The Dynamics of Social Seclusion in the Select Short Stories of Manju Bala

Abstract

The paper intends to study Manju Bala’s short stories such as Conflict, The Housemaid Special, Discrimination in the light of dalitism. Bala being a Bengali Dalit woman writer portrays the grim condition of the marginalized women in Bengal with her empirical study. In all three stories, we happen to witness caste-based discrimination, gender biasness, social injustice, domestic violence and so on. The female protagonists may be seen as transgressing the conventionality but society in large biased towards gender roles. Women are seen only as objects, peace providers, calm and quiet so on. They as we see are not provided with any emancipatory spirit even by their kith and kin but they have tried to go beyond with such obstacles. And throughout their journey, the characters face multiple dilemmas, troubles and conflicting emotion. The discriminatory practice is not something external or physical but cognitive. This mental dilemma is quite noticeable. We attempt to observe how economic stability fails to secure self-esteem and social prestige not only due to caste discrimination but also gender expectation. Patriarchy always runs high in controlling the minds that of the uncontrolled. Patriarchy, somehow, interpellates that women need not to be educated and provided with what the males in particular are provided. From early childhood till maturity, we see how the characters are marginalized and bullied by others. The term Dalit comes in contact in this paper to suggest any kind of exploitation faced by anybody. Thus, this paper tends to highlight all such issues which are silently nurtured by society.