Abstract

ONE PART WOMAN: A REVIEW

Dr. Anuradha Nongmaithem

Volume: 7 Issue: 1 2017

Abstract:

The novel One Part Woman (2014) by Perumal Murugan is an overwhelming story of a passionately loving couple Kali and Ponnayi. It deals with a saga of atrocities and difficult journey without a child in this orthodox patriarchal society. Mr. Murugan dared to touch some prohibited aspect of the long lost tradition in interior south India. It deals with the raw aspect of vulnerable condition of the woman who fails to give birth to a baby, after twelve years of marriage. Apart from the controversies that surround the novel, lies a beautiful love story of two people who devoted themselves to love and were affected by the people that surround them. How the society became a means of unhappiness in their happy married life. The plight of an Indian woman without a child is worse than a dog. Ponnayi after twelve years of marriage is not able to conceive, is a serious question for all her near and dear ones. A woman after marriage lives a life of tension and dilemma until a baby comes their way. The love between the Kali and Ponnayi is intense and they have a sexually satisfied life. The surrounding intruded their happy life. External forces and socially constructed norms are the reasons that created conflict between the couple. A want of a child to make a complete family life is a genuine desire for any normal couple. But things become an issue if that is the only reason left for a good life. A constant reminder to a woman that she cannot give birth to a baby can at times be quite exasperating. They have done all the pujas and penance to fulfill their only wish to have a child. They have left no stone unturned to make their dream come true. The plight of Ponnayi is the plight of so many other women in India and across the world. A childless woman is not respected and treated well especially in India and worse is the situation in village. In The Joy Of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta, the protagonist Nnu Ego even married twice to have her highly price son, even at the cost of not liking the man she married. Ego was over burden with the fact that she was not able to birth to a baby boy and with the guilty that she will bring down her family name. In maximum cases with childless couples, women are made to feel that they are responsible for not having a child. Even in the One Part Woman, the protagonist made to believed that she is responsible for the childless marriage.

Back Download

References

• Mugugan,Perumal. One Part Woman.Trans.Aniruddhan Vasudevan. Tamil Nadu:Penguin Books, 2013.Print.
• http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/why-perumal-murugans-one-part-womansignificant-debate-freedom-expression-india