90

CHAPTER III – MARRIAGE AS A CONFLICT

3.0.0 In the earlier chapter, the refined subjectivity of the

female characters of Henry James and Jayakanthan was discussed.

The female characters of these two writers stand in the cross borders

between tradition and modernity, stamping their individuality and

identity. Most of the women characters of both these writers, attach

greater importance towards love, marriage and family life. The

handling of the theme of marriage by Henry James and Jayakanthan

and the characters’ approach towards marriage are to be discussed

in this chapter. The institution and the ceremony of marriage are

often criticized by the women writers. Their primary aim is to

re–define and oppose the patriarchal version of marriage; demand

freedom of self expression and identity in marriage. Intellectual and

sexual freedom are necessary and essential; lacking of them result

in the failure of many marriages in the past and in the present. In

her masterpiece, The Second Sex, the French feminist novelist

Simone De Beauvoir comments and criticizes the institution of

marriage:

Marriage has always been a very different thing for man and

for woman. The two sexes are necessary for each other, but

this necessity has never brought about a condition of

reciprocity between them. (Beauvoir 1973: 300)

3.0.1 The man and woman must be related to each other only

by free recognition of mutual love, understanding and man should

accept woman as an individual and equal. Generally, marriage has

been forced on women as a career but men have the ‘free will’ and

91

‘choice’ in their decision towards Marriage. Beauvoir has very subtly

pointed out that women are marginalized even by religion:

For the husband is the head of the family, even as Christ is

the head of the Church... Therefore as the church is subject

unto Christ, so let the wives are to their own husband’s in

everything. (Beauvoir 1973:129)

In this context, it is worth quoting the words of Judith S.Wallerstein

and Sandra Blakslee:

Marriage is made up of little things, and it is the little things

that count, both the good and the bad. The little changes,

too, add to the important rhythms of life…Strangely enough

these little things, the ebb and flow of the relationship that

so many couples cannot manage. (Wallerstein and Blakslee

1995: 327–28)

It is stimulating to note that ‘Marriage’ has been a recurring motif in

most of the traditional novels. In many of the traditional novels in

which marriage is the central motif deal with love, courtship and end

with happy marriage. But, the modern novels deal with life after

marriage and focus the problems emanating from it. In short,

traditional novels view and handle the theme of Marriage in utopian

terms.

3.0.2 In the Modern novels, till the middle of the 20th century,

‘Marriage’ is a recurring motif. In modern novels, the traditional view

point towards marriage is not taken for granted. The institution of

marriage is often viewed and approached as “... the old established

institution, inevitable, necessary and unchanging as death...”

(Springer 1978: 10). Most of the novelists in the nineteenth and

twentieth century, acknowledge marriage as a failed institution. It is

92

very interesting to observe that more than women writers, men have

intricately handled the motif – Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure,

D.H.Lawrence’s Women in Love, George Meredith’s The Amazing

Marriage, Nawthaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in English

fictions and the works of Sivasankari, Indhumathi, Vaasanthi,

RajamKrishnan, Usha Subramanian and Jayakanthan in Tamil fiction

are a few to quote. It is also widely recognised and accepted by

many critics and feminists that more than women writers in Tamil

fiction, Jayakanthan has very deeply portrayed the self and

consciousness of women through his creations as in the case of

Kalyani in Oru Natikai Natakam Parkirale and Ganga in Gangai

Engey Pogirale? Besides, in almost all the works of the American

novelist Henry James, love, marriage and marital life are dominant

leitmotifs.

3.0.3 The institution of marriage and its attributed ceremony is

also commented and censured by many women writers also during

the nineteenth and twentieth century–Simone de Beauvoir’s

The Mandarins and Les Belles Image, Nayantra Sahgal’s

Storm in Chandigarh and The Day in the Shadow, Jane Austen’s

Pride and Prejudice and Emma are a few to mention. The women

novelists who handle ‘Marriage’ as recurring motif have emphasised

the importance of personal choice and freedom of will in shaping an

individual’s decision and approach towards marriage. Freedom for

equality, the need for individuality and the retaining of identity are

also stressed by such women novelists.

3.0.4 In the United States, Marriage continues to be an

extremely popular institution. A comparison of marriage rate in 22

select countries is dealt with by Paul carter in his painstaking study

wherein he comments,

93

... in 1965, only Egypt had a higher Marriage rate than the

United States... Americans have the highest divorce rate in

comparison with seventeen countries. There has been a

slight decline in the American re–marriage rate since 1974...

but the divorce rate has been increasing steadily since

1965… (Carter, 1976: 387–91)

The institution of marriage is viewed and interpreted in Essential and

Existential terms. In most of the traditional novels where marriage is

a celebrated occasion, promoted an extremely Essential version of

Marriage. In the Essential version of Marriage, religion plays a pivotal

role. Marriage is viewed as a divine and religious sacrament in the

major religions of the world. The Encyclopedia of Religion has

confirmed marriage as a sacred act originated from God or as the

union of souls or spirits with the Sacred Realm. This may perhaps be

attributed to the popular notion that marriages are made in heaven.

Existential version of marriage, on the contrary depends entirely on

the existence of the human beings themselves. This approach views

that the existence of man/woman, but not the divine Essence

determines marriage. In the Essential Marriage, the essence of

marriage precedes the Existence of it; in the Existential version, the

Existence precedes the Essence. Marriage, the traditional ground for

man–woman relationship fails to fulfill and promote individual

growth, self–realization and self–expression.

3.0.5 Marriage is almost an inevitable and a most predominant

cultural activity in the proceedings of any society. There are some

basic reasons that can be identified for the failure of marriage

outside literary world.

(i) The first and foremost reason is a very common and

universal one – lack of mutual understanding and trust. Proper and

94

mutual understanding leads to adjustment and without proper

understanding and adjustment, any relationship will stifle.

(ii) Secondly, the absence of mutual friendship, companionship

and absence of proper sexual relationship also contribute to the

breach and the failure of marriage. The absence of any of these, lead

to psychological problems and complexities, sometimes even lead to

psychological disorders and diseases.

(iii) Mostly, men and women approach marriage with different

motives and objectives – money, status, compulsion and social

obligation etc., when any of these motives and objectives get foiled,

it results in the failure of the relationship.

(iv)The world which is growing rapidly has lost its faith in

Religion, Social and Moral values – marriage, closely related with

these societal values also loses its religious sanctity and sacramental

values.

(v)The Modern Schools of Thoughts such as Feminism and

Existentialism greatly censure the patriarchal construct of Marriage.

The Existential agony becomes predominant in the arena of

Marriage.

(vi) Nietzsche, one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth

century views that all relationships as a sort of power struggle ; man

highly conscious of his self attempts frequently to conquer the

feminine self; woman trying to stamp their identity, individuality and

attempt to retain their self from the conquer, thus resulting in the

complexities.

(vii) In her essay, “Problems of Marriage”. Dr. Karen Horney

gives a psychological interpretation to the failure of marriage. She

makes use of Freud’s theory of Oedipal Complex and about

95

unconscious processes and neurotic conflicts that a male oriented

psychology contributes to marriage:

...the husband brings to marriage many residual attitudes

about his mother as the forbidding and saintly woman,

whom he has never able to satisfy. The wife brings to

marriage her frigidity, her rejection of the male and her

anxiety about being a woman, wife, mother and her flight

into a desired or imagined masculine role. (Horney 1967:27)

3.1.0 James belongs to the liberal Protestant tradition shared

by such writers as John Milton, William Blake, Emerson and

Hawthorne and in which his own father Henry James, sr probably the

strongest single influence on him. James believes in the implication

of the ethical attitude and shares Emerson’s view of the importance

of self–reliance and of the Socratic prerequisite of self–knowledge.

James cherishes the value of individual human integrity. He is much

more concerned with how to be good than how to do good; which

one matters most– the hypocrite may do good without being good

and is finally unreliable. James is not a naïve idealist but he knows

well that traditions, conventions and manners were necessary for the

smooth functioning of a civilized society. In many of his works, the

theme of love, marriage and marital life are important focal points of

depiction. In life, there is love and it is simple but profoundly a true

expression and most of James’ stories are of course love stories.

He is likewise an apostle of love, for love and freedom go

hand in hand; many of his stories consequently are love

stories…How can it be said that James is opposed to the

“drop out”...in every case, it is merely material advantage

that he renounced; and indeed the case is always so

presented as finally to suggest that acceptance of the reward

96

would in itself be a kind of “drop out”… it is James’ way of

cautioning against putting faith in the perishable, in those

goods that fade and ultimately fail to satisfy.(Owers 1970:6)

James is of the opinion and follows in his novels two important

principles; a novel must show, rather than tell and interpret as if

dramatically or pictorially, its subject; secondly the psychological

element is as important a concern for the writer as any other. The

above given principles are greatly manifested in his artistic creations.

3.1.1 Henry James believes that there is a close affinity,

correlation between Art and Society; it is observed that all his works

center the society and the environment in which he lives. James

followed the dictum that writing fiction must be an act of life and this

term suggests that the creative process is not only continuous with

everyday experience but particularly a meaningful and deeply felt

experience. Art to be vital has to respond the forces that are actively

shaping contemporary culture. James also recognises that there is a

considerable growth and worthiness attached to the incidental

contributions that art can make to society. James believes that art

has the capacity to bring to an individual aesthetic awareness and

also mould the individuals.

3.1.2 Marriage is one of the most domineering and recurring

motifs in the works of Henry James. In all his works, short stories

and novels, marriage is a prominent plot. In fact, to unveil the

labyrinth of James’ world, it is indispensable to go deeper into his

projection of marriage in his works. James’ main contention for the

failure of marriage and marital life is the lack of mutual

understanding; the conflict between husband and wife, between

people in all the relationship lie in what one has withhold from

others. Lack of mutual love, trust and understanding are the root

97

causes for the failure of marriage in James’ world. James’ creative

career springs to four decades – 1871 to 1917; when his works are

arranged chronologically, they depict the genius’ progression and

transformation in the handling of the theme from crystal simplicity to

that of rich and elaborate complexity. Leon Edel, one of the most

famous biographers of Henry James comments that the works of

Henry James are based on “ ... the theme of unhappy and

uncompleted marriages – marriages avoided, abortive marriages,

misalliances and marriages cursed” (Edel 1950 :25). Henry James’

version of marriage greatly synchronises with Existential version and

strongly believes in the Existential agony which is greatly

instrumental and influential in the course of one’s marriage.

3.1.3 Henry James is widely recognised and appreciated for his

skills in the creation of distinct and unique characters. T.S.Eliot

comments,

He was a critic who preyed not upon ideas, but upon living

beings. It is criticism which is in a very high sense

creative.The characters, the best of them are each a distinct

success of creation… the real hero, in any of James’ stories,

is a social entity of which men and women are constituents…

(Eliot 1972:31)

Through the eyes of the major and central characters in his works,

especially the women characters, the worldly vision and the ideology

of the writer get greatly reflected. Yvor Winters studied the moral

sense in the works of Henry James and it is worth quoting in the

context of James’ depiction of marriage:

…it was the product of generations of discipline in the ethical

systems of the Roman Catholic churches, a product which

subsisted as a traditional way of feeling and of acting after

98

the ideas which had formed it, and which, especially in

Europe and before the settlement of America, had long

supported it, had ceased to be understood, or as ideas,

valued… (Winters 1972: 54)

James’ most important achievement is in the realm of prose fiction

as a practitioner and a critic. He is best known as the author of

stories dealing with the international scene, the transatlantic

intercourse of American and European society and culture; indeed he

is the first writer of any stature to make the international scene a

major matter in fiction, and he leaves an interesting and detailed

account of the experiences, the characters, and the settings that

figured prominently in his works. His works are mainly intended for

the expatriate Americans of the 1860s and 70s reflecting a kind of

moral geography; America stands for innocence, individualism and

capability; Europe represents sophistication, decadence and social

conventions and England the best mix of the two. His social concerns

are greatly reflected through his works such as The Princess

Casamassima, The Ivory Tower and In the Cage. Sexual scenes

are pictured in a more decent manner as in The Ambassadors and

James is frequently commented and criticised as a homosexual,

which may be rooted by academic confusions or the misreading of

History. Of course, such scenes of sexual happenings are common in

his works. There are some comments, endless arguments going on

in the literary circle and some of the harsh critics of James have

labelled him as gay and a homosexual. In fact, James has lived Life

to the core and perhaps that enabled him to write such books of

worldly wisdom and conscious art and his motto is to ‘live’ and ‘not

to fantasise.’ In novels that deal with the theme of marriage, the

moral vision, his psyche and depiction of society are reflected.

99

3.1.4 Cathleen Myeers has emphasised James’ strong use of

language and greatly focuses characterisation than the real action in

the novel. She comments, “The interest in James novels is almost

exclusively what the characters think and feel rather than in what

they actually do…” (Myeers 2001: 5). It is greatly evident through

the works that depict the theme of marriage; the central women

characters’ consciousness is reflected and the style adopted is a little

complex. Many great writers during their major phase or matured

part of their literary career, style of writing becomes complicated as

in James Joyce, T.S.Eliot, Ezra Pound and Henry James and in

Jayakanthan also. The theme of marriage is closely linked with the

style adopted. The analysis of style facilitates to study the depiction

of marriage in both James and Jayakanthan. The style of writing in

James during the major phase is full of unrealistic dialogue, with a

lot of a lot of verbal sparring and the communication between the

characters is indirect and oblique and what is not said matters then

what is said. The intention of the writer is to project in a subtle way

the complexities in marriage as in The Golden Bowl and in

The Europeans. The language in some of the novels like

The Wings of the Dove is dense and loaded with symbolic

meanings. James uses French words, expressions to a greater extent

and Latin expressions to a smaller extent in his later works to give a

wider appeal to his novels dealing with marriage.

3.2.0 On the similar grounds of the treatment of marriage, the

contemporary Tamil novelist Jayakanthan has delicately poised the

theme of marriage in many of his works, especially in the novels

where they run as underlying current that springs the action of the

novels. Jayakanthan opines that the function of Literature is to

reflect the greatness and progress of human beings. This is the

concept which the writer is influenced by and forms the concrete

100

foundation of his works. In one of his interviews, Jayakanthan

comments that “I am a part of society and through my writings and

works I am attempting to refine myself first and then the society”

(Jayakanthan 2006: 14). Similar as Henry James, Jayakanthan also

acknowledges the close relation between Literature and Society.

Literature projects and reflects the greatness and progress of society

and sometimes stresses negative issues only to channelize and

develop the society. Extrapolating this concept, we can observe in

both Henry James and Jayakanthan, marriage and the institution of

marriage being pictured in the negative light, only to perfect the

flawed institution. Jayakanthan, greatly influenced by the writings of

the revolutionary Tamil poet Bharathiyar, reflects the ideology of the

great poet in his works. The pioneer of Indian Ideology is the

Ideology of Tamil and the depiction of the Tamil Ideology to the

world was done by Bharathiyar. Bharathiyar was not only a poet but

also a revolutionary thinker and reformer and the depiction of

women by the great poet Bharathiyar and his depiction of a corrupt

and superstitious society are reflected in the works of Jayakanthan.

Bharathiyar is referred as “Our Guru” (Jayakanthan 2006: 120) by

Jayakanthan and refers Bharathiyar as the manifestation of our own

dreams. The union of man and woman from different caste and

different strata of society through love, marriage are also projected

in Jayakanthan’s works; inter caste marriages and the bridging of

rich and the poor through love and marriage are very common in his

works. On his creation of characters, Jayakanthan comments that he

takes themes from real life and not characters from it; creates

characters to suit the themes and not the other way round. The

creation of characters in the case of Jayakanthan is a work of mind,

not of hand and the formation of ceaseless intercourse of thoughts is

the creation of the work of art. Jayakanthan is not pleased with the

101

approach and the comments of the critics as “They are trying to

question my perfection in an imperfect manner” (Jayakanthan 2006:

30). Good critics and criticisms serve Good Literature and bad

criticisms regresses good literature and Jayakanthan ignores the

criticism of in–genuine critics which negatively projects his character

as being, sometimes arrogant and vain glorious. Jayakanthan has

never created works of art to please the society and he comments

the act of writing as a commitment to the society and the resultant

effect of the work of art is dependent on the individual. In all his

writings, Jayakanthan reveals an amazing familiarity with the inner

landscapes of the human mind from the various strata of the society.

3.2.1 On his views about the social consciousness, Jayakanthan

opines that “the writer must be socially conscious and what a writer

creates must be followed and preserved even after the Life of the

writer; the social consciousness is a must for the Literature of any

language” (Jayakanthan 2006: 44). Jayakanthan is an original

thinker par excellence and he expressed his ideas frankly and openly

without any fear and greatly practiced artistic autonomy and

freedom. He touched several issues others feared to raise and

evoked intellectual freedom through his well chiselled characters, in

most of the cases through the central woman character.

Jayakanthan greatly believes in the goodness of women and

comments that he believes in women and not in men and women are

spoiled by men and they are innately pure. “The Friction of Love is in

the cupboard of every home and Jealousy is the other side of Love;

the development of Love is Possession, carefulness, vigilance and

protection” (Jayakanthan 2006: 47). Jayakanthan is a staunch

supporter of Feminism and comments that “Feminism is a branch of

radical thinking and principles; it is not against Men and

understanding Feminism and approaching it as against Men is very

102

much against Feminism itself” (Jayakanthan 2006: 44). The ending

of the novel Gangai Engey Pogirale? clearly exemplify the

unshakable faith the writer Jayakanthan has in Indian Culture.

Jayakanthan, as an individual has been frequently commented,

criticised for his arrogant, eccentric and radical behaviour and

nature; on the contrary Jayakanthan sums up that his works are

greater than himself and instructs his audience to follow his works

and not him; his writings are important and not himself as an

individual. It is interesting to observe that the same idea is reflected

in T.S. Eliot’s monumental essay “Tradition and Individual

Talent” where Eliot stresses that art is not an expression of

personality of the artist but an escape of personality. Jayakanthan

attaches greater importance and concern for the feministic issues in

his works and comments,

Many women writers have commented that I have projected

women self and women consciousness more accurately than

women writers themselves; any good work of art must

elevate the greatness of women and address the problems of

women; this concept is applicable to my works also and

applicable to the creations of works of art in any language.

(Jayakanthan 2006: 88)

3.2.2 Jayakanthan also instructs that women must not be

approached as the store house of Beauty and the source of fulfilling

desires by men; society and women themselves must shed away

such notions in them. Freedom of women is not concerned with

women alone, but it is an issue concerned with the development and

progress of society. Men and women concerned with the progress of

society must participate and work for the equality of the sexes and

the removal of domination of either of the sexes on the other. Men

and women are not rivals or enemies; freedom for women is possible

103

only in an unexploited society wherein equality of sexes is viable.

Jayakanthan opines that religion is operated by society and modern

women are those who are able to evade Religious and Caste

pressures and such influences on them. The responsibility and efforts

of the individual woman is highly mandatory to achieve freedom and

to enjoy individuality and identity in the society. Jayakanthan’s

objective in writing is to bring in faith among the readers and opines

that writers, who are unable to give birth to faith through their

writings, better can skip writing. Jayakanthan considers America as

the model society:

Freedom struggle has first started in America 200 years ago;

the word freedom, has originated in America; The unity of

the workers, implementation of 8 hours work were all first

started in America; the capitalists of the country were once

upon a time workers and the capitalism of the country must

be understood and approached in a different way; by its

hard work, progress, resources, inventions and in many

respects America is existing as a Model Society.

(Jayakanthan 2006: 139)

3.2.3 Freedom is indispensable to everyone including the ruler

and the ruled; this concept is highly a mythical and religious word;

man must free himself from his desires, ignorance, and bad

characters including dominating and enslaving others. Enslaving

others is a primitive behaviour and custom and cultured people must

be against it is the opinion of Jayakanthan. Further in his views,

Legally, ethically and culturally man and woman are

accepted as equals; in all respects we have accepted this;

but in following and implementing the same we find

deviations and difficulties… Life without control may not be a

104

life of Freedom; the other side of the concept of Freedom is

control; without self control there cannot be freedom;

women by nature with more self control deserve to be free

individuals more than men himself…Men must learn

discipline from women and they are the origin of

Discipline…Women must develop all such characters and

they must necessarily be educated to escape from

ignorance… (Jayakanthan 2003: 195)

The same ideology is found in the case of Henry James and the

projection of women characters as Guardian Angels and custodians

of culture and morality in his works is a clear cut instance for the

above given view. The likeness of ideology and approach in the case

of both these writers marks a unique and interesting focal point of

study through this work. In issues related to the importance given to

women characters, their innate purity and as the custodian of culture

and morality, in the importance attached towards love, marriage and

family life, in all these respects one can find a subtle point of

confluence between these two writers which is interesting to study.

The basic ideology of these two writers in issues such as love,

marriage and familial life are to be discussed in the forthcoming

paragraphs to arrive at a concrete picture about these two writers.

3.2.4 Conflict is central to any literary genre and the

importance attached to conflict is more in the genre of Drama and

Novels. Conflict is of two types – Internal and External. The Internal

Conflict is very dynamic in nature and effectively pictures the

psychological probing into the mind of the character and results in

psychological action; on the other hand, the External Conflict is

between the individual and the outer world such as society and other

socio political and economical factors and results in physical action.

Marriage is focused as a conflict by both these writers and in the

105

case of both Henry James and Jayakanthan it is a conflict between

morality and existence. The constant struggle, referred as conflict is

sometimes within the individual and sometimes between the

individual and the external world. Thus, both the types of conflict,

namely external and internal are present in their creations. In the

works of Henry James, the Internal Conflict gains a little

predominance over External Conflict and in the works of

Jayakanthan, the external conflict gains a little predominance over

Internal Conflict. In both these writers, we can observe that strong

willed and dynamic woman directly conflict with the respective

dominative male societies, attempting to uphold her identity and

individuality while opposing societal rules and expectations. In this

respect, both the novelists have the same ideology and approach.

Each individual’s conflict with society is solved in a different way and

in a different light; the women characters of Henry James are more

passive but strong willed, the women characters of Jayakanthan are

mostly active, aggressive and strong willed but both their women

retain their individuality and identity through exhibition of their

refined female subjectivity. In most of the cases, James’ women are

more adjusting to the societal norms and conventions, but

Jayakanthan’s women flout the societal norms and conventions. On

the whole, it is surprising and thought provoking to observe that

both James and Jayakanthan present women characters who are not

conservative in their approaches in a society that imposes and

restricts their actions and at the same time they do not go against

traditions and culture. In short, they stand at the cross borders

between tradition and modernity.

3.2.5 It is interesting to observe that James and Jayakanthan

are slightly contrary in this respect as James attaches slightly

greater importance to psychological conflict and Jayakanthan gives

106

importance to physical conflict. But, their ideology remains the same

and presents the view that marriage is a conflict between morality

and existence and both these writers presents Existential Marriage

and in this respect they are Modernists in their ideology and style.

Marriage is the central focal point and a recurring motif in the works

of Henry James. He attempts to focus the flaws and shortcomings of

the institution of marriage and his objective is to perfect the flawed

institution as he projects in most of his works as one can observe

very effectively in the novels The Portrait of a Lady and

The Golden Bowl. On the other hand, consciously or unconsciously,

in the works of Jayakanthan too marriage has been a frequently

referred event but unlike James it is not the focal point. In many of

his works, though reference to the institution of marriage is seen, as

a ritual or as a ceremony or as an institution it is not that much

approved by Jayakanthan. Similar to James, Jayakanthan also

attempt to perfect man–woman relationship, but not necessarily by

perfecting the flawed institution of marriage. In some of the

references, one can observe that he advocates man–woman

relationship even outside marriage as in the case of Ganga and

Prabhu in Gangai Engey Pogirale?

3.3.0 In many of James’ works, one can observe that

something of a greater action akin to a drama happens. The novel

The Portrait of a Lady, explores the conflict between the individual,

and the society by examining the life of Isabel Archer, who must

choose between her independent mind and the conventions of the

Society. On the other hand, the novel presents the central

confrontation as between Isabel Archer and Charlotte Stant and later

between Isabel Archer and Patrick Osmond. The Portrait of a Lady,

one of the literary masterpieces and achievements of James, is rated

by many of the critics as one among his best works. The character of

107

Isabel is highly individualised and she becomes a representative of

women of the day. Isabel is deceived by her confidante Charlotte

Stant and fixes Osmond to her mind set that leads to her marriage.

Osmond marries her only for her monetary resources, inherited from

her deceased uncle Touchett. As in the words of Osmond, “money’s a

horrid thing to follow and a charming thing to meet” (TPL: 320). In

fact, it is her cousin Ralph Touchett who clearly understands the

independent, strong–willed and romantic notions of Isabel and

supports her financially by bequeathing a share of his property. This

is intended that Isabel need not marry for money, but her legacy

inherited from her uncle, attracted the worst villain, Gilbert Osmond.

Her marriage to Osmond stifles her independent mind as Osmond

marries her only for money and treats her as an object and tries to

force and share his opinions and abandon her own. Isabel’s downfall

with Osmond enables the exploration of the conflict between her

desire to conform to the social conventions and her independent

mind. Gilbert knows the subtlety of implementing his evil desires onto

Isabel as he does with his daughter Pansy; intellectually, emotionally

and physically he exploits Isabel by his malignant plans with greater

precision. At first, Isabel perceives that Osmond is intelligent,

cosmopolitan and gentle; but later she identifies and observes that

the real Osmond is monstrously evil, immature and selfish. The

contrast between Isabel’s two visions of Osmond, one before the

marriage and the other after, proves Isabel’s naiveté of

understanding him.

She had a more wondrous vision of him, fed through

charmed senses and oh! Such a stirred fancy! She had not

read him right… she remembered perfectly the first sign he

had given of it….it had been like the bell that was to ring up

the curtain upon the realm of their life. (TPL 476–77)

108

3.3.1 The marital life of Isabel with Osmond begins to be bitter

for her due to Osmond’s overwhelming egotism and his lack of

genuine affection for his wife, Isabel. Many readers of the novel and

critics are not satisfied with the ending of the novel, as Isabel

returns to her unfaithful husband, though Caspar Goodwood is still

ready to marry her. Isabel refutes the marriage proposals of Lord

Warburton and Caspar Goodwood and chooses Osmond, shocks not

only the readers but also the other characters and well wishers of

Isabel. She chooses Osmond, as she cannot understand him and this

sense of a mystery fascinates her. James sees Isabel objectively and

understands the power of money that alters the destiny of an

individual and can see the beauty of being relieved by the pressures

of the lack of money on women. She is subsumed under the cultural

constrains and also aware of the obligations of marriage and her

motherly care and responsibility to her step-daughter Pansy

Osmond. This is the reason that makes her to go back to her

husband as it is her own choice to marry him. Thus, in this novel,

the central conflict is between the overpowering design of Isabel’s

suitor to marry her and Isabel’s romantic notions of freedom and

beauty. In chapter 51, Osmond reminds Isabel of her own choice and

freedom in the act of marrying him. He says to his wife as, “you are

nearer to me than any human creature, and I’m nearer to you. It

may be a disagreeable proximity; it’s one at any rate, of our own

deliberate making” (TPL: 583). James does not intend his novel to

be a naturalistic novel but the characters are real and full of life,

especially the central character, Isabel Archer. His characters,

especially Isabel are human agents whose behaviour, the reader can

analyse. James portrays her as an autonomous agent who is

responsible for her own behaviour, and who refuses to be swallowed

by her own circumstances. In projecting her system of ideas,

109

thoughts and independence, idealism and transcendence, James

projects Isabel as an Emersonian subject who attempts to improve

and perfect herself and who refuses to be one among the common

lot. James’ realism is not only idealistic but also psychological and

appears to be a psychological study rather than a novel. The reader

learns of her desire to perfect herself to the extreme, and of her

secretive self:

Her thoughts were a tangle of vague outlines which had

never been corrected by the judgment of people speaking

with authority…she had a theory that it was only under this

provision that life was worth living; that one should be one

of the best, should be conscious of a fine organisation,

should move in the realm of light, natural wisdom, of

happy impulse of inspiration, gracefully chronic…one should

try to be one’s own best friend…she had a fixed

determination to regard the world as a place of brightness,

of free expansion, of irrestible action. (TPL: 104)

3.3.2 Isabel thinks that she finds in Osmond, the qualities that

fit her world; he is the ideal lover for her. She marries Osmond not

for money, as he is penniless. Her reason for marrying Osmond is

given in her own words as, “Why… because I know him better now

than when I married him. That would be a paltry thing to do. I must

make him like me better. While it remains unspoken, there is a

chance it may improve. I think I owe him that. I think I owe it to

myself” (TPL: 350). Isabel comes to view men only in passive terms

and sees them only as abstractions and expects no passionate love

from her husband. In fact, she chooses Osmond as he is a non–

threatening male figure and evokes only safe and familiar feelings.

Throughout the novel, Isabel vacillates between sexual and asexual

and she refuses the passionate proposals of Lord Warburton and

110

Goodwood as she feels they will be a threat for her independence,

which she adores the most in her life; ironically which she loses after

her marriage to Osmond. It is evidently seen in her early meet with

Caspar Goodwood and rejoices at his departure. The moments

between the passionate and the impassionate pulses, are expressed

in her gestures;

She was not praying; she was trembling–trembling all over.

Vibration was easy to her, was in fact too constant with her,

and she found herself now humming like a smitten harp. She

only asked, however, to put on the cover…. but she wished

to resist her excitement. (TPL: 232)

3.3.3 Thus, Isabel lives idealistically and entertains an

imaginary world of her own to project an Ideal American Emersonian

Self. Isabel’s sexual ideology is slightly ambiguous that reflects the

women of the day and makes the portrayal of Isabel more realistic.

The attempt to love, meets with disaster and Isabel’s destructive

marriage is an instance for it. The Portrait of a Lady, in another

perspective is a recurring pattern in James – characters who are cut

off either by psychological illness or social limitation from active

participation of life. These characters who avoid the direct contact

with the active emotional life withdrew into the desiring mode and

pursue imaginative romance. Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a

Lady and Lambert Strether in The Ambassadors are instances of

this sort. Donna Przybylowicz comments,

The analysing consciousness, trying to understand life’s

significance through contemplation rather than through an

active immersion in it, dematerialises the objective

universe and in the process creates his own idiosyncratic

111

realm, composed of personal signs, symbols and language.

(Przybylowicz 1986: 300)

The female protagonist in The Portrait of a Lady, Isabel Archer and

other central female characters in the novel The Golden Bowl,

escape the expectations of the other characters. For instance, Isabel

rejects a financially advantageous marriage to Lord Warburton in the

first instance and to Caspar Goodwood in the second instance foiling

the expectations of her well wishers and friends. She chooses to go

to meet the dying cousin; Ralph Touchett in his dying bed is against

her husband’s wish and her final decision to return to her husband as

a dutiful, faithful wife is foiling every one’s expectations. In most

instances, she appears to be losing her identity and independence,

but she is a character of her own destiny and retains her identity and

independence through less direct means, retaining a refined female

subjectivity. The marble statue acts as a symbol for marriage and it

is present on the occasions when Isabel meets Lord Warburton and

Caspar Goodwood. Isabel escapes the estimates and expectations of

the people around her and it is only Ralph Touchett who has a just

estimate of her as “a clever girl…with a strong will and high temper”

(TPL: 42). The ending of the novel, though it evokes a lot of adverse

criticism and comments, the reason for Isabel returning to her

faithless husband is marital duty and motherly care for Pansy

Osmond. The following lines are worth quoting:

Her errand was over; she had done what she had left her

husband to do. She had a husband in a foreign city, counting

the hours of her absence… he was not one of the best

husbands, but that didn’t alter the case…Isabel thought of

her husband as little might be; but now that she was at a

112

distance, beyond its spell, she thought with a kind of

spiritual shudder of Rome. (TPL: 480)

Many critics have pointed out different causes and justifications for

the return of Isabel to Osmond – moral fear, misguided renunciation,

pragmatic realism, a mature acceptance of suffering, or a renewed

sense of responsibility towards Pansy may oblige her to “the house

of darkness, the house of suffocation” (TPL : 360). Henrietta

Stackpole, the real confidante of Isabel advocates divorce, but her

view is silenced by the narrator, the author himself. Divorce is not a

remedy or a cure to the ill matched couples which gets reflected in

Isabel’s return to her husband. Indeed, Isabel Archer by Henry

James is undoubtedly one of the greatest heroines in American

Literature.

3.4.0 The central action and the conflict in the novel

The Golden Bowl is the marriage of the principal characters. Prince

Amerigo, an Italian nobleman is in London for his marriage to Maggie

Verver. Amerigo’s former mistress is Charlotte Stant, the friend of

Maggie. Maggie after her marriage to Amerigo realises that her

father is lonely and persuades her father to propose Charlotte.

Charlotte accepts the old man for the sake of monetary status and

security, hiding her illegitimate relationship with Amerigo. Maggie

learns the illegitimate relationship between her husband and her

friend through the shop keeper and confronts Amerigo. She begins a

secret campaign to separate her husband from her illegitimate lover

without her father’s knowledge. She gradually persuades her father

to return to America with his wife. Towards the end of the novel,

Adam and Charlotte depart to America and Amerigo is attracted by

Maggie’s diplomacy and her sheer will and embraces her. The central

situation of the novel originates with the idea of two Americans – a

daughter and her rich widowed father, who is attached to

113

his daughter, realise that their respective spouses are already having

an intimate relationship with each other and know each other.

Maggie Verver in The Golden Bowl is the central character who

revolves the wheel of action. She opts to exhibit silence as a method

of resistance. On the surface level, it appears that the male

characters are predominant and rule the action but it is Maggie

Verver who decides and alters the course of action. Though she

knows that her husband and her step mother have an illegitimate

relationship before her marriage, by sheer resilience she alters and

without any disruptions in their respective family and marital life,

she brings the happy ending to the novel. The union of her father,

Adam Verver to Charlotte Stant and her union with her husband

Prince Amerigo, exhibit her sheer will power and perseverance.

Maggie’s mental plight and her state of mind are best revealed in the

following lines of the novel:

Maggie went, she went…she felt herself going, she reminded

herself of an actress who had been studying a part,

rehearsing it, but who suddenly, on the stage before the

footlights, had begun to improvise, to speak lines not in the

text … Preparation and practice had come but a short way,

her part opened out and she invented from moment to

moment what to say and to do. She had but one rule of art…

to keep within bounds and not lose her head; certainly she

might see for a week how far that would take her. (TGB:

348)

3.4.1 In the depiction of her mental plight, she comes very

close to Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady and Jayakanthan’s

Kalyani in Oru Natikai Natakam Parkiral. The golden bowl is the

symbol for marriage and its flaw is first noted by the Prince and

envisions whether it is a bad omen. Maggie wants no violent

114

confrontation to settle the familial chaos caused by the illegitimate

relationship between her step mother and her husband. She subtly

shifts and manipulates to exclude her rival and regain her husband.

Critics are greatly disturbed by the new born perceptions and the

maturity in her to change and set things right. She is a character on

whom James has invested a lot of imagination and a character that

grows beyond immeasurable dimensions and heights. Thus, Maggie

refuses to judge and punish, but wants to rectify the situation. In the

initial phase of her marriage, in the name of filial loyalty and

fairness, she is unwilling to give up her father to her husband and

does not understand that the two men are in conflict with each other

to attract her attention. Akin to Isabel, Maggie also enjoys to be a

dutiful wife and “her cheerful submission to (wifely) duty”, (TGB:

526), exhibit this point. Her commitment to her husband, though a

worthless, unfaithful husband is reflected as in the lines, “Let me

admit it… I am selfish…I place my husband first” (TGB: 542). In the

end, Charlotte’s return to America with her husband is an exile and

as Charlotte leads her guests at Fawns, lecturing them in a

quavering voice that sounds, “like the shriek of a soul in pain…she

seems to be paying too much a price for her inappropriate marriage

and her affair” (TGB : 526). Maggie’s mental vigour and her creative

energies are greatly underestimated by Charlotte and others as she

thinks that Maggie will live in the narrow world of her father only.

Instead of confronting with Charlotte about her affair with Amerigo,

Maggie offers her a lesson. Maggie spies Charlotte retreating to the

garden with the wrong volume of the book, Maggie goes after her

and comments, “I saw you come out…saw you from my window and

couldn’t bear to think you should find yourself without the beginning

of your book…This is the beginning… You’ve got the wrong volume

and I’ve brought you out the right” (TGB: 540). Words such as

115

“sacrifice”, “scapegoat”, “martyr” and “victim” appear very

frequently in the second book of the novel clearly symbolise the

related themes of love, marriage and money.

3.5.0 The novel The Ambassadors depicts a 55 year old

American Lambert Strether’s attempts to persuade Chad Newsome

to return from Paris to the United States. If Strether is successful in

his attempts to persuade Chad, it will result in the possible marriage

to Mrs.Newsome. In his stay at Paris, he comes into contact with a

woman, Marie de Vionnet to whom Chad is madly in love. Chad is

transformed by Vionnet and the ordinary young American has

become in Paris, a man of the world. Strether is greatly surprised by

the manners and looks of Chad and physically touches him to see if

he is real;

The effect of it was general…it had cleared his eyes and

settled his colour and polished his fine square teeth…and at

the same time that had given him a form and surface,

almost a design, it had toned his voice… it was perhaps a

speciality of Paris. (TA: 97–98)

The depiction of the rich complexity and grandness of the character

of Madame de Vionett is revealed in the following lines:

Women were thus endlessly absorbent, and to deal with

them was to walk on water…it took women, if to deal with

them was to walk on water what wonder the water rose?

And it had not surely risen higher than round this woman.

(TA: 322)

3.5.1 Lambert comes to the conclusion that Chad must not

leave such an exquisite lady and returns to America with the rich

European experience. As the novel is narrated wholly from the single

116

point perspective of Lambert, it also portrays the rich transformation

of the narrator from a stern puritan pious project of presenting the

very process of his gradual change, dynamics of staying himself and

becoming different. It is very surprising to note that the action of the

novel begins, when he accepts the bid put forth by Mrs.Newsome for

a possible marriage as she is a rich widow. Finally he is content as

an ambassador and as an observer of the happenings in the novel.

Lambert changes radically towards the end of the novel and three

women are responsible for it – the invisibly powerful Mrs.Newsome,

who sends him as a Queen sends her ambassador; secondly, the

lady who recreates and remoulds Chad, the French lady Marie de

Vionnet; thirdly, the seductive Maria Gostrey. Perhaps the greatest

single influence is Vionnet, the personification of Paris itself to

Lambert. She embodies present and the past, the beauty and the

danger, and all the varieties of the great city. She possesses the

variety and rich complexity of at least fifty women in her and

Lambert sees her as the source of Chad’s transformation and later

he himself is transformed by the rich complexity of this French lady

and everything is prompted by the possible marriage to Newsome.

3.6.0 In the novel, The Wings of the Dove, the presence of

Sex and the depiction of physicality is a recurring motif which marks

the uniqueness of the work of art. The novel is a triangular love

betrayal story. Kate Croy is in love with a penniless journalist Merton

Densher and postpones the marriage for want of money. Kate

instructs Densher, her fiancée to pretend loving Milly Theale, a rich,

dying American heiress, so that after her death, Densher will inherit

the money. Milly is in love with Densher and Kate exploits her love

for meeting out her own financial needs. The episode, in which Lord

Mark takes Milly to show a portrait is very interesting – Milly sees the

portrait of a beautiful, graceful lady similar to her appearance is very

117

thought provoking; Milly’s subsequent breakdown before the portrait

seems to be a reaction that represents a moment of “penetrated

identity (that) moves Milly to tears of happiness (because) her

deepest sense of herself…has been gently exposed and

acknowledged…to be identical to and indistinguishable from the way

others see her..” (Ian 1984: 119). The narrator in The Wings of

the Dove, recall directly the name of the heroine Milly Theale, to

dove. She is attributed with the features of dovishness – gentleness,

generosity, innocence and vulnerability. It is Kate Croy, who first

describes her as “dove–like", as reflected in the lines:

For Milly, Kate’s epithet comes like an inspiration: she

found herself accepting as the right one…the name so given

to her…she met it on the instant as she would have met

revealed the truth; it lighted up the strange dusk in which

she lately had walked. That was what the matter with her

was. She was a Dove, wasn’t she… (WOD: 283)

3.6.1 On the contrary, James’ description of Kate is very

striking and interesting to quote as follows:

She would have been meanwhile a wonderful lioness for a

show, an extraordinary Figure in a cage or anywhere;

majestic, magnificent, high–coloured all brilliant gloss

Perpetual satin, twinkling bugles, and flashing gems, with a

luster of agate eyes, a Sheen of raven hair, a polish of

complexion that was like that of a well kept China and that–

as if the skin were too–tight to hold especially at curves and

corners. (WOD: 23)

James is an expert in describing characters; Kate is like a lioness,

acting on her instincts and likes to prey on others; on the other

hand, Milly is compared to that of a Dove, soft and helpless, preyed

118

upon by others. Her gentle, soft nature and her fear of death,

eventually kills her easily than the real illness. The meeting between

the doctor Sir Luke Strett and his comments that the survival

depends on Milly’s “taking the trouble to live” (WOD: 154) is worth

observing. The comment reveals that she can live, if she wishes but

on the contrary, she thinks of death and wishes death and dies at

the end. But, she leaves huge money to Densher in spite of all the

complications and complexities.

3.6.2 Marriage is taken as the means to earn huge wealth and

status in a relatively shorter span of time is evidently seen here and

a lover ready to sacrifice her love and fiancée to another lady for the

sake of money also evokes a lot of discussion and thoughts. In

effect, to fight against the desire to die and her contemplation of

death, the doctor suggests her to love or find somebody whom she

can love. As a woman, she turns to another woman, Kate who takes

this as the greatest opportunity and instructs her fiancée to pretend

to love Milly Theale. Towards the end, in that most famous scene,

Milly turns her face to the wall and dies; she comes to know the

relationship between Densher and Kate and she wishes to die and

ultimately she dies. Milly’s death is an ethical death and she dies

because of her desire to die. Thus, all the actions in the novel centre

round and are controlled by marriage – the postponed marriage

between Densher and Kate and the expected marriage between

Densher and Milly. The ending of the novel is quite satisfactory as

the relationship between Kate and Densher deteriorates, Milly dies

and leaves a huge fortune to Densher; Densher is unwilling to accept

the money and leaves the decision to Kate to decide upon. Densher’s

conscience pricks him of his betrayal to Milly and decides that Kate

can have the inherited money without him or she can possess

Densher without the money and not the both. If she wants money,

119

he is ready to bequest the fortune on her or if she wants Densher,

he is ready to marry her. But, the novel ends with the powerful

statement from Kate, “We shall never be again as we were!” (WOD:

475) and the novel ends at this point, leaving the rest to the reader’s

imagination. In James’ world during 1910, the unique goal of any

woman is to marry a wealthy or a good positioned gentleman to get

security for her in society; money and an acceptable husband are

the two needs of the women of that day. Milly is done to death in a

social world with evils in it; everyone uses and is used by everyone

else and Merton Densher’s final perception that he has been saved,

blessed and nurtured by Milly symbolises her as a Dove, Angel, and

Saviour or as a Priceless Pearl. Milly is innocent, victimised by such

victimisers like Kate, Merton Densher and Maud Lowder. Unal Aytur

claims that “Kate is the representative of materialist and selfish

interest of the British society in which she lives. This society corrupts

her good qualities and makes her a person to act not on her will but

by her reason” (Aytur 1977: 118–19). Illness or mortal illness is

seen as a boon to Realistic Literature, if not to real life and the

central characters in some of the works as in The Wings of

the Dove, Milly is with an illness resulting in her death, a popular

trend of the Literature produced at that time. Kate, Densher and

Maud Lower are presented with mercenary traits and duplicity killing

the innocent Milly and in the end it is Densher who transforms

ethically, resulting from his conscience of guilt and betrayal to Milly.

3.7.0 The central focus of the novel The Europeans is whether

Eugenia Baroness Munster will marry Robert Acton or not? In fact

there are 3 other marriages in the novel – Clifford and Lizzie Acton,

Felix Young and Gertrude, Brand and Charlotte. These three

marriages have hasty ending but it is the expected marriage

between Eugenia and Robert Acton that evaporates. Eugenia directly

120

and indirectly is involved, directs and influences these marriages.

She comes to New England, in search of fortune through a possible

marriage and sets her eye on Acton. In her discussion with her

brother Felix, it clearly reveals the intension and plan of Eugenia as,

Yes, I am ambitious, she said at last. ‘And my ambition has

brought me to this dreadful Place…“That is all I expect of

them”, said the Baroness. ‘I don’t count upon their being

clever or friendly – at first – elegant or interesting. But I

assure you I insist upon their being rich. (TE: 39 –40)

Robert Acton, the cousin of the Wentworth family is a man of wealth,

worldly wisdom and a man of the world. Eugenia sets her mind on

Acton and finally their relationship ends with a twist, as Eugenia

returns to her husband, from whom she has been thinking of legal

separation so far. In the first meet, Felix speaks of his sister

Eugenia’s marital status in an ambiguous way to Gertrude:

…her position is rather a singular one. It’s a morganatic

marriage.’ “Morganatic?’ These were new names and new

words to poor Gertrude. ‘That’s what they call a Marriage,

you know, contracted between a scion of a ruling house and

a common mortal. (TE: 56–57)

3.7.1 She cunningly postpones signing of the legal document

that will result in her divorce. She almost weighs the situation and

the characters and wants to come to a conclusion whether she must

go for an alternative marriage or return to her husband. It is clearly

evident in the following conversation between Eugenia and Acton:

…It is an indignity and I have wished at least to make it

difficult for them. But, I have a little document in my waiting

desk which I have only to sign and send back to the prince.

121

And you have to only to sign that paper? Acton asked. The

Baroness looked at him a moment. “Do you urge it?” He got

up slowly and stood with his hands in his pockets. What do

you gain by not doing it” (TE: 105–106)

During her stay, she is able to realize the cross–cultural and

intercontinental relationships that will result in a much more serious

havoc and though Robert Acton is willing to marry her, she decides

to go back to her husband, as she is not ready to end up in another

possibly complicated relationship through a second marriage. In this

respect, she resembles Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady to a

certain extent. The parting scene between Acton and Eugenia is

worth quoting:

I am going away, said the Baroness. And she turned away

again as if to illustrate her meaning. ‘When are you going?’

asked Acton, standing a moment in his place. But the

Baroness made no answer and he followed her....What could

I say to keep you? asked Acton. He wanted to keep her, and

it was a fact that he had been thinking of her for a week. He

was in love with her now… the only question with him was

whether he could trust her…’She is not honest, she is not

honest, he kept murmuring to himself. (TE 169–71)

Eugenia and Acton are not united because he cannot trust her and

her intension is to achieve money and status and it is almost like one

sided affair. In their case also, marriage becomes a conflict and the

other three marriages unite three couples after a greater conflict. In

the case of Felix Young and Gertrude it is love at first sight and both

are mutually attracted and got affection and the conflict arises

because of Wentworth’s opposition to the marriage; Clifford and

Lizzie Acton’s marriage is proposed by the family and Eugenia tricks

122

and helps Lizzie to marry Clifford and it is the ill–mannered,

non–committed youth life of Clifford, that brings the conflict at the

early stage and who gets refined and committed to Lizzie by

Eugenia; Brand and Charlotte’s marriage is a marriage forced upon

others and Charlotte has real affection and respect to Brand and

Brand has no alternative to chose and accepts the hand of Charlotte.

3.8.0 Jayakanthan’s short stories greatly reveal his life long

concern for the common folk, their little joys and sorrows and their

dignity and sense of honour even in the face of adversity. His early

writings are very authentic as he lives with the slum dwellers in his

young age while he works as a compositor in the printing press. His

major theme is to sing the glory of man and he is very much

committed to life. Most of his stories also display his greater concern

for women’s equality, evidently seen throughout his works, both in

his short stories and novels. Though, the characters in his later

novels and masterpieces are to some extent upper middle class

people, his concern lie with the common lot. A radical and extremist

Jayakanthan can be found in his short stories and a matured and

refined Jayakanthan in his novels. The language of Jayakanthan in

his works is akin to a cleansing storm, sweeping away the debris of

the society far away from it. His transition of the local and colloquial

language in his short stories to a much refined brahminical language

in his novels is with an intention and the choice of characters from

the middle class society is with a purpose. His novels raised many

questions about the beliefs, attitudes and ideology of the middle

class people. Marital relations and gender issues are discussed in

detail on similar lines with Henry James. His novels are the depiction

of the contradiction or conflict between middle class beliefs and the

reality and the old values and the present practices. In such lights,

the marital relationship, familial bondage and ties and the clashes

123

between man and woman in issues such as love and family life are

discussed. His views on celibacy, marital fidelity and man–woman

relationships are drawn from life. He has affirmed through his

writings a broad and noble humanism, deep spirituality, nobility and

courage and a fearless pursuit of intellectual truth. Jayakanthan is

not only on comparable grounds with Henry James, but also with

Mulk Raj Anand, popularly acclaimed as the Father of Indian Short

Story.

3.8.1 Both of them are romantic humanists, have a keen

interest in the eradication of social evil, and enounced the concept of

the ‘new woman’ in their depiction of the conflict between Tradition

and Modernity. In short, it can be concluded that both Mulk Raj

Anand and Jayakanthan are the voices of the voiceless who

expressed the graver social issues in their works. It is very surprising

to find that Henry James also shares most of the similar concerns of

these two writers. Jayakanthan’s writings serve as a beacon light to

the society, especially to the younger generation of the society who

live in a phase during which the social values are eroded. His

contributions to Tamil Literature, his outstanding contributions in

shaping Indian Literature and for his deep understanding of human

nature, make him a unique, literary icon. Announcing the Jnanpith

Award to Jayakanthan in 2002, in the Hindu, the selection Board

chairman, L.M. Singhvi commented that, “Jayakanthan had not only

enriched the Tamil Literary tradition, but also made an outstanding

contribution towards shaping Indian Literature…his works unveiled

the equations of human emotions.” Literature in his view, must

strive to bind society together and not promote divisions which he

practices in his works.

3.8.2 Vaazhkai Azhaikiratu displays the skills of Jayakanthan

as a writer. Raja, the protagonist of the novel is not able to cope up

124

with the corrupt and exploitative world. He leaves his native place

and reaches Singanalore, where he meets Thangam, a desolate poor

soul. Raja attempts to save Thangam from the clutches of Sarangan,

the local rowdy. Sarangan wants to mint money by making Thangam

to yield to the lust of the Village Administrative Officer (VAO)

Chidambaram Pillai, a man of administrative and materialistic

backgrounds. There blossoms a brotherly relationship between Raja

and Sarangan as Raja becomes close with Sarangan and he treats

Raja as his own brother. To save Thangam, Raja acts loving her.

Sarangan believes that Raja is really in love with Thangam and

almost prepares for their marriage. Later, Raja escapes from the

place and encounters his uncle’s daughter Geeta. The brief love

episode ends tragically with the suicide of Geeta and finally Raja

decides to marry Thangam. Thus, the novel sums up the Existential

agony and the marriage is presented in Existential terms. The novel

also targets Feministic angles and exposes the physical, mental and

economical exploitations and tortures experienced by women in a

male dominated society. To sum up, the conflict is at the first level

between Raja and his uncle’s daughter Geeta to be united through

marriage; later it is between Raja and Thangam getting united

through marriage at the second level. Raja is unable to marry Geeta,

as he is jobless and before his uncle he is a pauper and on these

grounds, though he is morally and individually good, just because of

economic reasons he is unable to marry Geeta. Towards the end of

the novel, to support and be a guardian for Thangam and also as he

is attracted by her innate character, Raja marries her.

3.9.0 Gangai Engey Pogirale? is one of the masterpieces of

Jayakanthan. Ganga matures as a college girl and settles in a high

decent job in society with the help of her uncle, Vengu. She cleverly

escapes from the lusterous eyes of his uncle and searches for Prabhu

125

who seduced her twelve years before. It is because of her love to

Prabhu, which assists her to escape from the seductive clutches of

her uncle, as reflected in the following lines:

The love she has for him (Prabhu) gave her the physical

strength and independent will to keep her uncle at a

distance…It was her uncle who deserves the ill treatment

from her… (GEP: 13)

Later, by the bitter and harsh treatment of Ganga makes her uncle

Vengu, a miraculously transformed soul. He writes a letter, seeks her

forgiveness and entitles all his property on her as a mark of

redemption and goes for a pilgrim. It is only because of her uncle’s

comment that induces her to search the man who molested her 12

years before. She manages to locate and identify him and there

blossoms a highly matured friendship between them. In the later

novel, Ganga is introduced as a drunkard who attempts to forget

Prabhu and fails. She is a radical and revolutionary woman who is

able to stand independently in the society without anyone’s

assistance and relationship. The type of relationship Ganga longs

from Prabhu is evident in the following lines:

What did I ask you? Nothing, I don’t want anything… is it

wrong to think you even as a friend…neither of our lives can

be changed hereafter…then what? Why should we both

unnecessarily comment about each other? I don’t want

anything more than man–woman relationship or sexual

connections…no, no…I just want your friendship… (GEP: 68)

3.9.1 There is a re–union in the relationship between Prabhu

and Ganga. There blossoms a new, real and genuine relationship

between them as they share mutual love, affection and trust. The

well wishers of Ganga, even Prabhu forces her to get married and

126

settled which she dislikes and hates the most. In fact, she has

already accepted Prabhu as her husband, though not she can marry

him. Later, towards the end of the novel, they decide to spend the

last phase of life on the banks of the Holy River, Ganges. The novel

ends up with the submersion of Ganga in the holy river, wherein

Ganga fuses with the Ganges. This novel is one of the best works of

art by the writer and some of the interesting focal points of the

novel: A searing criticism on sex, marriage and women being treated

by the upper class society; a character study of a lonely woman and

her sheer will and independent mind; an unusual love story – Ganga

loving Prabhu, who has molested her. Thus, in this novel, the central

conflict is between Ganga who likes to marry Prabhu and the well

wishers of Ganga who like her to get her married to some worthy

person. Ultimately, though Ganga is unable to marry Prabhu, like a

traditional, typical south Indian brahmin wife, her last days are spent

with her man, Prabhu on the banks of the river Ganges – a holy,

pious life. In this novel, it is the bondage between Prabhu and Ganga

beyond the margins of marriage and their last phase of life ends

happily, even without marriage. The highly unique and modern

notions in the novel are expressed through Vasantha, Ganga’s

brother daughter; she is against marriage, against the exploitations

of women in a male dominated society and against all the social ills

and evils and advocates a divinely life, with a social purpose and

objective which may not suit the ideology or the minds of many

individuals. She matures as a medical college student and her

refined, mature views are very striking; in the eyes of Ganga, “she is

a different child…a brilliant, independent and strong willed girl…she is

quiet and never indulges in the foolish talk of the common women”

(GEP: 158). Her views are best expressed in the following lines that

can be taken as the view of Ganga and the author himself:

127

In today’s world, related to marriage, leave the decision to

the individual whether to get married or not… (GEP: 129)

What is the uniqueness or greatness, a woman gets out of

marriage? It is a yoke to dominate, enslave and ill treat

woman…I don’t want you to see doing all the house hold

duties to a man…I don’t want to see such a sight and such a

sight will be the most unpleasing sight. Similarly I can’t do

the same as a married woman myself. (GEP: 167)

Can’t men and women live together without sexual

relations? (GEP: 179)

When you think that man and woman can avoid children yet

live together, why not they think of living together and avoid

sex? (GEP: 180)

3.9.2 Marriage is not the only solace and abode for man–

woman relationship; man and a woman can live a friendly and pure

life even without marriage. The last phase of Prabhu and Ganga’s life

is that of a life in paradise, without any complications and full of

divinely pleasure as put forth in the following lines:

Through out the day we both are together; we go for a walk,

build mud houses on the banks of river Ganges, like small

children…at the dawn and at the dusk, taking bath twice a

day… (GEP: 249)

3.10.0 Oru Natikai Natakam Parkiral is a psychological and

artistic masterpiece of the writer. In this novel, the writer attempts

to study deeply the consciousness of two major characters, their

emotional tangle, their self–introspection and their ultimate union.

The novel is full of psychological action between the two major

characters – Ranga and Kalyani. There is a steady and dynamic

128

growth in both these principal characters. Kalyani, after whom the

title gets reflected, is introduced in the novel as middle aged stage

actress of minimal mental maturity and her state of mind is referred

in the following lines:

She doesn’t know herself. Her desires, her likes, her

ambitions, her joys, her aesthetics, she bears all of them as

a burden. She realises that those burdens are pressuring her

but with out alternatives, bears them all… (ONP: 16)

Ranga meets Kalyani accidentally and they are mutually attracted

even in the very first meet. Her attraction and fascination for him

gets intensified because of his skill, intelligence and his discoursing

abilities in his professional life, as an art critic. She admires him as:

The crimes and faults which no one notices, is found and

noticed by him, surprised her…His arguing skills and his

ability to corner people during arguments were all very much

admired by her. (ONP: 17–18)

3.10.1 Ranga’s wife dies during her delivery and she leaves a

baby girl, taken care by the in–laws of Ranga. Kalyani’s mother dies

and she is accompanied by a distant relative and both these principal

characters are alone and longing for real, genuine companionship. At

this juncture, they meet one another and instantly get attracted to

each other. They start meeting frequently and their relationship

blossoms into friendship, mature as love and ends in marriage.

Ranga in their initial meets and after a long standing relationship,

before his marriage with Kalyani, judges her character:

She is a very rare and unique woman…she is an artistic

fan…Her characters are basically good, which she maintains

129

even after entering stage–acting; this acts as a touchstone

for her artistic career… (ONP: 55)

Ranga, himself is of the opinion that his marriage with Kalyani will be

a mature and highly successful one as he comments in the following

lines:

Their mature minds and rich experience will enable a good

relationship evading silly things and be highly a pragmatic

one is his opinion. (ONP: 64)

In the span of their intimate relationship before her marriage,

Kalyani becomes mature and her matured mind is evident.

She wanted to ask him to stay with her and that was her

desire. But, she was unable to openly express her desire and

she suffered because of it. She is highly conscious not to

interfere and disrupt his personal, independent life…

(ONP: 107)

3.10.2 After her marriage, Ranga becomes conscious of his

economic inferiority to his wife Kalyani. Ranga is an intellectual and

critical analyst in his professional life; but he is very emotional,

self–centered and highly sentimental in his personal life. In his

subconscious mind, he suffers from inferiority complex before the

highly independent and matured Kalyani. In the initial phase of their

marital life, he attempts to capture the self of Kalyani, but fails in his

attempt. Kalyani, being a highly independent woman, indulges in

battle of words and discourses with her husband, which causes

further rifts in their relationships, because of the ideological clashes

between them. The real complexity reaches to the peak, when Ranga

understands the indomitable mind and unshakable will of Kalyani, as

he comments:

130

She is not ready to forgo or sacrifice on his behalf anything

or unwilling to bear anything; the same idea gave him a

bitter taste and disgusting effect that what was the meaning

of such a relationship… (ONP: 161)

This creates a breach in their relationship; when Kalyani falls sick of

TB in the spinal cord, the couple gets united again. There is a clash

in the nature and frequency of both Ranga and Kalyani; Ranga is

highly sentimental, egoistic and emotional but on the contrary

Kalyani is highly realistic, more matured and less detached and less

sentimental towards the happenings in life. Ranga is now able to

understand her better and analyse her self authentically with a

clearer vision. In his awakening words:

Whatever we speak and read we are influenced by the

ideology of the times and the influence of the society. A

woman, however good she is, however genuine, disciplined

and moralistic she is, her possessing a self of her own is not

palatable to the men in the society… (ONP: 251)

3.10.3 The life of separation between Ranga and Kalyani,

greatly helps Ranga to have a third dimensional analysis and

thinking into the character of Kalyani. Ranga’s intelligence helps him

to understand and accept the genuine self of Kalyani and her

independent and strong mind. He starts loving her with her own

identity and individuality which he has attempted to capture and

destroy all these days. He openly confesses to Kalyani:

The self that attracted me towards you as a lover, later

becomes unpalatable when I became your husband. I am

unable to exist as your husband, accepting your self and

tried to destroy your ‘self’ unconsciously so far…you are very

131

strong and at last your mental strength has exposed my

weak mind and this is my ‘self’… (ONP: 252)

At last, Ranga is able to understand fully, that life is not to expose

one’s ego and by his sheer arrogance and ego, he gets separated

from her. But, during the period of separation, he realises that he

cannot separate her strong memories from his life. Thus, the novel

ends happily with a renewed, redefined man–woman relationship as

husband and wife – totally egoless and non–capturing of one self by

another. The novel touches the realms of Feminism and

Psychoanalysis using the Stream of Consciousness technique. To

bring into focus, here also it is the conflict in the relationships

between Kalyani and Ranga, through their marriage as the central

preoccupation.

3.11.0 Cuntarakandam is a typical novel of the writer with

social and revolutionary concern for women. Love, marriage and

marital life are not concerned alone with women but they are all

linked with society. In his preface to the novel, Jayakanthan

comments that,

Young Ladies! This story warns you against the betrayal in a

male dominated society in the form of Love or

Marriage…suppose such a relationship happens to be with a

social criminal, the bondage with such a person will not

control you… (CK: 4)

The novel epitomizes that women should not be enslaved or chained

by love or marital life. The novelist supports the decision of liberating

herself from an unlovable or unworthy husband. In this respect,

Jayakanthan’s Sita differs from Henry James Isabel Archer. The

heroine of the novel Sita is the third daughter of Sundararama

Sharma, the editor of a magazine. He brings Sugumaran, a rich

132

middle aged man with loose morals. The marriage between

Sugumaran and Sita proceeds very rapidly, in spite of the protest of

Sita. In fact, literally speaking, her father sells her to Sugumaran in

the name of marriage. In fact, she attempts to avoid such a

marriage with Sugumaran, whom she hates for his behaviour and

attitudes. Her comments are worth quoting here which can be taken

as the voice of the author himself;

In general, through marriage, which is a social bondage, a

woman may face both good and bad; how to safeguard the

good and how to evade the evil is my present search and

research… (CK: 48)

3.11.1 In her reply to her friend Mariyamma, Sita’s comments,

What is the future of a woman? For this question marriage is

not an answer or a solution…I am a person who analyses

how marriage is prevalent in the society… I will not be hasty

in deciding my marriage…. (CK: 70)

At last to save her father’s life and his debts, she accepts to marry

Sugumaran. She remains chaste and never loses her virginity to

Sugumaran. In her personal conversation with her husband

Sugumaran, Sita says that, “For my sake you need not do any sorts

of sacrifice…I also won’t do any sacrifice for you” (CK: 107). The

necessity of retaining one’s own identity and individuality after

marriage is stressed in the above lines and Sita observes and

achieves this dictum in her martial life, of course an unhappy,

incomplete marriage life. The scenario of her marriage to Sugumaran

and her physical and psychological discomforts during the ceremony

are worth quoting:

133

These luxuries, spending of money, heavy crowd, delicious

food, mantras by the priests, the music…all nauseates her

and she feels vomiting…here is a modern day slave, in the

presence and approval of priests and elders, she is sold to a

capitalist, embossed on her as Wife… (CK: 131–32)

3.11.2 In course of her mechanical marital life, she remains

chaste depicting her independent, strong will as she cannot accept

Sugumaran as her husband, though she is compelled to marry him,

because of meeting out the economic needs of her father. She

slowly realises the further evil side of Sugumaran, as he maintains

an illegal relationship with the nurse Meena. At last, Sita decides to

leave Sugumaran and spends a highly independent and free life with

her friends Mariamma and Ramadoss. Ramadoss, who acts as a

surrogate to the author, voices his highly feministic views in the

novel as reflected in the following lines:

…In my view, women are not the store house of beauty or

aesthetics…the people who write, believe in such views,

approach women as objects of beauty, use and throw them…

(CK: 186–87)

In this respect, one may advocate and argue that Sita is a modern

woman, but it is not so, she stands in the threshold of Modernity and

Traditionalism, stamps her individuality and identity and leads a

chaste life, as symbolic of her name. The sufferings, physical and

psychological exploitations to women in a male dominated society

are presented through the characters of Sita’s mother, the nurse

meena and the widowed sister of Ramadoss, Ambujam. In the end,

she gets divorce from Sugumaran and decides to lead an

independent, individual life as reflected in her own lines:

134

…Today’s women who are educated wanted to remain

independent…to lead such an independent life, education

and profession are the sources…a woman who lives her life

alone and independently, suppose the number of such

women increases, the nature and approach to marriage will

change… (CK: 375)

3.12.0 Katru Veliyiniley is an autobiographical novel to a

larger extent and the hero of the novel is modelled on the writer

himself. The hero of the novel Athmaraman is one of the immortal

characters created by Jayakanthan. The hero of the novelist is

introduced as a Jutka puller and the author introduces him in a

fitting way:

Though he appears poor, an infinite creative ability and

energy is overflowing in him. He can work without tiredness,

without enough food and enjoys work, as if he is playing…

(KV: 10)

Athamaraman meets Rajeswari and Kalyani. The life of disguise for

Athmaraman has made him to be a jutka puller during which he gets

the friendship of Rajeswari and Kalyani. There exists a soft corner

between Kalyani and Athma. During a travel to the nearby temple,

the inner mind of Kalyani and Athma confluences:

I will never indulge in love or marriage is the thing she tells

to her inner mind very strongly…when she sees

Athmaraman, a flash of smile comes from him as an

acknowledgement of her inner voice… (KV: 31–32)

3.12.1 The same view is later echoed in the mind of

Athmaraman, which he comments to his leader as, “…no…I don’t

want to indulge in love; but I want to dream of it….” (KV: 40). Later

135

due to political reasons, he leaves the job of a jutka puller and

continues with his political endeavours. Kalyani’s brief stay at

Rajeswari’s house brings them closer, though they are ideologically

different. Kalyani is highly independent, matured and has a bitter

and disgusting opinion about marriage and she comments about the

ceremony:

…are we flirts? Before the people who come to see us for

marriage, should we attract him and win him and long for

making us to marry him…if that is the case, I want to remain

handicapped rather than to get cured and get married….

(KV: 57)

The introduction of Madras Uncle, (Anandhu) in the story is to depict

the exploitation of women in a male dominated society for the sake

of money and lust. Kalyani, at the first entry itself comments that

she does not like the uncle, which Rajeswari realises at the end. The

discussions of Athamaraman with Kalyani express the status of

women as an exploited group.

Our women, whatever caste, creed or religion they belong,

basically are like working class; similar to working class, our

women were marginalised, controlled, exploited and they are

fighting even for their very survival… (KV: 83)

3.12.2 Kalyani also joins the communist party and works for it

for some time. At a later stage, having disgust with the communist

party and their ideologies, he leaves the party as a member. Even

the friends and fellowmen of the party, realise how genuinely he

maintains real friendship with Rajeswari and Kalyani. He runs a book

shop selling the books of the political party and earns his livelihood.

Rajeswari almost looses her identity and individuality by the death of

her father and by the capricious plans of her uncle. Her uncle,

136

Anandhu attempts to pawn over the beauty and the youthfulness of

Rajeswari and attempts to spoil her mind and comments that “There

is no sin between the skin” (KV: 206). He wants to almost sell her

chastity and virginity to some rich men and to plunder it. The

comments of Rajeswari to Kalyani, justifying her actions are as

follows:

Do you know that I am aged 22? I have become a major,

and becoming a major is not only to get married …like a

man, a woman also can earn money, possess property and

enjoy life…to achieve that a secretary like uncle (Anandhu) is

essential… (KV: 261)

It is Athma and Kalyani who save her from further disgrace. Towards

the end of the novel, the views on love, life and marriage are best

expressed through the protagonist of the novel, Athmaraman as

follows:

Love is a divinely word…but love making is a mean English

word…sexual indulgence without love is equal to

prostitution…Yes! Love is very serious… (KV: 339)

Love is not a game and it is the conflict and struggle of the

life and soul of an individual. (KV: 339)

The person who removes the blot on a woman and the

person who can show more love than her own parents…that

is love… (KV: 387)

Further the views on marriage and the sufferings undergone by

women in a male dominated society through her marital life are

expressed by the comments of Kalyani as follows:

137

Women’s life is like a life of prostitution…without money no

women can live a chaste life…for her food and dress a

woman has to share the bed of her husband…is this your

genuine life? To earn this living she suffers, experiences

disgrace and agony…to me such things appear highly

foolish… (KV: 342)

Thus, Jayakanthan advocates that pure and noble man – woman

relationship is possible even outside the realm of marriage through

Athma and Rajeswari and Athma and Kalyani. In the end,

Athamaraman, Kalyani and Rajeswari live together as companion

souls loving each other.

3.13.0 It is a greater complexity and struggle to understand

Isabel’s return to her disastrous marriage in The Portrait of

a Lady, Lambert Strether’s commitment to the fantasy of Madame

de Vionnet in The Ambassadors, Maggie Verver’s agonised

contemplation over the successfully imprisoned Amerigo in

The Golden Bowl, Eugenia’s failed attempt to marry Robert Acton

in The Europeans and Milly Theale’s unfulfilled desire in The Wings

of the Dove are instances of greatest emotional and ethical

complexities. The greatness in James lie in making the readers

experiences the suffering and the paradoxical triumph that pursue

the major characters’ desire in their far reaching conclusion. Three

important quotes of the author from his monumental works of art

The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors are worth quoting

to depict James’ worldly vision and his stress on identity and

individuality as follows:

Don’t mind anything anyone tells you about anyone else.

Judge every one and every thing for yourself

(TPL: 230)

138

You wanted to look at life for yourself – but you were not

allowed; you were punished for your wish. You were ground

in the very mill of conventional. (TPL: 420)

Live all you can – it’s a mistake not to. It doesn’t so much

matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your

life. If you haven’t had that, what have you had? What one

loses one loses, make no mistake about that…the right time

is any time that one is still so lucky as to have…Live!

(TA: 340)

3.13.1 Thus, in this chapter entitled Marriage as a Conflict, a

brief introduction to marriage, the depiction of the institution and the

theme of marriage presented by the authors of the past both in

English, French and Tamil Literature were discussed. A brief outline

to both the authors related to the present topic is presented and the

five novels of both these writers are examined at length keeping the

theme of marriage and its depiction as the parameter. The depiction

of marriage, love and family life by both these writers and their

views and ideologies related to these issues are also given. Some of

the important findings and interesting concepts emanating from such

a deeper study are given below.

3.13.2 This chapter brings to focus the following findings

between Henry James and Jayakanthan. The handling of the theme

of love, marriage and family are on similar grounds in most of the

cases related to James and Jayakanthan. The women characters are

given greater importance, focus and they initiate the wheel of action

and the crucial and determining actions of the novel center around

them. The theme of marriage and the actions that lead to the

marriage of the central character, decide the fate of the other

characters in their works. Both the novelists stress an Ideal

139

man–woman relationship. The difference is, Henry James advocates

this relationship only within the realm of marriage, but Jayakanthan

advocates that it is possible even outside marriage. The treatment of

the theme of marriage and love are the recurring motifs through

which the labyrinth of ocean of the worlds of both these writers can

be excavated. In most of the cases, the men and the women

characters and their approaches towards marriage are highly similar.

3.13.3 Some of the women characters in each novel of these

two writers guide motivate and counsel the other characters – both

men and women characters and sometimes even the central

characters towards a better destiny. Such women characters are

referred in this research work as Guardian Angel and they are also

projected as the Guardians of morality, culture and traditions.

Marriage is presented as a Conflict and it becomes a conflict between

Morality and Existence. The theme of marriage is presented in

Existential terms as Existential agony precedes the divine will and

both these writers’ present Existential marriages in their works. The

women characters of Henry James are projected as slaves,

enchained by the norms and conventions of the society; they

constantly wage a battle to set their marriage right, they adjust,

alter and try to perfect their marital relationships. In the case of the

women characters of Jayakanthan, marriage is not the only solace of

comfort and he even tries to advocate man–woman relationships

outside marriage and also advocates women to liberate her from an

unworthy husband. The recognition of the close affinity among Art,

Artist and Society is revealed through their ideology and their works.

Both these writers are socially conscious and possess greater social

consciousness and responsibility. Both these writers acknowledge

and accept American Society; in the case of Jayakanthan, he accepts

the American Society as a model society for pioneering in all the

140

activities and James accepts the American Society for its Honesty

and Innocense. A slightly, complex and matured style of language is

adopted by them in their major phase of the literary career,

especially in their novels.

3.13.4 As Judith S.Wallerstein and Sandra Blakslee rightly

pointed out:

What do people define as happy in their marriage? – turned

out to be straightforward… for everyone, happiness in

marriage meant feeling respected and cherished…some

spoke of feeling well cared for, others of feeling safe, and

still others of friendship and trust…a partner was admired

and loved for his or her honesty, compassion, generosity of

spirit, decency, loyalty to the family and fairness…the love

that people feel in good marriage goes with the conviction

that the person is worthy of being loved…No one denied that

there were serious differences – conflict, anger, even some

infidelity…no one envisioned marriage as a rose garden….

(Wallerstein and Blakslee 1995:327–28)

3.13.5 Further, they point out nine strategies to be followed to

make a marriage a healthy and perfect one.

1. The first task is to detach emotionally from the families of

childhood, commit to the relationship, and build new connections

with the extended families. Husband and wife must help each other

to complete the transition.

2. The second task is to build togetherness through intimacy

and to expand the sense of self to include the other, while each

individual carves out an area of autonomy. The overarching

141

identification with the other provides the basis for bonding. These

two tasks launch the marriage.

3. The third task is to expand the circle to include children,

taking on the daunting roles of parenthood from infancy to the time

when the child leaves home, while maintaining the emotional

richness of the marriage. The challenge of this task is to maintain a

balance between raising the children and nurturing the couple’s

relationship.

4. The fourth task is to confront the inevitable

developmental challenges and the unpredictable adversities of life,

including illness, death and natural disasters, in ways that enhance

the relationship despite suffering. Every crisis carries within it the

seeds of destruction as well as the possibility of renewed strength.

5. The fifth task is to make the relationship safe for

expressing difference, anger and conflict which are inevitable in any

marriage. All close relationships involve love and anger,

connectedness and disruption. Conflict ran high among several

couples which wrecks their marriage.

6. The sixth task is to establish an imaginative and

pleasurable sex life. Creating a sexual relationship that meets the

ends and fantasies of both people requires time and love and

sensitivity.

7. The seventh task is to share laughter and humour and to

keep interest alive in the relationship. A good marriage is alternately

playful and serious, sometimes flirtatious, sometimes difficult and

cranky, but always full of life.

8. The eighth task is to provide the emotional nurturance

and encouragement that all adults need throughout their lives,

142

especially in today’s isolating urban communities and high–pressure

workplaces.

9. Finally, the one that sustains the innermost core of the

relationship by drawing sustenance and renewal from the images

and fantasies of courtship and early marriage and maintaining that

joyful glow over a lifetime.

The above cited findings by the author mentioned may be

applicable to any marriage and every marriage. Some of these

reflections are manifested in the works of the novelists chosen here

for the study also.