Postcolonial Feminist Theory: An Overview - Igcollege.org

Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, NandedIn her poem summer in Calcutta” shedescribes the sensuous absorption of sunlightwhich my be thought a metaphor for poetess’sdestination. The male chauvinism on thefeminine psyche is reduced when she letsherself participate in the world of nature andstimulation of life Independently. She writes“HowBrief the term of myDeviation, how briefYour reign when I withGlass in hand, drink, drinkJuice of April Suns.” 2The above poem explains thesubjugation of male dominancy over females.There is a passivity as well as rebellionagainst a male dominated world. In anotherfine lyric in the collection. ‘The Freaks’ thenymphomaniac persona breaks down, andadmits that her lust is a defence mechanism forseveral, a cover for her sense of inadequacy.“It’s only to save my face, I flaunt, at/ times agrand, flamboyant lust” 3Stripped of her mechanism for survival whichbreak down, the neurotic persona finds herselfprofoundly alone and longing for the cessationof conflict, however temporary this cessationmay be ‘Luminol’ records these feelings with aquietness and controlled brevity which make itone of the most moving poems Kamala Das hasritten“Love-lornIt is onlyWise a times, to let sleepMake holes in memory, even,If itBe the cold andLuminus sleep banked inThe heart of pills, for he shall notYour ruthless one,Being human, clumsyWith noise and movement, the soul’s male,Arena,That silent sleep inside your sleep.” 4K.R.S. Iyengar writes, “Kamala Das isa fiercely feminine sensibility that dareswithout inhibitions to articulate the hurts ithas received in an intensive, largely, manmadeworld” Satya Dev Jaggi also affirms that,“she is intensely conscions of herself as awoman.” Suresh Kohli is of the same viewwhen he says that, “her vision is vitallyparticularized by the woman’s point of view.”In her typical poems, the male desire is quicklyapprehended and described.…….these men who call meBeautiful, no seeingMe with eyes but with handsAnd, even…….even……..love 5In the poem ‘An Introduction’Mrs. Das presents the naked truth and placeswords boldly in such a manner in which peoplehave than no oncoming. Her expressionbecomes dramatic, Strong and against oldimages:“I was child and later theyTold me I grew, for became tall, my limbsSwelled and one or two places sprouted hair.WhenI asked for love, not knowing what else to askFor, he drew a youth of sixteen into theBedroom closed the door.”Mrs. Kamala Das presents a feministmovement through her poetry. She discoversthe male-hegemony from the inner care of herfeminine conscionsness. Mrs. Das’spersonality has its irreparable anchors in sexuallove and when it is refused she feels her lifemeaningless, barren and waste land, she burstsout in the poem “ The Suicide”“O sea, I am fed up,I want to be simple,I want to be lovedIf love is not to be had,I want to be dead.”Kamala Das’s acceptance of thepatriarchal, heterosexual marriage may poseproblems with regard to her being placed in thefeminist tradition. From a certain feministpoint of view, most specifically that which seesall marriage, and all heterosexual relationshipsas inevitably oppressive to and exploitative ofwomen, Kamala Das may not only be afeminist, but also probably an anti feminist,who betrays the central concerns of feminismand creates needless “mystification of the maledominance implicit in marriage andheterosexuality.”Her marital life if based onincongruity. She was married at the early ageof fifteen to a bank official tout a faitinsensitive to a young girl’s longings. KamalaDas is bound to do the domestic duties in thefamily against her tender feelings and yearningsfor emotional involvement. This sort ofexistence in her husbands home presents themiserably predicament of a woman an instanceof pray and predatory’ image. The male361 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1