin’. Mereka bertanggung jawab atas rumah, mengasuh anak, dll. Sebaliknya, karakter laki-laki berkewajiban melakukan hal-hal yang dianggap sebagai ‘maskulin’. Mereka bekerja, mendapat edukasi dan karir yang bagus, dll. Aktivitas semacam itu memberikan lebih banyak keuntungan pada pihak laki-laki daripada perempuan. Pengalaman gender selalu membuat posisi perempuan berada di bawah. Lebih jauh, yang terlihat pada karakter-karakter di Fasting, Feasting, budaya memiliki tuntutan yang berbeda pada jenis kelamin. Budaya menentukan apa yang harus dicapai oleh laki-laki dan perempuan. Perbedaan budaya India dan Amerika menghasilkan perbedaan pengalaman gender. Tetapi, bentuk dan level pada keluarga India lain dengan bentuk dalam keluarga Amerika.
A. Background of the Study
The word gender in the academic community has become a proper
synonym for the study of women. Gender, however, does not refer simply to the
study of women, but to the manner in which male and female differences are
socially constructed. According to Pilcher and Whelehan in their book Fifty Keys
Concepts in Gender Studies, the concept of gender, as we now use it came into
common parlance during the early 1970s. It was used as an analytical category to
draw a line of demarcation between biological sex differences and the way these
are used to inform behaviors and competencies, which are then assigned as either
‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ (2004: 56). Goodman adds in her book Approaching
Literature: Literature and Gender that gender studies are concerned with the
representation, rights, and status of women and men (1996: xi).
This novel, Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting, could be seen in many point
of views. In this thesis, the writer takes the view that gender is an important area
of study, and one which adds to the study of literature. This novel is written by a
female and Indian writer. So, it lines a woman point of view through the sex
differences and gendered experiences. Desai also wrote her works in English.
Pilcher and Whelehan in her book Fifty Keys Concepts in Gender Studies wrote
“disciplines such as English Literature, women had begun to the contest the
hegemony of a ‘canon’ of great works of literature, which practically excluded
women writers altogether and had nothing to say about the material and social
conditions that prohibited the emergence of ‘great’ women in this arena (2004:
x)”. So, the writer thinks that Desai is one of the good writers in literature arena.
This thesis leads to the study of literature written by a woman. However,
the writer does not discuss the author or her biography, the writer will discuss
gendered experiences which emerge in the novel. Something is gendered when it
is, in and of itself, actively engaged in social processes that produce and reproduce
distinctions between women and men. ‘Gendering’ and ‘gendered’ are concepts
which signify outcomes that are socially constructed and gives males advantages
over females (Pilcher, 2004: 59).
Even, colors are gendered, it can be masculine or feminine. For example,
pink and black, pink regarded as ‘feminine’ and black regarded as ‘masculine’.
Another example is in the job area, the carpenter is regarded as ‘masculine’ and
the nurse is regarded as ‘feminine’. This social construction controls all of our
behavior. We cannot avoid that we live in this society, where the men have more
authority than women. However, this tradition makes limitation to the women.
We can look at the past, when Indonesian women had no education. They
had to stay in the house all the time doing the domestic duties, such as cooking,
giving a birth, dressing up, and doing all domestic duties. Only men could work
outside, and education for women was really useless because they could not work
outside the house. It means that domestic area is regarded as ‘feminine’ area and
outside area is regarded as ‘masculine’ area.
Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting is a novel that contrast between two
cultures, the Indian culture, the country of religious and venerable customs,
luxury, symbolizing ‘feasting’. In fact, India and America are different in both
culture and family system. It evokes the writer to do comparative study of two
system of family over the gendered experiences that appear in the domestic life,
marriage, relationship between men and women, education and career.
The thesis focuses on the role of the family in India and America and how
the family affects men and women members, especially women members. The
private sphere of the family is an area to which legislators and women’s groups
have very little access and where any improvement in the status of women does
not happen as easily as in a more public setting.
Parsons as cited in Anshen describes the modern American family was
characterized by three important features: (i) its ‘openness’, that is, the absence of
rules of preferential marriage resulting in the ‘infinite dispersal of lines of
descent’; (ii) the centrality of the conjugal family of parents and children; and (iii)
multilinearity, with no exclusive preference for either the male or the female lines
(1959: 242-46). In India, the family is the most important institution that has
survived through the ages. India, like most other less industrialized, traditional,
eastern societies is a collectivist society that emphasizes family integrity, family
loyalty, and family unity. C. Harry Hui and Harry C. Triandis in their study
“Individualism- Collectivism: A Study of Cross-Cultural Researchers” define
collectivism, which is the opposite of individualism as, "a sense of harmony,
interdependence and concern for others". More specifically, collectivism is
reflected in greater readiness to cooperate with family members and extended kin
on decisions affecting most aspects of life, including career choice, mate
It is seen that the Indian and American families are very contrast. The
American family is more tolerance the women, but the duties in the home are still
gendered. For example, although Mrs. Patton does not cook for the family, she is
still under her husband’s ideal women. “Keeping freezer full”, like Mrs. Patton
does is considered as domestic sphere which relates to women (or “feminine”).
There are so many roles which limit women’s action, for example in the
family and parents-authority. Men and women should follow the tradition that is
constructed by the society. The women do not have to get high education, they do
not really need a career, and they do not have to leave home for a long time.
However, men should do that.
The novel shows not only women who are entrapped in the patriarchal
system in Indian and American family. Arun, as the son, is entrapped by the roles
in his male-centered family. As a man, he needs high education. Rod, as a man,
also entraps with the ideal of a man in America. That is a man must look
masculine and have strong body. Patriarchal culture creates the gendered practices
experienced by most of the characters in the novel. Not only experienced by the
women, but also the men. In this thesis, the writer wants to explore the gendered
experiences which are found in the novel. Besides, by analyzing the gendered
experiences in different cultures the writer can see the differences and similarities
of the family system in constructing gendered experiences performed by men and
B. Problem Formulation
Throughout this study, the writer will be concerned with several major
topics, which can be formulated into the following questions:
1. How are male and female characters characterized in Anita Desai’s
Fasting, Feasting?
2. What kinds of gendered experiences are found in Indian and American
family in the novel?
3. What are women’s position and men’s position as reflected in both
families in the novel?
C. Objective of the Study
The aim of this study is to answer the problems that have been formulated.
There are three objectives of the study. The first objective is to know the
characterization of the characters in the novel. The second objective is to show the
gendered experiences in the society of the novel. The last objective is to know the
women’s and men’s position in the Indian and American family.
D. Definition of Term
To avoid misinterpretation and misunderstanding, it is necessary to give
definition of terms used in this study.
The first is ‘gender’. Jane Pilcher and Imelda Whelehan in their book Fifty
Keys Concepts in Gender Studies explain that gender was used as an analytical
way these are used to inform behaviours and competencies, which are then
assigned as either ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’. The purpose of affirming a
sex/gender distinction was to argue that the actual physical or mental effects of
biological difference had been exaggerated to maintain a patriarchal system of
power and to create a consciousness among women that they were naturally better
suited to ‘domestic’ roles (2004: 56).
The second is ‘gendered’. ‘Gendered’, though, is also used as a verb and
therefore gives expression to action, or ‘the doing of’ gender. Davies (1996), as
cited in Pilcher (2004: 59), states that the shift to using gender as a verb (‘to
gender’, ‘gendered’, ‘gendering’, ‘engender’) is a reflection of changed
understanding of gender as an active ongoing process, rather than something that
is ready made and fixed.
The third is ‘gendered experiences’. It is the specific experiences based on
gender distinction in particular society. Men and women perform an activity that
regarded as ‘masculine’ for men and ‘feminine’ for women. Brannon adds in her
book Gender: Psychological Perspective, these gender-related behaviors thus
become part of a pattern accepted as masculine or feminine, not because of any
innate reason for these differences but because they are associated with men and
A. Reviewed of Related Studies
The criticism to Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting are difficult to find
because the novel itself is categorized as new novel. Most of the criticisms only
summarize the content of the novel but do not analyze it critically. Nevertheless,
the reviews to the book are very useful although it is not in deep analysis.
Lakshmi Chandra in her article “Interpreting Fasting, Feasting Through
Feminism” asks question, “Is Desai trying to tell readers that happiness is illusory,
regardless of culture or the place in which one lives?” Then she explains that
woman authors write under pressure of various kinds, the main one being the need
for an audience. They cannot say anything that may antagonize male readers. At
the same time, they must address issues that will appeal to their female readers.
The female writers' search for the self, for their creativity, is a struggle for
self-definition. Virginia Woolf has advised woman writers to "kill the angel in the
house" (the angel being the drudge who cooks, cleans and looks after all family
members' needs) before they start writing. But is it always possible? Desai has not
done this. Her female protagonists, at least the Indian ones, function within the
parameters laid out for them by society; Mama and Uma kill all their needs to
look after Papa and Arun. While her American female protagonists, though they
seem to have broken out of the traditional format, do not seem happy.
Gender is one of the terms that often appear when women and men are
being discussed. Putra, in his thesis, discussed gender issue as seen in the
characters of Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Cunningham’s The Hours. He
strengthens the idea of gender issue the authors reveal from the characters both
male and female. The authors use their characters to portray and criticize the idea
of gender issue which are shown in man and woman relationship, gender role
issues, and homosexual inclination.
However, this thesis is different from the thesis done by Putra. The
differences can be found in the topic of analysis and the source of literary work
itself. The first difference is that the writer will specify on the application on the
male and female character in Indian and American family. The second is in the
source. The writer here uses the literary work by Anita Desai story Fasting,
Feasting as the corpus of the research. It differs from others because the different
use of source will produce different result of analysis.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory of Characterization
A character in literary works is usually defined as the creation of
imaginary persons that seem life-like and the characterization is the whole things
that are related to the character. Stanton on An Introduction to Fiction defined
character as the individuals that appear in the story that bring their human
personalities such as interests, desires, emotions, moral principles, etcetera. Still
according Stanton, a central character is the one who is relevant to every event in
toward him (1965: 17). In addition, Abrams says that characters become an
extended verbal representation of human beings in a dramatic or narrative work,
who are interpreted by the reader as having moral, dispositional, and emotional
qualities that are expressed in what they say (the dialogue) and what they do (the
action). A character may remain essentially stable, or unchanged in outlook and
disposition, from beginning to end of a work. This kind of character is called a flat
character. But one may undergo a radical change, either through a gradual process
of motivation and development, or as the result of a crisis. This called a round
character (1985: 23).
According to MJ Murphy, in his book Understanding Unseen An
Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students states
that “Let us look now at some examples of a few of the ways in which an author
attempts to make his characters understandable to, and come alive for, his readers
(1972: 160-173). They are:
1. Personal description
The author of the story helps the readers understand the character by
describing the personal appearance of the character. It can be the description of
their face, body, and even their clothes.
2. Character as seen by another
The author describes characters through the eyes and opinion of other
characters. The author provides the impressions of others such as the impressions
3. Speech
The author gives the readers an insight into the characters in the story
through what the persons say.
4. Past Lives
By letting the readers learn something about a character’s past life, the
author can give the clue to events that have helped shape a person’s character. The
author guides the reader to know more about past life of the person in order to get
some ideas about the person’s thought, behavior, and action.
4. Conversation of others
The author can give the readers clue to a person’s character through the
conversation between other people and what they say about her or him. it means
what other people say in the novel will also give good basic idea in analyzing the
character.
5. Reaction
The author can give the reader a clue to a person’s character by letting the
readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events. Many events
in the story can also give views to the reader to understand the characters.
6. Direct Comment
The author can directly describe or comment on a person’s character.
Sometimes the author gives brief and clear direct explanation on the character.
7. Thought
The author can give the readers direct knowledge of what a person is
what the person feels. Sometimes, he can also tell the readers about the mind of
different characters in the story.
8. Mannerism
The author can describe a person mannerisms or habits, which may also
tell the readers about specific character of different person. The habits or
behaviors that a person has here are the clue in examining the character closely.
2. Theory of Gender a. Gender Differences
Gender differences are different from sex difference. Sex differentiates
men and women biologically and physically, whereas gender differences are often
as the result of sex differences. Linda Brannon says that “humans (and most other
animals) are sexually dimorphic; that is, they have two different physical versions
– female and male” (1996: 44). Difference is “a necessary polarity between
women and men and between women. The primary meaning is that women have
different voice, a different psychology, and a different experience of love, works,
and the family from men. Difference also means a negative category, which
includes the exclusion and subordination of women” (Humm, 1990: 5-52).
Judith Butler, as cited in Leitch (2001: 2485-91), argues about sex and
gender in her book Gender Trouble that the sex/gender distinction and the
category of sex itself appear to presuppose a generalization of “the body” that
preexist the acquisition of its sexed significance. This “body” often appears to be
as “external” to that body. Feminists have sometimes distinguished between “sex”
as the anatomical difference between male and female bodies and “gender” as the
meanings attached to those bodily differences in various culture.
Rubin, as cited in Glover and Kaplan (2005: xxiv), insists about the social
division between the sexes, the basis upon which men and women are placed into
‘mutually exclusive categories’:
Men and women are, of course, different. But they are not as different as day and night, earth and sky, yin and yang, life and death. In fact, from the standpoint of nature, men and women are close to each other than either is to anything else – for instance, mountains, kangaroos, or coconut palms. The idea that men and women are more different from one another than either is from anything else must come from somewhere other than nature… Far from being an expression of natural differences, exclusive gender identity is the suppression of natural similarities. It requires repression: in men, of whatever is the local version of ‘feminine’ traits; in women, of the local definition of ‘masculine’ traits. The division of the sexes has the effect of repressing some of the personality characteristics of virtually everyone, men and women (1975: 179-80).
Scott as cited in Glover and Kaplan, said that ‘gender’, is simply ‘a social
category imposed on a sexed body’. Locating gender within the many-sided realm
of culture became the primary means of challenging the supposed inevitability of
women’s subordination, part of what the historian Joan Scott, looking back over
more that decade of feminist research, has called ‘a genuine historicization and
deconstruction’ of masculinity and femininity that sought to minimize or reduce
human biology’s capacity to underpin the spuriously ‘fixed and permanent
b. Gender Inequalities
Rubin’s essay in Glover and Kaplan remains one of the most remarkable
attempts to think through the causes of gender inequalities, constructing a
systematic theoretical framework that links work, kinship and politics. Drawing
upon insights from Marxist economics, psychoanalytic accounts of identity and
anthropological studies of marriage and the family, Rubin shows how men
typically ‘have certain rights in their female kin’, whereas ‘women do not have
the same rights either to themselves or to their male kin’ and may be used as
bridewealth, trophies, gifts and even ‘traded, bought, and sold’ (2005: xxv).
Michelle Rosaldo, as cited in Humm, defines inequality as ‘a state where
women are universally subordinate to men, where men are dominant due to their
participation in public life and their regulation of women to domestic sphere. The
differential participation of men and women in public life gives rise not only to
universal male authority over women but to higher valuation of male over females
roles’ (1990: 103).
The inequality of the male and female can be a result of gender
differences. Gender differences often create gender stereotypes about male and
female. According to Miriam Lewin (1984c), as cited in Brannon’s Gender, ‘the
current gender stereotypes, especially those about women, reflect beliefs that
appeared during the 19th century, the Victorian era. She discussed how the
Industrial Revolution changed the lives of a majority of people in Europe, the
United States, and Canada by moving men outside the home to earn money and
unprecedented in history, forcing men and women to adapt by creating new
behavior patterns. As men coped with the harsh business and industrial world,
women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their
homes’ (1996: 169).
Baron and Byrne give the example on the positive and negative traits of
male and female. Positive traits that are part of the masculine gender stereotype
included daring, forceful, logical, confident; negative traits included aggressive,
arrogant, dominant, reckless. Positive traits on the feminine gender stereotype
included understanding, sociable, spontaneous, warm, gentle; negative traits
included dependent, dreamy, changeable, affected (1994: 251).
However, Deaux and Lewis as cited in Baron and Byrne (1994: 249),
explain stereotypes about females are more negative in content than those about
males. For example, in many cultures male are assumed to possess such desirable
traits as decisiveness, forcefulness, confidence, ambition and rational. In contrast,
the corresponding assumption about females includes less-desirable traits such as
passivity, submissiveness, emotional, and dependence. Some positive
characteristics, too, are included, such as warm, nurturance, sensitivity, and
understanding. Overall, however, the traits assigned to females are less desirable
and less suited for many valued roles (e.g. leadership, authority) than the traits
assigned to males.
Baron and Byrne continue about gender stereotypes that the effects of
women stereotypes are visible in many areas of life, but perhaps they are most
appears ones closer to the content of male gender stereotypes than to the content
of female gender stereotypes. Leaders, most people believe, should be bold,
assertive, tough, and decisive-all traits traditionally viewed as masculine in nature.
In contrast, few persons want to expect leaders to be kind, sensitive, emotional,
and nurturant (1994: 251).
Instead of being a leader, women occupy a relatively disadvantages
position in most societies in certain respect. ‘They are concentrated in low paying,
low-status job, and their average salary remains lower than that for males’ (Baron
and Byrne, 1994: 253). Based on that, gender stereotype makes women
marginalized from the society, even from assumption based on a system of
knowledge. The marginalized of women not only in the public sphere, but also in
domestic sphere.
c. Gendered Experiences
Pilcher & Whelehan in their book Fifty Keys Concepts in Gender Studies
give some examples that describe the gendered character of the culture, institution
and organization of contemporary Western societies. For example, Pilcher draws
together a range of British research evidence that shows the gendered character of
education and training paid work, household work and caring, love and sexuality,
body-related technologies, popular media culture, crime and criminal justice, and
politics. Lisa Adkins’ study is an example of an approach that focuses more on the
character. Adkins describes her research as concerned with the ‘gendering’ of the
contemporary labour market (2004: 60).
Pilcher continues the move from thinking about gender as a noun, to focus
on the way distinctions between men and women are actively reproduced through
‘gendering’ processes and ‘gendered’ practices has usefully encouraged the sort of
analyses represented by Adkins’ work. However, more remains to be done on
gendering, including variations by sexuality, social class, and ‘race’. While the
concepts of ‘gendering’ and ‘engender(ed)’ give a clear emphasis to the ongoing,
processual quality of gender relations, a more cautious use of ‘gendered’ might be
advisable (Pilcher & Whelehan, 2004: 60-61).
Linda Brannon in her book Gender: Psychological Perspectives adds
about gendered activities that ‘in many cultures men perform some activities more
often than women, and women perform some activities more than men. Activities
such as repairing clothing are associated predominantly with men and women,
respectively. These gender-related behaviors thus become part of a pattern
accepted as masculine or feminine, not because of any innate reason for these
differences but because they are associated with men and women’ (1996: 168).
3. Review on the Family
a. Review on the Indian Family
The family is the most basic and fundamental form of organisation and
Relations: Procreation in South India wrote about the system of the family of
India :
In India the extended or joint family, a multigenerational family system in which parents and their children’s families live under the same roof, has been the norm for a long time. The tradition of taking care of the older in the family, and 18 lack of a functioning social security net to some extent explain the acceptance of the joint family norm in Indian society. The joint family as an institution is more than anything a collective way of working together in an efficient way, and little attention to family members as separate individuals is noted. Moreover, a joint family draws on the economic advantages of a collective undertaking. The benefits are in the form of cost efficiency from a collective ownership and use of necessities. The joint family aims to the better for the whole unit, many times at the expense of women due to the patriarchal structures (2001: 139).
In traditional societies the family is extended and multifunctional, and is
involved in most of the decisions concerning a family member. Indian society is
fundamentally patriarchal in that sense that women are inferior to men by
tradition, examples of this are so-called patrilinear structures, which mean that
lineage, and heritage takes place through the male line. Following the same
pattern is the patrilocal system which automatically place married couples to live
in the household of the husband’s family (Saavala, 2001: 104). Accordingly, in
this patriarchal structure, the senior male heads the family. All decisions run
through the patriarch. Decisions concern aspects such as distribution of money,
household shores, work, education, mobility, etc. Furthermore, the public sphere
is reserved for men only, thus the private sphere including domestic life is kept for
women (Saavala, 2001: 134).
Most of Indian family system always place women in subordinate position
below men. Bidyut Mohanty in his study “Women and Family in India and
citizens. The rituals relating to birth and marriage reflect a son-preference. A
related phenomenon of son-preference in the modern context is the amniocentesis
test to abort the female feolus. This unfortunately is more prevalent in urban India.
The sex selective test has increased the male-female ratio between 1981 and 1991
in a significant manner (Murthi, Guio & Dreze, 1997). Saavala adds ‘everywhere
in India families strive to have at least one son, in some cases families will try to
maximise the number of sons and minimizing the number of daughters. Most
Indians would agree upon the “need” of daughter in a family but that a son is
crucial for the family’s survival and honour. Generally speaking, the birth of a son
is celebrated more than the birth of a baby girl, sons are granted higher prestige
and thus preferred to daughters (2001: 168)’.
Additionally, subordinate position of women in Indian family is the dowry
system. Still in Bidyut Mohanty, ‘the prevalence of dowry has increased a great
deal and has spread to the low caste groups which earlier practised bride price. So
much so that the ideal Kerala practice of husbands staying in wives houses has
changed to demanding dowry. This phenomenon of taking dowry has increased
considerably after the young men started going to Gulf countries and needed a lot
of money to buy tickets and other things. Another important point with regard to
marriage practices is that the majority of the marriages are arranged by parents.
Love marriages are not encouraged even in urban areas though acute violence
against women in recent years compel the parents not to consider arranged
marriages particularly in the metropolitan cities like Delhi and Bombay etc. The
traditional bias would get reduced there is proved wrong’ (essay of “Women and
Family in India and China” accesed on April, 4 2008). Chandra Talpade Mohanty
adds, ‘dowry is an example of this as it symbolises male dominance in a sense that
men are the ultimate decision makers and overall responsible for economic
routines concerning marriage in combination with the fact that women are seen as
a commodity on which a price can be set’ (2004: 28).
b. Review on the American Family
America has different family system by the Indian family. Parsons, as
cited in Anshen, argues about American family, that ‘the contemporary American
family is not simply the natural way to live but constitutes a highly exceptional
mode of the patterning of relationships in this area’ (1959: 241-42). As Parsons
describes it, the modern American family was characterized by three important
features: (i) its ‘openness’, that is, the absence of rules of preferential marriage
resulting in the ‘infinite dispersal of lines of descent’; (ii) the centrality of the
conjugal family of parents and children; and (iii) multilinearity, with no exclusive
preference for either the male or the female lines (1959: 242-46).
Coontz and Ofstedal in their essay “United States-Childbearing” wrote
‘the first family system in America was that of the native peoples. This was
actually a kinship system rather than a family system, for despite the wide variety
of marital, sexual, and genealogical customs found in several hundred different
cultures, most early Native-American groups subsumed the nuclear family and
rules regulated an individual's place in the overall production and distribution of
goods, services, knowledge, and justice. Exogamy, the requirement that a person
marry out of his or her natal group into a different clan or section, made each
individual a member of intersecting kin groups, with special obligations and rights
toward each category of relatives (Essay of ‘United States-Childbearing’ accesed
on September 22, 2008)’.
By the late nineteenth century, both external and internal challenges to the
domestic family and the concept of separate spheres had appeared. Victorian
sexual mores clashed with the growing use of birth control and abortion, as well
as with the opportunities for nonmarital sex associated with increased
urbanization and changing work patterns for youths. Prostitution, once a safety
valve for Victorian marriage, became a highly visible big business. A women's
rights movement combined campaigns for seemingly conventional goals such as
social purity and temperance with attacks on the double standard and demands for
expanded legal rights for women. Debates and conflicts over sexuality became
increasingly public (Essay of ‘United States-Childbearing’ accesed on September
22, 2008).
Women in America seem like they want to do more outside the house. The
resulting stereotype that "a woman's place is in the home" has largely determined
the ways in which women have expressed themselves. Coontz and Ofstedal in
their essay “United States-Childbearing” wrote about women, family, and work,
reproduction in the early nineteenth century, along with the emergence of newly
specialized occupations, paved the way for a changing relationship between
family activities and economic production, a growing distinction between private
and public life, and a new conception of male and female roles that stressed their
complementary but sharply divided responsibilities and capacities. This has
become known as the doctrine of separate spheres’ (Essay of ‘United
States-Childbearing’ accesed on September 22, 2008). Women in this century wanted to
have a family and a career, but it became other problems to women. Coontz and
Ofstedal add, ‘By the late nineteenth century, both external and internal
challenges to the domestic family and the concept of separate spheres had
appeared’ (Essay of ‘United States-Childbearing’ accesed on September 22,
2008).
The nineteenth-century American woman was expected to find her
strength and meaning of self in her submissive state and in her dedication to home
and family. However, as a result of modernization, industrialization, and the
accompanying changes in society, women became increasingly, though gradually,
more independent--they asserted themselves in the expanding industrial sector;
they were drawn into social, political, religious, and literary activities, speaking
out on relevant issues of the day. Consequently, American women became a more
visible segment of society, no longer considered merely as an adornment for
males or solely relegated to kitchens and parlors of their homes (essay of “The
C. Theoretical Framework
The writer tries to apply the theories above to answer the problem that are
formulated in problem formulation. First, the writer wants to know all the male
and female characters deeper so that the writer can see the personality of the each
character by using the theories of characterization. By analyzing each character
the writer hopes to find characters in their gendered experiences of the society in
the novel.
The theories of gender are essential theories to answer the second and the
third question in the problem formulation. The writer uses the theory to know the
gendered experiences, gender differences and gender inequalities in the society of
the novel and the action of the characters in each family, Indian and American
family. In answering the second problem, to know the kind of gendered
experiences in Indian and American family, the writer applies the gendered
experiences theory that analyze the experiences of each person which is caused by
gender differences.
In analyzing the third problem to show men’s and women’s position in
Indian and American family, the writer uses the theory of gender inequalities and
gender differences. In writer opinions, those theories are reliable to answer the
third problem. By using this theory, the writer will be able to explore what men’s
and women’s position is.
The writer also uses the statements and sentences in the novel to convey
the description of all the characters in the novel, to know about the aspects of
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study in this thesis is Fasting, Feasting, a novel written
by Anita Desai in 1999. This novel is one of Anita Desai’s famous works.
Fasting, Feasting is Desai’s eleventh novel. The first edition of this novel was
published in England in 1999 by Quality Paperbacks Direct and it consists of 240
pages. This study uses the first edition of the book.
Desai’s Fasting, Feasting is a novel which presents a cultural comparison
of two cultures and two siblings. The story of the novel is presented by a third
point of view narrator. The narrator described the events that happened in the
families in the novel.
In this study, the writer analyzes the gendered experience of the characters
in Indian and American family. Fasting, Feasting tells about the daily life of
Uma’s family and the Pattons. Since Uma was a child, she had already got unfair
treatments from MamaPapa (refers to the word ‘parents’). As the older daughter
and also a woman, she is not allowed going to school. After Mama gave a male
baby, Uma had to look for him. Mama always repeats the threateningly to the
baby as ‘proper attention’.
As a son, Arun has responsibility for the shake of his family. In his family,
mlae-centered family system, a man must be educated. A man is considered to
work outside the home, to earn money. The home or domestic sphere is only for
women. So, MamaPapa send him to America to study. In America, he lives with
the Pattons. He observes that his family and the Pattons are very different. The
women in Pattons family have right to do anything. They do not entrap like in
Arun’s family.
Fasting, Feasting is merely comparison of cultures, India and America,
and also sexes, male and female. In this novel, Desai tries to show that male and
female are very different, even in the magnificent country like America where the
women more visible in the public area since the women’s movement. There is a
gap between men and women. It cannot be separated from the context of
patriarchal society in the novel.
B.Approach of the Study
In this study, the writer analyzes the novel using gender study as an
approach. Goodman’s Approaching Literature and Gender wrote that gender as
an approach is a thematic approach. A few themes which can be studied using
gender approach are motherhood, domestic responsibility, conflicts in women’s
lives, power relationship between the sexes, and conflicts between private and
public roles and responsibility (1996: xiii). In addition, this approach questions
the whole way we make appeals to identity. The concept of gender as
performance suggests a level of free play with gender categories that we enter into
socially. The result is that individuals have the potential to create ‘gender trouble’
and challenge the way discourse establishes and reinforce certain meanings and
‘institutions’, such as that of ‘compulsory heterosexuality’ (Pilcher & Whelehan,
The writer thinks that gender study is the most suitable approach to use.
Gender approach is applied because this study focuses on the gendered
experiences of the characters in the novel. Gender is not only talk about women,
but also men. Men and Women have problems when facing the patriarchal world
because of their sexuality. Women are regarded as domestic sphere and men are
regarded as public sphere. However, in some countries, women can also perform
in public sphere. By analyzing the gendered experiences with gender approach we
will know the gendered experiences that make women are in different position
with the men.
C. Method of the Study
In this study, library study is carried out as the method of the study. In
order to conduct the research, there were two kinds of sources, namely primary
source and secondary sources. The primary source was taken from the novel itself,
Fasting, Feasting written by Anita Desai. The secondary sources were taken from
the biography of the author, criticism of the novel, some review of the novel, and
many other sources related to the study. In other words, those secondary sources
were the observations of authorities in the library field. The secondary sources
were used to help strengthen this thesis.
There were three major steps that the writer has done in analyzing the
study. The first step, the writer collected the supporting data which described
about the novel both in library and internet. The data consist of books and articles.
which supported the analysis of the novel. The final step was writing the analysis
using the gender point of view. In this step the writer wrote the analysis that the
The aim of this chapter is to answer the problems formulated previously,
by referring to the approach and using the theories. For that purpose, firstly the
writer tries to analyze the characters and characterizations. Secondly, the writer
tries to give the evidences of gendered experiences that have experienced by the
characters. The last, the writer tries to find the novel’s attitude toward women’s
position in Indian and American society.
The characters are divided into female and male characters in order to help
the readers getting better understanding with the main problem discussed in this
study, which is analyzed in the next part that is characters with their gendered
experiences. The characteristics of the characters are analyzed from their thought,
their behavior, their action and the way the other characters describe them. It is
believed that all of the characteristics of the characters are carefully presented and
described to present the criticism of gendered experienced.
A. Character and Characterization
This part discusses the characters involved in the novel Fasting, Feasting.
The discussion of characters and characterization is divided into two parts, female
and male characters, to make it easier to discuss the next part, namely the
discussion on the characters’ gendered experiences. Since the writer analyzes the
family, all these characters are important, because family has members and each
member has their own gendered experiences that contribute to their position in the
family. Their activities as seen in their behavior, speech, reaction, thought, and
mannerism, support the gendering processes to gendered practices. To analyze the
characters the writer uses the theory of character and characterization that has
been discussed in the theoretical review.
1. Female Characters a. Uma
Uma is the central character of the story since, in accordance with Stanton’s
definition of central character, she is the character who is relevant to almost every
event in the story, and the events in the story cause some changes in her (1965:
17-18). She appears as the central character in the first part (the first thirteen
chapters) of the story.
Uma is characterized as a person who is inferior both physically and
mentally. Physically, she is plain and not attractive, with “her gray hair frazzled”
and “myopic eyes” (Desai, 1999: 5), so she hardly gets a husband, which upsets
and embarrasses her parents. She suffers from eyes problem despite her thick
glasses. However, her family hardly cares about it and blames her instead.
‘Your eyes are paining – after just writing one letter? Oof,’ Papa lets her know what he thinks of such weakness. Uma is indignant. All the indignation of the morning has mounted and now reaches its climax. ‘I have told you many times my eyes hurt,’ she cries (Desai, 1999: 127).
Although her optician has already suggested that Uma have her eyes examined by
a specialist in Bombay, and although her sister Aruna lives in Bombay, nobody in
‘A specialist – in Bombay!’ Aruna gave a shriek. ‘Do you know what that would cost? She seemed so horrified by the idea that Uma felt bound to reassure her and say she was sure Dr Tandon was really good enough. ‘Of course he is!’ Aruna exclaimed (Desai, 1999: 110).
Uma is not intelligent, either. She loves going to the convent school, but she
always fails every subject.
The nuns clucked and shook their heads and sent for Mama, wrote notes to Papa, and every year, after the exams, said sorrowfully that they would have to hold her back – she had managed to fail every single test: in English, Hindi, history, geography, arithmetic, drawing and even domestic science! (Desai, 1999: 21).
Her poor grades give her parents a reason to take her out of school to look after
her newborn brother, Arun. Outside the academic field, she is slow as well. It
takes a long time for her to process an information, understand an instruction, or
respond to an enquiry, so people often get impatient with her. For example, when
writing a letter to Arun dictated by her father, she ends up getting scolded by both
her father and mother for being slow:
‘Wait, wait,’ cries Uma, frantically trying to get the pen to catch up with the words.
‘Oof, you are so slow,’ he complains.
‘She is slow,’ Mama agrees, quite unnecessarily (Desai, 1999: 124-125).
It is hard enough for her to follow a dictation, even harder for her to articulate her
thought, so she cannot get her point across.
Psychologically, Uma is very problematic. Firstly, she is awkward, clumsy,
and nervous. For instance, when she is meeting the prospective husband and his
mother, she acts very awkwardly and nervously.
Uma is an impulsive person. When she becomes obsessed with an idea, she
decides something spontaneously without thinking of the consequences. She does
not think about the aspects that support her school, such as economic and her
parents. For example, after the birth of her brother Arun, her parents take her out
of school so she can take care of him. Uma desperately wants to continue going to
school, so she runs away from home, goes to her convent school and tries begging
her headmaster to let her stay (Desai, 1999: 29).
On the other hand, she is also easily dominated and scared. She is not only
afraid of strangers, but also of her parents. When her parents manage to intimidate
her, she gives up all her wishes, although she will get very upset. For example,
when she is already mature, she loves reading poetry and finds peace of mind
when reading poetry. Her mother scolds her angrily because she reads poetry, then
her mother tells her to serve coffee and biscuits for Papa. Actually, it is her
mother’s demand that is unreasonable, but Uma is too intimidated to answer back
or defend herself. She quits reading, then serves coffee, but she mutters bits of the
poetry angrily, feeling depressed.
She sloshes some milk into the coffee. ‘Rosebuds. Wild waltz. Passionately,’ she screams at them silently. She tosses in sugar. ‘Madly. Vows. Fulfil,’ her silence roars at them. She clatters a spoon around the cup, spilling some into the saucer, and thrusts it at Papa. ‘Here,’ her eyes flash through her spectacles, ‘this, this is what I know. And you, you don’t’ (Desai, 1999: 137).
Later, when she is already an adult, Dr. Dutt, the local doctor, offers her a
job as a nurse. Her parents forbid her to take the job, but Uma desperately wants
the job. Uma cannot do anything, except her parents ask her. She always fails to
b. Aruna
Aruna is Uma’s sister, who is three years younger than Uma (Desai, 1999:
36). Although she is younger than Uma, she is far more superior than Uma both
physically and intellectually. She is beautiful and attractive, even at the age of
thirteen.
… There was already something about the way she tossed her head when she saw a man looking at her, with a sidelong look of both scorn and laughter, and the way her foot tapped and her legs changed position, that might have alerted the family to what it could expect (Desai, 1999: 79).
Furthermore, she loves dressing up and is good at enhancing her beauty with
clothing, jewelry, haircut, and so on. She “fluttered about in flowered silk”
wearing “little shiny plastic clips and clasps and flowers that she picked from the
dusty shrubs and hedges” (Desai, 1999: 80). She starts going to the cinema with
girl friends from school as well as a group of teenage boys.
Aruna is intelligent, both in the academic and practical field. At school, she
always gets good grades. After Uma shows her report card and their parents get
angry for her bad grades, Aruna aptly chooses the right moment to show her
report card and collect her parents’ praise (Desai, 1999: 87). With her intelligence
and her physical attractiveness, she knows how to attract men and she is good at
such strategies, even when she is still in her early teens. While Uma remains
unable to find a husband, Aruna already receives so many marriage proposals.
Another strategy of her attractiveness, Aruna beautifies herself. She puts make-up
on her face carefully. When Uma walks into her room, she finds Aruna sitting in
front of the mirror and applying her make-up. Then, Aruna shows her how to
apply the make-up (Desai, 1999: 104).
Aruna is also characterized as a person with a strong determination. She is
described as having a “steely determination”:
Aruna was pretty too, and in her case it was also evident quite early that her future would be bright, but there was a sharp edge to her prettiness, a harsh edge given to it by a kind of steely determination, a dogged ambitiousness, that seemed to be born of a desperation (Desai, 1999: 67).
When she wants something, she will get the best and get it exactly the way she
wants it. For example, when she is getting married, she has a good strategy and
manages to find the best choice from all the prospective husbands.
As was to be expected, she took her time, showed a reluctance to decide, played choosy, but soon enough made the wisest, most expedient choice – the handsomest, the richest, the most exciting of the suitors who presented themselves (Desai, 1999: 100).
She gets the “fantastic” life that she wanted, living in Bombay, in a flat facing the
beach, which she says is “like a dream” (Desai, 1999: 103). She has two chidren,
Aisha and Dinesh. She likes dressing up her daughter, “curling her hair and
designing her frocks” so that Aisha “look[s] like a doll” (Desai, 1999: 105).
However, her determination is very strong to the point of perfectionism.
Related to her perfectionism, she always manages to find flaws in people, for
example when Uma is looking for a husband. When they are looking at the many
photographs of prospective husbands, Aruna always manages to find something
It is her perfectionism that ends up making her stressed, because she
cannot tolerate fault, however small it is. Despite her supposedly happy life, she
complains about her husband’s clothes, the tablecloth and paint in her parents’
house, Mama’s activity of washing her hair in the morning, the cooking, Arun’s
sloppy appearance, the driver’s uniform, to name just a few. Even small things
can drive her to tears.
Seeing Aruna vexed to the point of tears because the cook’s pudding had sunk and spread instead of remaining upright and solid, or because Arvind had come to dinner in his bedroom slippers, or Papa was wearing a t-shirt with a hole under one arm, Uma felt pity for her: was this the realm of ease and comfort for which Aruna had always pined and that some might say she had attained? Certainly it brought her no pleasure: there was always a crease of discontent between her eyebrows and an agitation that made her eyelids flutter, disturbing Uma who noticed it (Desai, 1999: 109).
Not only Uma, but Mama also notices Aruna’s stress due to her own
perfectionism. However, since her criticisms are directed to everyone, including
her own husband, Mama tolerates her behavior (Desai, 1999: 109).
c. Mama
Mama is Uma, Aruna, and Arun’s mother. She comes from a merchant
family and gets married at the age of sixteen (Desai, 1999: 5). She is uneducated;
she is never going to school (Desai, 1999: 18). She only socializes with the
neighbors and relatives, viewing foreigners like Mrs. O’Henry with suspicion, as
can be seen in her speech:
‘These Christian missionaries – they really know how to entice simple people, and you don’t understand they want something from you in return’ (Desai, 1999: 114).
She never reads books or watches movies, either (Desai, 1999: 31). Her favorite
could gossip about all the branches of the family and who put her in touch with
them…” (Desai, 1999: 39). With little education, limited friends and media
intake, no wonder that her scope of knowledge is limited.
Mama is very conventional both in her behavior and in her way of thinking,
which is shown through her speech, past life, reaction, and mannerism. She is
prejudiced and cannot accept new idea. For example, upon hearing the rumors
about Anamika being abused by her mother-in-law, she said that it would be
better to endure the violence rather than go back home, for fear of what people
would say or think. When Uma and Aruna suggest the opposite, she scolds her
children for having “modern ideas”:
‘Don’t talk like that,’ Mama scolded them. ‘I don’t want to hear all these modern ideas. Is it what you learnt from the nuns at the convent?’ She glared at Uma (Desai, 1999: 71).
When gossiping about “love marriage”, or marriage based on love instead of
through parental arrangement, with her neighbors, she “lifted her upper lip a bit,
to convey her scorn” (Desai, 1999: 31). Since she is uneducated herself, she
places very low priority on education. She thinks that going to school is useless
and it is better for her daughters to marry than study.
‘All this convent education – what good does it do? Better to marry you off than let you go to that place’ (Desai, 1999: 71).
Mama herself practices whatever is expected from someone in her position
without questioning. As a housewife, she is responsible for all domestic chores,
from laundry to cooking. Her day is spent for looking after her husband, packing
his tennis kit and sending it to his office (Desai, 1999: 8), organizing meals and
As a wife, she considers it her duty to bear and raise children, especially a
son. She is really concerned to her son, Arun. She gives him the best food. She
does not let the servants take care of him. She feels proud because she has
fulfilled her duty, that is to give her husband a son.
More than ever now, she was Papa’s helpmeet, his consort. He had not only made her his wife, he had made her the mother of his son. What honour, what status. Mama’s chin lifted a little into the air, she looked around her to make sure everyone saw and noticed. She might have been wearing a medal (Desai, 1999: 31).
Mama is also afraid of Papa. When she wants to play a game of cards with the
neighbors in the morning, she has to do it in secret because Papa disapproves of
gambling (Desai, 1999: 6-7). Mama is so afraid to confront Papa with the truth
that she is gambling. In her mind, Papa will be angry with her because she does
not obey her husband’s rule.
As a parent, she tries with all her might to find a husband for Uma, her
eldest child. She sends letters everywhere, asks relatives and neighbors, and
invites prospective families. She would do anything in order to find a husband for
Uma, even tricking the prospective husband’s family. She tells Uma to claim to
have cooked the dishes she has actually cooked herself (Desai, 1999: 75).
d. Anamika
Anamika is Uma, Aruna and Arun’s cousin from their father’s side. She is
two years older than Uma. She is characterized as a model of perfection in every
way. Her perfection is shown through personal description by the author, other
characters’ comments, past life experience, and reaction to various events. She is
becomes “the first fruit to be picked” (Desai, 1999: 66) or in other words,
becomes the first one to get married among her cousins of the same age.
Physically, she is very beautiful and attractive, as shown in the author’s
description of her as “a lotus, with her deep, creamy, still beauty” or “a pearl,
smooth and luminous” (Desai, 1999: 68), and other characters’ conversation about
her:
Even the adults looked on Anamika’s glossy head, her thick dark braids and her big dreamy eyes, and smiled, sometimes sadly as if thinking how their own daughters and daughters-in-law could never measure up to this blessed one (Desai, 1999: 68).
However, as described directly by the author, it is not “just a matter of her
beauty” (Desai, 1999: 67); people consider that her mannerism and attitude make
her being perfect. She is obedient to her parents and displays characteristics
appreciated by her society, as described by the author.
She was simply lovely as a flower is lovely, soft, petal-skinned, bumblebee-eyed, pink-lipped, always on the verge of bubbling dove-like laughter, loving smiles, and with a good nature like a radiance about her (Desai, 1999: 67).
Her good attitude is also shown through her mannerism. She becomes the role
model for her cousins, who are of the same age as her.
Always it was Anamika who prevented them from going too far, not by words or a look, but simply by her example which was cool, poised, mannerly and graceful. Wherever Anamika was, there was moderation, good sense and calm (Desai, 1999: 68).
Lastly, her humble attitude is shown through her reaction. As a child, when she
was brought for a family visit, there would be “fierce competition between Uma
Anamika to one direction, and Aruna would try to take Anamika to another
direction. Anamika manages to stay humble and passive.
Somehow Anamika managed to please them both, smile at all their suggestions, accept them with an equal readiness (Desai, 1999: 67).
She is also very intelligent, as shown through her past life. She does very
well in her study and even wins a scholarship to Oxford, but her family do not
allow her to go, since she is at the age of marriage (Desai, 1999: 68).
Later, when she is already married and lives in her husband’s family’s
house, she never complains of her husband’s family’s cruel treatment of her.
Anamika had been beaten, Anamika was beaten regularly by her mother-in-law while her husband stood by and approved – or, at least, did not object. Anamika spent her entire time in the kitchen, cooking for his family which was large so that meals were eaten in shifts – first the men, then the children, finally the women. … When Anamika was not scrubbing or cooking, she was in her mother-in-law’s room, either massaging that lady’s feet or folding and tidying her clothes (Desai, 1999: 70-71).
If she complains or left her husband’s home, she will create a scandal, which is
unacceptable in her society. She accepts the cruel treatment until her death, which
is either a suicide or a murder by her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law claims
that it is suicide, but there is also a rumor saying it is murder.
e. Mrs. Patton
Mrs. Patton is the sister of Mrs. O’Henry, the wife of the local Baptist
missionary, who was also Vice-Principal of the school that Arun attended. She
lives in the suburb of Massachusetts, near the library which Arun works during
the summer holiday. Through Mr. and Mrs. O’Henry’s recommendation via
Arun’s family, Arun stays at the Pattons’ house during the summer holiday
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