Culture and Gender Questions in Sarah Joseph’s Othappu

Presented By,Karthika s

M A English

• Indian female writers see gender as an issue shaping both culture and text.

• Fiction by Indian woman works within patriarchal society to break down the cultural impediments and discover meaning of gender constructs in society.

• Indian writers see literary text as products of a culture that has an assured unity of symbols and images.

• Culture plays a vital role in helping a woman to understand & mould her linguistic behaviour & cultural ideas

•Active member of Feminist movement in Kerala Concerned with predicament of female protagonist An anti-essentialist writer Main aim is to bring an “alternative women’s culture” Defines her feminism as human equality & freedom of choice.

Culture

Religion

Mass Media

GenderTradition

Community

Class

Scandal / temptationPublished - 2005 a Gyno textanti-essentialist mode of writingMain theme- how a women can be empowered , re- defined , immunize herself in midst of all the patriarchal constraints.

'Othappu' follows the pattern by having a central female character and protagonist. The novel deals with the decision of a nun to step outside the convent and embrace a life free from the shackles of established religious norms and practices. In this, the character 'Marghalitha', comes in logger heads with the church and society which refuse to accept her personal views and individual freedom and expect her to conform to the framework in place regarding those joining the nunnery.

• Sigmund FreudFather of PsychologyPsycho- analytical theory

based on the assumption that personality in terms of interactions & conflicts among needs & impulses ,which operate at unconscious level in an individual.

• Helene Cixous French theorist“ecriture feminine”Language as free play of

meanings within the frame work of loosened grammatical structures

User- perennial freedom- fighter, sniping at the centre of power.

Conscious mind – layer of mind which contains thoughts and perceptions of which we are aware at a given moment.

Id – original source of personality, reservoir of psychic energy, unconscious in nature, guided by pleasure principle .

Super-ego- conscience in the ordinary sense, ethical & moral force in man, decision making force in man

• Marghalitha - A nun who leaves the convent because she can no longer pretend that the rituals associated with belief are meaningful to her.

• Roy Francis Kareekkan - A priest who also questions the church's double standards in serving the poor and the rich and influential. He leaves the priesthood when he realizes his desire for Marghalitha, but later abandons her.

• Augustine-a Christian freethinker and social-reformer.

• Rebecca - Marghalitha's cousin who is a kind of vagabond preacher and healer

Male constructed words•Othappu – scandal/ temptation•Punyalathi – scared soul•Vilavu- breast•Aspiranth – aspirant

You want to go back – Margaret Atwood• You want to go back To where the sky was inside usAnimals ran through us , our hands Blessed and killed according to our

wisdom , deathMade real blood come outBut face it , we have been improved , our

heads floatSeveral inches above our

necks.......................Multiplying and analysing themselves ,

perfecting Their own demands , no trouble to

anyone....

The Indian woman has, indeed, achieved her

success in half a century of independence , but if

there is to be a truly female empowerment,

much remains to be done.

Thank You