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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 15, Issue-III, June 2024 ISSN: 0976-8165
www.the-criterion.com
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10448030
Men and Masculinity in Contemporary Fiction
Chisti Das
Ph. D. Scholar,
Department of Language and Literature,
Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, Odisha.
&
Soumya Sangita Sahoo
Assistant Professor,
Department of Language and Literature,
Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, Odisha.
Article History: Submitted-02/05/2024, Revised-19/06/2024, Accepted-20/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
The misconception that males are the dominating sex puts pressure on them to live up
to the roles and expectations that are placed upon them in order to fit in with society and become
the perfect man. A lot of discrimination, marginalisation, and suppression of boys and men
occurs as a result of the pressure from society to be the ideal sort. Since different people have
distinct ideas about what masculinity entails, there are varying perceptions of what masculinity
is. In contrast to masculinity, disability historically has been associated with helplessness,
weakness, and dependency. A disabled man is viewed as a deviant and in need of constant
assistance and support. Men with disabilities feel excluded from society since it has been
assumed that they are not capable of being the dominant male figure. The pressure to work
hard, persevere, and establish their value in order to be accepted by the “normal” society grows
on disabled men. Every stage of their lives has been marked by marginalisation and
discrimination. Men with disabilities face many challenges that receive little attention. It is,
therefore, vital that we investigate the social marginalisation and subjugation that men with
disabilities experience.
Keywords: Masculinity, Disability, Marginalization, Subjugation.
Introduction
Gender roles, taboos, and stereotypes have been imposed by society, leading to
discrimination and the division of people into genders, ultimately favouring one sex over the
other and resulting in sexism. Without question, women have suffered from misogyny, been
denigrated, and been victims of it throughout history. However, as the feminist movement
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gained momentum and time passed, their voices became increasingly heard. In social, literary,
historical, and legal contexts, women have been supported and shielded. However, there are
few representations, sources of support, or safeguards available for male victims of misandry
and gender norms who are abused, raped, oppressed, and mistreated. It is essential to recognise
that stigmatisation and other social ills do not simply target people based on their gender;
everyone, regardless of gender, can experience them. The reality that boys and men have been
subjected to discrimination and oppression will not change if people choose to ignore it. Bell
Hooks, in her 2004 book The Will To Change, writes,
Many men in our society have no status, no privilege; they receive no freely given
compensation, no perks with capitalist patriarchy… These men suffer… They suffer in
a society that does not want men to change, that does not want to reconstruct
masculinity so that the basis for the social formation of male identity is not rooted in an
ethic of domination… Broken emotional bonds… the traumas of emotional neglect and
abandonment that so many males have experienced… have damaged and wounded the
spirits of men. Many men are unable to speak their suffering (Hooks, 138-139).

Males have traditionally occupied positions of authority; hence, many have long
believed that they are not victims of patriarchy or gender norms. It is a widely held notion in
society that men are a superior gender that is impervious to all forms of injustice and
persecution. In reality, when it comes to gender norms, patriarchy, and societal expectations
resulting from male performativity, men are bound by them as well. Throughout history,
societies have viewed self-sufficient, physically fit, and dominant men as the epitome of the
perfect man. Men who challenge societal norms face significant physical and psychological
challenges throughout their lives as a result of being viewed as individuals who fall short of
society’s ideals. In the gender hierarchy, men who do not embody the ideal of hegemonic
masculinity are regarded as inferiors and referred to as subordinate masculinities. Subordinate
masculinity has been best exemplified by men who identify as gay or disabled. Men with
disabilities face increasing pressure to prove their value in society since they have been
perceived as not meeting gender norms and the ideal of perfection.
The conventional definition of a man is someone who is strong and independent, able
to carry out the gender duties expected of him. However, when it comes to men who are
disabled, society views them as incapable of meeting these expectations, and as such, they do
not conform to the norms of society. Men with disabilities have been viewed as monsters
because they are perceived as having lost their manhood due to their inability to conform to
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gender norms. Analysis of literary depictions of men with disabilities reveals that throughout
history, men with disabilities have often been portrayed negatively and in opposition to the
male lead, which has been shaped to fit the stereotype of the idle man held by society. In the
Mahabharata, we see how Vidur’s objection to Dhritarashtra’s enthronement on the grounds
that he was blind and hence unfit to manage a kingdom forced him to abdicate, despite the fact
that he was the legitimate heir and had received extensive training in the art of being a king.
Even though he was forced to become king later on, he was always represented as weak,
avaricious, and unfair. Despite having the same abilities as his younger sibling, Pandu, he was
treated unfairly and with contempt due to his impairment. As he did not conform to society’s
ideal of a man, he was deemed unqualified to hold the office of king. Though the patriarchy
has granted men an unfair advantage in society, it has also fostered discrimination against
members of its kind who do not fit the stereotypical male gender roles. Men are expected to
support their families independently, be self-sufficient, and be the men in their homes whom
other family members can rely on. Men are subject to tremendous social pressure to conform
to gender norms, which is why men with disabilities are treated differently by Ableists than
women. They experience several traumas because of the way people behave and perceive them,
shattering their own perception of who they are. It becomes a never-ending battle for them to
be accepted by society and their gender, as well as to demonstrate their value as men. They are
marginalised and excluded by society because men with disabilities are perceived as weak and
defenceless, which reduces their chances of living regular lives, resulting in their social
marginalisation. Due to the belief that they are incapable of exhibiting the dominance that is
expected of men, men with disabilities experience social isolation. Men with disabilities are
viewed from such a biased and stereotypical perspective by the general public that changing
the situation is nearly impossible. Men with disabilities also do not receive the basic human
respect that they deserve. Feeling helpless, these guys decide to withdraw from society to come
to terms with their circumstances.

Literature Survey
Men with disabilities are more likely to experience violence and injustice since others
tend to take advantage of and exploit them due to their conditions, abused by both men and
women. People take advantage of men who are disabled; especially those who are physically
disabled, because they think that these men are defenceless against attackers due to their
vulnerable situation. Men with disabilities face threats, verbal and physical abuse, and rude and
haughty remarks from others who are aware of their limitations when it comes to their ability
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to defend themselves physically. Even though every person has some weak points, those who
cannot defend themselves experience the most discrimination. Men with disabilities are often
the focus of crimes such as theft, rape, and other crimes since they are seen as easy targets. A
pivotal scene in John Irving’s best-selling 1978 book, The World According to Garp, depicts a
disabled male character named Technical Sergeant Garp raped by his nurse, Jenny Fields. Jenny
raped Garp because she felt the need to have a kid and be an independent mother without being
attached to or controlled by any man in her life. Despite having brain damage and being
mortally wounded, Garp was able to sustain an erection for extended periods. Jenny is
presented to be one of the few stable, morally upright individuals in the book, despite having
committed a horrible crime like rape, because she has been portrayed as asexual and has only
ever had sex with Garp. Representing her as a much-admired feminist figure, the novelist and
critics have attempted to defend her actions. Fields defends rape in her autobiography, A Sexual
Suspect, as, “That the rest of the world finds this an immoral act only shows me that the rest
of the world doesn’t respect the rights of an individual” (Irving, 21). Had the characters’
genders been swapped, the identical scenario would have been very contentious and fiercely
criticised by people, especially feminists. As we read above, many disabled men with
conditions that prevent them from fighting back end up being mistreated and even sexually
assaulted because people think that men, especially those with disabilities, are always ready
for sex and that their consent is irrelevant. These false beliefs and ways of thinking are the
reasons behind all that is wrong with society. Moreover, there are no laws protecting men, and
things are far worse for those men with disabilities. The feminists contend that women are
exclusively vulnerable to abuse, rape, and assault. Most of them find it repulsive that men
would go through all of that, which contributes to the perpetuation of these stereotypes in our
society and creates the conditions for an even more unfair and unequal society.
The temptation to fit into the stereotypically idle male body type and performative role
breeds discrimination and inequality. Despite the fact that every human body is unique and
some are designed to execute specific tasks while others are not, this does not render the latter
group of people less competent or useless. Men also differ from one another in terms of their
bodies. What distinguishes men from one another is the masculine standards that force them to
compare their bodies. Men with disabilities do make comparisons to other men, and others also
give them the impression that because they do not have the stereotypically macho body type,
they are not worthy of the title of man. Additionally, their performativity is compromised,
which results in their subjugation. Many believe that having a disability could make a man’s
sexuality irrelevant, leading others who are close to him to view him as non-sexual or incapable
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of engaging in romantic or sexual relationships. Men with disabilities are viewed as sexually
repulsive by women in particular because their bodies do not conform to the stereotype of idle
men. Though they have been chastised for their decisions, some men and women do fall in love
and form relationships with men who have disabilities. People inquire about them and speculate
that they may be with their partners who have disabilities either out of compassion or for their
advantage. Some people shun sexual relationships with persons who have disabilities out of
concern that they would pass the condition on to their children. While some disorders are
heritable, this is not always the case. Before passing judgement, people ought to learn more
and become less naive. Men with disabilities have historically been perceived as having a
physique devoid of masculinity and serving only as a burden. Men with disabilities suffer when
they have a physical impairment because the body is considered the primary indicator of
manhood. Regardless of one’s multifaceted abilities, a physical condition might alter one’s
status and make one appear burdensome to others. Intimacy comes from emotional bonds, not
from the body. It is blatantly ignorant to assume that a disability equates to vulnerability and,
hence, impotence.
There have been two World Wars and numerous other significant conflicts in the history.
The people who were directly or indirectly involved in the battles lost a great deal in the
process. Men of all ages fought in the wars, and when it was over, the majority of those men
had suffered severe physical and psychological injuries that would follow them for the rest of
their lives. Wars come to an end, but their effects last a lifetime. Due to their physical or mental
injuries sustained on the battlefield, many soldiers who engage in wars struggle to adjust to
society’s perception of them following the conflict. They experience challenges with body
image, low self-esteem, sadness, anxiety, and insecurities, in addition to, disconnection from
society and family. Popular war poets penned multiple poems addressing the dilemma faced by
returning veterans of battle who suffer from disabilities and the challenges they face in
accepting their new identities. “Disabled”, a poem by Wilfred Owen from 1917, explores the
thoughts and feelings of a soldier returning from war with a physical impairment and how that
impacts his self-perception and the way society views him. The poem also illustrates how, after
his return with a disability, people’s attitudes towards him changed. Before becoming disabled
by war, the speaker recalls how wonderful his life was before the war, and how the society did
not view him as suffering from some weird illness. He is also finding it difficult to comprehend
and assimilate how other people view and treat him in the wake of his condition. The speaker
feels that because of his condition, he has lost his sense of manhood and that society is only
empathising with him because he no longer meets their image of a man, which makes him
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discriminated against and abandoned. Men who have disabilities often struggle to accept who
they are because they feel socially unacceptable and experience identity crises. Due to their
perceived inferiority over “normal men”, disabled men are frequently feminised. As they do
not fit the mould of the ideal male, they are, therefore, viewed as individuals undeserving of
respect, affection, or attention. These men with disabilities choose diverse strategies to manage
the demand to demonstrate their worth. Men from patriarchal societies discriminate against
differently abled men because they think there is no purpose to a man’s existence if he cannot
fulfil the role of an alpha male. When a guy has been labelled as dependent, the patriarchy
questions every aspect of his identity. The patriarchal culture holds that a man can only truly
embody manhood if he can dominate others who are considered lesser than him. Men with
disabilities frequently make every effort to assume roles that demonstrate their dominance.
They could attempt to exert control over their partners by making all of the decisions about the
home or even their romantic relationship. In an attempt to conform to the patriarchal system
and gain acceptance in society, men, especially those with disabilities, foolishly persist in
opposing their wishes. Men will constantly be subjected to fears and self-doubt by other males,
even if some of them are attempting to break free from the oppressive culture and pressures
they face. Support from others is necessary for men with disabilities so that their abilities are
not suppressed by the pressure to be idle man. Stereotypes that imply men should be the
primary breadwinners for their families, emotionally aloof, and physically fit are limiting and
sometimes damaging. A person’s perception of what is “normal” prevents them from seeing
past the psychological or physical limitations that differently abled men face.
An individual’s personality and feeling of self-worth are greatly influenced by their
family. The way a family views a member’s impairment is essential since it has a significant
impact on the child’s psychological growth. Sadly, there are not many families that do not view
their disabled children as a burden and instead give them their undivided love and support.
Male disabled people are under constant pressure from their parents to behave appropriately,
particularly in front of family, in order to uphold the family’s reputation. They are made to act
normal to fit in with the sons of friends and family. The expectation from society that the father
and mother will respond to their disabled family member differently presents another problem.
While it is understandable if the child’s father flees the family and abdicates his responsibilities
to his disabled child, the mother is expected to remain since she has the duty of bearing the
child into the world. A father’s emotional burden is worse when his son is born disabled because
he knows his child will never grow up to be the dominant man that all fathers want their son to
be and feels that it is a reflection of his manhood. Terry Trueman’s novel, Stuck in
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Neutral(2000), is about Shawn McDaniel, a 14-year-old boy, suffering from cerebral palsy.
Due to his son’s impairment, Shawn’s father, Mr. Sydney McDaniel, leaves the family, however
he subsequently goes on to receive recognition and prizes for his poetry and interviews
regarding his son’s disabilities. Not only did people feel sorry for Shawn but also for his father,
who, in all honesty, desired to kill his fourteen-year-old son in order to escape his predicament.
Shawn’s father never had the authority to make decisions for his son as he did not participate
in his upbringing and instead left the family when Shawn needed him, however for some
reason, he still views himself as Shawn’s father, the man of the house, and has the authority to
determine the direction and conclusion of his son’s life. He filed for divorce—not only from
his wife but from his entire family—because he was so sad that his son would never be “ideal
and complete” in the eyes of society. After coming to this realisation, Shawn starts to blame his
birth circumstances for the family’s disintegration. Shawn was disturbed by his perception that
his siblings were upset with him for their parents’ split. Regarding their son’s condition, Shawn’s
parents agree, yet only one of them chose to remain while the other left. Neglect in such
circumstances has a significant impact on the child than the family. Even though Shawn was
unable to express it verbally, it was evident that he did not want his life to end. However, it was
his father, who had abandoned the family, who ultimately decided to murder his son out of
compassion and love. The killing of disabled men out of love and sympathy aptly illustrates
the direction in which our society is moving. Due to their inability to meet the expectations of
traditional masculinity, disabled men are murdered. Patriarchal fathers are frequently the ones
who do these horrible acts. Families decide to stop the embarrassment for the sake of honour
and love when their disabled sons are perceived as disgrace to masculinity and the family. It is
a misconception that men with disabilities are worthless liabilities to their families and
communities, which is not what is required of a man. Even more regrettable are those who
support and condone such heinous acts of murder and violence. In such circumstances, rather
than being horrified and outraged at the vicious, inhumane crime, people are more shocked by
the degree of the murderers’ love to have slain their loved ones in order to rescue them from
their awful life.
In addition to being marginalised due to their condition, men with disabilities have also
been excluded from the standards of masculinity. They have to deal with the stigmas,
preconceptions, and biases associated not only with weak masculinity but also with disabilities.
In addition to battling the patriarchy for not living up to its standards of a man, they must deal
with the stigmas associated with being disabled. A significant challenge to many disabled men’s
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feeling of masculinity and rights could come from losing their jobs, their income, or their status.
Maintaining the stereotype that men should be emotionally aloof, physically strong, and the
breadwinners of their families are restricting and may even be damaging. There are no laws
protecting men against abuse, rape, or violence of any type. Disability laws do, however,
contain particular provisions protecting disabled women and children, but not male disabled
persons. Without question, disabled women and children are more likely to experience
violence, however it is also important to recognise that males with disabilities are more likely
to experience violence based on their impairment as well as on their gender. Our perspective
of people and their circumstances should not be shaped by gender standards and stereotypes.
Men with disabilities are deserving of our attention just as much as women and kids with
disabilities.

Methods/Approach
The present article employs the qualitative research approach of textual analysis to
comprehend the issues mentioned. A textual analysis of various texts like The World According
to Garp (1978) by John Irving, Stuck in Neutral (2000) by Terry Trueman, war poems, etc. has
been carried out in context to the representations of men with disabilities. In a society where
the fight for equality for all is an ongoing one, this study has attempted to evaluate the different
issues that men with disabilities confront.

Results/Discussion
After the analysis, it was found that although dominance, strength, and power have been
associated with masculinity since the dawn of time, men with impairments continue to be
viewed as powerless and an embarrassment to the masculine. Men’s superiority over other
inferior genders is justified by the presence of hegemonic masculinity; men who defy gender
conventions are considered subordinate masculine. Men with disabilities are constantly
reminded that they are less of a man and more of a burden. Many believe that they are imperfect
people who ought to be mistreated and punished. Due to social conventions and constrictive
notions of what makes a “real man,” these men face exclusion. Redefining our perspective on
men with disabilities is necessary if we are to build a society that is accessible and inclusive.

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Conclusion
There are countless examples of successful men with disabilities, like Stephen
Hawking, Albert Einstein, Nicholas James Vujicic, Walt Disney, Ludwig Van Beethoven,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and others, who defied expectations and demonstrated their value and
abilities, have shown the world that it is not necessary to fit society’s standard of normalcy in
order to become an ideal man. It is critical that people educate themselves, or at the very least,
provide differently-abled guys a platform to discuss their relationships and sex experiences
freely. It is imperative that we must listen to them and give them self-confidence rather than
ruining their lives with stigmas and gender norms. Additionally, it is critical that men with
disabilities must grow in confidence and self-worth and refrain from pressuring their partners
to validate their bodies and sexual prowess.

Future Scope
Many studies on women and children with disabilities have been conducted, however
the concerns of men with disabilities have not received much attention from researchers in the
fields of disability studies and masculinity studies. Though much research have been done on
women’s subordination, the issues of men with disabilities also has to be looked into. There is
undoubtedly room for more research on the representation of men with disabilities in popular
culture, classical and modern literature, comics, cartoons, anime, and digital platforms, as well
as how crucial it is that these representations be made in order to give men with disabilities a
more equal and inclusive platform in all facets of society.

Works Cited:
Addlakha, Renu. “Disabled Masculinity”. Master’s Programme in Women and Gender Studies,
Course WWG 004, Block 2, Abled Bodies and disability, Unit 3, New Delhi, 2013, pp. 118-
128.
Connell, R.W. Masculinities, Policy Press, 2005.
Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change : Men, Masculinity, and Love. Washington Square Press, New
York, 2004.
“Indian laws pertaining to persons with disabilities”. CJP. 2 September 2022.

Indian laws pertaining to persons with disabilities

Irving, John. The World According to Garp. W & N, 2019.
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Lejzerowicz, Magda. “Identity and its reconstruction and disabled people”. International
Journal on Disability and Human Development, vol. 16, no. 1, 2017, pp. 19-24.
https://doi.org/10.1515/ijdhd-2016-0036
Mambrol,
Nasrullah.
“Disability
Studies”.
Literariness.org,
2019,
https://www.google.com/amp/s/literariness.org/2018/12/15/disability-studies-2/amp/
Owen,Wilfred.
Disabled.
Poetry
Foundation,
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57285/disabled
Prabhu, Mahesh. “Vidura’s Colossal Wisdom”. Vedic Management Center, 12 April 2017,
https://www.vedic-management.com/viduras-colossal-wisdom/
Tiwari, Vidushi. “How are Men victims of Patriarchy”. sheThepeople, 4 July 2021,
https://www.shethepeople.tv/top-stories/opinion/how-are-men-victims-of-patriarchy/
Trueman, Terry. Stuck in Neutral. HarperTeen, 2012.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 15, Issue-III, June 2024 ISSN: 0976-8165
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10448030
George Orwell’s Vision of Life
Dr. Arati Sinha
Professor,
Post Graduate Department of English,
T.M Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur.
Article History: Submitted-16/03/2024, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-25/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
George Orwell was one of those writers whom name and fame eluded in their lifetime. It
is only when the times changed and when the revaluation of existing literature was needed that
Orwell’s worth as a philosophers on life and things could be established. His two eponymous
works ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ were Insufficient to establish him as moralistic
and individualistic thinker who honestly and brutally wrote against the British empire. Several of
his other essays, journalistic writings and letters bring about his frank thoughts about the falsity of
religion, snobbishness of English people and writers, the ills of human suffering and social
injustice. The moralist in him became the novelist for individual freedom and freedom of a nation
as well. The imperial England for him became the symbol of ‘totalitarian state’ which he has
cynically and satirically projected in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ this a version with Fascism and
Nazism took the shape of ‘Animal Farm’. The terms used by him in the works like ‘Big Brother’
is watching you’ has become cult phrases and to be ‘Orwellian’ is simply understood as being
authoritarian and totalitarian. As such the aim of this article is to bring about the vision of life and
matters of George Orwell, one of the world’s most influential writers.
Keywords: Individualism, Socialism, Totalitarianism, Decency and Moralism.
George Orwell’s fame rests mainly on the publication of his two novels ‘Animal Farm’ in
1945 and ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ in 1949. Besides those two memorable works, he has written
seven more novels, a number of essays of literary, political and sociological nature, letters and
volumes of journalistic works of high artistic order. His literary career covers chiefly the period of
1930’s and late 1940’s. Throughout his life he wrote in one form or the other, what he thought
honestly or felt deeply, be it the falsity of religion or the snobbishness of English people and
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writers. Although, very few books of reviews or criticism were published on him in his lifetime,
he gained much acclaim and appreciation posthumously. Through his two eponymous novels and
other literary works Orwell comes before us as a philosopher who reflects on life and things in
which he honesty believes. E.M. Forster has said correctly:

To have a philosophy – even a poetic and emotional philosophy like Hardy’s and Conrad’s
– leads to reflections on life and things. And this is how a common link between the vision of a
novelist and the thinking pattern of the readers is established, But the thinker in Orwell did not run
counter to the moral artist in him. And it was this preference for ‘moral’ concern which limited the
fictional art of Orwell.
At this earliest he discovered dual worlds of human society, the moneyed and the
impoverished. The world of poverty, sickness, fear, guilt and want, which he explored, became the
basic pattern of his life. His sad experience of “crossgate” and his posting in Burma strongly
influenced the growth of a social conscience in him. His love for the pre-war England, the intensive
industrialization and urbanization of the English Countryside filled in him a feeling of ‘paradise
lost’. Consequently, a deep sense of gloom and dismay became the dominant strain in his life and
works.

The moral vision of Orwell, the novelist is truly shaped against the background of Orwell,
the man. And he was obviously, a man of ambivalent nature. He hated the experiences of his
childhood but loved the time for its colorfulness and generosity .What repulsed his good sense was
sure to be opposed by him. If he attacked the Left wing politicians vehemently he did not spare
the Right for their wrongs. He was chivalric is spirit like Quixote. He searched after the ‘truth’
very diligently without caring for the offense it might bring to others. To Quote George Woodcock
:

What made him exceptional – and more than a little eccentric in the eyes of
his contemporaries – was the fact that he also tried to work out his theories
in action and then to give his actions shape in literature.

(P.13)
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He valued the freedom of a nation as much as he loved the freedom of an individual. When
he was working in B.B.C and as an editor in ‘Tribune’, he forcefully advocated his liberal views
in favour of the Indian people In ‘As I please’ column of the ‘Tribune’, Jan 28, 1944 he protested
against the arrest of Mr. Suresh Vaidya, an Indian journalist living in England who had refused
military service in his essay ‘Reflections on Gandhi’, Orwell promised the nationalistic feelings of
Gandhi, who, he said, was capable of shaking the ‘Empire’ by his spiritual power. He was highly
impressed by the ‘Mahatma’s courage, ethics and honesty.

Orwell’s Burmese experiences might have unleashed his bitterness against the English
society and its ambivalent values but his patriotism for the British soil and culture was unflinching.
In his famous essay ‘England your England’ written during the war he asserts that it is your
civilization, it is you. However much you hate it or laugh at it, you will never be happy away from
it. He was against the insensitive following of ‘Stalinism’ by the intellectuals of his age. He raised
his voice against the social and moral implications of his belief. According to him the English
people’ had the characteristic inability to think ‘Logically’. In spite of being a bitter critic of the
English society, he loved the English landscape, Scenery, and literature very passionately.

On closure perusal of Orwell’s life and writing, four distinct phases of growth and shaping
of his vision of life comes on the surface. First and foremost characteristic is his rebellions nature.
Like Prometheus he seems to be defying and challenging the existing ways of the universe where
the innocent has to suffer and the righteous suppressed. He sets out with a definite intention to
raise his voice against the ills of human suffering and injustice. Secondly, his thought pattern was
such that he never allowed his personal opinions to cloud his respect for the men at responsible
places. If he criticized Kipling on matters of colonial imperialism, he also appreciated him for his
discipline, order and patriotism. Thirdly, he was basically like an 18th century English ‘Moralist’
who laid much emphasis on the ‘enlightened rationality’ of a writer. Fourthly, his romantic spirit
could not be missed out in his works which always takes him back to the fishing springs and the
whirling pools of his childhood days.
Rachael Reese has rightly observed;
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These four strains were combined in him to form a well-balanced and
harmonious character, which might have been happy one in spite of his
philosophical pessimism, if the times… had been less unpropitious. (P.11)

Like D. H. Lawrence, Orwell showed a great respect and love for family life. For him
‘family’ is an integrating force in the life of a man. It is vital for the right growth of an individual
and a cordial society. However, boring and painful a family may be, it feels pleasing and satisfying
to come back to its folds after much wondering. Although he disliked his childhood family days,
in his essays ‘The Road to Wigen Pier’ and ‘Coming up for Air’ he has idealised his parental life.
In his most melancholic essay ‘Such, such were the Joys’ he has described his home as “a place
ruled by love rather than fear”. This feeling of family love became the basic of his socialistic
philosophy and the want of which in the modern political administration created in his mind the
image of the totalitarian society in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’. In this novel Orwell has described most
horribly, a world, where the very essence of domestic spirit is lacking within a family and where
children work as spies for the state against their parents.
Orwell regarded sexual appeal as a natural source of human pleasure and a necessary part
of creativity. In the society of “Nineteen Eighty Four” the profs lead a free sexual life as against
the ruling class. In the opinion of the novelist, this is the real pleasure of life. In the essay ‘The Art
of Donald McGill’, Orwell has appreciated the sexually suggestive pictures of the artist as highly
creative. Actually the writer interconnects marriage and domestic love with the love of the society
and the state. This chain of life represents harmonious indestructible force of human civilisation
running down from the past to the future.In ‘Nineteen Eighty Four,’ Winston, just before his arrest
views a sight which reaffirms his belief in continual force of life :

The woman down there had no mind, she had only strong drive, a
warm heart, and a fertile belly. He wondered how many children she had given
birth to over thirty unbroken years. At the end of it she was still singing. (P.124)
The prole woman stood as a symbol of family in the social terms, the unit of reproduction
and growth. The family life is symbolic of vitality set against the deathly features of state life in
Oceanic. His deep affinity with primitive design of life shows a close affinity with D. H. Lawrence.
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Such a man who genuinely believed in the natural charms of life and essential dignity of man can
never be a pessimist, although labelled as such by critics.

Orwell as a writer was essentially devoted to a struggle against imperialism, inequality and
fascism. His political insights forever demanded a worker’s government which he aimed at
achieving through ‘democratic socialism’ As against the Marxist socialism, it aimed for a Russian
pattern of socialist government. It was supposed to curb massive employment and ‘growing
menace’ of Hitler. Orwell’s experiences of the Spanish civil war had taught him that communist
society had failed to emancipate man from the real evils and that real socialism was still far off.
He believed that in such a state of crisis there is no importance of individual loyalty. It must owe
to the state only which disallows roughly all human passions and emotions. This was a complex
philosophy and as such practically not viable. Still in keeping with this belief animals in ‘Animal
Farm’ follow this principle in letter, but in the long run it turns out to be a failure in the absence
of a moral base. It points towards the fact that Orwell wanted this change not by destroying the
established fabric of the society but by introducing moral methods. John Atkins has rightly
observed:

Orwell stuck to the simple and positive conception of socialism based on
general ideas of brotherhood, fair play and honest dealing and he distrusts the
involved metaphysics of Marxist thought… He did not believe in deliberately
destroying a relatively happy society simply because it was not organised in a
particular way. (P.13)
In other words, Orwell advocated for a world where there will be restriction on the
accumulation of power and property in the hands of individual and will be governed in a
democratic way by selected members of the people.

Orwell believed that class-distinction in England was the greatest enemy in the way of
socialism. To break this system people have to change their habits, tastes and prejudices first. The
‘book trained socialists’ of England, the so called ‘Bourgeois’ were inwardly clung to their class
character. In spite of raising their voice against it from a pulpit they felt disgusted to come close
to the workers/laborers. They helped indirectly in suppressing the worker’s revolution. In ‘The
Road To Wigen Pier’ he has described ‘mechanical growth’ also as an inimical force to socialism.
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Machines cause the growth of unemployment among workers and thus give more teeth to the
capitalists to exploit them. He has called this machine worship as ‘the stupid cult’. Actually
Orwell’s philosophy of socialism is merely limited to economic justice but extendsup to cultural
and moral change in general outlook of man.

Orwell’s views on the socialistic revolution in England were really those of a moralist, of
a social saint who pleaded for a change in the existing pattern of society not through a revolutionary
seizure of power, but only through the spiritual operation of reason in man. No revolution can
succeed without a change in human heart. The animal rebellion in ‘Animal Farm’ remained a
failure as the rulers were devoid of moral sense. Throughout his works, he proposed the belief that
the modern politics has lost its contact with religion, literature and morals. The world of Oceania
in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ is devoid of emotional sense and has least careers with morals and
principles. Hence, he was always nostalgic about the past society for it’s culture, religion and
decency Orwell’s fear of a totalitarian government is based the point that politicians keep their
people in the dark and suppress liberal thinking. It helps in bringing about a political chaos in the
state with a deliberate extermination of language and literature. The totalitarian state of Oceania
in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ has introduced ‘New Speak’, a language devised to meet ‘Ingsoe’. It is
basically meant not to extend the range of thought but to control it. In this world, words such as
‘honour’ ‘justice’, ‘morality’, ‘Internationalism’, ‘democracy’, ‘science’ and ‘religion’ have
completely vanished. Huxley also portrayed a world like this in the novel ‘Brave New World’. The
dystopian world of ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ was actually a satiric depiction of the intellectual and
political crises of his time which had angered Orwell. Through out his writing career he dedicated
his life to the defense of individual liberty and freedom of Speech.

‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ as such can be also regarded as the document of Orwell’s growing
bitterness and feeling of frustration against the loss of political liberalism and cultural decency. In
this regard Alan Sandison has observed;
In Orwell it is unquestionable the negative conscience which predominates
the obverse of his fierce individualism being an almost obsessive in
preoccupation with guilt and sin. (P.55)
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But on deeper analysis of his life, his mission and his literary works suggest that he was
neither a defeatist nor a pessimist. In fact he loved humanity and had a passionate desire to live in
a state of full freedom. His pessimism was only a means of giving warning against the prevailing
evil situation, a natural on to come of totalitarian dominance. He was afraid that there was a lack
of human feeling in the writing produced after the first world war. He disliked Rudyard Kipling
for his imperialistic attitude but he certainly appreciated his humanitarian instinct. His love for
feelings of the common man made him prefer Charles Dickens. Orwell protested against the
dominance of reason in the life of man. He believed, like Lawrence, that “My blood is always
wiser than the intellect”. The contemporary modern world of ‘big brother’ and ‘black moustache’
had disillusioned him and in his concern for humanity and decency he might appear cynical to
critics. But as Bertrand Russell suggests, this feeling for common man has prevented Orwell from
becoming a prophet of his age.
Works Cited:
Forster, E.M. : ‘Aspects of the Novel’, Penguin Books, London, 1962.
Orwell, George
: ‘Animal Farm’, Penguin Books, London, 1984.
: ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, Penguin Books, London
Atkins, John : ‘George Orwell : A Literary Study’, London 1954.
Reese, Richard
: ‘George Orwell : Fugitive From the Camp of Victory” London, 1961.
Sandison, Alan
: ‘The Last Man in Europe’, OUP, London
Woodcock, George : ‘The Critical Spirit : A Study of George Orwell’, Boston, 1966 and London,
1967.
Orwell Sonia / Ian Angus : ‘The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell’, Vol.
IV, London 1968.
Trilling, Lionel : “George Orwell and The Politics of Truth” Quoted in ‘The opposing self’,
London, 1955.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 15, Issue-III, June 2024 ISSN: 0976-8165
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Wittgenstein’s Seeing-as Approach to Literary Propositions The novel
Sisters by Daisy Johnson as a Case Study
Ali Oublal
Faculty of Letters and Humanities,
Ibn Zohr University, Agadir,
Morocco.
Article History: Submitted-09/06/2023, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-27/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
Wittgenstein’s aspect appertains to human experience; it fundamentally reveals a lot
about human perception, and language-employment. On this basis we explore seeing -as in
literature notably the novel Sisters. Clearly this proposition has connections with the fact that
if literary works are read from logico-philosophicus theories, they are thus deprived of its
value(s).For Wolfgang, Russell deprives literature of its aesthetic-cognitive value while
considering propositions in Hamlet untrue as there is no referent of Hamlet in the world.
However, Wittgenstein’s aspect allows refuting such a judgment; instead literature can be
read using these theories without dooming it to inferiority or meaninglessness.
Keywords: seeing -as- perception, literary propositions.
Introduction
Perhaps ‘’ deaths in Venice: The Cases of Gustav von Aschenbach ‘’ by Philip
Kitcher can be taken as the suitable starting point that questions our scientific curiosity to
bring this article to the fore. If it- I mean our choice – has to be argued, it is within the scope
of the philosophical reading the author provided to Thomas Mann’s novel. True, his profound
analysis is unquestionably auspicious, however what the analysis underlines in depth, which
is our concern, is the interact bonds between literature and philosophy. On such basis I hence
suggest one of the key founders of analytic philosophy Ludwig Wittgenstein‘s theory of
language to the core of this article. An array of aims can come out of this proposition, the
most above all is to unearth the literary dimension of Wittgenstein on the one hand , on the
other to skip over and take a step further claiming that arts by and large can be read from even
the philosophical perspectives which are deeply influenced by logic. Wittgenstein remains
very much influential in this regard. I consequently intend to establish debate anew over
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literature- the novel of daisy Johnson ‘sisters’ – and philosophy by virtue of aspect perception
of Wittgenstein. Part of what follows is thus a brief overview about aspect perception.

The so-called ‘’ aspects’’ has preoccupied Wittgenstein since the last two decades.
Literarily localising it, typescripts and his later manuscripts are devoted to this area as a field
of investigation. .The following ideas with which we intend to develop this introduction are
scattered throughout the above mentioned references. In his later philosophy .section xi of
part II of the Investigations Wittgenstein addresses rather orients initially his readers towards
that aspect perception. Four major points if not cues are to be considered based of course upon
the remarks included in Philosophical investigations. The first and foremost is that
Wittgenstein contrasts aspect with the firstly ‘’ object of sight ‘’ of dissimilar category (PI
§195a, §195b, §206b). He additionally brings that contrast with the property of object
(§212a). If somebody sees something based on certain conditions under which that sight
occurs, this does not necessarily mean that another would see it without of course
undermining the competence of the former. With these two aspects of contrast, we can
understand that Wittgenstein aims to merely say that seeing-as fails to teach us anything about
the external world (RPP I 899).
The second idea is the necessity of description or otherwise representation of the
objects of sight one fails to see. I hope not to be read against the grain; Wittgenstein simply
means that the person is required to make accurate representation of the object since while
failing to see the aspect. Another feature with which Wittgenstein ascribes and subjects his
aspect is the will (RPP I 899, 976; RPP II 545).because it makes sense to call upon the other
to see those objects, and additionally see such a particular aspect (see PI §213e).
The third idea is closely undetected from the former as , along with insisting on the
none-detachability between aspect and the object , it also provide some illumination about the
two key words ‘ description ‘ and ‘ representation’. In this sense, Wittgenstein considers the
concept of representation ‘elastic, and so together with it is the concept of what is seen”
(§198c). . To the end of clarity of it, he suggests taking into account “the occasion and
purpose” of different forms of “description” (§221e).and he adds “It is necessary to get down
to the application” (§201a). The last but not the least feature Wittgenstein attributes to his
seeing-as is the experience of noticing. To wordily state it, “Everything has changed, and yet
nothing has changed”. With the same regard, he suggests for the aspect to be aspect it has to
strike us otherwise “only dawns” and “does not remain” (RPP I 1021); “[it] lasts only as long
as I am occupied with the object in a particular way” (PI §210c).

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Part of what I hope to show in the reminder of this introduction, after having briefly
characterized Wittgenstein’s seeing –as, is why we intend to apply such a conception on
literary proposition; as already claimed , a reader of Wittgenstein cannot pass over in silence
the logical roots of his entire philosophy , yet omnipresent in Tractatus As being logically
rooted, his philosophy of language , as might some think , can derive literature from its
cognitive and aesthetic value, and thus Wittgenstein ‘s philosophy will be distanced from arts
by and large. The otherwise view we hold is that Wittgenstein cannot be confined to
philosophy; his propositions- though they are addressed to how philosophers fails to
understand the logic and significance of language – which consist the body of his conception
of language are as well useful to read any piece of literature without degrading neither
philosophy nor literature. To this end we propose to analytically read one of the statements
extracted from the novel of Daisy Johnson Sisters.

The Analysis
1-Aspect perception: Seeing –as.
“I look like Mum. Or like her mum she says, our grandmother, in India, where we have never
been. September does not look like us.’’ ( Daisy Johnson ,2021)
For the present discussion, the most important word that we perhaps see as the
paradigm which microscopically can narrow our scope to one very prominent corner in
Wittgenstein‘s philosophy is the verb ‘’ look ‘’. The latter captivates our attention, as it might
do so for everyone who reads Wittgenstein’s propositions notably his philosophical
investigations. On such a basis- the use of the verb ‘ look ‘ thus , we come up with some
points of convergence between the novelist ‘s words and Wittgenstein’s propositions , yet not
decided it if those meeting points are conceptual or else. The verb ‘’ look ‘’ involves us into
Wittgenstein’s behavioural criteria of mental phenomena along with the aspects of perception.
According to Wittgenstein, there must not be any presupposition that mental concepts are
restricted but only ‘’look’’ and ‘’see ‘’ (PI 66). The two verbs are sometimes used
synonymously and interchangeably, while in certain contexts they are differently in use. Our
analysis is set upon the former stance.

With first glimpse at the literary proposition, the novelist attributes his words to a little
girl July aiming to unearth the doubt July lives, and the ordeal she suffers in her biological
identity. Having so is expressed by the use of ‘’ look like ’’that is an equivalent to ‘’seeing
as’’. On such a basis then we are positioned to analyse the above literary proposition. An
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enthralling ordeal, a persistently ghoulish account of grief and guilt, identity and co-
dependency the novelist brings to the readers in her narratives keeps circling back to the past
in Wittgenstein ‘s philosophy , notably between 1946 and 1949. During that time Wittgenstein
was concerned with aspect perception or seeing-as.( typescripts, Remarks on the Philosophy
of Psychology, ) also in his remarks about the Philosophy of Psychology Wittgenstein
contributes to such a debate. His extensions on the topic are included in remarks provided in
(MS 144; TS 234) which are later published as ‘Part II’ of Philosophical Investigations.¹ So to
analyse our proposition based on aspect perception we are required to first of all understand
what is meant by aspect of perception. In his 1949 selection Wittgenstein states:
“Two uses of the word ‘see’. The one: ‘What do you see there?’—‘I see this’ (and then
a description, a drawing, a copy). The other: ‘I see a likeness in these two faces’—let the man
to whom I tell this be seeing the faces as clearly as I do myself. What is important is the
categorial difference between the two ‘objects’ of sight’’. I observe a face, and then suddenly
notice its likeness to another. I see that it has not changed; and yet I see it differently. I call
this experience ‘noticing an aspect’. (PPF §§111, 113; p. 193).
Not only so, Wittgenstein adds other examples to clearly make his aspect plain. For example,
B)-Seeing a geometrical drawing as a glass cube or as an inverted open box, or as three
boards forming a solid angle (PPF §116; p. 193); or again, seeing a triangle as a triangular
hole, as a solid, as a geometrical drawing; as standing on its base, as hanging from its apex; as
a mountain, as a wedge, as an arrow or pointer, as an overturned object which is meant, for
example, to stand on the shorter sight of the right angle, as a half parallelogram, etc. (PPF
§162; p.200).
(C) Seeing an ambiguous puzzle picture in one way, e.g. seeing a rabbit’s head in what at
first glance looks just like the drawing of a duck’s head (PPF §118; p. 194); or a human figure
where there were previously branches (PPF §131; p. 196).
(D) Suddenly recognizing a familiar object in an unusual position or lighting (PPF §141; p.
197); or recognizing an old acquaintance (PPF §§143–4; p. 197).
(E) Seeing three-dimensionally (PPF §148; p. 198).
(F) Seeing a sphere in a picture as floating in the air (PPF §169; p. 201); or seeing a horse in
a picture as galloping (PPF §175; p. 202).
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(G) Aspects of organization: seeing a row of four equidistant dots either as two groups of two
dots or as two dots in the middle bracketed by a dot on each side (cf. PPF §§220–1; p. 208)
If necessarily we are required to nest all those propositions into one brief idea, we are
hence unable escape Stephen Munhall’s own interpretation. They are constituents of the idea
that aspect perception is a ubiquitous phenomenon: ‘’everything we perceive, we perceive in
its relevant aspects: in a picture we immediately see what it represents and respond to it
accordingly just as we always see artefacts as what they are for us, what roles they play in our
lives, or again, we generally experience words as having a certain meaning’’; people always
take up the attitude towards objects that Heidegger calls readiness-to-hand.
In regard to the aspect of perception from Wittgenstein’s view, we can simply say that
the state of looking like a mother is what does the picture represent for July but we can say it
is not necessarily true. Back to the novel, the centrality of it lies in the elusiveness individuals
live in their identity, sisters included; this actually is seen through the fluidity of identity of all
characters in the novel. Here the distinction can be made between knowing and seeing. To
understand so, we consider the difference Wittgenstein makes between knowledge of an
aspect—say, what a picture represents—and actually seeing it as the following argues:
‘’When should I call it just knowing, not seeing?—Perhaps when someone treats the picture
as a working drawing, reads it like a blueprint’’. (PPF §192; p. 204)
What is thus known and seen in the literary proposition? If knowing necessitates a
picture, and in our case mother‘s look ‘’ is a picture, the thought of July is thus knowing not
seeing because what she conceives is given, rather represented by the object ‘’ mother’s
look’’. This is no hence her attitude towards her mother, or else amongst her family members
or even an outsider .The reason is that July does not just read off some charterstics about the
visual appearance of her mother, rather she sees her in the picture, Wittgenstein argues:
‘’we view the photograph, the picture on our wall, as the very object (the man, landscape and
so on) represented in it. (PPF §197; p. 205).
It is accordingly plain, not any picture is accurate nor what does represent is true,
some doubt can be there, and this is Wittgenstein’s point. J. Hyman (1992) claims in that
regard ‘’ looking at that portrait we see a man with a moustache (the picture’s ‘internal
subject’), and don’t just apprehend pieces of information about the appearance of a man, e.g.
that he has a moustache’’. If applied on the literary proposition, mother’s look is doubtful as
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well. Not sure whether it is a resemblance to July or not . July only sees in the portrait of her
mother, the doubt continued and supported as well by novelist‘ s words implementing ‘’ or ‘’
as if July looks like her mum of her grandmother . In both cases , the identity mainly
biological is perturbing , sisters live a state of instability in that sense ; this is a form of
illustration of the fact that the novelist succeeds in treating the issue of identity for it is well-
stylistically –linguistically – formed according to Wittgenstein’s theory of perception. We
state so as Wittgenstein himself applies the ‘seeing-as’ – look like – locution to ordinary and
‘’unambiguous pictures, and not only to puzzle pictures that can be seen first as one thing and
then as another’’ the case of literary proposition is considered in the light of the latter –
puzzling pictures- as the former is regarded as the ‘continuous seeing’ of an aspect (PPF
§118; p. 194).Both Mulhall consider continuous seeing as the main concern of Wittgenstein
as P. F. Strawson himself holds :
‘’the striking case of the change of aspects merely dramatizes for us a feature (namely seeing
as) which is present in perception in general.’’
This indeed true and corresponds to the Wittgenstein’s discussion on aspect perception
in his 1949 selection of remarks (PPF) with the case of seeing a likeness, for all the examples
given can be regarded as variations of this theme. That aspect perception entails observing
similarity as wordily comes through Wittgenstein’s proposition ‘In all those cases one can
say that one experiences a comparison’ (RPP I §317). Based upon the following proposition
RPP I §508, ‘’an object is seen as a variation, or derivation, or copy, of another one . When I
see something as X I am aware of a similarity between it and X, be it a glass cube, the head of
a rabbit, or a galloping horse.⁷ But then, it can be argued that virtually all seeing is or involves
seeing resemblances. When I see a tree, for example, and realize that it is a tree, I see its
resemblance with other trees. In general, seeing that something is of a certain kind involves
seeing its likeness, in relevant respects, with other, familiar, objects of that kind. And even
when looking at an arrangement of shapes and colours I cannot make out what it is or
represents, I will at least be able to identify certain shapes and colours, which again means:
seeing in what way they are like other shapes and colours I’ve seen before. To the extent to
which ‘to see’ is a verb of epistemic success, every seeing involves identification of kinds of
objects or appearances, which means seeing them as similar to others of that kind’’
The view that ‘’ now I see it as …’’ is clearly stated by Wittgenstein as being
inappropriate in cases of ordinary perception. Let’s consider the example given by him , once
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one fails to realize the ambiguity of the duck-rabbit drawing , one sees it as the drawing of a
duck’s head..’’ seeing as ‘’ then makes some sense as to say at the sight of knife and fork ‘’
now o see this as a knife and fork ‘’ . The same is valid for July who is in that insatiable state
in terms of her identity, biologically speaking. However there might any point of resemblance
between her and mum. The novelist intends thus to tell that her characters are in the state of
seeking their identity, as long as they fail to realize their identity they can thus see others as
their resemblance. If we consider the proposition of Wittgenstein He sees the picture as a
duck’ (PPF §§120–2; pp. 194 f), we can legitimately state that July see her mother as her
resemblance . In that vein, it is possible to ask when exactly, contrastively, one can consider
anomalous attitudes towards a picture as long as there is question of seeing something as
something else – seeing mother as her in our case, and consequently the proposition is out of
place. Wittgenstein answers lies in his imagining people who can be resisted by small black
and white photographs, and can perhaps be unable to see human faces in them (PPF §198; p.
205). Conversely by virtue of these people saying that we ‘’view a portrait as a human being’
(PPF §199; p. 205) in a meaningful way. With this conception, we can simply state that the
novelist utterances, rather words attributed to July cannot be meaningful if they are not read
within the context of the work, with its characters, settings and the so; that is , one has to
imagine himself as being a character in that story , as the novelist himself imagines his
readers as being part of the story . Beyond such, none, not only the July’ propositions, can
have meaning.
The question which arises here is that ‘’ are the two types of ‘’ seeing as ‘’ , one
dispositional, one episodic different? As stated in the following proposition:
“I say: ‘We view a portrait as a human being’—when do we do so, and for how long?
Always, if we see it at all (and don’t, say, see it as something else)? I might go along with
this, and thereby determine the concept of viewing a picture.—The question is whether yet
another concept, related to this one, also becomes important to us: that, namely, of a seeing-as
which occurs only while I am actually concerning myself with the picture as the object
represented. (PPF §199; p. 205)
We might find sufficient answer in such a proposition:’’ The phenomenon we are
talking about is the lighting up of an aspect. (LW I §429). It is very plain that the concept of
short-lived experience is unlike general attitude, and the former that is of a prominence in
Wittgenstein’s thought. The episodic sense of aspect perception is unstable state (RPP II
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§540). Only in the alteration of aspect does one become conscious of an aspect (LW I §169).
But the question here is that can we say that the state of July is unstable, which can be
changed over time? If we read it from the stance of biological identity, we can say July
perhaps does not resemble her mother in her teen years, as may be her mother herself looked
like July while she was in her age . For biological features of beings change over time, there is
a possibility to look the same in certain age , and that is lived in our everyday life; this simply
argues for instable state human beings live in their biological identity . On the other hand ,
we can interpret the literary proposition in the light of the aspect perception ‘ seeing as ‘ –
look like – in our context . With this view, we can say that July is in an age is not enough
for July to realize if she looks like her mother or not, it only seems to her that she resembles
her mother or maybe not , by the time – when changes occur – she can later become conscious
of that aspect ; in such a case , the state is as well instable . The two readings meet in the fact
that sudden experience of change that make the aspect perception , and this is the core of
Wittgenstein philosophy in aspect perception (LW I §173). Wittgenstein takes The
experience of aspect perception as experience of recognition, which also does not last all the
time as states in his lectures:
“Do I always see a thing as something, although only puzzle-pictures bring this out?…
Suppose I show it to a child. The child says, ‘It’s a duck’ and then suddenly, ‘Oh it’s a rabbit.’
So he recognizes it as a rabbit. This is an experience of recognition. So if you see me in the
street and say, ‘Ah, Wittgenstein.’ But you haven’t an experience of recognition all the time.
The experience only comes at the moment of change from duck to rabbit and back. In
between, the aspect is as it were dispositional. … Geach: Couldn’t I say at any time how I see
it—not just when it changes? Wittgenstein: Only if you are concentrating on it … (LPP 103–
4).
Before coming to the psychological dimension in our analysis – of course based on
Wittgenstein- let’s briefly put Wittgenstein‘s account over that aspect perception. We humbly
claim that such an account significance lies in how it shifts our heed towards psychoanalysis
to the literary proposition. Very clearly noted, Wittgenstein‘s aspect perception is two-fold ;
dispositional and episodic ( appertaining to a particular experience ); he later denies the
ubiquity of aspect perception (RPP I §§24, 860; LW I §§170, 454). This on the one hand , on
the other hand , Wittgenstein insists on mastering the psychological dimension of the
concept – relating it with the groups with which is put – so that seeing something as
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something can happen. Accordingly a logical condition of one’s having an experience of
aspect perception is that one has mastered a certain technique (PPF §§222–4; pp. 208–9):
‘’ But how odd for this to be the logical condition of someone’s having such-and-such an
experience! After all, you don’t say that one only ‘has toothache’ if one is capable of doing
such-and-such. (PPF §223; p. 208)
The concern of Wittgenstein is thus the concept of a momentary experience of seeing-
as; because the mastery of a technique should manifest itself, dispositionally, in—and be
presumed by—a certain attitude towards a picture is not in the same way puzzling . This
account suggests the shift of Wittgenstein makes between two different types of aspect
perception. Wittgenstein occupation with two connected accounts does not separate them
however they are distinct. For him the two problems are :
(1) Are visual aspects (resemblances) actually seen or are they only thought of in an
interpretation? (2) How (or in what sense) is it possible to experience an aspect (a thought, the
meaning of a picture) in an instant?
Understanding those two problems requires having typescript as reference upon which
Wittgenstein develops his philosophy of psychology.
2-Aspect of perception: is it seeing or interpreting?
In the light of seeing and interpreting , we consider the second part of a proposition
that goes : ‘’We do not remember our father but she must look like him, smooth-haired,
cheeks soft with blonde fuzz, pale-eyed like a snow animal.’’
July sometimes talks of her state – biological identity – while in others she shifts our
attention to that state of her sister September. The latter ‘ identity that counts for the novelist
herself, For the novelist aims to clearly picture the state of July after the death of September ,
by only this way , Daisy Johnson shows the degree of attachment July feels towards
September . That is why July starts with the pronoun ‘’ we ‘’ including herself and then shifts
to the pronoun ‘’ she ‘’ (September) This is in brief the context of the second part of our
extracted literary proposition. However, our concern here is ‘’ look like him, smooth-haired,
cheeks soft with blonde fuzz, pale-eyed like a snow animal.’’ July has still some doubt
whether they – sisters – resemble their father or not? That once again support the idea of
seeing-as , which we concluded that it is their state of instability – short-lived seeing as . What
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interests us here is how the novelist attributes some features of animal to their father or even
the revere. And here we can ask if beings can have those features of animals as the case of
their father who is literary represented as a snow animal? To answer this question, we
propose to be back the two problems mentioned above. Let’s start then by “(1) Are visual
aspects actually seen or are they only thought of in an interpretation? (PPF §§140, 144, 148,
149, 169, 175, 181 f., 187, 190, 248.). If we go back to the opening remark in ( PPF §111) we
can say that people by and large say they see aspects , but could not be only a conventional
figure of speech , a derivative (metonymical) use of the word ‘see’ (PPF §169; p. 201; cf.
§190; p. 204)? Let’s argue with (LW I §765) by emphasising sometimes we use combine
some words that cannot be literarily joined, marry money that simply means marrying a rich
person. We are thus unable to skip the , Wittgenstein’s analogy with the phenomenon of
‘secondary meaning’: ‘’Under certain circumstances we are prepared to apply colour words to
vowels (PPF §177; p. 202); or the words ‘fat’ and ‘meagre’ to days of the week (PPF §§274–
8; p. 216). But we are always prepared to add that this is just a quirk of language: of course
the letter ‘e’ is not really yellow; and Wednesday is not really fat. Similarly, it might be held
that an aspect is not really seen, but only thought of or associated with one’s vision’’
Berkeley ‘s contribution in this regard is prominent ; he contends ‘’that the ideas of
space, outness, and things placed at a distance, are not, strictly speaking, the object of
sight’.’‘’All we actually see are configurations of colour; anything else can only be ‘suggested
to the mind by the mediation of some other idea which is itself perceived in the act of seeing’’
May be Wittgenstein has an odd argument against Berkeley who considers aspects as
only interpretations; he puts then :
(i)
‘To interpret is to think, to do something; seeing is a state’ (PPF §248; p. 212).
That is, seeing has genuine duration: one can ask for how long one saw the
drawing as a duck before it changed to a rabbit, whereas it sounds incongruous to
ask for the duration of an interpretation (LPP 330).¹⁴
To analytically prove that difference between seeing and interpreting, we rather intend
to read the literary proposition in the light of the first point. If we consider what July says
about her father as her thought -only thinks ; that is interprets , we cannot be right by
whatsoever means because the biological features cannot bear any further interpretations or
readings. So July does not think – interpret –according to Wittgenstein- because she does not
take a step further to do something, she only sees her father as a snow animal; it is only an
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intervallic picture according to her age, may be it might be changed later on; and here we
come back to the fact that only change that makes consciousness of the person about aspects.
Even if the changes occur in her father features, she would not think of the else, rather she
would see him in another picture.
The second point for which Wittgenstein argues comes as follows:
(ii)
‘When we interpret we form hypotheses, which may prove false’, whereas ‘‘‘I see
this figure as a…’’ can be verified as little as (or only in the same sense as) ‘‘I see a
bright red’’ ’ (PPF §249; p. 212).—This, however, is problematic. For one thing,
seeing too tends to involve taking something to be true, which may conceivably
turn out to be false (e.g. if it is an illusion or hallucination). And my seeing-as can
also turn out to be true or false: for instance, when in the dark I see as a suspicious
human figure what in truth is only a bush. Or, to take one of Wittgenstein’s
examples, I suddenly seem to recognize an old friend, seeing his former face in an
older one (PPF §143; p. 197)—but then it turns out that it wasn’t him after all. Of
course, seeing something as X need not involve any belief that it actually is X, but
then, similarly, one can retreat from hypothesizing to mere imagining. That is,
both on the side of vision and on the side of thinking one can distinguish between
taking something to be true and merely toying with an idea. Thus, the fact that
many cases of seeing-as belong to the latter category may show that they cannot be
construed as interpreting, yet, more importantly; it is not enough to set them apart
from thinking and vindicate them as proper seeing.
In the light of such a point, we can say that July does not interpret her father’s facials,
she does not think of him as a snow animal, she sees him as a snow animal; that true
proposition if it has to be verified, requires its picture in the world which actually exists .On
the other hand, her seeing –as does not require any belief that her father looks like a snow
animal, but here the little girl is involved in the state of imagining. She only imagines her
father as a snow animal, and that is the case , because as sisters they have never seen him.
What if we consider the literary proposition according to the point below:
(iii)
If seeing something as X were only an interpretation (assertorical or fictional),
superimposed on what is actually seen, it should be possible to describe what is
actually seen, the none-interpreted data; but typically we cannot. Saying ‘I see it as
…’ is not just an indirect description of the visual experience that could be replaced
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by a more direct one. It is the most appropriate report of what I see (PPF §117; pp.
193f.; RPP I §318). Or, in some cases, it would perhaps be possible to replace the
expression of an aspect perception (e.g. the three-dimensional impression of a
landscape, or a facial expression) by a Berkeleian description in terms of mere
colours and shapes, but only after special instruction and practice (PPF §148; p.
198; LPP 110).
Another sound justification that clearly enlightens our understanding is what July sees
as cannot be described but rather not replaced by what is actually seen. July thus does not
interpret because if she interprets, some descriptions should be provided but she lives that
experience, which illustrates that the act of interpreting is out of our context. What is seen is a
true experience in a nutshell. And that true proposition is a picture, and thus a proposition is a
picture of reality. And that is the reality July lives. This is what is illuminated in the
following point:
(iv)
(iv) As already explained above: when we see a picture as representing
something, we do not read it like a blueprint, but respond to it as to the object
represented (PPF §§192–9; pp. 204 f.). The aspect is directly perceived and not
only thought or known to be there as the result of an interpretation. This
experience of actual perception is also manifest in certain emphatic expressions,
such as: ‘The sphere [in the picture] seems to float’, ‘One sees it floating’, ‘It
floats!’ (PPF §169; p. 201), or, of an eye represented by a dot: ‘See how it’s
looking!’ (PPF §201; p. 205).
Following our analysis and argumentation meantime, July doubts if September
resembles her father and thus if her father looks like a snow animal. For though she sees
her father as a snow animal , she is unsure that September looks like her father and thus
the latter resemblance is doubtful as well . And that is the case for teenagers; their state of
instability proves so. Furthermore, the instability of identity July lives mainly after her
sister’s death is another proof. They might see something as something , as they might
think of something as being something but it is not true ; however July sees a resemblance
between her father and snow animal , there is a possibility to not exist , and this is proven
by the following point :
(v) Finally, as already noted, seeing-as is essentially noticing a resemblance, an internal
relation between an object and other objects, real or imagined (PPF §247; p. 212). But the
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act of noticing a visual resemblance cannot be construed as distinct from that of seeing
(the resemblance). Of course you can see the same object without noticing the
resemblance, but the noticing (when it occurs while looking) is not a mental operation
distinct from seeing. Rather, it is seeing (LW I §511).
The four above mentioned remarks are the conceptual justifications that leads
Wittgenstein calls visual perception ‘ seeing’ . However the last point – (v)—namely that in
aspect perception one experiences a comparison (RPP I §317)—works also to dissolve two
ostensible objections to calling it ‘seeing’, which emphasises the way aspect perception can
alter. The first conception which is objected is the changed status of the object . What is
changed is only interpretation. This elucidates the fact that the subjective dimension of
experience, that change is not truthful cognition of object despite it is stated as if it is a visual
perception (PPF §137; p. 197). This first objection justifies the idea that how July sees her
father that changes over time but not the facials of her father. The second idea which
Wittgenstein objects is accepting seeing – as as a proper case of seeing is it subject to the will
(PPF §256; p. 213; cf. RPP II §544).
To briefly put , visual aspect perception is called ‘ seeing ‘ for Wittgenstein simply
because it includes certain attitudes towards an object notably the internal object of a pictorial
representation (PPF §193; p. 205).And this is indeed the case for July and her sister who only
build their attitudes towards their father . If we go back to the novel , we would find that both
sisters have never seen their father nor their grandmother , but they still hold some attitudes
towards them . That is why the novelist attribute ‘’ I look like my mother …………’’ . Seeing
-as instead – along with its episodic sense – is continuous and dispositional. If this justifies
something, it is in short the idea that how sisters see their father and grandmother is still
continued.
Conclusion
The objective conclusions that come up in the above analytical account are so
many. The prominence however goes first of all to the significance of his aspect in aesthetic
experience, judgment and understanding as well. Having said that assist our claim to reveal
that linguistic understanding is organically associated with understanding of art.
Wittgenstein’s aspect is important in reading any literary work in the sense that non-literally
reading takes place; a reader of a literary work requires going beyond what is written by
considering the attitudes of the person who claims to see something that the other cannot see
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in the object providing the context of the proposition. The claim that the status of the object
does not change yet only interpretations which do implies the fact idea readings that one can
provide to a literary proposition differs from one person to another. Objects – referents of
names – that are constituents of a proposition cannot be restricted to one single interpretation,
however the context remains the same and the status of objects is unchanged. The difference
that may occur in terms of thinking about something and later on figured out as untrue
justifies the fact that interpretations provided to literary propositions are only relative; and this
implies the idea that different interpretations differ based on the adopted approach. All these
features attributed to the aspect perception of Wittgenstein converge on the fact that
Wittgenstein’s theory of perception is a applicably fit to read literature.

List of abbreviations:
LC: Lectures & Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology and Religious Belief.
M: Wittgenstein’s Lectures in 1930-33’, notes by G.E. Moore,
.ML: Wittgenstein: Lectures Cambridge 1930-33: From the Notes of G.E. Moore,
PI: Philosophical Investigations,
RPP: Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology,
LWL: Ludwig Wittgenstein’ lectures
NB: Notebooks
PR: Philosophical Remarks
MT: Movements of Thought: Notebooks
PG: Philosophical Grammar
PPF : Philosophy of Psychology
PP I: Remarks on Philsophy of Pyscholgy ( vol 1)
Pp II: Remarks on Philosophy of Psychology ( vol.2)
LW I : Last writing on the Philosophy of Psychology (vol .1)
LW II : Last writing on the Philosophy of Psychology (vol .2)
LPP : Wittgenstien’s Lectures on Philosophical Psychology
NPL : Notes for the Philsophical Lecture
Works Cited:
Baz, A.( 2020). Wittgenstein on Aspect Perception. Cambridge University Press.
Gibson, Wolfgang. 2004. The Literary Wittgenstein. Routledge.
Johnson, D. (2021). Sisters. Vintage.
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Kitcher. 2013. Deaths in Venice: The cases of Gustav von Aschenbach. Columbia University
Press.
Lamarque, P and Olsen, S.H. (1994). Truth, Fiction, and Literature, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lewis, P. (2004). Wittgenstein, aesthetics and philosophy. Ashgate.
Schroeder, S.( 2017a). Wittgenstein on Aesthetics’, in: H.-J. Glock and J. Hyman (eds.), a
Companion to Wittgenstein, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Wittgenstein, L. and Barrett, C. (2007). Lectures & conversations on aesthetics, psychology
and religious belief. University of California Press..
Wittgenstein, L and von, W. G. H.. (1990). Last writings on the philosophy of psychology.
Blackwell. ,
Wittgenstein, L. and von, W. G. H. (1998). Remarks on the philosophy of psychology.
Blackwell.
Wittgenstein, L., Ambrose, A., & Macdonald, M. ( 1979). Wittgenstein Lectures: Cambridge,
1932-1935 ; from the notes of Alice Ambrose and Margaret MacDonald. Blackwell.
Wittgenstein, L., M., A. G. E., von, W. G. H., and Nyman, H.(1998). Remarks on the
philosophy of psychology. (Blackwell.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, and Desmond Lee. (1980). Wittgenstein’s Lectures. Blackwell.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, and Hacker P M S. (2010). Philosophische Untersuchungen =
Philosophical Investigations.Wiley-Blackwell..
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, and et al.(1961). Notebooks . Harper Torchbooks,
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 1965.I: A Lecture on Ethics..The Philosophical Review, vol. 74, no. 1,
, p. 3., https://doi.org/10.2307/2183526.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. (1929). Lecture on Ethics. Wiley..
Wittgenstein, L., M., A. G. E., von, W. G. H., and Nyman, H. (1998). Remarks on the
philosophy of psychology. Blackwell..

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 15, Issue-III, June 2024 ISSN: 0976-8165
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Hysteria Beyond Gender: Analyzing Male and Female Perspectives in The
Golden Notebook
Dr. Tanvi Garg
Assistant Professor,
JCC, Delhi.
Article History: Submitted-07/06/2024, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-22/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
This paper attempts to explore the contemporary understanding of Hysteria, contrasting
it with the traditional notions from ancient times. At present, hysteria is considered as an
emotional problem, affected by the contemporary social conditions as opposed to its traditional
understanding as a physical problem exclusively affecting women. Over the centuries, the
concept of hysteria has surpassed the boundaries of medical studies. Since hysteria’s
dimensions have broadened over time, now, it is not only studied by people working in medical
fields but also by sociologists, theorists, critics. Due to this broad inclusive dimension, it has
become a part of cultural and literary studies. Its perception from being a disease that arose
merely out of a woman’s bodily dysfunction has changed to it being seen as an emotional
predicament manifesting itself in the form of physical stress, which is not solely limited to
women. This paper also explores the different connotations of hysteria in contemporary fiction,
Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, to see how male and female characters have been
portrayed as hysterical characters, and the fact that it is a condition that can affect men and
women alike. Thus, this paper is an attempt to degenderize the stigma associated with hysteria
through a critical study of the novel The Golden Notebook.
Keywords: hysteria in males, hysteria in females, gender, isolation, fragmentation,
femininity and masculinity.
For centuries, the concept of patriarchy has been prevalent and, due to its intricate
relation with cultures and societies, it has long been a subject for academic discussions and
analysis. The system of patriarchy is deeply embedded in societal norms and has always placed
both men and women in a double bind. On the one hand, where it has always oppressed women:
on, the other, it has not spared men either. Society expects men and women to behave according
to its set gendered norms. Both men and women have to follow certain “sex-marking and sex-
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announcing” factors to make their place acceptable in society. Moreover, just like the concepts
of femininity and masculinity, hysteria also falls under social and cultural paradigms. The paper
will explore the evolving concept of hysteria, studying its transformation from traditionally
presumed female-centric ailment to a modern, well researched concept transcending the
boundaries of any gender. In contemporary times, hysteria stands for manifestation of
psychological stress that is not limited to any specific gender. For this exploration, the paper
will thoroughly analyse Doris Lessing’s seminal work The Golden Notebook.
In ancient times, labelling a woman hysteric, indeed, meant perpetration of emotional
and mental violence on her. At the same time calling a man hysteric meant a question on his
masculinity even if he was genuinely going through the problem. During earlier times, hysteria
was referred to as ‘the wandering womb’ and everyone considered it as a female-specific
ailment that required immediate cure. People believed that if the uterus wandered in the wrong
direction, it could cause serious problems for women, and so to prevent such condition, women
were advised to confine themselves to the ideal roles and stay away from any kind of artistic
or intellectual activities. This practice started in ancient Greece and lasted till the nineteenth
century, although with minor variations. So, whenever one talks about the discourse of hysteria,
a common thing that always gets a mention is its association with femininity as it is seen as a
disease or a condition that can only affect women and not men. However, the truth is far from
this presumed notion:
It is not surprising that the metaphors of hysteria should contain double sexual messages
about femininity and masculinity, for, throughout history, the category of feminine
‘hysteria’ has been constructed in opposition to a category of masculine nervous
disorder whose name was constantly shifting. (Showalter 292)
However, in reality, no such physical condition existed; instead, it was simply one of
the mediums of social control inflicted on women by the male dominated society. Hysteria was
never acknowledged in men, and even when it was, which was seldom, different terms were
used for it because of the shame and disgrace that the term hysteria carried for men as
supposedly it affected only those men who had womanly qualities. If a man was found to be
hysterical, his illness was labelled as shell-shock, melancholy or madness instead of calling it
hysteria. These labels would free him from the stigma associated with the term Hysteria, and
for this, they received different treatments in comparison to the women patients.
When women writers started exploring the stories of women’s struggles, they focused
on psychic fragmentation. Elaine Showalter, in the essay, “On Hysterical Narrative”, also notes
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that in the late nineteenth century women writers such as “Victoria Ross, Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, or Rachidle” often explored stories of psychic fragmentation of their oppressed
protagonists, and thus, termed their condition as “hysteria” (25). Sigmund Freud explored and
explained the concepts of hysteria based on his case studies. According to him, it was
challenging for hysterics to narrate a story or anything about themselves in coherently, so this
inability to maintain coherence meant hysteria to him. With various literary narratives, hysteria
became a prominent term in literature, and over time, by the beginning of the twentieth century,
many female writers also started believing in women-centric narratives written by women
writers as narratives of hysteria.
The narratives again began to change when the Second World War offered women
some freedom in the sense that they had to come out of the four walls of their houses and start
earning their livelihood. Upon the conclusion of the war, there was a rigorous effort by men to
reestablish the heteropatriarchal status quo. However, women, having discovered a newly
found liberating space during the war, were unwilling to revert to their traditional roles. The
profound realization and enjoyment of this newfound freedom encouraged feminists to reclaim
the term “hysteria.” Female writers sought to demonstrate that, over the centuries, male
dominance has systematically constructed and perpetuated authoritative narratives. This
critical examination of gendered power dynamics is explored extensively by women writers in
renowned literary texts such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and
through the character of Bertha Mason in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. These works highlight
the ways in which patriarchal control has shaped and constrained women’s voices and
experiences throughout history.
The feminists provided narratives for the term, which had been used to persecute them
ruthlessly in the past. Although, Hysteria always had a lurking presence throughout centuries,
its emergence marked a new point in the nineteenth century when many psychoanalytic
theorists started studying the phenomenon and providing treatments for it as “it would be more
judicious to say that the nineteenth century was hysteria’s golden age precisely because it was
then that the moral presence of the doctor became normative as never before in regulating
intimate lives” (Porter 242). Over time, the concept of Hysteria became a merging point for
literature, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, and medical diagnosis. However, in the past few
decades, it has ceased to be a medical issue instead, has become a discourse in literary and
cultural studies. As Showalter explains, it has
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become the waste-basket term of literary criticism, applied to a wide and diffuse range
of textual techniques, and most alarmingly, taken as synonyms for women’s writing
and the women’s novel. Sometimes referring to all fictional texts by women, sometimes
to writing about hysterical women… hysterical narrative has taken on disturbing
connections with femininity. (24)
As stated by Showalter, whenever there is any discourse on hysteria, somehow it is
always related to women; whether by their writings or characters, solely women writers and
characters have been portrayed (considered) as hysterical. On the other hand, male characters
have always been shown as diagnosed with some medical issue but never labelled as hysterical.
Also, if any writing was considered ambiguous or with fragmented narrative, primarily written
by women writers.
Society plays a crucial role in constructing one’s identity as the socio-cultural
conditions affects one’s personality and then shapes how a person carries out his/her role.
Moreover, that role is decreed for them by society as Simone De Beauvoir writes, “One is not
born woman, but rather becomes one” (23). Hysteria’s relationship with society began to be
explored and came to light when feminist movements grew in the mid-twentieth century.
Feminists in the twentieth century brought out the fact that women suffer hysteria because of
societal pressures and oppression as well as the cultural duties and rigid norms that a woman
is expected to follow. Hysteria was now considered to be a condition from which women
suffered because of their “…oppressive social roles rather than by bodies or psyches […].”
Female accounts of hysteria started coming to the people’s notice in the wake of feminist
movements in the second half of the twentieth century as the feminist theorists gave an entirely
new picture of Hysteria, which was beyond everyone’s comprehension.

The discourse on hysteria has been extensively examined across various disciplines,
including sociology, medical studies, and literature. Even though some scholars assert that
hysteria no longer exists and emphasize on its absence from contemporary medical dictionaries,
the condition persists within society. Historically, hysteria was associated with femininity, but
now it is recognized as a condition that can also affect men also. Although in the early twentieth
century, the discourse of Hysteria declined, its use was not altogether abolished:
… theories about women’s fears seemed less important by this time (after the
first world war) because after the war and the passage of women’s suffrage in
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England and the United States, it was believed that female hysteria declined and
even disappeared. (Showalter 326)
The concept of hysteria, as depicted in the novels, is still prevalent and widespread,
though often not clearly visible to everyone, but it has transformed into more complex forms
of loneliness, frustration, alienation, anxiety, stress and emotional outbursts that people
experience in their day-to-day lives, and one such novel is Doris Lessing’s The Golden
Notebook (1962). Doris Lessing in The Golden Notebook shows characters in the grip of
hysteria by precisely capturing the minute details of their disoriented lives. The novel is set in
the mid twentieth century, and shows the characters dealing with issues such as frustration,
loneliness, frustration, anxiety, and sudden outburst of emotions, “They were all of them, all
these people caught by the terrible pressure of this city” (Lessing 343). By focusing on the
different aspects of Hysteria in men as well as in women, the novel also touches upon the
fragmentation of the time and the impact it has on people, and one such impact is their
disjointed lives.
Anna, the protagonist of the novel, experiences recurrent episodes of hysteria. The
reasons for her hysterical episodes can be attributed to several factors, such as her failed
relationships, disillusionment with the Communist Party, and the internal conflict regarding
her writing. However, the primary cause of her hysteria is that she is living in a post-war
society. Since post-war society was dealing with a sense of isolation and frustration, Anna also
suffers from this fragmented self, unable to decide what exactly she wants for herself, “I feel
like breaking out and shouting and screaming whenever I set foot on this frozen soil. I feel
locked up, the moment I breathe our sacred air” (Lessing 33). The feminists argued that it is
not only the society that a woman lives in but also the family which she is a part of that plays
a significant role in binding a woman to her feminine duties, such as taking care of their family
and performing household chores even if they do not want to. The social and familial
constraints are some main reasons that lead Anna towards her hysterical episodes. Anna and
Molly (her friend) have been shown as independent women, living on their terms without
allowing men to dominate them. They are strong women and proficient in their respective jobs,
and they also take care of their kids by themselves. However, they are constantly in a dilemma
of wanting male support in their lives. Simultaneously, they both feel stuck in their lives but
even then, they both cannot imagine different lives for themselves. Anna is a devoted mother
whose major part of her life revolves around her daughter, Janet. But, at the same time, she
feels tied to her motherly duty towards Janet. Thus, she finds herself in a constant flux between
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being a good mother as society demands her to be and the need to break free from all her
domestic duties.
Where on the one hand, Anna and Molly oscillate between considering themselves free
and breaking away from their familial and societal bonds. Marion (Molly’s ex-husband’s wife),
on the other hand, never considers herself a free woman; rather, she finds herself chained in
the boundaries of a traditional woman, that is, wife and mother and feels burdened by it.
The only freedom that Anna enjoys is that of cracking up and then emerging into a
unified self. Even Lessing herself says, “[…] sometimes when people ‘crack up’ it is a way of
self healing, of the inner self dismissing false dichotomies and divisions” (Lessing 8), and this
is what exactly happens with Anna. It is only in the end that Anna is able to emerge into an
integrated self by unifying the various disjointed threads of her writing when she maintains
only one book, that is, the Golden Notebook, out of many coloured books. It is then she
understands the true meaning of freedom which she then enjoys by overcoming her recurring
episodes of hysteria. Only towards the end does Anna achieve an integrated sense of self by
consolidating the incongruent elements of her writing into a single book, the Golden Notebook,
as opposed to maintaining multiple coloured notebooks. Through this unification, she
comprehends the true essence of freedom, which she subsequently enjoys by overcoming her
recurring bouts of hysteria.
Hysteria, as a condition, can affect both men and women, and Doris Lessing’s The
Golden Notebook shows hysterical male characters and what adverse effect they have on the
people around them. Her characters Saul Green, Tommy, Ella’s father, Michael, and Paul have
entirely different personalities. Through this diverse characterization, she depicts that anyone
can be hysterical at any point in their life, and among all, the most hysterical person is Saul
Green.
Saul Green in The Golden Notebook shows the example of hysteria in men. He is an
American man who enters the novel towards the end and has been portrayed as a writer with a
cracked (fragmented psyche) self, maybe because of the political situations in his country
where people feel the same disillusionment with Communism as they do in Britain. Saul, just
like Anna, gets hysterical at times. Initially, Anna fails to understand his hysteria, but when she
does, she realizes they both are similar. When she first meets Saul, she notices that he has a
coldness in his eyes and is always alert, in the sense that he is not someone who ever lets his
guard down. Saul has the ability to look deep into people, especially women, “I realized there
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was no other man I had met, with the exception of Michael, capable of such quick insight into
a woman” (Lessing 482). Saul considers himself above Anna, he does what he likes, he lectures
her, advises her, guides her, but also pushes her to the verge of insanity. While talking to her,
sometimes, Saul even forgets that she is sitting in front of him, and this is when Anna begins
to get uncomfortable as she realizes that she does not exist for him anymore. Saul is full of
bitterness and sadness because of the fragmentation that he feels within his personality. Both
Saul and Anna feel trapped between their values and political ideas. This leads to their
disintegrated self, their internal conflict as writers, or communism and its failure. Anna believes
in Communist values, and so does Saul, but she understands that the people working for such
values are themselves corrupt, and consequently she leaves the party. Moreover, Saul gets the
order to leave the party for being prematurely anti-Stalinist.
During hysterical episodes, where on the one hand, Anna is capable of maintaining self-
control, Saul, on the other hand, finds it difficult to control himself emotionally as well as
physically, however, he conceals this from everyone else. It becomes a real struggle for him to
control himself, and once he does, he makes it seem like nothing ever happened to him. Since
he knows his situation, his fragmentation, and craziness, he is able to disguise it, unlike Anna
who is unable to control her fragmentation. Nevertheless, when it comes to controlling
someone mentally, Saul subdues Anna. The disjointed self and hysteria that they both suffer
from results from the socio-political conflicts of society. But, after a while Anna begins to feel
the same suffocation in her own house. The conflicts that she sees in the outer world enter her
house in the form of Saul Green. Saul and Anna bring each other’s dark side to the surface and,
thus, make each other more negative. Around him, she feels as if they have been caged in their
flat and are descending into madness. Saul accepts being mad, makes jokes about it and does
not look at it as a serious problem with Anna:
The walls of this flat close in on us. Day after day we’re alone here. I’m
conscious that we are both mad. He says, with a yell of laughter: ‘Yeah, I’m
crazy, it’s taken me all my short life to recognize it, and now what? Suppose, I
prefer being crazy what then?’ (Lessing 502)
Anna feels hysterical due to many reasons but, the major one is her break-up with
Michael. She realizes the extent of her dependence Michael as when they break-up, Anna is
unable to handle herself. Instead of composing her emotions, she dives into a weaker
personality, which gets worse after she meets Saul. Since Saul remains hysterical most of the
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time, switching between his personalities, Anna also begins to lose her sense of time, just like
him. Furthermore he, being equally a hysteric man, increases Anna’s fragmentation and
hysteria. It is because of Saul that her anxiety and terror come back. In the end, she decides
that Saul should go away because they are “very bad for each other” (Lessing 539). Finally,
Saul leaves Anna; and Anna gets the opportunity to become what she always wanted to be, a
free woman. Saul, however, remains the same hysterical person with multiple identities.
“Please don’t be alarmed, you’d be surprised how many charming people are walking
our streets, the mere ghosts of themselves.… it’s all due to the times we live in” (Lessing 501
502). The statement sums up the conflict of contemporary times. Regardless of gender,
everyone essentially feels almost same: social alienation, despair, and isolation, but not
everyone realizes the severity of his/her situation. The people who are able to realize their
situation and the reason for their despair and alienation can overcome it, just like Anna does as
she acknowledges that she has a writer’s block. After that, she is able to move past it and begins
to write a novel. Saul is aware of his situation, and also knows that he cannot cure it, but he is
awareness enables him to manage it. So, he knows how to handle his hysteria and at the same
time hide it from other people. They both are hysterical and reflect each other’s craziness. Saul
being a part of the modern world could not save himself from its adverse effects and thus,
despite being a man, he suffers the way Anna does.
So, it would not be correct to assign hysteria to a specific gender because both men and
women suffer from it at some point in their lives. For women, it is more difficult because of
their oppression at the hands of society in several ways, whereas men live with hysteria without
having to accept it in those words. Though patriarchy affects both men and women in very
subtle ways, nonetheless, women have been and still are its primary victims. Hysteria will
always be present in society because it is not possible for every individual to stay contended
and live a utopic life. Almost every person suffers from hysteria at least once in their life. Thus,
now it has ceased to be a subject in the domain of medical studies; instead, it has evolved into
a reflection of society’s effect on an individual. Hysteria in men is not much different from
hysteria in women as people believed it to be during ancient times. The only difference is that
men do not have to worry about the bonds of traditional roles. However, these roles do
pressurize men many times, though evidently, they are not allowed to be open and be vocal
about it for it might be taken as their weakness and lead to shaming of their patriarchal repute.
Nonetheless, they can also get just as frustrated with the isolation and idleness of their roles in
society as women do. So, it would not be correct to say that hysteria as a condition does not
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prevail today as Elaine Showalter explains, “Hysteria is no longer a question of the wandering
womb; it is a question of the wandering story, and of whether that story belongs to the hysteric,
the doctor, the historian or the critic. The stories of race and gender in hysteria still remain to
be told….” (335). This story of the wandering womb has primarily been associated with
women, however, with evolving discourses in literature and texts like The Golden Notebook,
one can see a shift in the narratives as theorists have been exploring the idea of hysteria as a
concept beyond the confines of gender. Socio-cultural conditions become the prime factor for
hysteria as it affects people, irrespective of their gender, when they feel overwhelmed by the
normative structure of society.
Thus, changing notions of hysteria are intrinsically linked to the ongoing critique and
redefinition of patriarchal standards. Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook presents a unique
idea of difference and similarities in manifestation of hysteria in women as well as men. So,
this re-examination of hysteria in The Golden Notebook sheds light on how the norms and
standards of society impact both men and women, and also compel them to adhere to specific
prescribed roles and behaviours. The move away from considering hysteria as an issue
affecting only women is a reflection of a broader societal shift towards a more nuanced
understanding of gender, concerns of mental health, and the oppressive impacts of the
patriarchal system on both men and women.

Works Cited:
Lessing, Doris. The Golden Notebook. HarperCollins Publishers, 2013.
Beauvoir, Simone De. The Second Sex, translated by Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier,

Vintage Books, 2011.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Rupa Publications India, 2016.
Frye,
Maryin.
Sexism.
2012
http://faculty.gordonstate.edu/jthrasher-
sneathen/Frye%20Sexism.pdf
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The Yellow Wallpaper, Herland, and
Selected Writings. Penguin Classics, 2010.
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Gilman, Sander L., Helen King, Roy Porter, G. S. Rousseau, and Elaine Showalter. Hysteria

Beyond Freud. U of California P, 1993.
Krouse, Tonya. “Freedom as Effacement in The Golden Notebook: Theorizing Pleasure
Subjectivity, and Authority”. Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 29, no. 3, Spring 2006,

pp. 39-6. http://www.jstor.org./stable/3831687
Showalter, Elaine “On Hysterical Narrative”. Narrative, vol. 1, no. 1, 1993, pp. 24–35.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20106990.
Woods, Tania. From Female Sexuality and Hysteria to Feminine Psychology: The Gender of

Insanity in Literature. 2012
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/FROM-FEMALE-SEXUALITY-AND-
HYSTERIA-TO-FEMININE
PSYWoods/f7d2b2648057846bbe09fee28799b6f38120cb21

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Endorsement of Destruction and Damnation of Unconventional Women in
Thomas Hardy’s A Pair of Blue Eyes
Dr. Pinki Negi Bora
Assistant Professor,
Rajkiya Engineering College, Mainpuri.
Article History: Submitted-11/04/2024, Revised-19/06/2024, Accepted-20/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
Thomas Hardy could not decouple his works from the contemporary, prevailing
social norms and circumstances of the nineteenth-century Britain and that might be a
reason for his endorsement of anti-feminism and misogyny through his characters. But this
thought is antithetical to the very foundation of literary and artistic principles. Literature is
the mirror of society. It reflects all the goods and the evils of society and makes people
aware of the happenings in their surroundings. A responsible writer not only presents the
true picture of society in his works but also attempts to rectify the wrong practices. He
becomes a torchbearer and through his writings, reforms, inspires, and guides people.
Literature influences people, leave an impact on their minds, and has the potential to
change and shape their thoughts.
Unfortunately, this kind of sense of responsibility in shaping the mind of the
younger generation of the Victorian period misses in the works of Thomas Hardy. His
novels stimulate the continuation of age-old traditions, victimization of women, their
struggle against the patriarchal system, and ultimately their submission to the unyielding
attitudes of society. In fact, it seems as if through his writings he expresses his anger
against all those who challenge the established order. In a way, he endorses the destruction
and damnation meted out to those who attack the hypocrisy and double standards inherent
in Victorian society.
Generally, in his novels, Hardy ruins the lives of all those characters who do not
submit themselves to the conventional norms of society. The tragic end of his characters
points out the perils and consequences of breaching society’s ethical codes. The reasons
for creating tragic characters like Tess, Sue, Susan, and Elfride are inherent in his literary
theory-Art for the sake of life. The literary interpretation of Hardy’s novel “A Pair of Blue
Eyes” elucidates his propensity to portray women within the realm of contemporary social
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norms and laws.
Keywords: anti-feminist, misogynist, conventional, Victorian, society, women.

Literature serves as a reflection of society, representing both its positive and negative
aspects, and making individuals aware of their surroundings. Through their works,
responsible authors not only depict society as it truly is but also seek to correct its
wrongdoings. By their words, writers become torchbearers, inspiring and directing others.
Literature influences individuals, leaving impressions on their minds, and has the capacity to
alter and mould their ideas. Regrettably, this sense of responsibility in moulding the minds of
the Victorian era’s younger generation is missing in the works of Thomas Hardy. His works
encourage the perpetuation of age-old customs, the victimization of women, their struggle
against the patriarchal system, and ultimately, their acquiescence to society’s unbending
attitudes. Elfride, Tess, Susan are some of Hardy’s female characters whose unconventional
nature and quest to define their identity in a male-dominated society resulted in their
degradation, rejection, marginalization, and ultimately, a tragic end. However, despite the
unorthodox representation of his heroines, it is evident that Thomas Hardy detests the idea of
women being in pursuit of love, freedom, and self-fulfilment. Hence, to curtail the number of
such unconventional empowered women, he employed his writings as a medium to subtly
threaten all those who disrupt the existing social order.
Elfride Swancourt who was not a stereo-typed Victorian woman but an independent,
strong-willed, unconventional woman too succumbed to Hardy’s and the era’s rigid
doctrinaire idealism. Hardy justifies her transformation from courageous to fearful,
independent to dependent, reasonable to emotional, guilt-free to guilt-ridden as a result of her
perceived wrong choices and being different. To demean and undermine her, Hardy
impregnated her with the sense of guilt and fear rationalizing her resignation to a
phallocentric, unenlightened society. His writings expose his skewed perspective and disdain
for women who do not harmonize with patriarchal ideals. Hence, he deems aggression and
violence against such women necessary to assert control over them and protect a prudish
society. As a writer, Hardy could have advocated for equal opportunities for women,
promoted gender equality, uplifted them, and paved the way for a more inclusive society, but
their cries and voices never reached his ears. Their disappointment never affected him, and
thus, due to writers like Thomas Hardy, women in the Victorian era remained invisible,
oppressed, discriminated against, and marginalized.

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In Victorian times, women were denied the opportunity to showcase their talents in
public and were not recognized as independent individuals. They were confined to domestic
roles as wives and mothers. Girls were primarily trained in housework, physically
demanding but offering little intellectual growth and were forced into childbearing and
domesticity. Restricted from exploring the world or pursuing higher education, the entire
system was designed to maintain male dominance. Laws and social norms were deliberately
crafted to curtail their freedom and strip them of their rights. Lynn Abrams notes:
Domesticity and motherhood were portrayed as sufficient emotional
fulfilment for women and many middle-class women regarded
motherhood and domestic life as a ‘sweet vocation’, a substitute for
women’s productive role. (Abrams: Web)

Married women found themselves in a more disadvantageous position compared to
unmarried women, lacking rights to their bodies, earnings, or children. The unjust Victorian
laws, evidently crafted to subjugate and victimize women, exacerbated their plight by
deeming husbands as the legal proprietors of their property. This elevated husbands to the
role of family heads, and dooming women “wholly to the general and inessential”. (Beauvoir:
547). Before the enactment of the Married Women’s Property Act 1882, married women in
Britain had no legal rights to own property, and their property automatically transferred to
their husbands upon marriage, rendering them dependent on them. The character of Parson
Swancourt in “A Pair of Blue Eyes” highlights the stark truth that marriages often led to the
erosion of women’s identity and autonomy. He unhesitatingly married Mrs. Charlotte
Troyton, a widow—an unattractive, dark-complexioned woman much older than him—solely
for the property she owned. He was well aware that, according to the law, the property would
automatically transfer to his name upon their marriage.
Once married, a woman’s property was given over to her husband. Even
if she inherited a substantial house or sum of money that became her
husband’s upon marriage. He then gave her an allowance of money. Her
children also became her husband’s property and he had the ultimate say
over their education and future. (Parker: Web)

This marriage exemplified Swancourt’s conviction that either his own or his
daughter’s union was the key to enhancing his social status. For him, emotions and love held
minimal significance in the context of marriage. He embraced an unappealing widow driven
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by greed for her property and her elevated social standing. Conversely, he dismissed Stephen
Smith, deeply in love with Elfride, on account of his impoverished background. Parson
Swancourt perceived Elfride’s marriage as a medium to elevate his social standing as in
Victorian England:
Wealthy families often sought to marry their children off to other wealthy
families, in order to maintain or increase their social status. This meant
that love and compatibility were often secondary concerns, and marriages
were arranged purely for financial gain. (WeChronicle)

Parson Swancourt was a selfish father who had no issue with his daughter’s
relationship with Stephen Smith until he uncovered the latter’s true origin and parents. The
day Parson Swancourt learned that Stephen Smith was not a member of a noble family, but
rather the son of a local mason, the snooty Parson felt disgusted and disapproved of the
relationship with his daughter. Through Jane Smith, the mother of Stephen Smith, Hardy
depicted the true essence of the Victorian era:
…I know men all move up a stage by marriage. Men of her class, that is,
parsons, marry squires’ daughters; squires marry lords’ daughters; lords
marry dukes’ daughters’; dukes marry queens’ daughters. All stages of
gentlemen mate a stage higher; and the lowest stage of gentlewomen are
left single, or marry out of their class. (A Pair of Blue Eyes: 142)

The disadvantaged position of Stephen Smith led Parson Swancourt to oppose their
union. This signifies the patriarchal mentality that limits even an adult woman’s ability to
choose her own life partner. This is regrettable and highlights the evident bias of Victorian
society, which denies women the right to enter into marriage of their own free will and
consent.
During this era, unions were typically formed based on economic and
social factors such as familial ties, wealth, and prestige. These alliances
were generally organized by parents or guardians without the
involvement of the couple themselves, leaving them with minimal
control over their partner selection. This could lead to situations in which
women were forced to remain in unsatisfying or even abusive
relationships due to a lack of legal protection or financial autonomy.
(AncientsPast)
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Hardy appears indifferent to the prejudice against women, as he does not intervene to
support their quest for autonomy and the freedom to choose a spouse at their will. Women
were dehumanized under the guise of morality and social laws, and it appears that neither
Hardy nor society had any qualms about condoning this dehumanization.
Elfride Swancourt, portrayed as a modern woman, defied the conservative wishes of
her father. Instead of sacrificing herself and her aspirations to uphold the status quo, she took
extraordinary measures to elope with Stephen Smith, seeking liberation from the constraints
imposed by her traditional father and society. She was not a fatalist, resigned to accepting the
fate designed by her father. Daringly, she proposed to Stephen Smith to formalize their
marriage in London without considering the potential consequences. Elfride, who had taken
the extraordinary step of eloping, travelled to London to marry Stephen Smith but later
expressed her intention to return home without completing the wedding. Despite previously
disregarding Victorian social conventions of decorum, she quickly realized her mistake and
remarked, “if anybody finds me out, I am, I suppose, disgraced” (A Pair of Blue Eyes: 167).
Being unconventional in her thinking, she disregarded the potential repercussions of her
elopement with Stephen Smith. However, he, being more aware of the consequences, warned
her that “going back unmarried may compromise your good name in the eyes of people who
may hear of it” (A Pair of Blue Eyes: 166). Stephen Smith, embodying Hardy’s perspective,
cautioned Elfride that failing to conform to the Victorian ideal of femininity could lead to
contempt from society, branding her as a ‘fallen woman.’ This exposed the double standard
within Victorian society, condemning only women for being unconventional or sexually
immoral while excusing males of the same charges. As a member of this prudish society and
an active participant in the elopement with Elfride Swancourt, he faced no fear of
punishment, loss of chastity, or contempt. In fact, he comforted Elfride and pledged that
when he married her in the future, he would attest to her chastity. However, this underscores
the disparity within patriarchal norms, where “a woman’s virginity is intrinsically valuable
not to the woman herself, but only to her future husband” (Jaggar : 261). This highlights a
societal imbalance, subjecting women to scrutiny while men, as equal participants, escape
conservative moral examination.
Hardy’s novels generally portray women falling into two categories: ‘pure women’ and
‘fallen women.’ He expects women to embody purity and chastity, finding happiness and
fulfilment within the confines of domesticity, excelling in household responsibilities. Those
who deviate from accepted social norms are labeled as fallen women. Elfride Swancourt,
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following her lapse, becomes a disgraced woman and meets an unfortunate end which Hardy
believes is necessary to restrain women from straying.
Mrs. Gertrude is a key figure in Hardy’s goal of suppressing Elfride’s independence.
She constantly blackmails Elfride about her past, making her afraid of both the present and
the future. Wanting revenge for her son Felix’s death, Mrs. Gertrude cruelly tells Henry
Knight about Elfride’s secret elopement. She blames Elfride for Felix’s death and wants to
ruin her life. When Mrs. Gertrude Jethway tells Henry the truth, it brings great unhappiness
to Elfride and destroys her life. Mrs. Gertrude’s cruel actions show how she seeks revenge for
her son’s death, which she blames on Elfride rejecting his love. Elfride’s rejection of Felix,
Mrs. Gertrude’s revenge upon Elfride, and Henry’s refusal of Elfride all exemplify the
oppressive idea that women couldn’t stand up for their own desires when it came to
relationships. They also weren’t allowed to choose their own partners. Elfride’s desire to be
different, Mrs. Gertrude’s anger, Henry Knight’s traditional beliefs, and Hardy’s support of
male-dominated society all lead to Elfride’s downfall and early death.
Hardy, as a novelist, refrained from questioning patriarchal values, choosing instead
to reinforce societal constraints on women that slim down their autonomy. This is
demonstrated through the character of Henry Knight, a typical conventional Victorian man
and reviewer of Elfride’s “Court of King Arthur’s Castle.” Instead of nurturing Elfride’s
writing skills and encouraging her to explore infinite possibilities, he dissuades her by harshly
critiquing her work and advising her to focus on domestic chores and errands, finding
fulfilment in the domestic milieu. By this blatant insult, he stifled her talent and prevented her
from becoming a remarkable and impressive writer, thus rendering her as an insignificant and
useless being, always childlike. Henry Knight’s belief in the subservient reliance of women
on men, their segregation from the external world, and confinement to the domestic realm
stemmed from his apprehension that women’s capabilities might challenge men’s perceived
intellectual superiority.
As Hardy’s spokesperson, Henry Knight expressed the patriarchal view that women
should not express their emotions through writing or any other medium because their “artistic
productions are tainted with the vices of amateurism and mediocrity which corrupt taste and
lower standards” (Boumelha, 72). Elfride adopted the pseudonym Earnestfield to pen her
works, acutely aware that society frowned upon women devoting time to intellectual pursuits.
In the Victorian era, female authors often resorted to adopting pen names to pursue an
autonomous writing career and ensure their voices were heard. Elfride’s decision to write
under a male pseudonym sheds light on the challenges faced by female authors in nineteenth-
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century Britain, where women were denied equal opportunities in the realm of writing and
publishing. To gain recognition and be taken seriously as authors, many women, including
Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte, Emily Bronte, Mary Ann Evans, and numerous others,
concealed their identities by publishing their works under masculine pen names or gender-
neutral aliases.
Henry Knight’s conviction that women participating in novel writing and pursuing a
career in literature are unladylike activities closely mirrors the perspective of the Poet
Laureate of England, Robert Southey. In his discouraging response to a collection of
Charlotte Bronte’s poems, Southey remarked, “Literature cannot be the business of a
woman’s life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less
leisure she will have for it even as an accomplishment and a recreation” (Buzwell : Web).
Men in Victorian society deemed it unfeminine for women to choose a career in the socio-
political realm. The concept of being subordinate to their male counterparts has been
ingrained in women’s minds since childhood. They were highly valued if they complied with
men’s wishes and honed their skills in domestic chores, as this was deemed their most suited
occupation. Household duties were regarded as honorable responsibilities, and women were
denounced by their families and society if they attempted to reject them. They had no role in
the public sphere, and those who entered the public sphere to earn a living were often
maltreated, underpaid, and also viewed negatively by society. They were deprived of social,
economic, and educational rights, which made them subordinate to men, with the ill intention
of stifling women’s inner abilities and reinforcing patriarchal structures. Harriet Taylor Mill
argued in this connection:
So long as competition is in the general law of human life, it is
tyranny to shut out one-half of the competitors. All who have
attained the age of self-government have an equal claim to be
permitted to sell whatever kind of useful labour they are capable of
for the price, which it will bring. (Mill : Web)

Women encountered barriers to obtaining equal educational opportunities as
education was deemed unnecessary, unfeminine, and labeled as a ‘masculine occupation’.
The observation of the then-ruler of England, Queen Victoria, captures the spirit of the
era.
‘We women are not made for governing – and if we are good
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women,
we
must
dislike
these
masculine
occupations.’
(Richardson : Web)

Men hindered the intellectual development, advancement, and emancipation of
women by denying them the human rights to which they were entitled. Their efforts aimed
to strip women of their mental and physical abilities, confining them to a state of
confusion and depression, subjecting them to inequality both inside and outside the home.
Unfortunately, women’s silence and ignorance of their rights rendered them inferior to
males in every way, and devoid of any identity, they eventually emerged and were labeled
as inferior beings. Mary Wollstonecraft, in her discussions, highlighted the abject
submissiveness of women and argued that “the artificial character imposed on women in
male society gave them the ‘constitution’ of slaves and men the occupation of ‘slave
masters’”(Wollstonecraft: 164). This misguided perception, equating women to slaves,
hindered them from recognizing themselves as significant, unique individuals.
Hardy’s decision to compel Elfride Swancourt into marriage with a widower, a
father of two children, serves as a stark portrayal of the consequences of challenging
traditional feminine ideals. In this narrative, it becomes evident that Hardy not only
condoned but also actively perpetuated the inequities faced by Elfride. His disdain for
women who displayed unfeminine traits drove him to administer punishment upon them.
At the close of the novel, Elfride’s compliant adherence to societal norms highlights
Hardy’s mindset, which seems unkind toward women who act in unfeminine ways. He
adeptly documented the societal observations of his time in his novels, yet his deep-seated
biases and apathy towards women’s plight prevented him from feeling empathy and
discomfort, thereby forbidding him from advocating for their civil and political rights and
recognizing them as fellow human beings.
Elfride used to be independent, free, and full of life. But after meeting Henry
Knight, she changed completely. Instead of being herself, she became worried and
depended on him. She felt guilty and scared that she would lose him if he knew she had
eloped with Stephen Smith before. She lamented her failure to conform to feminine
expectations and her unconventional decision to elope with Stephen Smith. Her profound
love for Henry Knight and his expectation of a chaste, sober woman as his wife clouded
her understanding of her own rights. She failed to recognize that, as a human being, she
also had the right to love a man of her choice. She too could make mistakes and could not
be flawless all the time. Her past could also harbor dark secrets, which, like those of her
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male counterparts, could also be forgiven.
Fearful of the repercussions of her past actions and the possibility of losing Henry
Knight, she succumbed to the influence of his conventional beliefs, thus allowing him to
mold her into the conventional, docile woman he desired. Henry Knight succeeded in
imbuing Elfride with a diminished sense of self-worth and identity, as reflected in her
poignant lamentation, “Ah, what a poor nobody I am!’ she said, sighing. ‘People like him,
who go about the world, don’t care in the least what I am like either in mood or feature’ ”
(A Pair of Blue Eyes: 235). In Henry Knight, we encounter the archetype of the typical
Victorian male, desiring a woman ‘with untried lips’, pristine both in mind and body,
possessing only emotions devoid of passion. Elfride found herself hesitant to divulge her
past to the man she deeply loved – a man who valued women’s submissiveness and
chastity due to his sexual prudery, conventional ideology, and rigid morality. His
unwavering commitment to conventional values was evident in his articulation of
appreciation for a woman with “a soul truthful and clear as heaven’s light. I could put up
with anything if I had that-forgive nothing if I had it not” (A Pair of Blue Eyes: 331).
Knight’s adherence to conventional Victorian morality was so profound that he could not
fathom loving a woman with a previous relationship. He aspired always to be the “first
comer in a woman’s heart, fresh lips or none for me” (A Pair of Blue Eyes: 368). His
conventional mindset aligns with the prevailing ethos of Victorian patriarchal society,
which championed the notion of ideal women. Much like his contemporaries, he harbored
expectations for women to remain sexually naive and held in high regard those who
maintained their chastity until marriage. Women expressing sexual desire were branded as
‘fallen women’, perceived as a threat to societal norms.
Elfride’s worst fears materialized when Mr. Knight received a letter from Mrs.
Jethway, written before her demise. Despite the letter’s inaccuracies, attributing her son’s
demise to Elfride when it was due to consumption, Mrs. Jethway’s vendetta proved
successful. This letter led to tarnishing Elfride’s reputation, causing her to lose the man she
cherished most and conform to societal norms by marrying a widower with two children.
Mrs. Jethway was well aware that “nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman: it
is, at once, the most beautiful and the most brittle of all human things.” (Burney: 279). A
cruel and unrelenting figure, she continuously used Elfride’s failed elopement as leverage
for blackmail.
Have you forgotten the would-be runaway marriage? The journey to
London, and the return the next day without being married, and that
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there’s enough disgrace in that to ruin a woman’s good name far less light
than yours? You may have: I have not. Fickleness towards a lover is bad,
but fickleness after playing the wife is wantonness.’ (A Pair of Blue Eyes:
333-334)

Mrs. Jethway may have articulated these sentiments, but she served as a tool for the
author to enforce discipline upon women of her era and propagate his ideology that women
who defy societal norms bear the consequences of their actions. Hardy, upholding
conventional Victorian standards, highlighted chastity and purity as indispensable virtues for
women, subjecting his female characters to suffering whenever they strayed from the
established norms. Aware of the potential repercussions of her dark past being exposed,
Elfride feared tarnishing her reputation, losing Henry Knight, and facing scandal, prompting
her to visit Mrs. Jethway’s residence. Unfortunately, not finding her there, she left a note,
requesting:
Dear Mrs. Jethway-I have been to visit you. I wanted much to see
you, but I cannot wait any longer. I came to beg you not to execute
the threats you have repeated to me. Do not, I beseech you, Mrs.
Jethway, let any one know what I did! It would ruin me, and break my
heart. I will do anything for you, if you will be kind to me. In the
name of our common womanhood, do not, I implore you, make a
scandal of me.—Yours,
E. Swancourt (A Pair of Blue Eyes: 366)

Elfride’s letter to Mrs. Jethway confirmed the dreaded past she had always feared.
With the revelation of her past, her once beautiful and joyful existence turned into a
nightmare. Mr. Knight rejected her, stating that it would be challenging for him to love
and marry a woman who had been previously engaged in a romantic relationship. As soon
as her overnight escapade was brought to his attention, he labeled her as a “fallen woman”.
He was so blinded by conventional social norms that he was unable to perceive her
profound, genuine affection for him. The warped mentality of Mr. Henry Knight played a
more significant role in Elfride’s downfall compared to Mrs. Jethway’s letter. The
character of Henry Knight bears a striking resemblance to another male character in the
work of Thomas Hardy, namely Angel Clare, who similarly exhibits traits of
indecisiveness and subservience to antiquated societal norms and beliefs. It is readily
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apparent to readers that Hardy’s male characters perceive themselves as deities, a
perception reinforced by the treatment they receive from their female counterparts, who, in
turn, see themselves as subservient to these godlike figures. In contemporary society,
men’s mistakes, crimes, or sins were often seen as forgivable. Conversely, this leniency is
not extended to women, as forgiving them may inadvertently foster a sense of equality
with men, thus leading to assertions for freedom and parity. Similar to Angel Clare, Henry
Knight, who lacked strength of character, also had an inability to forgive her, revealing his
own authoritarian nature to be even more pronounced than that of Mrs. Jethway. The letter
composed by Mrs. Jethway was motivated by a malicious goal to detrimentally impact
Elfride’s existence. However, it remains unclear as to why Henry Knight, who harbored
affection for Elfride, contributed to her downfall and ultimately became the catalyst for
her premature demise. Why couldn’t he transcend his godlike persona and view her as an
equal capable of making mistakes, deserving forgiveness, and becoming his partner on
equal terms? Despite his education, why couldn’t he shed conventional perspectives and
inflexible moral principles? Why couldn’t he allow her to maintain her individuality?
Her past cast a perpetual shadow over her present and future, hindering her peace, as
she anticipated rejection from the man she loved upon the revelation of her past. His
mistake lay in idealizing her instead of recognizing her as a fallible individual. The
problem arose when his masculine pride couldn’t forgive her elopement. To appease it, he
outright rejected her, leading to her downfall and premature death. Elfride experienced
profound distress upon being rejected by the man with whom she shared a deep emotional
connection, leading to a decline in her physical well-being and a persistent desire for
death. However, the mentioned separation did not cause any distress to Henry Knight. It
seems he didn’t feel bad because he thought her past was unforgivable and believed his
decision was the right one.
After she recovered, Elfride wanted to live for others and help her family, so she
decided to marry Lord Luxellion, a widower with two children. Elfride didn’t love Lord
Luxellion, but she felt ashamed and was scared of being disgraced because of her past.
She wanted to protect her family’s reputation and avoid being rejected by society. She saw
marriage as the only solution, even though she didn’t want it. Her choice to marry and
become a good wife shows how Hardy emphasizes that men should stay in power and
women should stick to traditional roles. Additionally, he also attempts to discourage
women from acquiring intellectual vigor, cultivating their understanding, and resisting
oppression. He isolates them from the outer world by keeping them confined to the
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domestic realm, where they grope in the dark as they breed and nurse children, and exploit
their charms to keep their husbands content and happy. By subjecting Elfride to the
chauvinistic, unenlightened society, Hardy intended to recommend that women should
uphold the conduct of feminine virtues such as docility and chastity.
Motherhood, like marriage, was also deemed sacrosanct and a fundamental
obligation for Victorian women. Consequently, to conform Elfride to the stereotype of a
typical Victorian woman, tasked with the roles of a wife and mother, Thomas Hardy
subjected her to the embrace of motherhood. Unfortunately, akin to Lady Luxellion’s
attempt to fulfill Lord Luxellion’s wish for a son, Elfride tragically succumbed to death
during childbirth. The tragic demise of Elfride at the novel’s end reflects Hardy’s disdain
for unconventional women. He could not envision a convincingly happy ending for
Elfride, who tarnished the image of womanhood by defying patriarchal prohibitions and
posing a threat to the chauvinistic society’s established order. Through her tragic fate,
Hardy aimed to persuade his readers, particularly women, to prioritize grace, elegance,
and propriety. He also cautioned them to adhere to standardized practices, or else be
prepared for the repercussions of unconventional living. Sadly, Elfride echoes Hardy’s
other female characters, like Tess, and Sue, who also perceive submission to patriarchal
standards as the only survival strategy.
In the later part of the novel, Elfride is depicted as Lord Luxellion’s second wife,
fully immersed in her new life. She is engaged in raising Lord Luxellion’s daughters,
willingly shouldering the responsibilities of a considerate wife, and performing all the
expected duties in accordance with social expectations defined by Hardy and prevailing
societal norms for women. However, the conclusion of the novel, marked by Elfride’s
death, underscores Hardy’s discriminatory stance towards women. He could have chosen
to conclude the narrative on a positive note, depicting Elfride overcoming her past and
enjoying a contented life with her husband, Lord Luxellion. However, in such a scenario,
the writer’s intention to instruct women to adhere to recognized moral standards would not
have been fulfilled. Victorian literature abounds with instances of women inviting miseries
and tragic outcomes for straying from moral norms. “Adulteresses met tragic ends in
novels, including Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. While
some writers and artists showed sympathy towards women’s subjugation to this double
standard, some works were didactic and reinforced the cultural norm” (Wikipedia).
Elfride’s untimely and seemingly futile demise serves as a poignant reminder that
nonconformist women may face repercussions, hinting at their accountability for both
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their actions and the ensuing outcomes.
While Hardy’s writings could have been a powerful tool to challenge the oppression
of women in the 19th century, his silence on the issue suggests a troubling acceptance of
the societal structures that caused them harm. His passivity, despite witnessing the
inequalities and injustices women faced, implies he may have even endorsed limitations
placed on women who dared to defy societal norms. Literature itself reflects these broader
systemic issues, meaning that shifting towards a more equitable society requires changing
how women are perceived and treated. It’s essential to dismantle harmful societal
constraints, advocate for women’s rights, and explore how these themes are represented in
literature and impact real-world experiences.

Works Cited:
Abrams, Lynn. “Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain.” History Trails: Victorian
Britain,
BBC,
9
Aug.
2001,
www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/women_home/ideals_womanhood_06.shtml
. Accessed 1 Nov. 2023.
de Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Translated by Constance Borde and Sheila
Malovany Chevallier, Vintage Books, 2010.
Parker, Shona. “Gender Roles in the Victorian Era.” Back in the Day of,
backinthedayof.co.uk/gender-roles-in-the-victorian-era. Accessed 3 Jan. 2024.
“Exploring Victorian Marriage and Courtship Customs: Love, Arranged Marriages, and
Dowries.”
WeChronicle,
wechronicle.com/victorian-era/exploring-victorian-marriage-
and-courtship-customs-love-arranged-marriages-and-dowries. Accessed 3 Nov. 2023.
Hardy, Thomas. A Pair of Blue Eyes. London: Penguin Classics, 1986.
“History of Victorian Marriage: Understanding the Beliefs of the Era.” AncientsPast,
ancientspast.com/history-of-victorian-marriage-understanding-the-beliefs-of-the-era.
Accessed 5 Feb. 2024.
Jaggar, Alison M. Feminist Politics and Human Nature. The Harvester Press, 1983.
Boumelha, Penny. Thomas Hardy and Women: Sexual Ideology and Narrative Form.
Sussex: The Harvester Press, 1982.
Buzwell, Greg. “Women Writers, Anonymity and Pseudonyms.” British Library,
www.britishlibrary.cn/en/articles/women-writers-anonymity-and-pseudonyms/. Accessed 4
Feb. 2024.

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Mill, John Stuart, and Harriet Taylor Mill. “The Enfranchisement of Women.” University of
Texas at Austin, www.laits.utexas.edu/poltheory/jsmill/diss-disc/eow.html. Accessed 6 Feb.
2024.
Richardson, Joanna. “The Great Revolution: Women’s Education in Victorian Times.”
History
Today,
24
Sep.
2023,
www.historytoday.com/archive/great-revolution-
women%E2%80%99s-education-victorian-times. Accessed 6 Feb. 2024.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Everyman, 1929.
Burney, Frances. Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance Into the World. Edited
by Susan Kubica Howard, Broadview Press, 2000.
“Women in the Victorian Era.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Feb. 2024,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Victorian_era. Accessed 6 Feb. 2024.
376

 
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Fragmented Voices: Analysing Trauma and Neglect in Kimberly Brubaker
Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life
Jonitha Joyson
PhD Scholar,
Department of English,
Pondicherry University.
Article History: Submitted-01/06/2024, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-21/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
Trauma narratives effectively mirror the uncertainties and disruptions in the
consciousness of an individual, often emphasising the unspeakable nature of trauma through
fragmented narration. The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley depicts the
struggle of Ada, a disabled girl and her brother, who are displaced during World War II. This
study examines the representation of trauma in children, particularly disabled children, to
understand its implications on the well-being of a person. The study analyses how societal
attitudes toward disability can exacerbate an individual’s suffering. The article probes into the
effects of trauma and maternal neglect on attachment styles and interpersonal relationships by
utilising attachment and trauma theory.
Keywords: Trauma, Attachment, Disability, Neglect, Children.
Introduction
Trauma is broadly defined as an emotional reaction to an event or a series of events that
are disturbing and distressing in nature that significantly impact an individual’s physical,
emotional and psychological well-being. It is a subjective experience that can vary from person
to person. Experiencing a traumatic event such as abuse, neglect, violence, war, accidents, or
natural calamities can affect an individual’s capacity to control emotions and develop
interpersonal relations.
The concept of trauma emerged in the field of psychology during the nineteenth century
through the pioneering works of Sigmund Freud and Pierre Janet. Within the humanities,
trauma studies tend to incline more to the psychoanalytic ways of thinking rather than strictly
following the clinical approaches (Berger 564). Trauma studies examine the psychological,
cultural and social dimensions of trauma and are concerned less with the effects of trauma on
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individuals. Analysing the impact of a traumatic experience on individual psyches can be used
to examine the personal experience of a collective traumatic event in a text. This approach
helps to build a connection between the personal and political worlds or individual and cultural
groups (Mambrol).
Though trauma is an essential field of discussion, the trauma experienced by younger
children is not given much attention. In “Trauma in Childhood: A Neglected Population,”
Young et al. argue that young children are particularly susceptible to the adverse outcomes of
trauma because of their limited coping skills, dependence on their primary caregiver for
protection, and childhood is a period of rapid emotional, mental, physical, neurological,
behavioural and cognitive development. They argue that untreated trauma can have a notable
impact on the developmental trajectories of a child (247).
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life (2015), a recipient of
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award, narrates the story of Ada, a ten-year-old
disabled girl and her six-year-old brother, Jamie, set against the backdrop of World War II in
London. Ada is subjected to constant abuse by her mother due to her club foot and is confined
to their dilapidated flat. As the war with Germany looms, Ada and Jamie escape to the English
countryside during the evacuation of local London kids. They are reluctantly taken in by Susan
Smith, who was battling herself with depression following the death of her best friend. The
relationship between Ada, Jamie and Susan is initially fraught with difficulties, but gradually,
it evolves into a close bond. The narrative further explores Ada’s struggle to emerge as a person
with confidence, compassion, resilience and self-respect.
This paper aims to close read the novel The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly
Brubaker Bradley to explore the representation of trauma experienced by children, especially
disabled children, to understand its implications on the psychological well-being of a person.
This article will examine the portrayal of maternal neglect and trauma to understand its effect
on attachment styles and interpersonal relations through the lens of trauma and attachment
theory.
Representation of Trauma in The War That Saved My Life
In Beyond Pleasure Principle, Freud explains the concept of trauma as “the wound of
the mind—the breach in the mind’s experience of time, self, and the world” (qtd in Caruth 4).
Unlike the physical wounds that can be healed, trauma disrupts an individual’s ability to
perceive reality. Cathy Caruth further elucidates this by describing trauma as “a shock that
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appears to work very much like a bodily threat but is, in fact, a break in the mind’s experience
of time” (Caruth 61). This results in physical and emotional suffering and an inability to
comprehend the meaning of the event. Literary representations of trauma help us to understand
the diverse ways in which people respond to traumatic events. Hartman suggests that the trauma
theory “focuses on the relationship of words and trauma and helps us to read the wound with
the aid of literature” (537). This theoretical framework allows for a deeper exploration of how
trauma affects an individual through trauma narratives.

The narrative employs autodiegetic narration to delve into Ada’s personal and
psychological struggle. Ada, a young girl with clubfoot, describes her right foot as small and
twisted, with an inflexible ankle and toes in the air that hurt whenever she tries to put weight
on it. She crawls around in the flat, taking care of her brother and making tea for her abusive
mother. Her physical disability becomes the root cause of the emotional abuse and physical
violence that she endures. Research indicates that children with disabilities are more likely to
experience maltreatment than children without disabilities, as they experience violence because
of social stigma and discrimination (Thomas-Skaf and Jenney 320). The stigma associated with
people with a disability as deviant from the accepted ‘normal’ body devoid of any differences
as essentially evil is resonated through the words of her mother, who describes Ada as “A
monster, with that ugly foot! You think I want the world seeing my shame?” (Bradley 4). Her
mother considers Ada to be a disgrace. She uses every opportunity to belittle her daughter by
calling her a cripple, which leads to the erasure of all her capabilities and capacities. Ada is
confined to her one-room flat to conceal her disability from the world. Society’s obsession over
abled bodies is further depicted when her mother says to Ada about her brother, “He ain’t a
cripple. Not like you” (Bradley 1). This remark not only reflects her mother’s prejudices but
also the cultural biases and the social belief that deviant bodies are to be isolated, controlled
and confined.
In addition to the verbal and emotional abuse, Ada’s mother tries to discipline Ada
through physical abuse and extreme methods of torture, such as hitting and locking her up in
the cabinet, a small cubby, dark, damp and smelly place with roaches under the sink for the
whole night. This continuous torture causes extreme emotional distress, fear and dissociation
from reality. During one of such bad experiences, Ada notes, “I wouldn’t be able to see
anything or even feel anything. I would be just gone,” highlighting the trauma she undergoes
(Bradley 13). Freud identifies such trauma as a rift in the experience of the mind. In their tiny
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flat in London, Ada is forced to live like a captivated animal, knowing nothing about the world
outside.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychological condition that arises in
response to experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It is characterised by a set of
symptoms that can significantly impact the mental health and daily functioning of an
individual. These symptoms often include reexperiencing the trauma, avoidance or emotional
numbing, and hyperarousal (Young et al. 232). These symptoms can manifest differently in
children compared to adults, but they are fundamentally similar in their core characteristics.

Reexperiencing trauma is reliving the trauma through flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, or
nightmares. This often entails the rigid, repetitive, and anxious responses that result in the
repeated enactment of trauma. When exposed to traumatic reminders, they react with
overwhelming emotional and physical reactions (Young et al. 232). In the novel, Ada
reexperiences trauma immediately after she escapes from London. Memories of maternal abuse
and neglect persistently haunt her, weakening her sense of security in her new environment.
When Ada inadvertently damages Susan’s sewing machine, she succumbs to numbness and
tremors, reliving the trauma. She hides under the bed and confines herself in a dark space that
resembles the cabinet. Her reaction can be seen as a self-imposed punishment, further affirmed
when Jamie says their mother locks Ada in a cabinet whenever she does anything wrong. She
utters meaningless, repetitive phrases like “So I can stay. SoIcanstaysoIcanstaysoIcanstay” and
“Oh no. Ohnoohnoohnoohno” reveal her unbearable distress (Bradley 173). Ada’s inability to
articulate her fears and thoughts highlights the psychological impact of trauma and its
manifestations as intrusive and fearful thoughts. It indicates trauma’s enigmatic presence in
consciousness, challenging conventional modes of memory assimilation and narrative
expression. Her experience acts as a poignant illustration of trauma’s disruptive influence over
language and consciousness.
Avoidance or Numbing involves efforts to escape the reminders of the trauma through
emotional numbness or detachment from others. Children might avoid places, people, specific
conversations, or activities that trigger traumatic memories (Young et al. 233). Ada
demonstrates avoidance behaviour by withdrawing from situations reminiscent of her past
suffering. An illustrative incident occurs during an air raid when Ada, Susan and Jamie had to
seek refuge in an Anderson shelter. Despite the imminent danger, Ada finds herself paralysed
by her traumatic past. The dampness, odour and darkness inside the shelter evoke memories of
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her painful confinement in her mother’s cabinet. She was aware of the impending threat to her
life, but she could not get inside it as it reminded her of the dark, smelling, painful space, the
cabinet in her Mam’s house. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go inside. Not into that damp shelter,
that smelled exactly like the cabinet. Not into that darkness. Not into that pain” (Bradley 267).
Ada’s sensory experience reminds her of the painful memories that act as trauma triggers: “The
smell enveloped me. I could feel the cramped cabinet, the roaches. I could hear Mam laughing
while I screamed” (Bradley 267). This event serves as a stark reminder of the pervasive
influence of trauma on daily life.
Hyperarousal manifests as irritability, difficulty sleeping, extreme fussiness,
hypervigilance and temper tantrums, indicative of their heightened sensitivity to stress and
perceived threats (Young et al. 233). This heightened state of agitation often stems from an
inability to regulate emotions, leading to disproportionate responses to minor frustrations or
disruptions. Ada’s reaction to receiving a gift from Susan illustrates this phenomenon vividly.
Instead of expressing joy or gratitude, Ada becomes highly agitated and startled when Susan
gifts her a green velvet dress and compliments her appearance. Ada’s internal dialogue reveals
a torment of disorganised thoughts:
She was lying. She was lying and I couldn’t bear it. I heard Mam’s voice shrieking in
my head. “You ugly piece of rubbish! Filth and trash! No one wants you, with that ugly
foot!” My head started to shake. Rubbish. Filth. Trash. (Bradley 213)
This overwhelming emotional turmoil results in a physical attack, where Ada kicks,
bites and scratches Susan, which later she could not recollect. Dori Laub explains in Testimony:
Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis and History:
The traumatic event, although real, took place outside the parameters of ‘normal’
reality, such as causality, sequence, place and time. The trauma is thus an event that has
no beginning, no ending, no before, no during and no after … Trauma survivors live
not with memories of the past, but with an event that could not and did not proceed
through to its completion, has no ending, attained no closure, and therefore, as far as its
survivors are concerned, continues into the present and is current in every respect.
(Laub 69)
This concept of trauma lacking temporal parameters resonates with Ada’s experience.
Just as trauma survivors struggle with the absence of a distinct beginning or end to their
traumatic events, Ada’s trauma permeates her consciousness, blurring the boundaries between
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past and present. The chronic nature of Ada’s trauma, caused by multiple abusive incidents
with her mother, perpetuates a distressing emotional cycle, fuelling hyperarousal responses.
While the novel unfolds in chronological order, Ada’s subjective experience of time is marked
by fragmentation and distortion, mirroring the disruptive effects of trauma on cognitive
processes, where past and present moments intermingle, creating a fragmented temporal
reality.
Ada’s inability to fully express her emotions and her clinginess to Jamie as the sole
source of solace further points out the impact of trauma on interpersonal relations and
emotional regulation. Her fear of returning to the traumatic environment manifests in violent
outbursts. She reacts furiously to the perceived threat of sending back to London. Subsequent
episodes include Ada throwing and breaking a plate of food, and she tries to force-feed Jamie
the food that has fallen on the ground, though he resists, gags, and chokes. The thought of
Susan sending them back to London because of Jamie’s unpleasant behaviour makes her
exasperated, resulting in a frenzied action. Following this event, she wakes from her sleep
disoriented and gasping, without being able to comprehend and recollect what happened. Ada’s
dissociation from reality is evident through her inability to recognise her own emotions and
thoughts. The portrayal of Ada’s struggles illustrates the enduring effects of trauma on
children’s emotional and cognitive development. By exploring Ada’s experience, readers gain
a deeper understanding of the ongoing challenges trauma survivors confront even after the
immediate danger has passed.
Impact of Trauma and Neglect on Attachment Styles
Originally theorised by John Bowlby, attachment theory integrates insights from
evolutionary theory, ethology, and cybernetics. Attachment is a child’s innate tendency to seek
and derive comfort from interaction with reliable caregivers, especially during times of anxiety
and vulnerability. According to Bowlby, an infant’s internalised perceptions of itself and other
people (referred to as “internal working models”) are shaped by both the availability and
responsiveness of the caretaker (qtd in Finzi et al. 771). Ainsworth identified differences in the
attachment behaviour of individuals, which led to the identification of four consistent patterns
of attachment forms: secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganised.
A securely attached child typically exhibits confidence in their caregiver’s availability
and responsiveness, which fosters a sense of safety, encourages exploration of their
environment and seeks comfort from their caregiver in times of distress. In contrast, children
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with an anxious-ambivalent attachment style often exhibit clinginess, heightened dependency,
and difficulty exploring their environment. They are uncertain about their caregiver’s
responsiveness, leading to anxiety and hyper-vigilance. Avoidant attachment is characterised
by emotional insulation from the caregiver in their absence and presence. It is caused frequently
by maternal unresponsiveness, hostility and rejection. Disorganised attachment often stems
from the inconsistent or frightening behaviour of the caregiver, resulting in a lack of coherent
strategy for dealing with stress and alternate displays of inhibition and distress (Finzi et al.772).
When a primary caregiver, particularly the mother, fails to provide consistent, nurturing, and
responsive care, it can cause various attachment issues.

Neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment that has fatal effects on a
child’s development. It tends to be chronic and insidious, not immediately manifesting an
adverse impact on the child (Proctor and Dubowitz 27). It is known as the “neglect of the
neglect” that can pose a significant threat to the child’s overall growth and well-being (Hildyard
and Wolfe 680). Neglect typically begins in early childhood and contributes to the construction
of a negative perception of self and others. Children are more vulnerable to trauma due to the
lack of presence and protection of a primary caregiver.
In Ada’s case, her mother neglects her in all possible realms of life. Working at a pub
during the night and sleeping during the day, Ada’s mother leaves Ada responsible for her
brother. The dynamic between Ada and her mother is that of a master and a servant. Her
mother’s commands starkly illustrate this dynamic:
“Cut me some bread and dripping,” Mam said. “Get some for your brother too.” She
laughed. “And, if there’s anything left, you can throw it out of the window. See if
Stephen White would like your dinner. How’d you like that?” (Bradley 2)
Mam’s words reveal her cold, distant demeanour and how she uses Ada merely as an
object to ease her life. Rather than providing comfort to her disabled child by taking care of
her physical and emotional needs, she falsely tells everyone around that Ada needs to be locked
up for being mentally ill. Ada is deprived of education and medical support to relieve her daily
pain. She is kept in squalid conditions and denied essential information such as her full name,
birthdate, father’s name, address, and medical condition. Ada’s mother is indifferent to her
children’s well-being, focusing only on financial gains and benefits. She forcefully brings them
back from the countryside during bomb threats, motivated by the cost of upkeep rather than
their safety. Her obsession with money is evident in her refusal to seek medical care for Ada
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as an infant, exacerbating Ada’s disability. She further tries to accuse Ada and reduces her
identity to her disability by stating, “You’re a cripple. That’s all you are. A cripple, and nothing
but a cripple” (Bradley 297). She vehemently opposes sending Ada to the countryside,
asserting, “Who’d want you? Nobody, that’s who. Nice people don’t want to look at foot”
(Bradley 15). This constant abuse and devaluation cause Ada to form a negative self-
perception, increasing her vulnerability to trauma.
Trauma can disrupt the formation of secure attachments in children. Children are prone
to develop negative representations of their parents when they endure frightful experiences
with them. They start to perceive their parents as frightening and furious figures rather than
sources of security and comfort, creating a mental landscape of persistent emotional suffering
and unfavourable emotions. Consequently, children become hypervigilant, constantly waiting
for their caregiver’s response. Such situations, along with trauma, bring together the
characteristics of avoidant and ambiguous stress, resulting in the formation of a disorganised
attachment style or fearful-avoidant style (Erozkan 1072).
In Ada’s case, the trauma inflicted by her mother and the absence of a nurturing primary
caregiver to seek a secure base during difficult situations contribute to the development of a
disorganised attachment style. Despite lacking positive memories with her mother, Ada does
not completely reject her. In the novel, she yearns for her mother’s approval and attributes her
mother’s disdain to her disability. She hopes that by concealing or rectifying her disability, she
might gain her mother’s acceptance: “If I could walk, maybe Mam wouldn’t be so ashamed of
me. Maybe we could disguise my crippled foot” (Bradley 10). In the novel, Ada frequently
acknowledges her mother’s rejection and dislike, yet she oscillates between seeking comfort
and distancing herself from her mother. This ambivalence is evidently through her thoughts:
I hated— I hated—Oh. Even in my head I still couldn’t say I hated Mam. Even now. If
I could get my foot fixed, maybe she’d be different. May’be she’d love me. Maybe she
would. (Bradley 204)
This inconsistency in Ada highlights her unpredictable nature, as she vacillates between
desiring closeness and withdrawal from her mother. Although Ada never explicitly articulates
fear for her mother, she considers, “Home was more frightening than bombs” (Bradley 63).
The fear of being alone, hungry, neglected and abused leads her to consider death preferable to
suffering in London. When Ada encounters her mother at Susan’s house, she reexperiences
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disorientation and distress, feeling cold and distant from everything around her. This reaction
highlights the deep-seated trauma and confusion that define her relationship with her mother.

Ada’s complicated relationship with her mother significantly impacts her interactions
with others. She becomes suspicious of anyone who shows her affection and care. When Susan
takes the role of caregiver, Ada expects her to behave as her mother did, anticipating
punishment and confinement for wrongdoing. Contrary to her expectations, Susan proves to be
genuinely caring, which confuses and unsettles Ada. She reflects, “I wanted Mam to be like
Susan. I didn’t trust Susan not to be like Mam” (Bradley 184). Ada perceives Susan as a
potential reflection of her mother, assuming that Susan is forced to take care of them against
her will. Susan challenges Ada’s mental image of a primary giver as a self-indulgent, abusive
and humiliating person, further confuses her. Ada longs for the same comfort that Susan
provides in her mother, yet constantly feels that Susan is temporary, believing that her foot and
her mother’s disdain are permanent life. She feels furious about the temporariness of Susan’s
existence in her life and uneasy with physical proximity and touch simultaneously.

The intrusive reminders of her mother and the trauma that she endured make it difficult
for Ada to connect with other people. She insulates herself, struggling to understand the social
dynamics and make friends. Her inability to make connections stems from her negative self-
perception. She avoids drawing attention to her foot and fears judgment, feeling unworthy of
love, care, and support. Happiness, a foreign feeling to her, prompts vigilance and caution about
the potential aftermath of being happy. She reflects, “All this about being together and being
happy and celebrating—it felt threatening. Like I shouldn’t be a part of it. Like I was not
allowed” (Bradley 206). Traumatic events have the capacity to shatter attachments with friends,
family, and community, disrupting one’s self-image and eroding the belief systems that give
meaning to the human experience (Herman 51). Ada’s trauma had numbed her, impairing her
ability to receive and reciprocate affection. She is afraid of expressing her genuine emotions,
confusion and gratitude. These events show trauma’s lasting impact on forming healthy
relationships with others.
Conclusion
The novel The War That Saved My Life is a powerful depiction of trauma. The novel
illustrates the pervasive effects of trauma on disabled children and its impact on their emotional
and psychological development. The novel portrays that disabled children are more vulnerable
to trauma when their primary caregivers abuse them physically, emotionally and verbally.
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Neglect by a primary caregiver, particularly a mother, can significantly disrupt a child’s
attachment styles and interpersonal relations. Bradley vividly portrays the fear, insecurity,
isolation and fragmented thoughts that arise in such circumstances, underscoring the critical
role of nurturing caregivers in fostering a child’s healthy development and relationships.
Through Ada’s experiences, the novel underscores the lasting consequences of trauma and the
essential need for supportive, consistent care to mitigate the damaging effects of trauma.

Works Cited:
Berger, James. “Trauma Without Disability, Disability Without Trauma: A Disciplinary
Divide.”
JAC,
vol.24.no.3,
2004,
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563–582.
JSTOR,
doi:http://www.jstor.org/stable/20866643.
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. The War That Saved My Life. Puffin, 2015.
Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1996.
De Young, Alexandra C., et al. “Trauma in Early Childhood: A Neglected Population.”
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, vol.14, 2011, pp.231–250. SpringerLink, doi:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-011-0094-3
Erozkan, Atilgan. “The Link between Types of Attachment and Childhood Trauma.” Universal
Journal
of
Educational
Research,
vol.4,
no.5,
2016,
pp.1071–1079.
ERIC,
doi:10.13189/ujer.2016.040517.
Finzi, Ricky, et al. “Attachment Styles and Aggression in Physically Abused and Neglected
Children.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, vol.30, no.6, 2001, pp.769–786. SpringerLink,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012237813771
Herman, Judith. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—from Domestic Abuse to
Political Terror. Basic Books, 1992.
Hildyard, Kathryn L., and David A. Wolfe. “Child Neglect: Developmental Issues and
Outcomes.” Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 26, no.6-7, 2002, pp. 679–695. ScienceDirect, doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00341-1
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Laub, Dori. “Bearing Witness or the Vicissitudes of Listening.” Testimony: Crises of
Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History. Routledge, 1992, pp.75–92.
Mambrol,
Nasrullah.
“Trauma
Studies.”
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19
December
2018,
https://literariness.org/2018/12/19/trauma-studies/. Accessed 13 April 2024.
Proctor, Laura J., and Howard Dubowitz. “Child neglect: Challenges and controversies.”
Handbook of Child Maltreatment. Springer, 2013, pp. 27–61.
Thomas-Skaf, Brooke A., and Angelique Jenney. “Bringing Social Justice into Focus:
“Trauma-Informed” Work With Children With Disabilities.” Child Care in Practice, vol. 27,
no.4,
2021,
pp.316–332.
Taylor
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https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2020.1765146.

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 15, Issue-III, June 2024 ISSN: 0976-8165
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Resilience and Survival in the Face of Adversity: A Study of James
Ragan’s Poetic Themes
Shubhi Sharma
Research Scholar,
Bhagwant University, Ajmer,
Rajasthan.
Article History: Submitted-01/06/2024, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-25/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
Poetry is with Nature, by Nature, and for Nature. The words of a poem often create
intensity deeper than the ones of prose and fiction. The speaker wants to convey their feelings
and reveal their settings and situations. The selection of words can be a meticulous process for
a poet, requiring deep and thorough knowledge and profound diction. Ragan is an
internationally recognized poet who consummated the world with his ability to write and
influence the public with his lyrical poems, plays, and essays. Ragan’s birth and upbringing in
Pennsylvania to Slovak parents and growing up in Pittsburgh connects him to Europe and
America. His poems have been celebrated by the Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, who said
for his poems – “for sparing no passion in believing they sing”. The Themes in Ragan’s poetry
are more like a kaleidoscope, whether he talks about nature; childhood, adulthood, or
geography. Ragan relates and connects his poem geographically, where he talks about places
in Slovakia, Pennsylvania, Prague, and America. He even mentioned China and other countries,
depicted wonderfully in the poem. Each poem constitutes a lyrical sound. Ragan’s poetry also
presents a glimpse of history, geography, and thematic variation. His poems are more honest,
vitalized, sublimely candid, and instructively didactic. James not only creates love for his
poetry among children but anyone who reads his poetry would fall for the singing poem and
the reality it brings across. In each of his books weather Womb-Weary, Lusions, In the Talking
Hours, and more he talks about social conscience, reason, and sense, flora and fauna, etc. His
famous Yevtushenko’s Collected Poems has been praised as “a passionate and essential
edition” by the New York Times. His poems to Prague were performed for the President of the
Czech Republic, Vaclav Claus, at Prague along with 500 guests at Hradcany Castle on
November 5, 2008. Reading and exploring Ragan apprise how Ragan loves to tell stories, keep
photographs of all the special moments he had and important people in his life with whom he
read in 1985 along with Seamus Heaney, Robert Bly, and Bob Dylan at the first international
poetry festival hosted by Mikhail Gorbachev at Moscow. James along with Heaney and Bob
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had read for 8,000 people in a Hockey stadium. James said in a conference- It is the hope that
with a collective call for the Globalization of literature of conscience with its rejuvenated
devotion to artistry, this one will be inspired by the verve and compassion with which the poets
and the prose writers had, in the past, informed their art in the order to, in turn, move and shape
the hearts and minds of a seemingly dispassionate culture.
Keywords: multipotentialite, Slovak, kaleidoscope, Prague, Didactic.

As he was born during World War II and coming of age during the Cold War, Ragan
was deeply affected by the geopolitical events of his time. These experiences likely shaped his
perspectives on war, politics, and the human condition, themes that are prevalent in his poetry.
Global events such as World War II, the Cold War, and the fall of communism in Eastern
Europe deeply influenced James Ragan’s thematic choices in his poetry and plays. Growing up
during the turbulent years of World War II and the Cold War, Ragan was witness to the human
cost of conflict and the struggle for freedom and democracy. These experiences instilled in him
a profound sense of empathy for those affected by war and oppression, themes that are often
reflected in his work. Ragan’s poetry often explores themes of loss, displacement, and the
resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity, reflecting his own family’s experience as
immigrants and his broader understanding of the human condition. The fall of communism in
Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s had a particularly profound impact on Ragan,
as it coincided with his efforts as a cultural diplomat to promote artistic exchange between the
United States and Eastern Europe. This period of historic change inspired much of Ragan’s
later work, as he sought to capture the spirit of hope and renewal that accompanied the collapse
of the Iron Curtain. These global events shaped James Ragan’s thematic choices by providing
him with a broader perspective on the human experience, highlighting the universal themes of
suffering, resilience, and the quest for freedom that are central to his poetry and plays. Like
many Midwestern towns, his hometown was shaped by migration and immigration,
contributing to its cultural diversity. This multicultural environment likely influenced Ragan’s
appreciation for different cultures and his exploration of themes related to identity and
belonging in his poetry.

The theme in Ragan’s poetry focuses more on Nature, childhood, geography, and
history. Ragan’s poems are always lovely and often deep, and he offers a reading in the spirit
of a raconteur. In his poem “The Hunger Wall”- Ragan draws upon his personal experiences
and historical research to examine what it meant to face the civil disturbances that viciously
divided Los Angeles throughout the length of race and class. The Hunger Wall – named for the
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wall near Prague Castle which delves into the similarities between both Czech and Slovak,
takes these two cultural sensibilities that seem worlds apart and explores the subtle nuances of
their unlikely similarities. In beautifully crafted and metaphorically rich language, Ragan
studies what it means to set a “border,” whether it is political, racial, or economic. James
Ragan’s poems are full of arresting collocations and striking phrases. For example, the
following lines from “Too Long a Solitude” may be cited:
The ice now gutted where the trunk
Has hunkered down to see its cones,
Shods the whiskered stiles,
A grand ensemble for a bland horizon.
(Too Long a Solitude, p.7)
The lines evoke themes of resilience and endurance, as seen in the tree standing firm
amidst harsh conditions. They highlight nature’s intricate beauty and detail against a bland
horizon, showcasing the contrast between detailed elements and the broader, simpler
landscape. The imagery reflects solitude and introspection, suggesting a passage of time and
the changes it brings, with the tree symbolizing continuity amidst change.
Growing up in a working-class family in a small town in Illinois, James Ragan was
immersed in a cultural environment that profoundly influenced his life and work. Rooted in the
Midwest, he was surrounded by values of community, hard work, and resilience, themes that
echo throughout his poetry. His upbringing exposed him to American folk traditions such as
storytelling, folk music, and folk art, which emphasize the importance of oral narratives and
the preservation of cultural heritage. The industrial landscape of his hometown also made a
significant impact on his artistic vision, shaping his views on labour, industry, and the
environment. His poetry often depicts factories, railroads, and other industrial elements,
reflecting the influence of his surroundings. Ragan’s upbringing in rural Illinois gave him a rich
array of experiences and influences that continue to resonate in his poetry. His work reflects a
deep connection to the landscapes, traditions, and values of the American Midwest, while also
engaging with broader themes of history, identity, and the universal human experience. Ragan’s
Slovak roots also played a significant role in shaping his identity and artistic sensibilities. He
often spoke fondly of his heritage, describing how his upbringing instilled in him a strong sense
of resilience, community, and love for the arts. His family’s Slovak background provided him
with a rich tapestry of stories, myths, and traditions that would later find their way into his
poetry and plays. His poetry is infused with a deep nostalgia for a homeland he never knew
firsthand but was deeply connected to through his family and upbringing. Ragan’s connection
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to his Slovak heritage also influenced his work as a cultural diplomat. As the director of the
University of Southern California’s Professional Writing Program, he even organized cultural
exchanges with Slovakia, bringing Slovak artists and writers to the United States and fostering
artistic collaborations between the two countries. As a diplomat, he worked to promote cultural
understanding and appreciation between the United States and Slovakia, highlighting the
shared cultural heritage that binds the two nations. Through his poetry, plays, and diplomatic
efforts, Ragan has celebrated his Slovak heritage and shared it with the world, enriching the
cultural fabric of both Slovakia and the United States.

Ragan’s poetry has been praised “for sparing no passion in believing they sing,” said
Seamus Heaney for Ragan’s poetry. He had completed his honorary Doctorate from St. Vincent
College and London’s Richmond University (2001) his poetry was widely praised for exploring
various subjects- “with compassion, and with a single voice one trusts. His poetry is Poetry of
Conscience”.
Ragan’s style is also shaped by the influences of contemporary poets, such as T.S. Eliot,
W.B. Yeats, and Pablo Neruda. Like these poets, Ragan experiments with language and form,
pushing the boundaries of traditional poetic conventions. His work is characterized by its
lyrical intensity, its vivid imagery, and its willingness to engage with the complexities of
modern life. His poetic style synthesises the old and the new, the classical and the
contemporary. It is a style that reflects his deep reverence for the poetic traditions of the past
while also embracing the ever-evolving nature of poetry in the present. Focusing on Ragan’s
poetic voice, it has evolved over the years, influenced by various literary sources and personal
experiences. His early work shows the influence of modernist poets like T.S. Eliot and W.B.
Yeats, with its dense, allusive language and complex imagery. As Ragan’s style matured, he
began to incorporate elements of surrealism and magical realism into his work, inspired by
poets like Federico García Lorca and Pablo Neruda. This phase of his writing is characterized
by its dreamlike quality and its use of vivid, often fantastical imagery. In more recent years,
Ragan’s poetry has taken on a more reflective and meditative tone, influenced perhaps by the
wisdom and perspective that comes with age. His work continues to be informed by his deep
engagement with the world around him, as well as his ongoing exploration of themes like
identity, memory, and the passage of time. Throughout his career, Ragan’s poetic voice has
remained distinctive and unique, shaped by a wide range of literary influences and a deep
commitment to the craft of poetry. His work serves as a testament to the power of language to
illuminate the human experience and connect us with the world around us.
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Ragan believed that the art of poetry was a way of engaging global suffering and
prejudice. All ten books of poetry are somehow connected to real-life incidents and most of
them are autobiographies and are based on geographical and historical aspects. Ragan always
uses vivid descriptions and his choices of words are so profound they manifest an aura for a
reader. In all of his books, he made it public to meet the reality rather than to escape and he
even let us know how the past and growing cancers of a world raging with conflict: Vietnam,
U.S. Race Riots, and Cold War nuclear Threats.
As an artist, he believes that he must prick the conscience of society and engage the
powers of a larger world. What distinguishes Ragan’s poetry is his melodic Slovak dialect and
riveting delivery, which contribute to the visceral pleasure of hearing his poems read aloud.
The use of splendid diction and metaphorical imagery can be seen in his poems. For example:
Should your single eye
Scale the precipice of space
To see how barren the language
of stars can be, how sullenly
the night ignores the passing
shell of one, fellow in its tow,
yet divines the other
in some fit of passion
it cannot check, you should know.
(‘Walking to Two Moons’, Womb-Weary, p. 52)
In the poem ‘Walking to Two Moons,’ the lines convey a sense of cosmic loneliness and
the unpredictable nature of attention and affection. These lines suggest, that if we observe the
vastness of space with a discerning eye, we will notice the emptiness and indifferent nature of
the stars. One star’s fading is ignored by the night, while another might receive unexpected
attention due to an uncontainable burst of passion. This highlights the randomness and
indifference of the universe.
The “single eye” represents focused perception or insight, while the “precipice of space”
implies a vast, daunting frontier. The “language of stars” suggests the communication or signals
from celestial bodies, which are barren and unresponsive. The night ignoring the “passing
shell” of a star depicts indifference, and the “fit of passion” represents sudden, uncontrollable
events or emotions that shift focus.
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Themes of isolation, indifference, and the unpredictability of attention are central,
inviting contemplation on the nature of existence and recognition. The imagery evokes vast,
silent space, emphasizing the randomness of fate and the universe’s indifferent nature.
Ragan said- TO SUM UP what has brought him to this point – his poetic sensibility has
always been global, as reflected by his current Visiting Distinguished Professorship at Prague’s
Charles University. He writes to find expression through his poetry, plays, and films to bring
individuals and worlds, seemingly apart, closer in understanding. The cafes that he writes in
are his libraries, from Prague to Paris to New York and Los Angeles. He used to write to live
out loud and with the eternal hope that through the expansive reach of art, he could achieve
community through a common language. And he used to keep very high optimism in that.
He was praised by Nobel Prize Nominee Miroslav Holub- “James Ragan dominates the
art of image, the art of poetic line, and the art of poetic Narration with insight that marks major
poets.” Moreover, the very statement may be testified in the lines of different poems which
follow:
In the Talking hours we cannibals,
Spoon salt out of gills
To preserve our Flesh, stiff with the blood of a whale,
Stripped to its bowels.
(‘In The Talking Hours’, p.65)
In the poem “In the Talking Hours,” the lines suggest a scene of survival and primal
behaviour. The phrase “we cannibals” implies a metaphorical consumption of one another,
perhaps through harsh conversations or actions. “Spoon salt out of gills” indicates extracting
what is necessary to survive, using the salt to preserve their flesh, which is described as “stiff
with the blood of a whale,” suggesting a connection to a powerful, ancient source of sustenance.
“Stripped to its bowels” implies a raw, exposed state, both physically and emotionally. In brief,
the lines depict a struggle for preservation and survival, using visceral and intense imagery to
convey the primal nature of their actions.
The line depicts the time of growing cancers of a world raging with conflict: Vietnam,
U.S. Race Riots, and Cold War nuclear threats. The poem “Aryan Devolution,” dedicated to
the 11 Israeli athletes killed by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, led to national radio
interviews. The Los Angeles Herald Examiner praised the book, describing it as “dry ice
smoking from contact.” Poems protesting the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia garnered
international attention. Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko hailed it as “a testament to universal
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brotherhood. He is my brother.” Soon, Ragan’s poetry intertwined with his passion for
teaching.
U.S. Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur said- “James Ragan’s poems are satisfying and
distinctive, full of arresting collocations and striking phrases.” The line itself is literal and
veracious as it depicts how in an impressive and daunting way Ragan creates an image in the
mind of his readers.
It fails to grasp the predicament,
To be named a forest- a lone spruce, digging into the rock’s rigging
For nourishment in snow,
When all around it, stones are rootless,
And scurf’s of ice tumble through flight
(‘The Aleutian Forest’, Too Long a Solitude, p.7)
The lines tell us about the Aleutian islands, which are situated in the western part of the
U.S.A. Here Ragan describes the forest as a lone spruce which is the main reference to an island
that is clean and neat and the surrounding waters are the home to man seabirds, mammals, and
fishes.

Ragan’s “Too Long a Solitude” has been a runner-up for the 2009 Oklahoma Book
Award. In the poetry collection “Too Long a Solitude,” his poems migrate from isolation in a
world tinged with war and an aching sense of global alienation.

“In conversations with James Ragan in Voyage L.A. we get to know that James was
widely praised- “James Ragan’s fine-grained and witty poems move us through a remarkable
range of history and geography, thematic variety and tonal dexterity.” – Said The Pulitzer Prize
Winner C.K. Williams as his poems are more thematical and are also linked to subjects both
Geography and History. Ragan’s reference to islands, oceans, mountains, plateaus, and plains
makes him a writer full of geographical knowledge.
“James Ragan’s poetry lights the passage to the larger world of global citizenship.”-
Said National Book Critics Award, William Matthews as the poems unleash their raw energy
and emotional power like a collection of classic paintings brought in a new retrospective
manner. “James Ragan’s poetry is splendidly candid, original, energized, connected to the real
world, humane, full of nuances, of music, of idioms he has heard and invented.”- said Robert
Frost Award, Michael S. Harper.
Ragan in his collection of poetry– “Womb-Weary” let us know how it chronicles a soul-
searching odyssey through the international landscape of human joy and suffering, a private
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charting of terrain both physical and metaphysical. Take an example of one of his poems from
‘Womb-Weary”.
In India, we name the river Ganga,
The anointed locks of hair
Through which water flows
And where on slats of sandalwood
The pilgrims wade to find the source of light.
( ‘Monongahela’, p.10)
James even depicted more about India and the culture – the reference to river Ganga in
the above lines of the poem “Monongahela”- which means a month.

In India, the tradition of pilgrimage often includes acquiring tokens or souvenirs from
the sacred sites visited. Among these, sandalwood holds a special significance, often sought
after as a memento or gift from the city of Ayodhya. This aromatic wood is treasured for its
cultural and religious importance, symbolizing purity and spiritual connection. Interestingly,
Ayodhya’s sandalwood products, known as ‘Maharaja Chandan’, attract not only pilgrims but
also visitors from other revered religious destinations such as Mathura and Haridwar. This
tradition highlights Ayodhya’s cultural and commercial importance as a center for spiritual
tourism and the exchange of sacred items.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the First Prime Minister of India, referred to the River Ganga in his
book ‘Discovery of India’ – India “The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her
people. It is a repository of India’s historical memories, a canvas painted with the hopes and
fears of its populace, and a symphony echoing the songs of its triumphs and tribulations. The
Ganga has been the symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilization, ever-changing, ever
flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga.”
“The Ganges” is reverently called Ganga Mata (Mother Ganga) in Hindu culture,
esteemed for her role in absolving sins and purifying humanity. Unlike numerous deities, she
lacks a menacing or destructive aspect, notwithstanding her potential for devastation as a river.
Furthermore, she is regarded as a maternal figure to other gods.
As Ragan said –the anointed locks of hair- which means the other rivers that are
connected to River Ganga including Bhagirathi and Alaknanda meet and form River Ganga.
The anointed locks of hair are also a representation of Lord Shiva from which The River Ganga
flows which even represents the causal waters from which the earth arises.

Ragan poems are musical and pleasing as his lyrics in the poem say it all, the mention
of Shakespeare and Dante even makes the poem appealing.
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It is universally acknowledged that poetry is still the hallmark of sublime creativity.
Next to music, it is Literature in general and Poetry in particular which comes closest to the
human heart. It is more critical when a poet sings of the pains and sufferings common and
uncommon, of both mankind. After all, a poet is a product of the society to that time She/he
belongs, and it seems pretty impossible for him/her to delink himself/herself from his
surroundings. In conclusion, James Ragan’s work is characterized by its deep connection to
nature, history, geography, and personal experience. His poetry reflects a kaleidoscope of
themes, ranging from the beauty of nature to the complexities of human relationships. Ragan’s
ability to weave together vivid imagery, profound diction, and melodic language creates a
powerful and engaging poetic experience for readers. Ragan’s poetry encourages readers to
explore their surroundings and examine their place in it. He is a genuinely universal poet whose
themes are timeless and enduring because his work resonates with readers of all ages and
backgrounds.

Works Cited:
_____. Ragan, James. Womb-Weary. Carol Publishing Group. New York: A Birch Lane
Press Book. 1990
_____. Too Long a Solitude. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.2009
_____. The Hunger Wall. New York: Grove Press Books. 1996

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Anthropocentric Infliction of War Over Water Reflected in Paolo
Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife
D. Mohanapriya
M. Phil, Research Scholar of English,
Sri GVG Visalakshi College for Women.
&
Dr. S. Geetha
Assistant Professor of English,
Sri GVG Visalakshi College for Women.
Article History: Submitted-31/05/2024, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-21/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
During the current times, especially in the past two decades of the twenty-first century,
experts from the scientific community as well as anthropologists, historians, and environmentalists
have voiced concerns about the depleting state of the environment. They have raised questions
around the representation of climate change, resource scarcity, and biodiversity loss. The study
also explores the different water crises prevailing worldwide. Ecocriticism seeks to understand the
influence of humans on the natural world in historically and culturally distinct ways. This study
aims to demystify the violence caused by water scarcity in the form of pollution and exploitation
of landscapes, human and non-human life, as well as cultural ethics. The study integrates the reality
behind the depiction of the author’s narrative based on the Colorado River and the American West.
The water scarcity advancing in the states of Arizona, Nevada, and California are documented
within the plot. The article concentrates on the importance of water and the self-interest of
anthropocentric nature in exploiting the naturally available resources to the detriment of other
lives, inevitably causing damage to the ecosystem. War-prone social conditions occur due to the
scarcity of water.
Keywords: climate change, ecocriticism, resource scarcity, anthropocentric nature, war.
Fred Pearce, in his work, When the Rivers Run Dry, introduces the concept that “Wells
have been drying up, too. More than half a century of pumping water from beneath the great plains
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of the United States” (Pearce 4) has depleted underground water that would take two thousand
years to replenish. In India, farmers whose fathers lifted water in buckets now sink boreholes more
than half a mile into the rocks and still often find no water. In less than half a century, Saudi Arabia
has almost pumped dry one of the three largest underground water reserves on earth.Two-thirds of
all the water that humans take from nature is used for agriculture. By some estimates, as much as
10 percent of that water—about 570 million acre-feet of water—ends up in international trade. The
water itself is not traded, of course; rather, the products of its use are. Economists sometimes call
it “virtual water”. As countries across the world engage in this trade in virtual water, tensions
increase. “The biggest net exporter of virtual water is the United States. It sends abroad in traded
goods around a third of all the water it withdraws from the natural environment” (Pearce 9).
Paolo Bacigalupi, in his work The Water Knife portrays the depletion and insufficiency of
fresh water in both natural and built environments, with the weight of climate change hanging in
the atmosphere and a recontoured landscape marred by toxicity. John Brinkerhoff Jackson
identifies landscape as a composition of man-made spaces on the land, suggesting that it is an
assembly of modified spaces designed and intended to serve as infrastructure or background for
collective existence. Its purpose is to serve the community, as its collective nature is a universally
acknowledged attribute. The imagined or creative sites of dystopia and toxicity express not only
the unfolding of an anthropocentric world but also the result of exalting the consideration and
visualization of human-centric conception. The novel is set against the backdrop of the pale scrape
of desert in which the Colorado River flows, “diminished by droughts and diversions” (Bacigalupi
11), and the dry lands of western America, where cities and states compete for a resource
ecologically depleting and economically high-priced in the aftermath of a human-induced crisis.
In The Water Knife the water of the Colorado River is a lifesaver. Vegas Knives, Calies,
and Zoners from the states of Nevada, California, and Arizona, respectively, are in a contentious
state of war aimed at taking advantage of the rumored “senior water rights” which are capable of
attaining supremacy of power and control over the water discharged from the Colorado River. In
reality, the Colorado River passes across the border of the United States. “It drains one-twelfth of
the continental United States; it is the lifeblood of seven states, delivering its water to growing
cities, feeding irrigation projects, and generating electricity” (Pearce 42). The two reservoirs that
control the flow of the middle of the Colorado River are Lake Mead and Lake Powell, and water
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distribution between states often ends up in disputes. Paolo Bacigalupi represents this struggle
between states: “The Camel Corps’s two dozen choppers dropped into the river’s canyon,
skimming black waters. They wound along its serpentine length, hemmed in on either side by
stony hills, sweeping up the liquid curves of the Colorado to the target” (Bacigalupi 11). Water is
a precious commodity in California; however, “water politics have been central to its economy.
Suffice it to say that, somehow, the farmers became legally entitled to almost three-quarters of the
state’s share of the Colorado River. For years, California took more than its required amount”
(Pearce 51).
The author sets his plot under the construction of the problems behind the water disputes
in the American West. The characters are dragged into a high level of thriller and suffering. The
character that defines the power-induced political changes is Catherine Case, under whom all the
water knives work. She organizes the struggles between the states. Paolo Bacigalupi introduces
her as follows: “People called Catherine Case a killer because her water knives cut so hard along
the Colorado, but when Angel inhaled the eucalyptus and honeysuckle scents from Cypress, he
knew they were wrong” (Bacigalupi 62). The life systematically and socially keeps some people
above and some people below according to the amount of wealth the person holds, even when the
world is suffering from great tragedies. The richer people remain unaffected by the problematic
society, as seen in the following passage: “Outside, there was only desert and death. But inside,
surrounded by jungle greenery and koi ponds, there was life, and Catherine Case was a saint,
offering salvation to her flock as she guided them to satisfaction inside the technological wonders
of her foresight” (Bacigalupi 62).
War is cruel to the people living hard to save their lives in crucial social circumstances, as
depicted in the following lines: “the girl had been dumped like trash. She couldn’t have been much
into her teens, and now she was dead in the bottom of the dirty turquoise hole that was bluer than
the sky overhead” (Bacigalupi 62). Thus, the author indicates that a war-prone society is
uninhabitable for people, a condition caused by the uneven distribution of water between states
and people, which is exacerbated by the indifference of both people and governments who fail to
take necessary steps in the initial stages. In reality, as indicated by Pearce, a third of all the US’s
irrigation water comes from underground, and some states in the south and west would be more or
less literally lost without it. In Arizona, the southwest, the aquifer is virtually the only water
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resource within the state. Over-pumping in the West is as widespread as on the High Plains. The
combined annual over-pumping of the Ogallala, California’s central valley, and southeast aquifers
has been 30 million acre-feet, resulting in a cumulative loss of underground water storage of over
800 million acre-feet. Where the US leads in the running out of water and the rest of the world
follows the same trend of pumping water from underground. All these activities of humans could
create a future problem of running out of resources one day, creating dependence on other nations
and keeping people in an offensive position. The author notes, “Missiles spat from the chopper’s
tubes, acres of fires, silent in the air and then explosively loud as they buried themselves in the
guts of Carver City’s water infrastructure” (Bacigalupi 21). The war conducted because of water,
being a water knife, Angel feels, “it’s the end of times, Angel thought as more missiles pummeled
the water-treatment plant. It’s the goddamn end of times… Guess that makes me the Devil.”
(Bacigalupi 22).
In reality, wars over water are not new. For instance, almost three years after Israel hijacked
the waters of the Jordan River, Israel and its Arab neighbors fought the Six-Day War. Histories
discuss its importance in terms of land and security, but they overlook the role of water. Before
the war, a tenth of Jordan’s River basin was within Israel’s borders, almost entirely controlled by
Israel. The Six-Day War was, by this account, the first modern water war. Israel’s seizing of the
Jordan River and its catchment remains an essential backdrop to the continuing impasse over the
region’s future. “With more dams being built all the time, the whole region is in a water crisis,”
said Hassan Partow at the UN Environment Programme. He indicated this for the crisis in
Mesopotamia.All these real-life incidents depict the intensity of the author’s idea to create his work
on the dispute between states over water: “they all go out. Far below, streams of refugees were
flooding out of Carver City. Rivers of tiny ants, all being funneled away from their homes,
choppers beat the air overhead” (Bacigalupi 21). All the characters express an opinion on the
surrounding disputes as being cruel to survival.
Environmental or ecological violence functions over a domain intercepting the issues
embedded deep within socio-political, cultural, economic, scientific, technological, geological,
geographical, anthropological, historical, and philosophical discontents of evolutionary
humankind. The development models humans intend to ease their life on earth ultimately aim to
promote life in urbanization and globalization, to upscale the nation’s economics, but they ignore
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their impacts on the environment and in the process impair ecosystems, eradicate species, pollute
the earth, and diminish resources central to life.In “Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict:
Evidence from Cases” (1994), possibilities of environmental scarcities and whether they would
escalate possibilities of civil violence or intentionally conflicting situations are discussed. The
work states that in the upcoming five decades, the earth’s human populace is poised to exceed nine
billion, while worldwide economic production might experience a fivefold surge. Escalating
scarcities in renewable resources are anticipated. The expanse of fertile agricultural land, as well
as forest coverage and the diversity of species they support are expected to diminish. Future
generations are likely to encounter extensive depletion and deterioration of aquifers, rivers, and
other water reserves, along with diminishing fisheries and the potential for substantial climate
shifts. The findings of his research allude to the contribution of environmental scarcities to the rise
of violent conflicts stamped as being persistent, diffuse, and operational in sub-national regions.
Moreover, the poorest sections of societies will be the most affected, as acute environmental
scarcities, such as those of water, forest land, and fertile grounds for cropland, already have adverse
impacts on them.
The presence of social conflicts masked by mass mobilization and civil disorder can inspire
beneficial changes. However, a fast-moving, unpredictable, complex ecological crisis can tamper
with and play with the endeavors intended towards the achievement of social and cultural reforms.
The most pressing of all are shortages of agricultural land, forest land, fish, and water. The
estimation claims that many parts of the world claim that conflicts over water are widespread. The
effect of unclear impacts of climate change, water shortages, and conditions of drought, unnatural
flooding, and other environmental catastrophes falls on social conflicts and disputes. The induced
infliction of war stated represented in the selected work, initially works on the destruction of
Carver City’s water treatment plan to the rise of Texans and Zoners against the suppressors of their
lives. The novel indicates, “and then they were hurtling south, toward Mead in question: twenty-
six million acre-feet of storage water at inception, now less than half of that thanks to the Big
Daddy Drought. An optimistic lake created during an optimistic time, whittled now and falling in
silt besides” (Bacigalupi 9). Angel was denoting the destruction of the plant by his Camel Corps
gunships intensively destroying, “A lifeline, always threatened and always vulnerable, always on
the verge of sinking below Intake No.3, the critical IV drip that kept the heart of Las Vegas
pumping” (Bacigalupi 9).
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In The Water Knifeexternal forces with an urge to control the natural resource—the job of
the water knives—is to cut water from other states. In other words, the job of the water knives is
similar to that of murderers and eco-terrorists causing damage to the property and lives of people
from other states. Catherine Case, based in Las Vegas, and her knives work closely with the
Southern Nevada Water Authority or the guardies to ensure that the water from the Colorado River
basin stays with them. Water is a commodity affordable for the rich and scarce for the unprivileged,
who endure dust and struggle in the misery wrought by its scarcity. In the horde of controlling
river water and to save it even from climatic conditions, largely shrunken stretches of the rivers
are strawed or piped to prevent exposure to open skies, the burning sun, heat waves, and the storms
which are captivated to carry vapors, ignoring the antagonist outcomes it could bequeath on the
entire region. The novel quotes a real natural environment becoming a dream for Lucy like this:
“the dream had seemed real: the rain pouring down; the softness in the air; the smell of plants
blossoming. Her clenched pores and the tight clays of the desert all opening wide welcoming the
gift” the earth welcoming the rainwater “the land and her body, absorbing the miracle of water that
fell from the sky. God water, American settlers called it once as they invaded slowly across the
prairies of the Midwest and then pressed into the arid lands beyond the Rocky Mountains”
(Bacigalupi 22).
The dream of the refugee is expressed as follows:
They’d cut their way through to Las Vegas or California or Canada. Hell, they’d
cut a path all the way across the ocean to Chongqing or Kunming… with his new
skills he could cut through anything – fences and California guardies and all the
stupid state border control laws that said you had to stay in a relief zone and starve
instead of going where God still poured water from sky (Bacigalupi 43)
It was to go to places that they feel good and contain water for their use and cross all the
borders that restrict them in suffering. At the end of the chapter, Marie trying to escape to
California is restricted to cross the borders of the Colorado River to the opposite shore; she feels
by seeing the river,
They could zoom in and out on satellite views of the towns that ran along the edge
of the Colorado River, look at the dams. Look at all the waters and where they lay.
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Look at the reservoirs that were still kept full and those that had been drained and
turned back into steep, nearly inaccessible canyons. (Bacigalupi 43)
The laid-down water is held in possession of the military, and people can’t cross the borders
by escaping their snipers. The destruction of Carver City after the depletion of the water treatment
plant contributes to
and then she arrived in Carver City and found chaos in the streets and the far shores
of the river glinting with sniper scopes and watching militias. It seemed like half of
Nevada and California had turned out to make sure the desperate people of Carver
City couldn’t make a run of it. (Bacigalupi 413)
The water resources in the selected works are polluted by anthropogenic forces, controlled
through piping of river water or retaining it behind the high walls of dams. But water is also a
sentimental being; it makes its way to free itself even when confined. The slow violence, which is
delayed by decades due to the eventual pile of toxicity, urge to control, re-contouring of
boundaries, colonizing rivers, explosion of population, and climate change, is depicted as the
factors impacting the interaction of humans and water. Through eco-critical analysis of
anthropogenic actions, ecological violence manifesting itself in the forms of water-related
problems and violence have the tendency to inflate into violence on water resources of the world.
Through this violence, water emerges as a faction inducing war between people.
People should recognize that rivers provide various necessities to people; they provide fish
and silts and recharge for underground reserves. Water purges and purifiers are virtues in flood
pulses and in the mixing of land and water on a river’s floodplain. It requires us to find ways of
storing water without wrecking the environment, of restoring water to rivers and refilling lakes
and wetlands without leaving people thirsty, and of sharing waters rather than fighting over them.
It requires us to go with the flow and to do it before the rivers finally run dry (Pearce 4).Recorded
history has noted wars being held between nations for various reasons and the difficult conditions
people have faced during those war-prone times. The selected author indicates that if people
continue to use their resources available in a lavish manner, the reason for scarcity would cause a
fight and dependency in the future. To indicate this, Paolo Bacigalupi creates an environment to
propose direct awareness that could hold a place in the minds of the people and, importantly, in
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the actions of future generations. The government has to take necessary steps to stop a catastrophe
and to avoid submerging the people of the world.

Works Cited:
Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Water Knife: When the Water Runs out Blood will Flow. Orbit, 2016.
Pearce, Fred. When the Rivers Run Dry: The Global Water Crisis and How to Solve it. Granta
Books, 2019.
Mishra, Sandeep Kumar. “Eco-Criticism: A Study of Environmental Issues in Literature.” BRICS
Journal of Educational Research, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 168-170, Research Gate, 11 Jul. 2011, ISSN
2231-5829. Accessed 08 Mar. 2024.

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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10448030 
Multicultural Education in Assam: A Content Analysis of Assamese
Textbooks in the 21st Century
Karobi Dutta
Research Scholar,
Department of Assamese,
Dibrugarh University.
&
Dr. Swati Kiran
Assistant Professor,
Department of Assamese,
Dibrugarh University.
Article History: Submitted‐10/06/2024, Revised‐20/06/2024, Accepted‐28/06/2024, Published‐30/06/2024.
Abstract:
In the rich cultural tapestry of Assam, nestled in the northeastern region of India,
multicultural education is a cornerstone for fostering inclusive learning environments. This study
explores how multicultural education is portrayed and included in Assamese textbooks in the
twenty-first century. This study closely examines the depiction of various cultures, nationalities,
and identities in the textbooks through a thorough qualitative content analysis. Representative
selections of Assamese textbooks for primary school were systematically examined for textual
passages, illustrations, and supplemental resources. Within the curriculum framework, themes like
inclusion, cultural diversity, and cultural awareness are carefully coded and examined to reveal
underlying trends and patterns. The research’s conclusion aims to provide insightful information
about the state of multicultural education in Assam’s curriculum. The objective of this study is to
aware policymakers, educators, and curriculum creators with information regarding the advantages
and disadvantages of present methods in the areas of inclusiveness and cultural awareness. The
ultimate goal is to take necessary steps for improvements that give top priority to advancing
fairness, inclusion, and cultural sensitivity throughout Assam’s educational system.
Keywords: Assamese textbooks, multicultural education, content analysis, cultural
representation, inclusivity.
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Multicultural Education in Assam: A Content Analysis of Assamese Textbooks in the 21st Century 
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10448030 
1.1 Introduction
With its multitude of languages, customs, and ethnic groups, Assam, a state in northeastern
India, embodies a diversity of cultures. Multiculturalism is becoming more widely acknowledged
in modern education as essential to fostering inclusive learning environments. The objective of
this study is to analyze selected twenty-first century Assamese textbooks and determine how
multicultural education is embedded in them. The study aims to get insights into the extent of
inclusiveness and cultural sensitivity in Assam’s educational system through an analysis of cultural
representations.
Assam is a dynamic mosaic of cultural variety, knitted together by several languages,
customs, and ethnic groups, and is tucked away in northeastern India. Assamese landscapes are as
varied as their people, ranging from the foggy highlands of Karbi Anglong to the verdant plains of
Brahmaputra. Within modern education, diversity has come to be seen as essential to creating
inclusive learning environments. This study aims to analyze the twenty-first century Assamese
textbooks; with a specific focus on multicultural education.
Through closely examining of these textbooks, we hope to reveal the rich mosaic of
Assamese cultural legacy as it is presented to the state’s younger students. Examining how different
cultures are portrayed in these textbooks provides insight into how deeply Assamese education is
rooted in tolerance and cultural sensitivity. We aim to uncover the subtleties of multicultural
education as it is portrayed in Assamese textbooks employing thorough research and investigation
of the text, images, and supplemental resources.

Content Analysis of Selected Assamese Textbooks:
There are several instances illustrating the rich cultural variety of Assam found within the
pages of Assamese textbooks. There are descriptions about Bihu, the traditional festival of Assam
in the textbook for elementary school. Also we find descriptions of Assamese traditional attires,
celebratory customs, and folk songs. Young learners are educated about the cultural legacy of their
state through these kinds of storytelling.Within the Ahom Kingdom chapters of the primary school
history textbook; students can study the socio-cultural context, architectural treasures, and
governmental framework of the Ahom Kingdom. Students are encouraged to feel proud of and
identify with Assam by learning about its rich history and cultural customs through in-depth
explanations of historical events and customs.
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Moreover, textbook illustrations and pictures that embellish the pages are visual cues of
the state’s rich cultural legacy. These images enhance students’ learning experiences by capturing
the spirit of Assamese culture; from lively dance performances at Bihu to serene boat races on the
Brahmaputra.Assamese textbooks frequently include issues of fairness and inclusiveness in
addition to cultural representations. The literary textbooks also include poems or short tales written
by authors from underrepresented groups, highlighting their voices and viewpoints. The
achievements of lesser-known individuals like social reformers, tribal leaders, and women
pioneers are also highlighted in the history textbooks, guaranteeing a more comprehensive
representation of Assam’s diverse cultural landscape.
In a nutshell, Assamese textbooks are the rich fabric of Assam’s history and highlightthe
essential archives of the state’s cultural legacy. These textbooks are essential in helping students
develop cultural awareness and inclusion because of their comprehensive narratives, striking
images, and inclusive themes. In order to enable future generations to accept and enjoy the rich
variety of the state, Assamese textbooks must continue to prioritize multicultural education in its
educational system.

1.2 Objectives of the research

The Objectives of the study are—
⮚ To analyze the extent to which different cultural, ethnic and religious groups are
represented in the Assamese textbook.
⮚ To assess whether the content of the textbooks promotes inclusivity and respect for
diversity.
⮚ To evaluate how historical and contemporary multicultural issues are portrayed and
discussed.
⮚ To study how the textbooks can be improved to support multicultural education.

1.3 Methodology
Primary and secondary Assamese textbooks are analyzed using a qualitative content
analysis technique. Selected textbooks from Primary section Class I to Class V representative of
various themes are carefully examined. Furthermore, examples of cultural representation and
variety, textual passages, pictures, and other materials are analyzed. Themes about multicultural
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education are found in the textbooks and examined via a systematic coding process that reveals
underlying trends and differences.

2.0 Analysis and Discussion:
2.1 Assamese TextbookThemes (Primary Level-Anuran, Natun Path)
1: Representation of Cultural Diversity

The way different Assamese textbooks depict the region’s rich cultural diversity varies.
Many textbooks deliberately include stories, images, and examples from different ethnic groups,
languages, and customs in an attempt to highlight the richness of Assam’s cultural diversity.
Textbooks, for example, include tales and poetry emphasizing the customs of groups like the
Bodos, Karbis, Mishing, and Ahoms. To further illustrate the linguistic variety, they could also
contain details on the many languages in Assam, such as Assamese, Bodo, Karbi, and Mishing.
Assamese textbooks use a variety of narratives, pictures, and examples from the state’s many ethnic
groups, dialects, and customs to attempt to capture the state’s rich cultural diversity. A few
textbooks attempt extensively to provide readers a thorough understanding of Assam’s diverse
environment. Here are some particular instances that show how this is accomplished:

⬧ Stories and Narratives
Textbooks comprise of poetry and stories that highlights the customs and cultural practices
of many cultures, such as the Bodo Stories. In order to provide students with
aunderstanding of Bodo culture and values, Bodo folklore narratives are incorporated,
including stories about the mythical hero Gariyoshi and traditional Bodo fables.
Furthermore, in the Karbis Folklores, The Karbi community’s rich oral traditions and
historical narratives are showcased via stories such as the creation mythology of Karbi
Anglong.
Also, Mishing folktales like the Gumraag and Porag festival stories, are integrated to
emphasize the Mishing community’s agricultural and social customs.
⬧ Traditions and Cultural Festivals
Students can better comprehend the many festivities that take place throughout Assam by
reading through the following detailed explanations of cultural festivals and traditions:

1. Bihu—-The three forms of Bihu—Rongali, Kongali, and Bhogali—are
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described in great detail, along with sections on the distinctive rituals, dances, and
songs to visualise the spirit of Assamese culture.
Example-
Anukuran-1st Class, Amar Utshob, page no-99,

Natun Path-2nd class, Bonde Matorom, page no-104

2.Ali-Ai-Ligang—-The Textbooks also comprises of descriptions on Ali-Ai-
Ligang, the Mishing Festival emphasizing its importance on agricultural pursuits.
Moreover, traditional music along with dancing by the community people during
its celebration are also mentioned.
Example-
Anukuran-1st Class, Amar Utshob, page no-99,

3.Baishagu — Baishagu, a festival observed by the Bodos, is widely documented
in terms of its customs, the Bagurumba dance, and its function in welcoming the
New Year are also highlighted in the textbooks.
Example-
Anukuran-1st Class, Amar Utshob, page no-99,

⬧ Linguistic Diversity
In order to showcase the state’s linguistic diversity, the Assamese textbooks have
incorporated several languages spoken in Assam. Through literary works, poetry, and
historical accounts, the state’s principal language, Assamese, is examined with a focus on
its function in preserving the state’s cultural identity. A few of the mentions are as follows
–
1. Bodo
Poems, songs, and stories that showcase the Bodo people’s rich cultural legacy
are found in sections dedicated to the language.

2. Karbi and Mishing Languages
Additionally, textbooks include examples of Mishing and Karbi languages
along with translations and explanations to highlight the linguistic diversity so
as to encourage students to learn several languages.

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⬧ Illustrations and Visuals
Illustrations and visuals play a crucial role in depicting the cultural diversity of Assam:
⬧ Traditional Attire
Textbooks feature pictures of traditional attires from various communities, such as
the Assamese Mekhela Chador, the Bodo Dokhona, and the KarbisPator Tado.
Example-
Anukuran-4th Class, Bordoisila, page no-91-92 (Poem)
⬧ Joyful
Festivities
Assam’s rich cultural life is depicted through images of festivals,dance forms, and
community gatherings.
⬧ Historical and Contemporary Contributions

A thorough understanding of Assam’s cultural heritage is facilitated by the inclusion of
historical events and the distinct contributions of various communities.
⬧ For example, the Ahom dynasty’s history, rulers, and cultural and architectural
legacy are emphasized to underscore the state’s rich historical past.
⬧ Tribal Leaders and Freedom Fighters: Teachers also discuss the roles played by
freedom fighters and leaders of various communities, including the Naga
community’s Rani Gaidinliu and Kanaklata Barua,Mulagabharu in order to
highlight their contributions to Assam’s socio-political landscape.
Example- Anukuran-4th Class, BiranggonaMulagabharu, page no-71

2. Equity and Inclusivity
There is variation in the level of fairness and inclusion in Assamese textbooks. Specific textbooks
offer a more thorough portrayal of various ethnic groups than others. Even when varied viewpoints
are included still many marginalized communities are at times either misrepresented or
underrepresented. For instance, textbooks showcase stereotype among members of certain ethnic
groups or communities or fall short of accurately capturing their cultural contributions..
Furthermore, the language, images, and storylines employed in textbooks can potentially reinforce
preconceptions and biases.
Example-
Anukuran-5th Class

Natun Path- 2nd Class

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3. Promotion of Cultural Awareness
Assamese textbooks, incorporating historical events, customs, and cultural festivals into
the curriculum, are significant in helping students develop cultural sensitivity and awareness. For
instance, significant Assamese cultural festivals like Bihu, Ali-Ai-Ligang, and Baishagu may have
chapters or parts devoted to them in textbooks. In order to enhance students’ comprehension of
Assam’s unique legacy, they could also emphasize historical occurrences and personalities from
various cultural backgrounds. By including this kind of material, textbooks help students recognize
the diversity of Assamese culture and develop a feeling of cultural pride and understanding.
As an illustration, Assamese textbooks play a crucial role in fostering cultural sensitivity and
awareness in students by incorporating aspects of the rich cultural legacy of the state into the
curriculum. With the comprehensive coverage of many cultural facets provided by these
instructional resources, students are guaranteed a profound awareness and comprehension of
Assam’s varied traditions. Several instances of how Assamese textbooks accomplish this are as
follows:
1. Cultural Festivals
Textbooks frequently provide in-depth narratives and descriptions of Assam’s leading
cultural events. As an example, Bihu is widely celebrated as the most important festival of
Assam. Books have chapters on the three variations of the Bihu, Rongali, Kongali, and
Bhogali, describing the music, dances, and rituals that go along with each.
⬧ Ali-Ai-Ligang
This festival of the Mising community is highlighted in the curriculum, describing
the agricultural rituals, traditional dances, and the significance of this spring
festival.
⬧ Baishagu
Celebrated by the Bodos, Baishagu is covered in textbooks in details. The musical
traditions, dances like the Bagurumba, and its importance in welcoming the New
Year is also mentioned.

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2. Traditional Practices and Arts
Assamese textbooks explore a range of customary customs and artistic endeavours,
cultivating a more profound bond with the region’s cultural legacy:
⬧ The Sattriya Dance
With a focus on its historical and cultural relevance, Sattriya dance—which
originated inVaishnavite monasteries—is covered in chapters on Assamese
traditional dance styles.

Example-
Anukuran-5th Class, Ojapali, page no-111
⬧ Handicrafts and weaving
The textbooks also incorporate the elaborate designs and skills passed down
through the years displayed by the weavers of the renowned Assam silk (Muga, Eri,
and Pat) on Assamese handlooms.

Example-
Anukuran-5th Class,page no-90
3. Historical Events and Figures
Ahom Dynasty: Textbooks cover the history of the Ahom dynasty, detailing the reigns of
notable kings like Sukaphaa, the founder, and Lachit Borphukan, a revered general known
for his role in the Battle of Saraighat. These historical events and notable figures from
Assam’s past enrich students’ understanding of their heritage.
Assamese freedom fighters’ biographies, including those of Gopinath Bordoloi and
Kanaklata Barua, are included to foster a sense of pride and appreciation for those who
helped bring about India’s independence.
Example-
Kuhipath-4th Class, JoymatiKonwori, page no-34

4. Diversity of Cultures
Assamese textbooks feature the customs of several groups to commemorate the
state’s cultural mosaic: Tribal Traditional Textbooks provide a comprehensive knowledge
of the people of Assam by including parts on the festivals, rituals, and lifestyles of the
numerous tribal populations, including the Bodos, Misings, and Karbis.

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5. Folk Tales and Literature
Students are better able to relate to Assamese cultural narratives as folk tales and
literary works are included in the curriculum. Moral teachings and cultural values are
included through the inclusion of stories from Assamese folklore, such as the adventures
of Lakshminath
Bezbaroa’s inventions and the tale of Tejimola.
Example-
Anukuran-4th Class

6. Literary Works
To encourage students and acquaint them with the literary legacy of the state, excerpts
from the writings of well-known Assamese authors and poets, including Jyoti Prasad
Agarwala and Bhupen Hazarika, are included in the textbooks. Furthermore, Assamese
textbooks are essential in developing a sense of cultural pride and understanding as they
incorporate many cultural components in the curriculum. This all-encompassing approach
fosters a more culturally sensitive and conscious community by assisting young learners in
appreciating the diversity and depth of Assam’s cultural environment.
Example-
Anukuran-5th Class, page no-03

Anukuran-4th Class, page no-21

Anukuran-2nd Class, page no-18

Overall, Assamese textbooks do an excellent job of illustrating the cultural variety and
raising cultural awareness. However, they might do a better job of guaranteeing fairness and
equality in the way they depict different ethnic groups. Teachers and curriculum developers may
contribute to creating learning environments that highlight Assam’s unique past and promote
respect for all ethnic identities by taking a more inclusive and culturally sensitive approach to
textbook content.

3.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, this study underscores the critical role of multicultural education in Assam’s
educational landscape. Additionally, it reveals that though significant strides have been made in
incorporating diverse cultural content into Assamese textbooks, notable challenges and limitations
still persist. Furthermore, policymakers and educators must prioritize inclusiveness and cultural
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sensitivity in both instructional materials and teaching methodologies. By embracing the rich
cultural heritage of Assam, schools can foster engaging and equitable learning environments that
promote the holistic development of all students. This approach will not only enhance educational
outcomes but also cultivates a sense of unity and respect among students from varied cultural
backgrounds.

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Billows, F.L, The Techniques of Language Teaching, Longmans, Green & co. Ltd, 1st published-
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Dutta, Gitika. Psychological Aspects of Education. New Delhi : Neelkamal Publications, First
Edition-2014.
Mangal, S.K. Advanced Educational Psychology. Delhi – 110092: Phi Learning P.v.t Ltd. Second
edn, July 2018.
Talukdar, Nanda, Children Literature & Assamese, Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature Vol-1, ed.
Amaresh Dutta, Sahitya Academi, New Delhi,
Borpujari, H.K. The Comprehensive History of Assam ,(Vol.No.III, IV,V), Publication Board of
Assam, 3rd Edition-2007
Borpujari, H.K. North East India, Problem Prospect and Politics, Spectrum, publishers, Guwahati,
1998
Bhuyan, Suryaya Kumar. History in the Literature of Assam, omsons publication, New Delhi,
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John Angus MacVannel, The Educational Theories of Herbart and Froebel, Ceacbers college,
Columbia university, New york 1966.
Mazumder, R.C. British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part I, Bharatiya Vidya Bhaban
Bombay, 1981
Saikia, Nagen. Background of Modern Assamese Literature, Purbanchal Prakash, Ghy, 2nd
Edition-2011
Sapir, Edward, Language, Bibliolife, Paperback edition, October, 2007.
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Williams, David, Developing Criteria for Textbook Evalution, publication Board of Assam, 3rd
edition-2007
Assamese Text Books:
Natun Path (4th), Asom RajiyikPathputhipranoyonaruPrakakhon Nigam Limited, 1st published-
2002, 2nd published-2003
Ankuron (1st ), Asom RajiyikPathputhipranoyonaruPrakakhon Nigam Limited, SCERT, ASSAM,
1st published-2010, 6th published-2015
Ankuron (2nd ), Asom RajiyikPathputhipranoyonaruPrakakhon Nigam Limited, SCERT, ASSAM,
1st published-2010, 6th published-2018
Ankuron (3rd ), Asom RajiyikPathputhipranoyonaruPrakakhon Nigam Limited, SCERT, ASSAM,
1st published-2011, 6th published-2016
Ankuron (4th ), Asom RajiyikPathputhipranoyonaruPrakakhon Nigam Limited, SCERT, ASSAM,
1st published-2012, 6th published-2015
Ankuron (5th), Asom RajiyikPathputhipranoyonaruPrakakhon Nigam Limited, SCERT, ASSAM,
1st published-2012, 6th published-2017

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 15, Issue-III, June 2024 ISSN: 0976-8165
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Speaking for the Silenced: Medical Exploitation and Power Dynamics in
Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Dr. Vinaya Bhaskaran
Assistant Professor,
PG Department of English,
NSS College, Manjeri,
Malappuram, Kerala.
Article History: Submitted-24/05/2024, Revised-20/06/2024, Accepted-22/06/2024, Published-30/06/2024.
Abstract:
This article examines Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks through
the lens of medical humanities. Beyond a traditional medical biography, Skloot’s work weaves
a narrative tapestry that intertwines scientific discovery with profound ethical dilemmas and
the personal stories of those impacted by Henrietta Lacks’ legacy. The article explores Skloot’s
contribution to critical discussions surrounding informed consent, patient autonomy, and the
complex interplay of race and medicine. By analysing the ethical quagmire surrounding the
harvesting of Lacks’ HeLa cells, the article sheds light on the historical exploitation of Black
bodies in medical research and the ongoing need for equity and justice within the healthcare
system. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from literature, bioethics, and medicine, the
article argues for the critical role of narrative-based approaches in medical education and
practice. Integrating these narratives fosters empathy and ethical reflection among healthcare
professionals, ultimately promoting a more holistic approach to patient care.
Keywords: medical humanities, medicine, consent, race, gender, ethics, patient autonomy.
In the liminal space between science and storytelling lies Rebecca Skloot’s The
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a work that transcends mere biography. It is a poignant
symphony of voices, a chorus that sings of a life tragically cut short yet endlessly replicated
within the realm of scientific discovery. Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman diagnosed with
cervical cancer in 1951, unwittingly became a medical marvel. Her HeLa cells, harvested
without her knowledge or consent, have revolutionized medical research, yet her story
remained shrouded in obscurity. Skloot, with the meticulous attention of a historian and the
empathy of a chronicler of the human experience, embarks on a quest to illuminate the life
behind the anonymous initials “HeLa.” This is not merely a scientific saga; it is a meditation
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on race, bioethics, and the enduring legacy of a woman whose cells continue to shape the
contours of modern medicine. Skloot’s evocative narrative confront the complexities of
scientific progress, the ethical dilemmas embedded within medical practice, and the enduring
power of a single life to impact the trajectory of human health.

Skloot employs a narrative non-fiction style to recount Henrietta Lacks’ story, weaving
together multiple timelines, perspectives, and thematic threads. Narrative theory can be applied
to analyse the structure, point of view, and narrative techniques used by Skloot to engage
readers and convey meaning. This includes examining the role of voice, chronology, and the
interplay between personal anecdotes and scientific exposition. Skloot’s narrative technique
incorporates multiple voices and perspectives, creating a dialogic interplay between Henrietta
Lacks’ personal story, scientific discourse, and the experiences of her family members. Skloot
navigates between different narrative levels as explained by Gerard Genette, intertwining
Henrietta’s biography with the broader history of medical ethics, creating a multi-layered
narrative structure that invites readers to critically engage with the complexities of the story. In
early chapters Skloot uses interviews with Henrietta’s family members, particularly her
daughter Deborah, to piece together Henrietta’s life before and after her cancer diagnosis. This
creates a personal narrative that humanizes Henrietta beyond just the source of HeLa cells. The
third chapter titled “The Stuff of Life” dives into the scientific world, explaining complex
concepts like cell cultures and their importance in medical research. The language shifts to a
more technical tone, highlighting the scientific significance of HeLa cells. Throughout the
book, Skloot incorporates quotes from researchers and doctors who worked with HeLa cells.
This provides an insider’s perspective on the scientific journey and discoveries enabled by these
cells. The chapter “The HeLa Business” focuses on Deborah’s journey of understanding the
impact of her mother’s cells. It delves into the confusion, frustration, and eventually, a sense of
pride experienced by the Lacks family. Skloot interviews various members of Henrietta’s
family, including her children, cousins, and niece. This allows for diverse perspectives on
Henrietta’s life and the impact of HeLa cells on their lives. This interplay of voices creates a
dynamic narrative that goes beyond a traditional biography. It weaves together the human story
of Henrietta and her family with the scientific advancements made possible by HeLa cells.
Many chapters begin with quotes from various individuals, including Henrietta’s family
members, doctors, and researchers. This sets the stage for the diverse voices that will shape the
narrative. Skloot frequently shifts the focus between the Lacks family’s experiences, historical
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context of medical research, and scientific developments surrounding HeLa cells. This creates
a sense of dialogue between these different perspectives.
At the heart of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks lies the ethical dilemma
surrounding the use of Henrietta’s cells, known as HeLa cells, without her knowledge or
consent. Skloot meticulously traces the journey of these cells from Henrietta’s cervix to
laboratories around the world, highlighting the lack of recognition and compensation afforded
to Henrietta and her family. “Henrietta Lacks, the woman who had unknowingly given life to
the most important cell line in medical history, remained an anonymous shadow” (Skloot, 15).
This narrative serves as a powerful indictment of the exploitation of marginalized communities
in medical research and underscores the importance of informed consent and respect for patient
autonomy. “HeLa cells were shipped to researchers all over the world—Texas, California,
England, France, Australia—in little glass vials packed in dry ice” (24). Statements like these
follows in lines like “HeLa cells had become a scientific workhorse. They were helping
researchers unlock the mysteries of viruses, cancer, radiation, and genetics” (30). Henrietta
Lacks’ story raises critical questions about the extent to which patients are informed and
empowered to make decisions about their own healthcare. “No one had asked Henrietta’s
permission to take her cells, let alone explained what they planned to do with them” (25).
Skloot’s exploration of Henrietta’s lack of agency in the use of her cells underscores the
systemic inequalities and power imbalances inherent in the healthcare system. “For decades,
the Lacks family had received no financial compensation from the sale of HeLa cells” (246).
By foregrounding Henrietta’s voice and agency within the narrative, Skloot advocates for
greater transparency, communication, and respect for patient autonomy in medical practice.
This demonstrates how Skloot’s book sheds light on the disconnect between the scientific
advancements achieved through HeLa cells and the lack of recognition or compensation given
to Henrietta and her family.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks delves into the murky depths of medical progress,
as illuminated by Stanley Cohen’s seminal concepts of medicalization and the medical gaze.
Cohen’s notion of medicalization unveils how everyday occurrences undergo a transformative
journey into the realm of medicine, a phenomenon epitomized by Henrietta’s immortalized
cells. Skloot poignantly articulates this transformation, stating, ‘HeLa cells were the first human
cells to be grown in culture,’ (2) underscoring the revolutionary nature of Henrietta’s unwitting
contribution. Yet, amidst this scientific marvel, Henrietta’s autonomy is callously disregarded,
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her body reduced to a mere vessel for scientific inquiry. Moreover, Cohen’s exploration of the
medical gaze sheds light on the way in which the medical profession perceives the human body.
Initially heralded as an objective lens, the medical gaze is revealed to be a subjective construct,
susceptible to societal influences. Skloot masterfully illustrates this phenomenon through
Henrietta’s conspicuous absence within the medical narrative. Her medical records,
meticulously detailing the properties of her immortal cells, remain conspicuously silent on the
intricacies of her life and struggles. A poignant moment arises when a nurse laments, ‘Hell, I
didn’t even know who Henrietta Lacks was,’ (4) underscoring the glaring disparity between the
reverence afforded to Henrietta’s cells and the disregard for the woman behind them. This
detachment from the human ramifications of medical progress lays bares the inherent
limitations of the medical gaze, urging a re-evaluation of its purported objectivity. By weaving
together Cohen’s conceptual framework with poignant anecdotes from Henrietta’s life, Skloot’s
narrative emerges as a potent indictment of the ethical quagmires surrounding medical research
and the entrenched power dynamics within the medical establishment. Through her incisive
critique of medicalization and the medical gaze, Skloot implores us to confront the human toll
of scientific advancement, advocating for a more holistic approach that dignifies the lived
experiences of patients. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks serves as a rallying cry for ethical
introspection and a clarion call to reclaim the humanity at the heart of medical practice.

Skloot’s exploration of Henrietta Lacks’ life and legacy intersects with issues of race,
identity, and social justice. Critical race theory provides a framework for examining how racial
hierarchies and systemic inequalities manifest in the healthcare system, scientific research, and
the exploitation of marginalized communities. Analysis from this perspective can illuminate
the ways in which race shapes access to healthcare, informed consent, and the distribution of
scientific benefits and burdens.
One of the most compelling aspects of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is its
exploration of the intersectionality of race and medicine. “Henrietta’s story wasn’t simply about
an isolated mistake or a historical oddity. It was one more chapter in the long, sad legacy of
how minorities had been treated in medical research” (40). Henrietta Lacks, an African
American woman, experienced systemic racism, and discrimination within the healthcare
system, leading to mistrust and exploitation by medical professionals. “Just as black bodies had
been dissected and experimented on in the name of science for centuries, Henrietta’s cells were
now being used for good without her knowledge or consent” (79). Skloot’s portrayal of
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Henrietta’s family’s experiences highlights the enduring legacy of medical racism and the need
for greater cultural competency and sensitivity in healthcare delivery. “Henrietta was a black
woman from a poor family living in a segregated city. In the Jim Crow South, black people had
few rights, especially women” (23). This segregation is repeatedly present in the work. “Johns
Hopkins, like most hospitals in the Jim Crow South, had separate wards for black and white
patients. Black patients were often used for research without their knowledge” (22). They raise
important questions about informed consent, patient autonomy, and the ethical treatment of
marginalized communities within the medical system. “The question of who gets to decide
what happens to a person’s body after they die is a complex one, especially when it comes to
the bodies of minorities in a society with a long history of exploiting them” (399). Skloot’s
exploration of the historical context of racial discrimination in medical research and how it
intersects with Henrietta’s story is deep.
Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality offers a powerful lens to analyse the
unique vulnerabilities Henrietta faced due to the overlapping oppressions of race, class, and
gender. Historically, Black bodies have been disproportionately targeted for medical
experimentation, often without consent. Crenshaw’s framework highlights how Henrietta’s race
placed her at a higher risk of exploitation within the Jim Crow South medical system. Skloot
describes the segregated exam room Henrietta was led to, with clear glass walls separating it
from others. This signifies the lack of privacy and potentially, a lower standard of care
compared to the unseen white patients’ rooms (15). This segregation reflects the limited access
Black patients had to healthcare facilities and resources. The book mentions Henrietta’s
hesitation to seek medical attention for a whole year. This delay could be due to a distrust of
the medical system, which often disregarded Black patients’ concerns. Skloot doesn’t explicitly
state Henrietta’s reason, but the context suggests the possibility (15).
Socioeconomic factors significantly impact access to healthcare and information.
Henrietta’s limited education and economic vulnerability likely hindered her ability to
understand or challenge the use of her cells. Crenshaw’s theory emphasizes how class intersects
with race, further marginalizing Henrietta in the medical hierarchy. Women’s bodies have often
been objectified and controlled in medical contexts. Crenshaw’s framework reminds us that
Henrietta’s experience cannot be divorced from the broader societal context where Black
women’s voices were routinely disregarded. The book exemplifies how these factors combined
to create a unique disadvantage for Henrietta. Being a Black woman of limited means stripped
her of agency and rendered her invisible within the medical system. The lack of informed
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consent regarding HeLa cells becomes a stark illustration of the ethical failings at the
intersection of race, class, and gender. Crenshaw’s concept encourages us to consider how the
exploitation of Henrietta’s cells might disproportionately impact future generations of Black
women in medical research settings. The book calls for increased awareness of these
intersectional vulnerabilities and the need for robust informed consent practices that protect
marginalized populations. By examining the unique disadvantages Henrietta faced due to the
intersection of race, class, and gender, the book compels us to confront the ethical failings
within medical research and strive for a more just and equitable healthcare system.

Given the central role of Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose agency and autonomy were
compromised by the medical establishment, feminist theory offers a lens through which to
explore issues of gender, power, and representation. Analysis from a feminist perspective can
interrogate how gender dynamics shape healthcare practices, research ethics, and the portrayal
of women’s experiences in science and medicine. Henrietta Lacks represents the marginalized
“Other” whose agency and bodily autonomy were disregarded by the medical establishment,
prompting an examination of power dynamics, gender inequality, and reproductive justice
within healthcare. Skloot foregrounds Henrietta’s perspective and experiences, challenging
dominant narratives in science and medicine that have historically marginalized women,
particularly women of colour. Analysis from a feminist standpoint emphasizes the importance
of centering women’s voices and experiences in discussions of medical ethics and research.

Sandra Harding’s standpoint theory argues that knowledge production is situated within
social locations and experiences. Marginalized groups occupy a unique standpoint, offering
valuable insights often obscured by dominant narratives. Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life
of Henrietta Lacks serves as a powerful case study for applying standpoint theory, as it
dismantles the dominant scientific narrative surrounding HeLa cells and centres the
experiences of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman from a marginalized background. Standpoint
theory highlights the unequal power relations that silence the voices of marginalized groups.
Skloot’s work exposes how Henrietta, a Black woman in the segregated South, lacked agency
and was not informed about the use of her cells. The dominant medical establishment controlled
the narrative, prioritizing scientific progress over patient autonomy. A core aspect of standpoint
theory is giving voice to those who have been silenced. Skloot meticulously reconstructs
Henrietta’s life and the experiences of her family. This allows them to reclaim their narrative
and challenge the dominant account focused solely on scientific advancements. Standpoint
theory recognizes that knowledge is partial and shaped by one’s social location. Skloot
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acknowledges her own limitations as a white researcher. She centres the Lacks family’s
experiences while remaining mindful of the historical context of race, class, and gender in
medicine. Standpoint theory calls for transforming knowledge production by incorporating
marginalized voices. Skloot’s book challenges the traditional scientific narrative of HeLa cells.
By centering Henrietta’s story, she compels the scientific community to consider the ethical
implications of research and the importance of informed consent, particularly for marginalized
populations. Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks exemplifies the power of standpoint
theory. By giving voice to Henrietta and her family, the book challenges the dominant scientific
narrative and compels a more nuanced understanding of the ethical complexities surrounding
medical research, race, and social justice.

Harriet Washington’s Medical Apartheid can be applied to Rebecca Skloot’s The
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Washington’s book exposes the long history of medical
experimentation on Black Americans without their knowledge or consent. Skloot’s narrative
directly aligns with this, highlighting the historical context in which Henrietta’s cells were
taken. “Henrietta’s story wasn’t simply about an isolated mistake or a historical oddity. It was
one more chapter in the long, sad legacy of how minorities had been treated in medical
research.” (40) This underscores how Henrietta’s experience wasn’t an isolated event, but part
of a larger pattern of exploitation within medical research. Washington emphasizes the power
dynamics that often-prevented Black patients from giving informed consent. Skloot’s book
reinforces this by detailing the segregated healthcare system and lack of information provided
to Henrietta. “Henrietta was a black woman from a poor family living in a segregated city. In
the Jim Crow South, black people had few rights, especially women.” (23) This establishes the
context of limited agency for Black women like Henrietta, making informed consent highly
improbable. Washington critiques how the contributions of Black people to medical research
are often erased. Skloot’s book initially portrays Henrietta Lacks as an anonymous source of
HeLa cells, highlighting this very issue. “Henrietta Lacks, the woman who had unknowingly
given life to the most important cell line in medical history, remained an anonymous shadow.”
(15) This reinforces the erasure of Black voices and contributions within scientific progress.
Washington calls for a critical reassessment of ethical practices in medical research. Skloot’s
book exposes the lack of ethical consideration given to Henrietta and her right to bodily
autonomy. “Just as black bodies had been dissected and experimented on in the name of science
for centuries, Henrietta’s cells were now being used for good without her knowledge or
consent.” (79) This parallels the historical exploitation of Black bodies, raising ethical
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questions about informed consent and benefiting from the research. By applying the framework
of Medical Apartheid, Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks gains even greater
significance. The book serves as a powerful testament to the ethical failings of the past and a
call for a more just and equitable approach to medical research in the future.

Given the ethical complexities at the heart of the narrative, ethical criticism offers a
framework for evaluating the moral dimensions of Skloot’s work. This involves examining the
ethical dilemmas faced by characters, the portrayal of informed consent and medical ethics,
and the implications of scientific advancement for human rights and dignity. Ethical criticism
can also engage with broader questions about the responsibilities of authors, researchers, and
society at large in addressing ethical challenges in healthcare and biomedical research. Skloot’s
narrative prompts readers to consider ethical principles such as respect for persons, autonomy,
and justice, raising questions about the moral responsibilities of researchers, clinicians, and
institutions in medical research and patient care.

Carol Gilligan’s ethics of care focuses on the relational aspects of care and empathy
depicted in the book, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and honouring the humanity
and dignity of patients like Henrietta Lacks within medical practice and research ethics.
Through the lens of Carol Gilligan’s ethics of care, the book reveals a profound ethical failing
within the medical system – a failure to prioritize the well-being of patients, particularly those
from marginalized communities. Gilligan’s ethics of care posits that moral reasoning stems
from an inherent concern for the well-being of others and the maintenance of relationships.
Skloot’s narrative exposes the stark absence of this care ethic in Henrietta’s case. Her doctors,
focused on scientific advancement, disregarded the importance of informed consent and a
patient-centered approach. Gilligan emphasizes the responsibility to care for those in need,
particularly the vulnerable. The medical establishment failed in this regard. Henrietta, a Black
woman from a low-income background, lacked the resources and voice to challenge the use of
her cells. The narrative highlights the ethical imperative to prioritize the well-being of
vulnerable patients, ensuring their rights and understanding. Gilligan’s framework underscores
the importance of considering the context of care. Skloot’s work sheds light on the historical
context of racial discrimination in medical research. Henrietta’s experience becomes a
disturbing illustration of how the ethics of care were systematically disregarded towards Black
patients. The narrative extends beyond Henrietta, incorporating the experiences of her family.
Their struggle to understand the use of HeLa cells and the lack of recognition or compensation
reflects the broader ethical failing of the medical system to consider the ongoing impact of
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research on patients and their loved ones. Gilligan’s framework encourages a shift towards a
more relational and caring approach within medical ethics. Skloot’s book serves as a call to
action, urging the medical community to prioritize informed consent, patient well-being, and a
more equitable distribution of the benefits derived from medical research, particularly for
populations historically marginalized and exploited in healthcare settings.

Postcolonial theory can also be applied to the text to analyse the legacy of colonialism,
imperialism, and cultural hegemony within the context of medical research and healthcare.
Skloot’s examination of Henrietta Lacks’ cells as commodities, extracted without consent or
compensation, raises questions about the exploitation of marginalized communities by Western
institutions. Analysis from a postcolonial perspective can explore issues of agency, cultural
imperialism, and resistance in the face of scientific exploitation and medical racism. Skloot’s
examination of the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks’ cells within the context of Western
biomedical research raises questions about cultural imperialism, scientific colonialism, and the
legacy of exploitation and erasure of marginalized communities in medical history. Skloot
critiques the dominance of Western biomedical research, implying that it often disregards the
knowledge systems and ethical considerations of other cultures. “HeLa cells had become a
scientific workhorse for a culture that hadn’t even asked permission to take them” (31). This
suggests a disregard for Henrietta’s cultural background and her right to control her own body.
Skloot’s work parallels the historical exploitation of resources from colonized countries. HeLa
cells, a valuable scientific resource, were derived from Henrietta without her knowledge or
consent. “Just as black bodies had been dissected and experimented on in the name of science
for centuries, Henrietta’s cells were now being used for good without her knowledge or
consent” (79). This draws a direct comparison between the historical exploitation of Black
bodies in research and the use of HeLa cells. Skloot highlights how Henrietta’s story, and by
extension the stories of many from marginalized communities, are often erased from the
narrative of scientific progress. “Henrietta Lacks, the woman who had unknowingly given life
to the most important cell line in medical history, remained an anonymous shadow” (15). This
exemplifies how Henrietta’s contribution was initially invisible within the scientific
community. The chapter titled “The Colored Girl” explores the historical context of racial
discrimination in medical research, particularly towards Black women. The book documents
the struggles of Henrietta’s family to understand the significance of HeLa cells and the lack of
recognition they received. This reflects the broader issue of marginalization within the medical
system. Analysis from a postcolonial perspective explores how Henrietta Lacks’ story
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embodies hybrid identities and resistance to colonial domination, highlighting the agency and
resilience of individuals and communities impacted by scientific exploitation and medical
racism.
Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks transcends the sterile realm of scientific
exploration, emerging as a poignant symphony of ethics, race, and the enduring power of
human connection. This work offers valuable lessons for medical education and practice,
emphasizing the importance of empathy, cultural humility, and ethical reflection in patient care.
By integrating narratives like Henrietta’s into medical curricula, educators can foster a deeper
understanding of the social, cultural, and historical contexts shaping health disparities and
patient experiences. Furthermore, Skloot’s work underscores the need for policies and practices
that prioritize patient rights, informed consent, and equitable access to healthcare resources.
By delving into the ethical quagmire surrounding HeLa cells, Skloot compels us to confront
the historical shadows cast upon medical progress. Through the lens of medical humanities,
Skloot’s work transcends mere biography, weaving a tapestry of human stories that resonate
with profound empathy. Integrating these narratives into medical education fosters not just
technical expertise, but ethical awareness and a profound appreciation for the human
experience that lies at the very heart of the healing arts. Ultimately, Skloot’s poignant
exploration reminds us that scientific progress thrives in tandem with ethical responsibility,
and that the stories we carry within us, like the immortal legacy of Henrietta Lacks, hold the
power to illuminate a more just and compassionate path for medicine.

Works Cited:
Cohen, Stanley. “Illness and Inequality.” Social Issues in Health Series. The Hogarth Press,
1980.
Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist
Critique of Feminist Legal Theory.” University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989 (1): 139-167.
Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development.
Harvard University Press, 1982.
Harding, Sandra. The Science Question in Feminism. Cornell University Press, 1986.
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Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Crown Publishing Group, 2010.
Washington, Harriet A. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on
Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present. 1st Anchor Books (Broadway Books) ed.,
New York, Anchor Books, 2008.

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