Daily Times

Literature has advocated women’s emancipation and empowerment at the socio-political level.

Whether classical English and American literature or postcolonial literature, it has been portraying the ideology of women’s freedom on the domestic and social front. This style of writing, though feministic in nature, is a style that not only highlights women’s issues and the consequences of not addressing these issues but also paves the way by making a beautiful statement of these issues through literary means and ensuring that the impact is outcome-based. Jane Eyre by Emily Bronte, The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, the heart Divided by Mumtaz Shahnawaz, the short stories of Muhammad Hussain and Talat Abbasi or Muneeza Shamsie, all are reflective of such tendencies in English Literature or pieces of literature written in English.

The Indo-Pak subcontinent is where literature has been chiefly in the hands of men. Still, the 20th and 21st centuries have an entirely different picture where the abundance of literature can be witnessed by women and on and for women. This phenomenon has predominately increased during the era of post-colonial writing from the formerly colonized nations. The women in this area have been part of the folk tales which reflected the defiance and unwillingness of women to accept the social norms and codes which emphasized or attempted to limit the role of women in the social scene. However, the 21st century brought in line many women writers who not only portrayed women as victims but also talked about the psychology of women and what women’s hearts would speak when their men dupe them.

The very first idea that the literature of the 21st century speaks of is that woman does not want to be considered a sex object and that she needs a friend to be cared for in all thick and thin.

She needs to be respected as a woman, mother, sister, and especially a wife. Above all, she loves to claim and give fidelity.

If these things come within a relationship, the woman is ready to provide any sacrifice for her man. But if, after her sacrifice, she is denied even fidelity, it gives her immense pain, which makes it impossible for her to forgive. One such piece of literature, though in short form, is the short story “The Flight” by Kamla Das. Here the female protagonist is doing all she can to feed and maintain her relationship with a man who has become paralyzed.

She is an artist and is skilful in making statues which provides an opportunity to earn and support her family while her husband is dependent on her for money. But his interest in her is only for sex, though he admires the statues she makes but never her. He used to praise her at the beginning of their married life, but after that, he only appreciated her body. He never felt thankful to her for her work, and neither was he grateful to her for the role she was playing. This saddened her, but she decided to change the city for a better income and keep working for her husband and family.

She mostly hired her people to make them a model for her statues. She changes the city, engages a young rustic girl, and makes plenty of figures with the help of her different poses. Once, her husband came into her studio and asked to let the girl go because she must be tired, but he never thought of his wife being tired from all the work. Things reached their climax when the protagonist went for some business outside and tried as much as possible to return home for the sake of her husband, even when she did not want to return so early, that she found her husband and the rustic village girl involved with each other in each other arms.

This made her think she had no home, life, or happiness because even a rustic girl could win her husband from her. She felt all dead, sea, air, and even life dead. She roamed on the coasts and shores but never attempted to make any home for herself and concluded that if she had become paralyzed, her husband would have thrown her out because she was not expected, but she accepted her husband in that crippled state. However, he was never content with his wife and attempted to secure love from another woman without caring for his wife’s sacrifice and hard work. For her husband, a woman was a body and only a sex object which is unacceptable for women of the 21st century and she never likes to be paid in terms other than that of her respect, honour and fidelity. Such pieces of literature are most helpful in sensitizing men, too, challenging their age-old conventions about women and paving the way for respect and honour for women.

The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at zeadogar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @Profzee