Mummified Fragments: Characters and Themes in Hariharan’s Novel The Ghosts of Vasu Master

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 827-835
Author(s):  
R. Ramakrishnan
Keyword(s):  
School Teacher ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Male Characters

Hariharan’s versatility as an author with a mission to subvert the entire tradition can be recognized in every work of fiction she has created. For this purpose in her second novel, The Ghosts of Vasu Master she experiments with a male protagonist and a host of other male characters. Vasu is the protagonist of the novel. He is a retired school teacher from P.G. Boys’ school, Ellipettai. He leads a lonely widower’s life with two of his sons employed and settled away from home. This article scrutinizes the life of an idower is all aspects.

Homosexualité, Islam et désacralisation du pouvoir royal dans Le jour du Roi d'Abdellah Taïa

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-143
Author(s):  
Taïeb Berrada
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Identification Process ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Oedipal Complex ◽  
The Creation

In his novel Le jour du Roi Abdellah Taïa explores the theme of alterity in its relation to two political and symbolic forces: expressing one’s self in the language of the Other and narrating homo-erotic and homosexual relationships in Morocco under the dictatorship of Hassan II. It is the translation of these two aspects that leads to the creation of a new narrative about homosexual Franco-Moroccan identity. This narrative, in turn, reveals the instability of a model of identification subjected to a normalizing sexual apparatus controlling bodies and minds in a place where homosexuality is still punishable by law. This renders the identification process for the two main characters of the novel particularly problematic as they can no longer sustain it without going back to the sources of foundational myths and more particularly to the original murder in Islam. This article argues that the killing of one character by the other goes back to the original murder of Abel by Cain, a model which becomes emancipated from the Western Oedipal complex, translating a new conception of a love relation between two male characters. By so doing, it calls for a reevaluation of the normativity imposed by the king who is using his power based on a patriarchal interpretation of religious legitimacy in view of political gain.

scholarly journals Nicholas Urfe’s Masculine Trap or the Construction of Manhood, its Ambivalences and Limitations in John Fowles’s The Magus

2017 ◽  
pp. 73-86
Author(s):  
Irina Strout
Keyword(s):  
Western Society ◽  
The Novel ◽  
John Fowles ◽  
Lone Wolf ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Male Power ◽  
Personal Level ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
And Control

Western society and its fiction faces the overwhelming problem of masculinity and its modeling. The era of war, capitalism, the challenges of feminism affect the ideology within which men are constructed both as individuals and as a social group. John Fowles’s fi ction tackles the crucial issue of male power and control as masculinity is put to test and trial in his 1965 novel The Magus. The defi nition of manhood, male virility and social respectability of the period shape the 20th century male characters in Fowles’s fi ction. This paper aims to explore how John Fowles investigates the role of masculinity and power myths on the personal level of relationship and a wider scale of war and capitalism in The Magus. Notions of masculinity off er the protagonist, Nicholas Urfe, a sense of a superiority and power over women in the course of the novel. Among the goals of the project is to examine the mythical journey of Nicholas, which becomes a testing ground of his masculinity and maturity, as well his trial and ‘disintoxication,’ which is intended to help him to reevaluate his life and his relationships with women. One of the issues posed is whether Nicholas Urfe is reborn as a new man at the end of his search for redemption or if he remains the same egotistic, ‘lone wolf’ as he appears in the beginning of the novel.

scholarly journals Linguistic Choices in Hamid’s Moth Smoke: A Transitivity Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 303
Author(s):  
Hafiz Muhammad Qasim ◽  
Mubina Talaat ◽  
Qamar Khushi ◽  
Musarrat Azher
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Prose Fiction ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Relational Processes ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Verbal Processes

The present study is aimed at an investigation of how meanings are construed in a literary text. The main theoretical framework employed for the data analysis was transitivity, which finds its roots in Halliday’s (1994) Systemic Functional Grammar. 21 texts from Hamid’s novel, Moth Smoke (MS) were selected as data. A sample size of 1100 complex clause sentences containing different processes, participants and circumstances was drawn for analysis. The focus of the study was the identification of transitivity patterns associated with the main characters of the novel following Simpson (2004) who viewed it “useful indicator of character in prose fiction” (p. 119). The findings of transitivity constructions showed that all types of processes were found in MS. Based on the rank of frequency, material processes were computed the most frequent processes. They did have frequency of occurrence as (1076=51.45%). The projection of mental processes was (13.91%) in the second position. The verbal processes were (11.23%), relational processes (19.75%) while the lowest projection was found in behavioural (2.63%) and existential (0.86%) processes. Male characters were ascribed with more material and verbal processes while females were drawn as having mental and attributive process clauses. The current study concluded that transitivity options can function as a useful analytical tool in the analysis of a literary text.

scholarly journals TRANSGRESI SEKSUAL DALAM NOVEL PARA PENEBUS DOSA KARYA MOTINGGO BUSYE (Sexual Transgression in Motinggo Busye’s “Para Penebus Dosa”)

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Ferry Fauzi Hermawan
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Female Character ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Sexual Transgression ◽  
Descriptive Method

Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menggambarkan transgresi seksual yang terdapat dalam novel Para Penebus Dosa karya Motinggo Busye. Metode yang digunakan dalam artikel ini adalah metode deskriptif analitis. Data dari novel dideskripsikan untuk memperoleh gambaran transgresi seksual. Dalam novel tersebut pelanggaran terhadap kebiasaan seksual, norma, dan kelas digambarkan melalui peristiwa seksual yang dialami oleh para tokoh, terutama tokoh perempuan. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa tokoh perempuan digambarkan banyak melakukan tindak transgresi dibandingkan dengan tokoh laki-laki. Analisis juga menunjukkan bahwa narator dalam novel memiliki sikap bias gender dan mendukung nilai-nilai patriarki dengan lebih banyak memberikan hukuman terhadap tokoh perempuan yang melakukan tindak transgresi seksual dibandingkan kepada tokoh laki-laki.Abstract:The paper aims at describing sexual transgression in Motinggo Busye’s “Para Penebus Dosa”.  The research applies descriptive method. The sexual transgressions elaborated in the novel are presented through the deviance of sexual affairs, social norms, and class experienced by the characters, especially female character. The result of the research shows that  female characters described in the story committed a lot of sexual transgressions compared to male characters. The study also reveals that the narrator in the novel  has a gender bias act. Moreover, he supports values of patriarchy by giving more punishment to the female committing sexual transgression act than to the male.

scholarly journals The Identification of Slurs and Swear Words in Bronte Sisters’ Novels

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Citra Suryanovika ◽  
Irma Manda Negara
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Unexpected Finding ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Wuthering Heights ◽  
Male Characters

This research aimed at identifying the categories of slurs, presenting how swear words expressed in male or female characters of Bronte sisters’ novels, and examining the social status scale in presenting slurs. The research was a qualitative content analysis of which process was categorizing, comparing, and concluding. The researchers employed MAXQDA 2018.1 (the data analysis tool) for analyzing the samples of five female and male main characters of the novel of Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre), and Anne Bronte (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). The research has shown three out of nine Thurlow’s pejorative items (social personality, phallocentric, and sexist), the possible formation of social personality slurs, the identification of swear words for showing speakers’ emotional states, and the influence of social status scale on the expression of slurs. It proves that slurs and swear words are used to deliver a derogatory attitude. The sexist slurs are not only delivered from male characters to female characters, but it is also found in Catherine Earnshaw targeting Nelly although they have similar gender background (female). Slurs are found in the characters from both high and low social rank since the plot develops the relationship amongst the characters. One unexpected finding is the different swear words between the characters. Swear words found in the novel are not only dominated by the word devil, damn, or by hell, but also the word deuce and humbug. The varied swear words proves that the male characters do not dominantly produce swear words, but also euphemistic expression.

scholarly journals Maskuliniti yang Diruntuhkan Feminiti: Satu Penelitian Stereotaip Gender dalam Novel Seri Dewi Malam Karya Affifudin Haji Omar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Hasmah Wan Teh
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Female Authors ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Second Sex ◽  
Feminist Ideology ◽  
Female Stereotypes ◽  
And Gender

Ideologi feminis menyumbang kepada fahaman bahawa lelaki dan perempuan dipengaruhi oleh pengalaman kehidupan yang berbeza ketika menghasilkan sesebuah karya kreatif. Feminis percaya bahawa pengarang lelaki tidak dapat menampilkan dimensi kejiwaan perempuan kerana mereka tidak pernah merasai pengalaman sebagai seorang perempuan. Ideologi seperti ini muncul sebagai tindak balas terhadap kebanyakan karya yang dihasilkan oleh pengarang lelaki yang sering mempersembahkan watak perempuan sebagai the second sex, terpinggir, bisu dan lemah dalam sistem sosial yang didominasi oleh lelaki. Walau bagaimanapun, tindakan pengarang lelaki ini tidak boleh dihukum kerana kegagalan mereka memahami dimensi perempuan yang berbeza dari diri mereka. Pencitraan perempuan daripada perspektif pengarang lelaki harus dilihat daripada konteks masyarakat dan budaya yang meletakkan stereotaip tertentu mengikut jenis kelamin. Bertitik tolak daripada fahaman tersebut, makalah ini mengupas konsep gender yang dibentuk oleh masyarakat sosial serta meneliti imej stereotaip lelaki yang dikenali sebagai gender maskulin dan imej stereotaip perempuan yang dikenali sebagai gender feminin. Hasil dapatan makalah ini mendapati pengarang novel Seri Dewi Malam telah mengubah fahaman pembaca tentang pengarang lelaki dalam mencitrakan imej perempuan dan menolak stereotaip sedia ada dengan menonjolkan imej positif yang dimiliki oleh watak Rohana sebagai gender feminin yang meruntuhkan stereotaip gender maskulin watak-watak lelaki di dalam novel.   The feminist ideology argues that the production of a creative work amongst male and female authors is defined by their specific life and gender experience. Feminists believe that male authors are unable to tap into the thoughts and emotional dimension of female authors because they have never experienced the life of a female. This argument emerged as a form of reaction towards the production of novels by male authors who often portray the female characters as ‘the second sex’, forsaken, tacit and weak in the male-dominated social system. Understandably, these prejudiced portrayals reflect their failure in understanding the female gender as a whole. Narrating the female from the male perspective thus has to be approached from the social and cultural context that gives rise to these stereotypes. This paper addresses the notion of gender from the perspective of society and explores the conceptual division between the male representation as ‘masculine' and female representation as ‘feminine’ in the novel Seri Dewi Malam. It argues that the author of the novel has managed to transform the female stereotypes by instilling more positive representations to the protagonist Rohana and her femininity in challenging the masculinity of male characters.

scholarly journals "Dainty Predators" and "Carnivorous Families": The Representation of Hunger in Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters .

2018 ◽  
pp. 764-771
Author(s):  
Faisal I. Rawashdeh ◽  
Malek J. Zuraikat
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Collective State ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Direct Association ◽  
Desire To Eat

The cultural practice of obsessive feasting suggests not only individual attitudes to food but also a collective state of spiritual emptiness. In Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters (1990) most male characters’ hunger for food is never satisfied. Their expressed desire to eat at any given circumstance is often aligned with vocalized or wishful sexual urges. Their female counterparts either eschew food ascetically or demonstrate a corresponding degree of gastronomic crave. In this novel, hunger and its direct association with consumption do not define a festive, harmonious environment. Rather, satisfaction of desires is set against a violent, politically charged background. The discussion below traces the representation of hunger and food consumption in the novel to gain fresh insights into the problematic nature of the neocolonial modes of living in Manila. To this end, we argue that Manila in Hagedorn’s Dogeaters is consumed by a collective insatiability and instability fostered by the hegemony of a capitalistic/postmodern dynamic that continues to define the cultural attitudes and practices of the citizenry in the neocolonial city of Manila.

scholarly journals Gender projections in the novel Soul in A Mask by N. V. Nedobrovo

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 188-200
Author(s):  
Marianna V. Kaplun
Keyword(s):  
Opposite Effect ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Gender Discourse ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
The Social ◽  
Feminine Discourse ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
Modern Era

The prose novel by N. V. Nedobrovo Soul in A Mask, written in 1914, incorporates basic ideas of the writer’s work and continues development of gender (feminine) discourse of the modern era. To a large extent, the search for a “soul in a mask”, the ability to express a lyrical “I”, coupled with the theatricality of being, the need for a social masquerade, are characteristic of the majority of modernist works. The theme of masks is equally present in the lyrics of symbolism and close to Nedobrovo acmeism (for example, in the work of A. A. Akhmatova, Nedobrovo’s closest friend). The masquerade performs two functions in the novel — plot-forming and philosophical. Having made the center of the story of the reflecting heroine Olga, Nedobrovo displays a number of male characters, a collision which meant to reveal the title female character. Male / female opposition (masculinity / femininity) informs the main conflict of the novel, related to the inability of an intelligent woman of expressing herself in a male society without wearing a mask. The paper shows that the mask serves as a kind of gender projection and represents an attempt to overcome the social masquerade, which is always associated with an identity crisis. Mask, as applied to the heroine and her ready-made social mask gives an opposite effect, only emphasizing the gender difference and, accordingly, leading to the disclosure of the heroine’s femininity. Based on this, “female issue” raised in the story is resolved in compliance with patriarchal ideas of the conservative gender discourse of the turn of the century.

Neo-Colonialism in India as Represented in Aravind Adiga’s The Last Man in Tower

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 836-842
Author(s):  
P.MICHAEL AROKIASAMY ◽  
DR. M. MARY JAYANTHI
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Colonial Studies ◽  
Metropolitan Cities ◽  
Last Man ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Middle Class People

The term ‘neo-colonialism’ generally represents the indirect involvement of the developed countries in the developing world. Post-colonial studies show in detail that in spite of attaining independence, the influence of colonialism and its representatives are still very present in the lives of most former colonies in different forms. These influences constitute the subject matter of neo-colonialism. Aravind Adiga’s Last Man in Tower abounds with incidences that represent neo-colonialism in India. The novel portrays how Mumbai, one of the metropolitan cities and an important commercial centre has developed a place of multiple opportunities. To have a decent house in a commercial city like Mumbai therefore remains only a dream for the middle class people. The residents of Tower-A are ordinary middle class people of Mumbai who try to live their both ends in the globalised India. The novel spins around two opposing forces: the retired school teacher Masterji, trying to fight for his rights and Dharmen Shah, the greedy real estate developer. This paper therefore is an attempt to identify the elements of neo-colonialism in India as represented in Aravind Adiga’s Last Man in Tower.

scholarly journals The Gentleman as a Hero? (Mis)representations of Heroic Masculinity in W. M. Thackeray’s Vanity Fair

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 372
Author(s):  
Katri Sirkel
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Implicit Assumption ◽  
Napoleonic Wars ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Vanity Fair ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Victorian Period ◽  
Controversial Nature

The aim of the article is to analyse the concept of gentlemanliness with regard to heroic masculinity in W.M. Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair. Set at the time of the Napoleonic Wars and written in the 1840s, the novel casts light on the controversial nature of the notion of gentleman. In the Victorian period, gentlemanliness came to be modelled on the principles of chivalry but there was nevertheless an implicit assumption originating from the Regency era that being a gentleman meant yielding to leisurely elegance rather than performing heroic deeds. Thackeray, whose formative years had passed in the Regency-tinted 1820s and early 1830s but who as a novelist gained maturity in the mid-nineteenth century, was acutely aware of the contradiction between the Regency and Victorian perceptions of gentlemanliness and the unease resulting therefrom. Thus, the paper argues that although the Regency standards of gentlemanliness were discarded as incompatible with Victorian heroic masculinity, they had a considerable influence on how heroism as a component of gentlemanliness was perceived in the Victorian era. The analysis of gentlemanliness focuses on the four principal male characters in the novel – Jos Sedley, Rawdon Crawley, George Osborne, and William Dobbin, of whom each represents aspects of gentlemanliness not entirely compatible with the Victorian heroic ideal. The article suggests that the characters take heroism as an asset for creating a heroic image rather than as a manifestation of heroic deeds, thus presenting vividly the contradiction within the concept of Victorian heroic masculinity.

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