CHAPTER 11

THE RING AND THE THALI*

You planned to tame a swallow, to

hold h e r

in the long summer of your love

so that she would forget

not the raw seasons alone and t h e

homes left behind, b u t

also h e r naturer the urge to fly,

and the endless

pathways of the sky.

"The O l d Playhouse"

Kamala D a s .

CHAPTER I1

THE RING AND THE TIIALI*

Literary works of male authors reflect c h i e f l y a male view

c>E life which is not necessarYi1y women's experience. "If

women's work is o r g a n i z e d differently from men's, if the

day i s structured differently, if space is inhabited

d i f f e r e n t l y , if s t y l e s of verbal communication are

different, t h e n it follows that women will have a different

1 s e n s e of beauty and pleasure" and hence women's experience

of marriage would necessarily be different from that of

Inen.

What accord ing to women's experience is marriage?

Both Katherine Mansfield a n d Kamala Das take up this

question and in their stories t h e y d e p i c t a feminine

consciousness w h i c h expresses t h e i n t e r n a l l i f e of female

characters in the process of self-discovery. As writers

of t h e modernist movement, cen t red on a new examination of

(gender, these women wri te rs have analysed themselves w i t h

a t t e n t i o n t o discover i f , and if so how, they were other

than they had been portrayel3. T h r o u g h t h e s e marriage

stories bo th writers have transcribed "the accumulation of

unrecorded l i f e w 2 that comprises most of women's lost

:history. Marriage becomes the dominant theme in t h e i r

stories as it is t h e most common of women's e x p e r i e n c e s and

because it takes the place of a l i f e - long career f o r most

women in t h e absence of any other. Besides, the importance

of marriage can be s e e n from the fact t h a t it is one of the

oldest of human institutions based on man - woman

relationship. As D.H. L a w r e n c e says,

T h e great r e l a t i o n s h i p , f o r humanity, will

a lways be t h e r e la t i .on between man and

woman. The relation between man and man,

w o m a n a n d woman, parent a n d child, will

always be subsidiary. And t h e relation

between man and woman will change forever,

and will be the new central clue to human

life. 3

The stories of Katherine Mansfield discussed in this

sec t ion are " F r a u Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding," "The

Child Who Was Tired," "Prelude," "At the Bay," "Old Mr.

Neave, " " A Birthday, " "New Dresses, I' "The Flower, " "The

Stranger," "Man without a Temperament," "Je ne Parle pas

Francaistl and "A Cup of T e a . "

"Shiksha,lt (Punishment) "Kalichanta," (Cattle market)

"Chuvanna Pavada," (Red skirt) "Kaalavandikal," (~ullock

carts) "Chathi, " ( B e t r a y a l ) "Mathilukal," (Walls 1

"Neypayasam," ( S w e e t Por r idge) "Koladu," (she-goat)

"Chitthabramam," (Hysteria) "Tharishunilam," (The Wasteland)

"Swatantra J e e v i k a l , l1 (Free Beings) " Idanazhiyile

Kannadikal" (Mirrors i n the C:orridar) a n d "Navikavesham

D h a r i c h a ~utti."{The Child in t h e S a i l o r Suit) are t h e

s to r ies of Kamala Das taken for discussion. Since

Katherine Mansfield deals w i t h t h e western, Christian

marriage a n d Kamala D a s with the Hindu system o f marriage

as observed in t h e Nayar community of Kerala, it will be

worthwhile to look at t h e salient features of both these

types of marriage. The C h r i s t i a n marriage is a sacrament

by which a man and woman establish between themselves a

partnership of their whole l i f e ; and which in i t s own very

n a t u r e is ordered to the well b e i n g of the spouses a n d to

t .he procreat ion and upbringing of children. In this

wedding service , t h e mutual contract of the parties is " f o r

better for worse, f o r richer f o r poorer."

In the Nayar community to which Kamala Das belongs,

a f t e r attainment of p u b e r t y , the girl chooses her husband

of h e r own free will, t hough in this s h e is often guided by

h . e r elders, T h e m a n s h e selects is ca l l ed t h e

"Gunadoshakaran", yunam being good and dosham b e i n g bad and

ka ran b e i n g the doer. The marriage ceremony is simple - t . he husband should g i v e and t h e girl s h o u l d receive from

h . i m a cloth in the presence of relations and f r i e n d s , If

t .he p a i r are dissatisfied with each o t h e r the woman in l i k e

simple f a s h i o n r e t u r n s t h e cloth and t h e i r c o n n e c t i o n there

upon ends. Sometimes, the younger s o n s of Nambootiri

families live with Nayar womf?n. B u t the women t h e y live

w i t h are n o t considercd w i v e s , and they rnay part at will,

and form new connections, However, in recent years,

a l t h o u g h t h e l a w s a n c t i o n s freedom in these relations,

conjugal fidelity is very general. As ~ i l l i a m Logan

comments, "the very looseness of the law makes t h e

individual observance closer; for people have more watchful

care over the things they a r e most l i a b l e to 1 o ) s e . An

uncommon merit in t h e marriage of Nayars is the equality of

t h e sexes in all sexual matters, the man and woman be ing on

t e r m s of equality, having equal freedom. Either p a r t y may

t e r m i n a t e the union - even after o n e night of hymeneal

b l i s s ; a n d those who a r e u n s u i t e d to each other in any way,

may p u t an end to t h e i r union and turn towards other

partners. 5

In the early part of this c e n t u r y legislation

facilitated the p a r t i t i o n of Hindu joint families. It

legalised customary marriage and declared the wife a n d

children as b e i n g e n t i t l e d to maintenance by the husband or

f a t h e r . This was followed by t h e complete disruption of

the institution of Marumakkatayam (Literally, sistersf

sons ' inheritance ) . The "tharnvad" would no longer support

its members a s it had done i n t h e past. Therefore a man

sough t h i s livelihood anywhere and t h i s l e d to t h e growth

of nuclear families. As such, the western concept of

marriage has come to s t a y among the Nayars also. Hence, in

their s tor ies . although the milieu changes, the institution

of marriage depicted cr i t ical l ly by both the writers is o n e

and t h e same.

As a social institution, marriage has been defined by

Westermarck "as a relation of one or more men to o n e or

more women which is recognized by custom or law, and

i .nvolves certain rights and d u t i e s both in t h e case of

c h i l d r e n born of it. t t 7 A t its b e s t . "marriage is a crucible

for psychological growth, allowing t h e i n d i v i d u a l to break

t h r o u g h inhibitions a n d self-imposed limitations, and

provide the most nurturing, h e a l i n g and fulfilling area of

a person's life. "' No b e t t e r institution has y e t been

f'ound t h a t satisfies t h e fundamental human need for

i n t i m a t e communion with another.

E*W- m g e s 3 and H-J. m k e propose a list of nine c r i t e r i a to

t . h i s d e f i n i t i o n for appraising the success of a marriage;

i . ts permanence, the h a p p i n e s s of t h e couple, their

fulfilling t h e e x p e c t a t i o n s of the community, t h e

personality development of the spouses, the companionship

i , n their relationship, their satisfaction with t h e i r

marriage, t h e integration of the couple (by which t h e

authors mean a consensus of t h e spouses on values a n d t h e

c ! o n t e n t of the marital roles) and t h e i r sexual adjustment. 9

The above definitions and views explain the theory of

marriage. But the status of woman i n contemporary society

h a s been raised to such an extent that she looks at every

i n s t i t u t i o n on the basis of freedom. Feminist writers

therefore hold the view that if marriage is a partnership,

it t e n d s to be a very unequal one. Simone de Beauvoi r

points o u t that even in C h r i s t i a n marriage rites, in the

se.ntence "I now p r o n o u n c e you man and w i f e , the word 'man1

refers to t h e essence of a male being, and the word 'wife1

describes w o m a n , n o t as a p e r s o n , in h e r essence, b u t a s a

delpendence - simply as a rationed sign." One is reminded

of the famous statement: "She is defined as differentiated

w i t h reference to man and not he w i t h reference to her; she

is t h e i n c i d e n t a l , the inessential as opposed to the

e s s e n t i a l . H e is t h e subject, he is t h e Absolute - She is

the Other. 1110

Man, t h r o u g h t h e ages ha:; successfully established

t h e repressive mythologies w h i c h collaborate in t h e

subordination - by domestication of wornen by the three K's,

Ki:rche, Kuche, K i n d e r - ie church, cooking and children - to which a fourth 'C' ie clothes can be added in modern

times. Xn marriage, a prescribed role is g i v e n to woman by

p a t r i a r c h y as the ideal. one arid woe to a l l those who

cannot conform to this fixed ideal. In de Beauvoir's

famous phrase, "One is n o t born, but rather becomes, a

wo~nan " 11 by accepting d e f i n i t i o n as object rather than

seizing one's exigent i n d i v i d u a l i t y as subject. Oppression

is thus contingent on t h e acceptance of a fixed i d e n t i t y

and it is in acquiescing to s u c h f i x t u r e that women have

betrayed themselves most deeply.

As marriage becomes an i m p o r t a n t theme in t h e i r

stories, it will be interesting to examine t h e writers' own

marriages.

K a t h e r i n e Mansfield w h o had feminist l e a n i n g s ,

married George Bowden in 1909 and left h i m t h e day after

t h e wedding. She r e t u r n e d to her lover Trowel1 by whom she

was pregnant. Upon learning of her daughter's a f f a i r s , h e r

mothe r sent her to a Bavar ian Spa, where she suffered a

miscarriage, Owing to the gonorrhea she had contracted,

she was u n a b l e to bear a c h . i l d . In 1911, after t h e

publication of her f i rs t book, ~ a t h e r i n e Mansfield moved on

to h e r final l ove affair w i t h John Middleton Murry. As

Anthony Alpers describes t h e relationship, they were t w o

uprooted, wandering souls from wide ly different soc ia l

backgrounds that they had repudiated with similar

compulsions; they had met at a cross-road where the

signposts pointed a11 o n e way. l2 Murry was the editor of a

promising review; Katherine had written a book that was

be ing talked about . Murry had no home; ~ a t h e r i n e had a

f :Lat, Murry had no money, she :had a little. They were to

reach each other's arms, after a l i t t l e delay caused by

Murry's lack of initiative and overcome by Katherine's

supply of it.

Ian Gordon adds that Murry' gave K a t h e r i n e a centre to

w a r k from and he provided h e r with a fine critical

intelligence against which she could test h e r rapidly

improving s k i l l . l3 Over t h e years w i t h Murry s h e grew in

stature as he provided an out:Let for h e r talent in his

p o s i t i o n a s an editor of successive journals.

And yet , b e t w e e n these t w o people, so much in love

w i t h each o t h e r , t h e r e w e r e reticences. Each preserved

large areas jealously marked p r iva t e . The 1914-18 War a n d

t h e illness of Katherine Mansfield's later years kept them

apart f o r long periods, he in England, she in t h e South of

France . Katherine Mansf ield f e l t that in her ,illness

Murry had deserted h e r and complained, "J is silent, hangs

his head, h i d e s h i s face with h i s fingers as though it were

unendurable. ,114

She failed to understand that their partnership owed

it.s very existence to the same fact that gave Murry a hard core

of preoccupation with his own vocat ion, which would y i e l d

f c ~ r noone, n o t even f o r ~ a t h e r i n e . She had married him

because he was an artist. On his own confession, he failed

h e r in her moment of crisis - in her illness. Had h e been

" a n o t h e r man than he, a man . . . a l l action, all

r e s o l u t i o n 1 ' - then perhaps he m.ight have been able to do

what W ; ~ S needed in h e r health crisis. B u t K a t h e r i n e Mansfield

wo~lld not have married such a m a n , Her f a t h e r , w i t h whom

s h e could never strike up a rapport, answered that

description. Katherine Mansfield's biographies reveal that

both Murry a n d Katherine were aware of each other's

extra-marital relationships.

Kamala Das who was born of educated parents, was

he,rself married at t h e e a r l y age of fifteen to Madhava Das,

w h o was older to her by more t h a n ten years. It was a

marriage arranged by h e r p a r e n t s and the coup le had very

little in common, leading to much i n c o m p a t i b i l i t y . In her

autobiography Kamala Das says that as a sensitive fifteen

year old, forever begging reassurances of love from h e r

grandmother, she had great expectations of l o v e and

tenderness from her husband. As she says, " S e x was far

from my t h o u g h t s . I had hoped that he would remove with

o n e sweep of h i s b e n i g n arms, t h e 1 o n e l . i n e s s of my life,

The sensitive young w i f e soon realized that "in the

o r b i t of licit sex, there seemed to be only crudeness and

violence. " I 5 Y e t at t h e same time t h e ambivalence of her

a t t i t u d e towards her husband is seen in her reaction when

she is forced to go home to h e r parents following a near

nervous break-down. S h e confesses, "I disliked the idea,

for seeing him and sleeping near: h i m had become precious

to ,me. ,, 17

This ambivalent attitude towards t h e spouse is

supported by Beauvoir who says:

Loving passion is very rate in married

l i f e . T h e husband may be simply an

agreeable p a r t n e r without particular

p r e s t i g e , at once loved and detested. 18

Kamala D a s confesses that lack of emotional

f u l i l i l m e n t within marriage led her to casual l o v e affairs

with other men. In 9 Story she wonders, "Why did I spend

so many hours with Carlo when I: knew that I would n e v e r

l e a v e my husband? l J 9 She admits that soc ia l status and

economic security are powerful deterrents, and s o :

My soul w a s a mongrel dog that smelt the

feet of my husband. So that summer I could

n o t offer my body on a silver salver

forever to my l ove r .

( p . 135)

In her autobiography s h e explains her ambivalent

relationship with her husband ant3 also h o w the marriage

su rv ived inspite of i t s hollow n a t u r e thus, " . . . I

realised that a woman n e e d s the k i n d of security that

c a n n o t be provided by h e r children or her relations - only her husband could p rov ide it," ( p . 8 2 ) To this may be added

that even from childhood Karnala Das had always looked upto

a powerful father figure as t h e ultimate source of

seczur i ty , as signified by her c !on fe s s ion , "My father was

the very foundation of my feeling of security." (p. 168)

In their stories, both the writers point out the

i n h e r e n t de fec t s of the institution of marriage while at

the same time upholding the need for i n t i m a c y towards one

of the opposite sex in the life of a woman. While the

s i t u a t i o n p resen t in them may be different, s t i l l there is

an u n d e r c u r r e n t of similarity showing like sensibilities.

A discussion of their stories reveal that t h e writers have

integrated w i t h i n t h e i r w r i t i n g a feminist perspective

which maintains its place ever so subtly. Their feminism

comes as a mat te r of course, so much so that overt

discussion of it as a principle is absent in the writing,

while its underlying presence is everywhere,

"The Man Without a Temperament", t h e most revealing

and intimate of Katherine Mansf i e ld ' s marriage stories,

describes her fears abou t how Ivlurry would f ee l if he had

g iven in to her pleas a n d lived abroad with her for the two

years that she needed to recover her h e a l t h . 20 The

boredom and t r i v i a l irritations of living i n a pension a n d

t h e longing f o r a more meaningful existence in England

e.xperienced by the husband are vividly evoked. Katherine

Mansfield lamented in her Journal that her "typically

English husband'' seemed to l a c k a "temperament" and was

"no t w a r m , ardent, eager, full af q u i c k response, careless,

spendthrift of himself, vividly alive, high spirited." In

this s t o r y , the woman, t h o u g h an invalid, is far more

i n t e n s e and v i t a l than the man, who is forced to suppress

his temperament under an ox-like passivity and obedience.

But he fails to conceal his bitterness and resentment about

the i n e v i t a b l e sacrifice of h i s career and h i s independent

life. Though they live in constant intimacy, the couple

dire divided by an abyss of unspoken hostility which she

feels will l ead to the dreaded separation, Katherine

Mansfield understood Hurry's needs and feelings as well as

h e r own, and dramatized t h e i n s o l u b l e dilemma of their

marriage: "It is anguish to be away from h i m b u t as my

presence seems to positively torture h i m - I suppose it's

t h e better of the two horrors. " 21 This personal dilemma is

presented e f f e c t i v e l y in the s t o r y "The Man Without a

Temperament. "

T h e central dilemma of Kamala Das's marriage as

presented in her au tob iog raphy is dramatized in the story

"Lokam O r u Kavayatriye Nirmikkunnu." (The ,World Creates a

Poetess) It is the story of a barren marriage fo r after a

few years of domesticity the husband and wife have no

interest in each o t h e r . A s the w i f e feels, "Marriage is a

web spun by t h e woman spider in which s h e eventually t raps

herself . 'lZ2 It w a s not her f a i t h in marriage that prompts

h e r to marry b u t the desire ta escape t h e unhappiness of

h e r parents' home. She who had never experienced love,

jumped into marriage with t h e intense desire f o r joyous

experiences resulting from love. H e r innocence and

s i n c e r i t y are lost on the man who has been through several

jaded relationships w i t h equal]-y jaded women f o r whom he

felt nothing b u t contempt. T h e wife is f e m i n i n e in every

sense of t h e term; b u t the husband is n o t comfortable with

her i n b o r n culture, s e n s i t i v i t , ~ and dignity. Hence the

w i f e becomes a slightly c o n f u s i n g e n t i t y he cannot q u i t e

comprehend, The womant s quest f o r lasting love, a stable,

happy relationship, h e r i n n o c e n c e , a n d eagerness t o please

are con t ras t ed w i t h t h e man's sordid past affairs, his

guilt a n d h i s f e e l i n g of inadequacy before h e r . By and by,

t h e woman loses h e r innocence a n d her i n h i b i t i o n s , She

gets i n t o minor affairs, knowing fairly well that there was

no hope of f i n d i n g a happy, forever r e l a t i o n s h i p .

Eventually, she becomes r e s i g n e d to the hollowness of her

relationship. It does not s e e m any m o r e important to warm

t h e i r marriage than to take care of t h e cold food on t h e

t a b l e at the end of t h e p a r t y .

T h e autobiographical stories of these writers, while

v a s t l y different from each o the r , agree on o n e point - t h e

h o l l o w nature of t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p of marriage.

Katherine M a n s f i e l d ' s "Frau Brechenmacher Attends a

Wedding" is a satire on the male of the species who is

shown as complacently gross and brutal as if by r i g h t of

s u p e r i o r i t y in his t r e a t m e n t of women and after that as t h e

c r u e l and contemptuous exposure of the plaint, adoring

female. 23 The Frau goes to attend the marriage of a young

girl. The wedding is a farce. T h e br ide has had an

illegitimate d a u g h t e r and is now b e i n g married off against

her will to a convenient s u i t o r . The br ide is morose a n d

sullen faced, dressed in white, "giving h e r the appearance

of an iced cake a l l ready to be cut and served in neat

little pieces to t h e bridegroom." (p, 7 0 6 ) The men spend

their time in drunken r i b a l d r y a n d merrymaking while t h e

women gossip about t h e bride . When t he communal g i f t is

presented to t h e bride it turns o u t to be a sexual i n s u l t - a silver coffee pat containing "a baby's b o t t l e a n d two

little cradles holding c h i n a dolls." ( p . 7 0 9 ) All this

produces a k i n d of revulsion in t h e Frau as there is a

great disparity between the emotions that a r e supposed to

be aroused by a wedding and the actual occasion u n d e r

observation, which is one of bullying the poor v i c t i m . The

Frau's l o n e voice of dissent, "That's not how a wedding

while her brothers have none . The prematurely adult

creature who has already been den ied a childhood L e a r n s

early in l i f e to humour her father and to p u t up with his

drunken ways. The story shows t h e Frau's complicity in t h e

degrading wedding celebrations as she is a victim of the

e x p l o i t a t i v e system; s h e is also guilty of moulding her own

daughter at home in the same gender ro l e s against which she

p r o t e s t s a l l the time.

In " T h e Child Who Was 'I'ired", K a t h e r i n e ~ a n s f i e l d

fur ther t r e a t s t h e theme of the d r u d g e r y of the housewife.

The middle aged Frau is expecting yet another c h i l d ,

P h y s i c a l fatigue makes her unatlle to cope with t h e endless

housework. As a r e s u l t she loses a l l h e r humane q u a l i t i e s

and t a k e s o u t h e r frustrations on a little girl servant. "At

Lehmannts" registers a young virgin's awakening to reality

as she hears t h e sound of an older woman crying out in

labour, These and other s tor ies included in t h e collection

In a German P e n s i o n reveal t h e desire of women to be left - - alone and the predatory attitude of men.

Kamala Das, herself the v i c t i m of a marriage arranged

by h e r parents at an early age, takes up the question of

"arranged marriages" and-womenl's complicity to the brutal

ways of men in t h e story "Shiksha!'. (Punishment) Ammu, the

fifteen year old who is married off as s h e f a i l s h e r school

examinations is not emotionally mature for marriage nor

does s h e understand the significance of marriage. Hence

s h e considers it as a "punishment" given her f o r not

studying mare earnestly. F l e e i n g the bridal bed at n i g h t ,

s h e takes refuge in the arms of her grandmother, whom she

addresses as "Muthassi". Muthassi, while genuinely

sympathetic to her grandchild, is also an accomplice in

this system, because s h e too believes that "Girls have to

be married o f f . What is the use of l e a r n i n g where young

girls are conccrncd?" (p. 114)

Muthassi l i k e the Frau in K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's

s t o r y , is reconciled to t h e fate of women - a life of

child-births and ceaseless toil. S h e draws her beloved

grandchild also i n t o the same trap because she feels that

it is a man's world and t h e r e is no way of escaping a

woman's fate. So Muthassi tries to get the child

reconciled to her new role as a wife. Elisabeth Bumiller

in her book on Indian women observes that it is practical

ecanomics in a f a m i l y where money is scarce, to educate t h e

boy, who would remain with his parents and support them in

their old age.24 A girl was a wasted investment because she

would l i v e at h e r in-law's house af ter marriage. Hence in

Kamala Das's story, the l i t t l e girl will reenact t h e role

model played by Muthassi, just as the Frau trains h e r

daughter in the same role model a g a i n s t w h i c h she protests,

Another Muthassi t r i e s to pack away her granddaughter

in "Kalichanta" (Cattle M a r k e t ) w i t h t h e notion that a

grown up girl in the family is a burden to be disposed of

as early as possible - be it even to a complete stranger.

So the stranger who comes in f o r a night's shel te r is

c:onsidered a prospective groom a n d Muthassi enumerates t h e

girl's accomplishments to the stranger with t h i s motive.

Typically, her chief virtues are h e r submissive n a t u r e and

modesty. The very title is s i g n i f i c a n t as the s t ranger

comes to sell h i s cattle at t h e local m a r k e t . Muthassi in

turn t r ies to t r ade o f f the girl to h i m , Karnala Das points

to t h e situation where the b i r t h of a daughter h a s become a

d e v a s t a t i n g blow, o n e that a family believed could t h r e a t e n

its s u r v i v a l . Hence the pract.ice of quietly putting away

the female baby ",to sleep" among t h e r u r a l poor and t h e

p rac t ice o f amniocentesis among t h e urban affluent in

India. 25

T h e writers state t h a t uprooting a n d rerooting

c o n t i n u e to be an integral p a r t of the institution of

marriage and women are left to sustain themselves and

survive a s best they can i n t h e h a r s h environment of t h e

new c o n t e x t , whether in the Pension Stories or those of

rural India.

As in K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's "The child Who Was

T i r e d " , Kamala Das a l s o d r a m a t i z e s the domestic violence

t h a t can result from the unendurable weariness of pregnancy

a n d of caring for small children. In "Chuvanna Pavada",

(Red Skirtlethe pleasant young servant g i r l does e v e r y t h i n g

t:o please h e r mistress who is pregnant. B u t the mistress

w i l l be pleased only if her husband punishes t h e girl f o r

no reason. This violence ensues from t h e housewife's "fear

of losing her personality in favour of the unborn child,"

and this causes a kind of dissastisfaction with everything

in t h e Frau a n d t h e mistress. 26

Instead of t h e personality development of t h e

spouses, it is t h e d e a t h of t h e personality in one partner

that u s u a l l y occurs in marriage. In t h e Burnell stories,

"Prelude" and "At the Bay", ~ i n d a Burnell is shown as the

housewife i n a partiarchal family, Apparently, L i n d a and

Stanley f o r m an i dea l couple. But another picture emerges

from Linda's inner thoughts in " A t t h e Bay":

H e r whole time was s p e n t i n rescuing him,

and r e s t o r i n g h i m , a n d calming h i m down,

and listening to h i s s t o r y . And w h a t was

left of her time was spent in the dread of

hav ing children. ( p , 222)

Here t h e emotional support provided by t h e wife is a

sa fe ty -va lve f o r the f r u s t r a t i o n produced in the husband by

working in a capitalist s y s t e m . Rather than b e i n g turned

against the system which produces i t r this f r u s t r a t i o n is

absorbed by t h e comfo r t i ng wife. Hence in terms of t h e

gains and losses of this marriage, it is difficult not to

see t h e husband a s t h e winner a n d the wife as t h e loser.

Loving passion is very rare in such a marriage. The

husband is an agreeable p a r t n e r without particular

prestige, at once loved and detested. Katherine Mansfield

describes this ambivalence through the interior monologue

of Linda in Prelude:

F o r she really was fond of him, s h e loved

and admired a n d respected h i m tremendously.

Oh, better t h a n anyone else in the world.

She knew h i m t h r o u g h and through. He w a s

the soul of truth and decency, and for a l l

h i s practical experience he was awfully

simple, easily p l e a s e d and easily hurt....

If only he w o u l d n ' t jump at her so,

and bark so loudly, and watch h e r with

such eager, l o v i n g e y e s . He was t o o

s t r o n g for her; she had always hated

t h i n g s that rush at h e r , from a child.

There were t i m e s when he was frightening - really frightening when s h e just had n o t

screamed at t h e top of h e r voice: "You are

k i l l i n g me." And at those times s h e had

longed to say t h e m o s t coarse, hateful

things .....

..... There were all her f e e l i n g s f o r h i m ,

sharp and defined, o n e as true as the

other. And there was this other, this

hatred, just as real as t h e res t . She

cou ld have done her feelings up in little

packets and given thern to S t a n l e y . She

longed to hand him that last one, f o r a

s u r p r i s e . She could see his eyes a s he

opened t h a t ,.... (pp, 53 - 5 4 )

Sirnone de Beauvoir c o m m e n t s that t h e young wife very

seldom admits her feelings to herself w i t h such sincerity. 27

To love h e r husband and to be happy is a duty s h e owes to

herself and to society: it is what her family expec t s of

h e ; she r e a d i l y pe r suades herself that she feels a great

l o v e for h e r husband, A t f i r s t she will not admit her

disappointment even to herself a n d often pers is t s in her

~ ~ r e t e n c e of love through morality, hypocrisy, p r i d e or

timidity.

From t h e outset, t h e differences between t h e B u r n e l l

couple is emphasised by the writer and t h e s e throw light on

t h e i r incompatibility. In L i n d a is shown the uncertain

a t t i t u d e of a young mother who though fond of h e r husband

is repelled by h i s embraces, Delicate and lethargic by

temperament, she has already had " t h r e e great lumps" of

children and is now expecting a n o t h e r . With h e r c h i l d r e n

she feels a f f e c t i o n a t e and at the same time has an

impression of emptiness, which she gloomily interprets as

i n d i f f e r e n c e and the household is run by L i n d a ' s m o t h e r ,

the efficient M r s . F a i r f i e l d .

In contrast to his introverted wife, Stanley is loud,

talkative, f u l l of animal v i g o u r and k e e p s himself f i t by

p l e n t y of exercise. He is very much t h e m a n of t h e

ou tdoors , A s Linda tells h i m j o k i n g l y , "My dear, don't

worry . You'll never be f a t . You are f a r t o o energet ic ,"

(P . 26)

Stanley is the prac t i ca l man of the world, ever on

t h e look o u t for a bargain, as contrasted w i t h Linda, who

lives in h e r own imaginary world, His materialistic

a t t i t u d e repels h i s wife but she never reveals it f o r fear

of hurting him. When t h e y move i n t o a new house in the

suburb , it is typical that he is pleased w i t h the house n o t

for its own sake, but because he feels it has been a good

bargain.

" T h e thing t h a t pleases me", said Stanley,

leaning against t h e s i d e of the bed, . . . . "is that I've got t h e place dirt cheap,

Linda, I was talking about it to little

Wally Bell today a n d he said he simply

could not understand why they had accepted

m y f i g u r e , You see l a n d about here is

bound to become more and more valuable

,.... i n a b o u t t e n year's time.....

Ofcourse we s h a l l have to go very slow a n d

c u t down expenses as fine a s poss ib le ,

Not asleep - are you?" ( p . 2 3 )

This quality of Stanley's - to reduce e v e r y t h i n g to its

material value makes Linda protest inwardly:

Weather like this s e t a final seal on h i s

bargain. H e felt, some how that he had

bought the l o v e l y day t o o - got it chucked

in dirt cheap with the house and ground. (p.25)

Stanley's animal energy and physical f i t n e s s a re

juxtaposed a g a i n s t Linda's lethargic temperament. Linda's

attitude towards her husband .is ambivalent and t h e "wife

role" which is expected of h e r f r i g h t e n s her. T h e protest

against t h e wife role has autobiographical significance

which perhaps provides it with unusual f e r v o u r and

intensity, As Katherine Mansf i e . l d wrote to Murry,

protesting against t h e housewife role that was expected of

her:

Yes, I hate doing things that you accept

just as a11 men accept of t h e i r women - I

can only play the servant with a very bad

grace indeed . I t s a l l very well for

females who have nothing else to d o . 28

E: igh t years l a t e r , s t i l l in the same v e i n , s h e wrote of

Murry's r e f u s a l to accept t h e fyact that f o r h e r , the roles

of " w i f e " and "writer" were incompatible:

My only trouble in John. He ought to

divorce me, marry a really young healthy

creature, have chiildren a n d a s k me to be

godmother. I shall never be a wife a n d I

feel s u c h a fraud when he believes that

one day I s h a l l turn into one. 29

Linda's ambivalence towards Stanley is not

c!onsiderably d i f f e r e n t from w h a t K a t h e r i n e ~ansfield

experienced in her relationship with Murry. She has

p l a i n l y s t a t e d that motherhood is a myth a s far as an

u n h e a l t h y woman is concerned and n o t always a supremely

ennobling experience for women like L i n d a . As Beauvoir

rightly comments, the mother's attitude depends on her

total situation end her react.ion to it. 30 This attitude

varies from woman to woman, sometimes totally exploding t h e

patriarchal m y t h , The opinion of some sociologists that

there is no g rea t e r guaranteer of long life, health and

happiness for men than a wife well socialized to perform

t h e duties of a wi.fe, willing to devote her life to taking

care of h i m , p r o v i d i n g , even enforcing t h e regularity of a

well-ordered home is relevant here f o r this is the role

against which Linda protests a l l the time.

The distress experienced by L i n d a in her marriage is

accounted f o r by t h e "Pygmalion effect1 ' and the housewife

role. 31

The former refe'rs to t h e wife's "redefinition of

the self and an active reshaping of the personality to

conform to the needs or wishes of the husband . u 3 2 often,

in marriage the wife rather than the husband makes the

adjustments, conforrns to his wishes a n d increasingly comes

to resemble him, To some degree s h e becomes his reflection

artd a s such relatively passive, subordinate and helpless.

H e r self-image deteriorates and she accommodates to her

husband ra ther t h a n fulfil herself as a person in h e r

own right. Along with this t h e dead end job of t h e

hcjusewife , with its monotony and social isolation, makes

h e r depressed and defeated.

T h e Pygmalion effect and the wife's personality b e i n g

s t i f l e d was observed as a characteristic fea ture of

marriage in her society by Kamala Das and also in t h e

relationship b e t w e e n her own parents. "Kaalavandikal"

( B u l l o c k carts) is her s t o r y that shows an Indian

counterpart of the Stanley - Linda marriage. T h e husband,

a top-executive in a bank has climbed t h e r u n g s of t h e

success ladder like Stanley. Like Stanley, he is a

go-getter for whom the sky is t h e limit as Ear as his

career is concerned. With t h e soaring of h i s career h i s

wife was expected to change herself acco rd ing ly .

Madhavikutty, who was ever happy with her simple r u r a l

background, was trained to act the role of the big boss's

wife. It was his mission- to make h e r smart and modern ; so

she started t a l k i n g to the c h i l d r e n habitually in English.

She behaved charmingly at every party and recept ion, a n d

1:ook p a i n s t o m a i n t a i n h e r good l ooks . In short, she had

Lransformed herself from her r u r a l background to the i d e a l

wife of a corporate executive and in the process, something

in her had died. A s w i t h Linda Burnell, Madhavikutty

m o u l d s herself i n t o the 'otherselft as is expected by the

spouse, yet at t h e same time protesting inwardly*

:Cronical ly, at the end of the story t h e husband h i m s e l f

wishes for the Madhavikutty whom he had married years ago,

in place of this sophisticated woman.

"Bliss" describes t h e d e s t r u c t i o n of Bertha Young ' s

euphoria about her too perfect marriage, complete with a

baby, money and a beautiful hame. The spell is sha t t ered

at the end of t h e story when Bertha discovers that h e r

husband, whom she really desf-res now f o r t h e first t i m e

in her marriage, is h a v i n g an a f f a i r with her friend Pearl

Fulton. The state of bliss, which the pear t r e e symbolizes

is shown to be an i l l u s i o n . The theme of t h e worm in the

bud, what the a u t h o r called "the s n a L l under t h e l e a f ~ ~ ~ a n d

her belief that one can never coun t on happiness, n u r t u r e d

by h e r own i l l n e s s and h e r insecurity w i t h Murry is seen in

"Bliss". Walter Allen takes the extreme view "that this

story asks u s to accept s e x as the great wrecker and that

men and women car1 m e e t only at the l e v e l of copulating

cats. " 3 4 T h e story serves as Katherine Mansfield's

exposure of the emptiness b e h i n d £e.male role p l a y i n g , for

Bertha did believe that s h e was the happy and contented

wife till the illusion was shattered.

This theme of the woman who prides herself as t h e

modern, independent w i f e a n d then makes a sudden epiphanic

realization of the hollow nature of her marriage is shown

hy Kamala D a s in "Chathi," (Betrayal) The heroine is a

l a d y doctor who r e t u r n s home late at n i g h t to witness f o r

herself the infidelity of her husband. S h e clutches hard

at her "thali" 35 and feels that even the 'thali" has been

sullied by this act. Bertha's anguished cry, "Oh, what is

going to happen now?" ( p . 1 0 5 ) at the end of the party and

t h e lady doctor I s "my poor thali" (p.229) both signal the

wife's resignation and affirms her powerlessness at the

moment of betrayal.

As to the conventional assumption that mutual

companionship and satisfaction in marriage increase with

the years, t h e w r i t e r s show it; to be a myth in "Old Mr.

Neave" and "Mathilukal. " (Walls) Both stories show

a f f l u e n t families which are headed by patriarchs, M r . Neave

and Narayanan Nair. If t h e former begins with Mr. Neave

coming home to a dinner party and the family h a r d l y

noticing him, the same is seen in "Mathilukal." Narayanan

Nair, leaving for office turns back and says, "Today t h e r e

is a m e e t i n g of share holders. I will return a l i t t l e

late." ( p . 1 9 7 ) Not that he expected anyone to listen,

b u t it had become an o l d habi t . . In both stories, the men

do their b e s t in g o i n g up in t h e i r careers and providing

e v e r y t h i n g f o r the family, till a t l a s t they feel totally

outside its n e x u s ; f o r t h e years h a v e b r o u g h t about a r i f t

between them and their families. The wife and c h i l d r e n

become o n e close-knit unit. The p a t r i a r c h is looked a f t e r ,

respected. B u t the close tie which should have grown

between the couple is somehow missed during the years in

which he had slogged f o r the present affluence.

A s the p a t r i a r c h Narayanan Nair realizes while having

d i n n e r with his family; everything was there , e v e r y t h i n g in

place, y e t why d i d he feel a suffocating disharmony? "It

was like putting a b e a u t i f u l Ravi Varma against a Picasso

of hard l i n e s , " ( p . 198 ) Showing that somehow the man did n o t

f i t in w i t h the atmosphere of his home. This barrier that

arises between t h e man a n d h i s family is signified by t h e

title "Walls. "

K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's " A Birthday" exposes the

egotistical nature of Andreas Binzer, t h e c h i l d i s h l y

pompous hero. The writer p o r t r a y s t h e situation when he

awaits t h e b i r t h of h i s third c h i l d . He h a s a l ready made

u p h i s m i n d that it is going to be a male child, for in

f u t u r e h i s firm should be known as " B i n z e r a n d Son," While

waiting he c h a n c e s to examine an old photograph of his

wife, The more he looks at it, h e becomes c o n v i n c e d t h a t

" s h e doesn't look l i k e my wife - l i k e the mother of my

son." ( p . 7 4 2 ) The mare he looked at it the deeper grew h i s

d i s l i k e of it till his egotism makes him chuck it in t h e

grate.

"The Stranger" deals with a n o t h e r marriage that

c o n t i n u e s at the mercy of such male egotism. On h i s wife's

return after a voyage, Hammond h a s great difficulty in

reestablishing intimacy w i t h h e r and " n e v e r knew f o r dead

certain t h a t s h e was as glad as h e was," ( p . 361) When he

discovers the reason f o r h i s wife's preoccupat ion - that a man has died in h i s wife's arms, he is destroyed by this

recognition - "They would neve:r be alone together aga in . "

( p . 3 6 4 ) Harnmond's jealousy of the dead stranger is

s t r o n g e r than anything he could feel for a l i v i n g man and

it r e v e a l s the lack of consensus of t h P spouses on values

and t h e content of marital roles. Similarly, it is a lack

of mutual understanding that causes the wife to keep h e r

medical problem as a secret from h e r husband in "The

Flower" and t h e Christian marriage vows which exhort the

couple to stand together t h r o u g h t r o u b l e s and sorrows is

f l o u t e d i n such marriages.

Kamala Das's th ree stories, "Neypayasarnrl' ( S w e e t

Porridge) "Koladu" (She-goat) and "Chit thabrahrnam"

( l i y s t e r i a ) present. three women who surrender t h e i r

i d e n t i t y , are willing to be moulded f o r the sake of

role-based security and who conform to the traditional role

definitions prescribed by society , They rarely discover

their potential as human beings and limit their l i fe-space

to the n a r r o w confines of bei .ng mother and wife. They

s,ubmerge themselves in their roles and live only for their

h u s b a n d s a n d their families. Very few, if any , ever know

w h a t is happening inside t h e m , However, these v i r t u e s can

also become compulsions. W i t h o u t intending to, they o f t e n

invoke f e e l i n g s of quilt in people around them. 36

One such housewife who identifies herself completely

w i t h her family, who lives for her family a n d in the

process forgets t,o live for herself is presented in

"Neypayasam." Her whole day is spent in d o i n g household

work. In the process she becomes indifferent to h e r own

l.ooks and good health. The husband and children take her

f o r granted; a machine that makes the household run so

efficiently till atlast it breaks down suddenly f o r e v e r ,

Then alone, t h e husband is caught off his guard and too

in the day, he realizes what she had m e a n t to h i m . The

wife's worth is felt most a c u t e l y in h e r death, It is as

though the woman's life 'justifies itself only by her death.

In "Koladu" the housewife is presented as t a k i n g a

great pride i n h e r daily chores and this role grows into

her very soul so t h a t even when s h e is carried into the

hospital in a critical condition, deliriously s h e cries

o u t , "I think the gram is bu rn ing on the f i r e . " ( p . 5 0 )

And ironically, it brings t e a r s t o h e r husband's eyes .

Y e t another po r t r aya l of the pliant, adoring female

is seen i n "Chitthabrahmam . " T h e uneducated housewife

suffers Erom some k i n d of hysteria. It is enough for her

husband to c u t her off completely from t h e family. Even

her daughter is t a k e n away Erom h e r a n d within t h e

household s h e is made to bear a l l indignities. B u t when

she is asked why s h e does not leave h e r husband and go away

to h e r parents s h e simply repl ies that " s h e can never

think of leaving h i m , who is so handsome and endear ing ."

(p. 117)

In these stories, Kamala Das a s "an educated, liberal

and rights-conscious woman challenges t h e male - dominated social ethos t h a t suppresses women's individuality;

condemns them to a n inferior social status, confines them

to domesticity and casts them in t h e Sita - S a v i t r i image. 11 3 7

The women presen ted in t h e s e stories provide sustenance a n d

manage t h e infra-structures of t h e home to provide

consistency, c o n t i n u i t y and stability. They make no

demands f o r themselves. They provide support to everybody

and are towers of strength in times of cr i s i s . They are

exp lo i t ed and taker] for granted, and are always on c a l l

when others are under stress. Their worth is felt in t h e i r

absence and most acutely in t h e i r death as seen in

"Neypayasam" and "Koladu." The Indian cultural role

glorifies and idealises this identity. S i t a , Parvati,

Meera, Kannagi and Savitri are but few examples of

characters which operate as potent role models,

internalised and given s o c i a l a n d psychological expression

by such women. Thus Kamala Das, l i k e K a t h e r i n e Mansfield

before her, points to t h e fact that women's oppression is

c o n t i n g e n t on t h e acceptance of a fixed i d e n t i t y atid it is

in acquiescing to such fixture that women have betrayed

themselves most deeply. They see the f a a u r e of marriage

"as grounded in a collaboration of v i c t i m and victimiser

who are c a u g h t in a c y c l e of self-falsification that can

only be broken by a confrontation of t h e bankruptcy of the

terms of submission, ,138

Katherine Mansfield's German Pension stories show a

bitter attitude to marriage as they were w r i t t e n when the

writer herself was friendless and abandoned as an unwed

mother in a strange c o u n t r y . The Linda - Stanley

relationship reflects the marriage of her own parents.

Stanley B u r n e l 1 , A n d r e a s ~ i n z e r a n d John Hammond are all

different versions of her own pa- an, the bustling, pompous

Chairman of t h e Bank of New Zealand who was every inch a

patriarch and believed that his w i f e d i d not have an

identity a p a r t from h i s own. The stories that provide a

f i c t i o n a l portrayal of her own marriage re f lec t her fear of

betrayal and helplessness arising o u t of invalidism.

Even as an adolescent, Kamala Das grew up s e e i n g the

submissive role played by her mother i n t h e family. Her

father's role corresponded to that of Kather

Pa - Man in that he saw h i s w i f e as a poss

than as an individual. Hence s h e derides th

traditional "arranged" marriage in her stori

who is often locked in a loveless marriage, 1

for it outside marriage.

A s marriage w a s to be endured by the w o m a n a n d t h e r e

was no walk ing o u t of it, in Kamala Das's stories women

often seek emotional fulfilment outside marriage.

"Tharushunilam, " "Swatantra jeevikal, " "Idanazhiyile

Kannadikal, " and "Rathriyil" are the major s tor ies that

d e p i c t this theme. But even here t h e women cannot find

peace or happiness in t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p for t h e y are ever

h a u n t e d by a s e n s e of guilt.

Unlike K a m a l a Das, Katherine Mansfield has a number

of stories on the t h e m e of women living on t h e i r own,

leading single lives. In t h e s e stories, t h e women are

often alone, vulnerable, relatively unwary and frequently

propositioned by predatory men as in "The L i t t l e Governess"

and "Pictures". " M i s s B r i l l " and "The Canary1' show t h e

loneliness and monotony in the lives of single women. "The

Swing of the Pendulum'' and "The Tiredness of Rosabel"

present the dreary lives of working g i r l s w h o lead a

hand-to-mouth existence and t h r o w light on t h e writer's

early days in London. Ironically, for Rosabel, as f o r

V i o l a in "The Swing of t h e Pendulum", "Utopia consisted of

a stereotyped v i c t o r y in an unchallenged vision of marriage

as the way to material security and aes thet ic

satisfaction. " 3 9 This theme a£ women living on t h e i r own

is absent in Kamala Dasls short fiction f o r the simple

reason that women living outside t h e family on t h e i r own

were an exception in the author's society.

One common feature of the marriages seen in t h e

stmries of both writers is t h a t loving passion is very rare

in married life. A s seen in stories like "Prelude," "At

the Bay'and "Lokum Oru Kavayitriye Nirmikunnu", t h e husband

a n d wife build up a facader they try to c o n v i n c e t h e world

that theirs is a happy and binding r e l a t i o n s h i p . Sometimes

it may be an ambivalent Iove - hate relationship that the wife feels f o r the husband as seen in the case of Linda in

"Prelude". K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's biographers speak about

her extra-marital r e l a t i o n s h i p with Francis Carco a n d the

imaginative portrayal of the affair in her s t o r y "Jc ne

Parle pas ~ r a n c a i s . ~ ! ~ ' Similarly, in S t o r y Karnala Das

speaks about the various love a f f a i r s that s h e had, in the

absence of a stable emotional r a p p o r t with her husband, At

the same time, neither was ready to give u p her

relationship with her husband i n s p i t e of the lack of

emotional r a p p o r t or incompatibility.

I n s p i t e of all discordant n o t e s t h e marriage survives

in the stories as in t h e i r own lives. This is because of

t h e i r ambivalent a t t i t u d e - t h e combination of a need f o r

domestic s e c u r i t y and the desire f o r an independence

consistent with a non-domestic mode of l i v i n g . Why t h e

marriage endures inspite o f a l l t h e dissatisfaction felt by

the wife is explained by Simone de Beauvoir:

The pecu l iar nature of her sexuality and

t h e problems arising from an independent

life makes a simple husband system

desirable to t h e woman. She c a n make

adjustments and maintain a marriage much

more e a s l i l y than t h e man can. While

intensely desirous of the warmth and

n e a r n e s s of a man, s h e fears the shackles

that marriage may place on h e r life on the

whole w i t h equal i n t e n s i t y . 41

The a r t i s t colony to which Katherine Mansfield c l u n g

so tenaciously in London offered her nothing more

substantial than a p l e a s a n t ~ a h e m i a n camaraderie, "With

a l l her enthusiasm f o r Bohemia, she never acquired t h e art

,142 of taking human relationships c a s u a J l y . Hence she

believed in marriage "as the only possible relation that is

really satisfying." A s she put it, "to know one a n o t h e r

seems to me a fa r greater adventure than to be on kissing

acquaintance with dear knows how many. ,143

While s h e derides t h e shackles of marriage, Karnala

Das is a l s o desirous of the warmth and security of a

lasting partnership as seen from her confession in - Ente

Katha.

In those days I realised that a woman

needs the kind of security that cannot be

provided by her c h i l d r e n or h e r relations

since it was that s e c u r i t y needed for the

well-being o f h e r body and t h e peace of

her soul which cou ld be g iven only by her man who is her solace and h e r o n l y

shelter. For a woman h e r man is h e r god,

her own Krishna. (p. 81)

Kamala Das says that "in childhood, my father was the

very f o u n d a t i o n of my f e e l i n g of security." (p.168) A f t e r

marriage, t h e symbol. of s e c u r i t y bo th emotional and

economic is transferred from the father p a t r i a r c h to the

husband . Besides, b o t h writers acknowledged the strong

attachment that a woman feels for a man w h i c h can be called

emotional attachment or sexual a n d which is the strongest

bond t h a t can exist in man - woman relationship, In her

s u b t l e story "The Man Without a Temperament" Katherine

Mansfield acknowledges this need that she felt fo r her man

and dramatized the c e n t r a l dilemma of her own marriage : it

was anguish f o r her to be away f r o m her husband but as her

presence seemed to torture him - it was the bet ter of the

horrors to keep away.

Similarly, Kamala Das's marriage survived ruptures

and disillusionments with the husband because s h e w a s

immensely attached to him and was able to feel h u r t when he

was h u r t . There are moments, as revealed in MJ Story, when

she was even exhilarated in his company and uneasy and

crestfallen in h i s absence, Indeed, Kamala Das never

resented her role as a wife and mother; s h e only resented

h e r role as a slave, as a s e x object, She considered sex,

unaccompanied by love as lust and says:

..,. i n f o r g i v i n g silence 1 conceived my bright s o n s .

" A Faded Epaulet on H i s Shoulder"

This gentle, loving n a t u r e of the husband is acknowledged

by L i n d a Burnell also in her interior monologue in "At t h e

Bay " :

Well, s h e was married to h i m , And w h a t

was more s h e loved him. Not t h e S t a n l e y

whom e v e r y o n e saw, n o t the everyday o n e ;

but a timid, sensitive, innocent Stanley

who k n e l t down every night to say h i s

prayers, and who longed to be good.

Stanley was simple. I f he believed in

people - a s he believed in h e r , for

i n s t a n c e - it was with h i s whole heart. He

could not be disloyal; he could not tell a

l i e . And how terribly he suf fered if he

thought a n y o n e - s h e - was n o t being dead

s t r a i g h t , dead sincere with him! ( p , 2 2 2 )

Therefore i n s p i t e of a l l the shoxtcomings the

writers believed in t h e institution of marriage because it

fulfilled many of women's innate needs like emotional

s e c u r i t y . T h e positive side of the relationship h a s also

been presented in f l a s h e s in their stories. In "Man

Without a Temperament" is seen the unfailing care and

p r o t e c t i o n given by a husband to h i s ailing wife although

he resents the sacrifice of h i s own career. " B I . i s s l '

presents the idealized p i c t u r e of what a marriage could be

- Bertha Young, the happy young housewife with a h u s b a n d ,

baby, a perfect home and plenty of friends. In " ~ a r r i a g e

la l ,a Mode", W i l l i a m , t h e rather plodding y e t prov id ing

husband comes home, like Ulysses to a house full of suitors

and an i n d i f f e r e n t Penelope. Y e t he is t h e most

u n d e r s t a n d i n g and f o r g i v i n g of husbands . Again, " A Cup of

Tea" presents the idyllic picture of Rosemary and Philip's

marriage.

The great care and genuine concern that the wife h a s

for the husband is shown in "A B i r t h d a y " w h e r e t h e wife is

in labour but y e t she is all concern f o r the husband:

"Anna has been in pain all . n i g h t . S h e

wouldn't have you disturbed before because

she said you looked so r u n down yesterday.

You told h e r you c a u g h t a cold a n d been

v e r y w o r r i e d . " (p.735)

". . . she says, is your cold better and

there's a w a r m undervest for you in the

lefthand corner of the big drawer." Iibid)

A s t h e s e examples signify, ~ a t h e r i n e Mansfield

looked upon marriage as a source of emotional fulfilment

where t h e couple could care for each other and l ook af t er

each other's interests.

A similar s t a n d is taken by Kamala Das in h e r stories

like "Chitthabrahmam,." "Nunakal" and "Mathilukal. " The

housewife in the first story suf fers many indignities from

h e r husband. Yet she cannot leave him a n d go away to her

parents because s h e is attached to h i m both emotionally and

s e x u a l l y . As s h e says about h i m :

At n i g h t , sometimes when I s w i t c h on the

l i g h t , I see h i m sleeping on h i s side, h i s

face resting on his palm. .. like a little boy, H o w handsome he is, V i m a l ! When I

watch h i m sleeping, I forget a l l my

sorrows, No, I will never leave h i m .

Don't you understand, Vimala? ( p , 117)

I t is this attachment that a woman feels f o r h e r man

that keeps t h e couple toge ther in "Mathilukal." The wife

conforms to the ro le set aside f o r her by her husband

because s h e feels an emotional and sexual attachment

towards h i m . This feeling t h a t a woman h a s f o r her husband

can be i n t e r p r e t e d as love. The writer h a s explained her

own relationship with her husband Madhava Das in the light

of this need that a woman fee l s f o r a man. There was

hardly a n y compatibility b e t w e e n the prosaic, dry-as-dust

husband and t h e sensitive wife. Yet t h e relationship

con t inued due to this reason. Besides, Kamala Das has

declared, that the joy of motherhood, of bringing u p

children is a n o t h e r reason for upholding an otherwise

joyless marriage, Similarly, it was Katherine Mansfield's

e m o t i o n a l attachment for Murry that kept their marriage

going inspite of i t s many ups and downs. In her J o u r n a l

very often she l o n g s f o r the physical proximity and the

moral s u p p o r t of her husband, especially in the lonely days

that she s p e n t on the R i v i e r a . Murry sometimes accompanied

h e r , b u t f a i l e d to conceal his bitterness a n d resentment

about the inevitable s a c r i f i c e of h i s career and his

independent life. Hence K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's fear of

abandonment and guilt about invalidism were shadows in

t h e i r relation with each other.

Berger and K e l l n e r in t h e i r study of monogamous

marriages, suggest that "the dyadic relationship between

t w o spouses is likely to be extremely precarious. " 4 4 They

observe that lfsuccess or failure hinges on t h e

idiosyncracies of o n l y two individuals - who do not have a shared pas t - and thus makes it the most unstable of a l l

possible soc ia l relationships. 1145 Gerrnaine Greer goes a

step further in her view that "if women are to effect a

significant amelioration i n t h e i r c o n d i t i o n they must 4 6

refuse to marry." On the whole, t h e p i c t u r e of marriage

present in the stories of these authors is that of a

worn-out i n s t i t u t i o n that trudges a l o n g , g i v i n g rise to

families, which in turn become soc ia l units. Within t h e s e

u n i t s t h e next generation is t a k e n care of and moulded in

t h e same gender roles.

Yet i n s p i t e of all defects, t h e t w o writers uphold

the i n s t i t u t i o n of marriage as something e s s e n t i a l . But

they point to t h e fact that there should be more to it than

its function as a mechanism to preserve male power. "The

traditional, time honoured relations of the domineering,

paternalistic male and dependent, financially insecure

submissive woman is no longer valid, if indeed it ever had

been. " 4 7 Change t h e politics, adjust the balance of power,

as feminists they argue, and marriage will no longer be

sexist. The institution cannot be bulldozed; but it has to

be rehabilitated. A s K a t h e r i n e Mansfield wrote t w o months

before her death to her husband: "You are you. I am I, We

c a n only lead o u r own lives together. 1148

Clear ly , only equality between individuals cou ld be

t h e ideal basis for a marriage as these authors saw it.

The exper ience of marriage a s presented in Katherine

Mansfield's s h o r t fiction takes a regular p a t t e r n - a

pattern of illusion a n d r e a l i t y . The illusion created in

t h e b e g i n n i n g is r u p t u r e d at t h e end and this l e a d s to

disillusionment. This p a t t e r n can be illustrated from most

of the major stories.

Bertha Young, the housewife in ' l B l i ~ ~ t ' , at t h e

beginning of the story, does n o t know how to give

expression to her f e e l i n g of bliss arising from a perfect

marriage, loving husbandr beautiful home and a baby. B u t

at the end of the s t o r y she is seen exclaiming, "Oh, what

is g o i n g to happen now!" ( p . 105) because s h e realizes that

she h a s been living in an i l l u s o r y world. The husband in

"Man Without a Temperament" is ever protective and ready to

carry ou t t h e least of his invalid wife's wishes. But

underlying a l l this solicitude he is forced to suppress his

temperament and he conceals his bitterness and resentment.

"Pre lude" and " A t t h e Bay" present the L i n d a - Stanley

relationship which is a l l smooth going on t h e surface but

full of disillusionment f o r t h e wife in reality.

Another e n s u i n g p a t t e r n is the predominance of

interior monologue revealing t h e disillusionment as seen in

Linda's long monologue c o n c e r n i n g her dissatisfaction with

marriage :

But the trouble was - here Linda felt

almost inclined to l a u g h , though heaven

knows it was no laughing matter - she saw

h e r Stanley so seldom. *

"At the Bay" ( p , 222)

B u t although there is disillusionment, it is always

confined to the interior monologues. The discontent is

always dormant, it never comes o u t in dramatic scenes

between the husband and w i f e . On t h e other hand, the wife

appears as the perfect, gentle l i t t l e creature in t h e s e

s c e n e s . All the drama that she craves to have enacted only

remains in the d e p t h of her mind making her more and mare

an i n t r o s p e c t i v e , elusive, ineffectual angel, as seen in

Linda's interior monologues. Seeing the aloe, she imagines

it to be a ship t h a t c a n t a k e her away from t h e prison

house of marriage:

She dreamed that s h e was caught up o u t of

t h e cold water into the ship with the

l i f t e d oars and the budd ing mast. Now t h e

oars fell s t r i k i n g quickly, quickly. They

rowed f a r away over t h e top of the garden

trees, t h e paddocks and t h e dark bush

beyond. A h , s h e heard herself c r y :

"Faster! Faster! " to t h o s e who were

r o w i n g . ( p . 5 3 1

And sometimes, s h e has the c r u e l i n s t i n c t to reveal h e r

hatred to Stanley:

There were a l l h e r feelings for him, s h a r p

and d e f i n e d , one as true as the other.

And t h e r e was this o t h e r , this hatred,

just as real as the rest. She cou ld have

done h e r feelings up in l i t t l e packets and

given them to Stanley. She longed to hand

h i m the last o n e , for a surprise. She

could see h i s e y e s as he opened that

.... ( p . 5 4 )

Therefore there are no dramatic s i t u a t i o n s in t h e

marriage stories. On the c o n t r a r y , the drama unfolds in

the interior monologues, mostly of the women. All these

features contribute to provide an i n t r o v e r t , contemplative,

confessional quality to the stories. T h e r e is a lyrical

q u a l i t y to the stories as they are written in a kind of

poet ic prose, Besides, the stories involve t h e reader in a

subjective experience, especially t h r o u g h the u s e of day

dreams and interior monologues. Hence they have a romantic

quality about them. T h e texture of the stories is further

enriched by a subtle irony.

And he said to L i n d a , "I've b r o u g h t you back a bottle of oysters and a pineapple," as t hough he had brought h e r back a l l the harvest of the earth. ( p . 3 7 )

Every speech of Stanley's is given an ironic rejoinder by

Linda in her thoughts, s e r v i n g almost like stychomythia in

a dumb manner - Thus Stanley tells her he was so worried

about apologizing to her f o r not having bid her farewell in

the morning and dramatically adds, ". . . I made u p my mind

to dash out: and telegraph, and then I thought t h e wire

mightn't reach you before I did, I've been in tortures

Linda," ( p . 2 4 0 ) L i n d a , smiling, assents to everything he

says and then notices that although he had been in

tortures, he had time enough to get i n t o a shop and buy

himself a new pa ir of gloves on t h e way home!

Thus, ~ a t h e r i n e Mansfield presents her marriage

stories i n a romantic - ironic manner and the lyrical

quality adds further to its effect.

Unlike the marriage stories of Katherine Mansfield,

t h e r e is no illusion of happiness built up in Kamala Dasf s

stories. From the b e g i n n i n g t h e reader is made to

understand that here is a bleak landscape where happiness

is a foregone conclusion. Often, marriage is por t r ayed as

a joyless relationship for t h e man a n d the woman. For t h e

wife it is something to be endured and in course of t i m e

her a t t i t u d e becomes one of apathy and indifference.

O f t e n , her attitude to the sexual aspect of marriage

reflects t h a t of E l , i o t l s t y p i s t in "The Wasteland".

Her b r a i n allows o n e half-formed t h o u g h t to pass;

"Well now that's done and I'm

glad it's over."

The w i l t e d , worn out relationship is represented as a

bullock-cart that wearily trudges o n its onward journey,

the animals feeling highly exhausted.

The w o m e n in Kamala Das's marriage stories are n o t

introvert or contemplative as t h o s e of ~atherine ~ansfield.

The reader cannot reach the recesses of t h e i r m i n d s t h r o u g h

lengthy interior monologues as in Katherine Mansfield. B u t

on the otherhand, the wives who i n d u l g e in extra-marital

relationships are highly introspective and they t r y to find

answers to questions that pursue them constantly:

This love has given me nothing b u t pain.

It's very f o u n d a t i o n is b e t r a y a l . True,

that I've traversed through the wrong

paths. B u t why was there always those

other paths near the right one?

("Rathriyil", p. 295)

Similarly, the poetess reconciles herself at the end of

"Lokum O r u K a v a y i t r i y e Nirmikkunnu", t h u s :

. . . Life l i e s a r o u n d in complicated

knots. B u t I do not propose to take a

comb, to undo the knots and to comb it o u t

straight. When 1 l e a v e , t h e s e k n o t s w i l l remain. And in t h i s r u f f l e d hair will

remain those wilted jasmine flowers that

adorned them sometime in t h e past . . . ( p , 6 3 )

In Kamala Das's stories, t h e contemplative,

introspective and h i g h l y sensitive women are not satisfied

with marriage, they seek emotional fulfilment outside it.

Another f e a t u r e which marks Kamala Das's marriage s tor ies

is her unemotional narration. In her n a r r a t i v e style, s h e

makes a c o n s c i o u s attempt to distance herself f r o m t h e

s tor ies and it marks a great d i f f e r ence with that of

Katherine Mansfield.

N O T E S

& ~ h a l i - a small golden ornament worn on t h e neck, t h e

ordinary badge of marriage among Dravidian

peoples - the Hindu equ iva l en t of the western

wedding r i n g ; a l s o called "mangalya sutram."

1. Cheri Register, "Review Essay: Literary Criticism",

Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1980. - - -

2. ~irginia Woolf, A R o o m of One's Own London: Granada, - - - 1977, p. 85 .

D.H. Lawrence, "Morality and t h e Novel" , Calendar of - Modern Letters, December 1925.

William Logan, Malabar Manual ~ r i v a n d r u m ; ~harithram ~ublications,(Rgt) 1 9 8 1 , p,164.

F. Fawcett, Nayars of Malabar New D e l h i : Asian - Educational Services, ( ~ p t ) 1990, p.237.

The Cochin Nair Regulation of 1 0 9 5 KE (1919-20) and T h e

C o c h i n Nair Act of 1113 (1937-38) which superseded the

Nair Regulation of 1095.

Westermark, History of Human Marriage V o l I, London: - Macmillan, 1921.

Helge Rubinstein (ed). The Oxford Book of ~arriaqe OUP, - -- 1990.

Burgess E.W. and Locke H . J., The Family - From - Instiution to Companionship, New York, 1953. -

1 0 . Simone de ~eauvoir, The Second Sex London: Pan Books, - 1988, p.718.

11. Ibid, p.720,

12. Anthony Alpers, K a t h e r i n e Mansf ie ld London: J o n a t h a n Cape,

1954, p . 156,

13. Ian Gordon, Katherine Mansfield London: Longmans, 1954,

p.10.

14. - The J o u r n a l of Katherine Mansfield Ied) J o h n Middleton - Murry, London: Constable, 1954.

15. Kamala Das, S t y Delhi: Sterling publishers, 1988,

p. 84.

16. Ibid, p . 2 6

1 7 , Ibid, p . 9 2

18. Beauvior, p. 4 8 1 .

19, Kamala Das, Ente Katha Kottayam: Kairali Mudralayam, 1979, - p.139 . Hereafter the page number from this source will be

c i t e d .

20. Jeffrey Meyers, Married to ~ e n i u s London: on don ~agazine - Editions, 1 9 7 7 , p . 1 3 4 .

21. The Journal. - 22. Kamala D a s , Ente Cherukathakal Vol. I , Calicut: -

Mathrubhumi Publications, 1985, p . 5 3 . Hereafter only t h e

page number of t h e stories from t h i s source will be cited.

For the s tor ies of Katherine ~ansfield, t h e page number

from The Collected Stories is cited. -

2 3 . C l a i r e ~ o m a l i n , P r e f a e to Kather ine Mansfield : Short

Stor ies London: Dent, 1 9 8 3 , pp. vii-xxx.

2 4 . Elisabeth Bumiller, May - - - You Be the Mother - of - a Hundred

Sons N e w York, 1 9 9 0 , p.110.

25. Ibid, p.113.

26 , Helen Deutsch, M T h e Psychology of Women: A Psychoanalytic

Interpretation (New York, 1945) I1 Motherhood, p . 5 0 .

27 , Simone de Beauvoir, - The Second - Sex, p.481.

28. Katherine Mansfield's Letters to J o h n Middleton Murry - - London: Constable, 1951, p . 4 (~etter of Summer, 1913)

2 9 . - T h e Letters and Journals - of K a t h e r i n e Mansfield (ed) C.K.

Stead, London: Allen Lane, 1 9 7 7 , p.225 (~etter of J u l y

1921

30. Simone de Beauvoir, - The Second - Sex.

3 1 . Jessie Bernard, - The F u t u r e -- of t h e Family Harmondsworth:

Pengu in , 1 9 7 6 .

3 2 . Ibid.

3 3 . Katherine Mansfield's Letters to John ~iddleton Murry

London: Constable, 1951, pp . 342-43.

3 4 , Walter Allen, The - S-tory - in English Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1981, pp.165-75.

35. "Thali" - The badge of marriage f o r Indian Women.

3 6 . I n d i r a J. Parikh, Indian Women: - An I n n e r Dialogue N e w

Delhi: Sage Publications, 1 9 8 9 , p.25.

37. Satindra Sing, "The Urban Experience: The Indian Novelf' in

Aspects - of Comparative Literature (ed) Chandra Mohan, New

Delhi: Indian Publishers & Distributors, p . 2 5 5 .

3 8 . Kate Fullbrook, Katherine Mansfield Sussex: The Harvester

Press, 1986, p.9.

3 9 . Ibid, p .39

40. A n t o n y Alpers, Katherine Mansfield, London, 1954, p.205.

41. Simone de Beauvoir, - The Second - Sex,

42, Arnold Whitridge, "Katherine Mansfield", Sewanee Review,

J a n - March 1940, p.261.

4 3 , - The Journal - of Katherine Mansfield.

4 4 , Quoted by Nicky Hart in When Marriage Ends London:

~ a v i s t o c k Publications, 1976.

45. Ibid.

4 6 . Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch, 1970.

4 7 . Gillian Boddy, "Some Background Discussion on t h e

Treatment of the Roles of Men and Women in t h e Writing of

Katherine Mansfield," Studies - in Short F i c t i o n , Vol ii - 1974, p. 92.

48. Katherine Mansfield's Letters to John Middleton Murry - - London: Constable, 1951. (Letter of November, 1923)