Feminist literary criticism is described as the interpretation of composing literature from a female’s angle. Feminist writers often refuse the norms of typical literature, and they rebel against the patriarchal point of view. Feminist writers approach their literature in an empowering way to represent females. It criticizes and analyses the restraints and oppression of women throughout the years, and it portrays how women are viewed in literature. Feminist writers found themselves forbidden from composing literature in the era of the 1960’s.
Key concepts of feminist literary criticism can be seen throughout the novel ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy. This assists the reader to develop a critical analysis and to gain more knowledge of the novel. This novel portrays the truth about the treatment of Indian women. It tells the reader about the horrible suffering these females endured, especially in a male dominated society. The females in this novel long to have an identity. Roy writes about the oppression of females in India. Throughout the novel Roy highlights the way in which the male population dominated the females in social norms. A source quotes: “Feminist criticism has been rather a powerful movement than a unified theory, a community of women with a shared set of concerns but with a complex and resourceful variety of methodological practices and theoretical affiliations” (Showalter, ‘Women's Time, Women's Space: Writing the History of Feminist Criticism’, 1984). This statement portrays how important the feminist community is and shows that when strong women with similar mindsets come together, women can overpower men in the literature world.
Ammu is a female character in the novel and has dealt with brutal and harsh treatment her whole life. When she was a young girl, she did not have access to education as her father believed that education was extremely unnecessary for girls. Ammu eventually got the opportunity to attend school in Britain to gain an education, her father still believed that by attending college it would give his daughter an amoral attitude. In the world we live in today, some remote and traditional countries and areas still deny females the access to have an education, and from a feminist perspective this is unfair and ridiculous because every human should have access to education to learn and get themselves an education. Having an education allows a person to excel in life and to be the best version of themselves that they can be, and therefore this is why Roy highlights this issue in the novel to allow women the right to gain an education.
When Ammu is a grown woman, she becomes a divorced mother of two. This is because Ammu leaves her husband due to his indecent proposal, but when she does this, she is no longer accepted of welcome into her own family home. From a female literary perspective this shows how badly females were oppressed and controlled which is hard to see, we as women have some so far in this day and age, and to see how badly maltreated women were it is almost dehumanization to women. Gender is very relevant in this situation; her father is in control of her life and Ammu is not allowed to use her own voice. It is evident that society has double standards when it comes to male and females, which is very unnecessary. Ammu was uncontrollably beaten by her father most nights. Papachi is a conservative and traditional father and husband. He abuses and belittles his own family. From a feminist literary perspective, when he takes out his anger on his own family, he gains a sense of supremacy and power. Ever since, she was denied her basic rights. This abuse was normalized in the Indian culture, the culture plays a big role in the social norms and why the male population felt they were superior. A source quotes: “Pitting feminism against multiculturalism has certain consequences, it obscures the influences that in fact shape cultural practices, hides the forces besides culture that affect women’s lives, elides the way women exercise agency within patriarchy, and masks the level of violence” (Volpp, ‘Feminism Versus Multiculturalism’, 2001). This quote portrays how culture itself makes it okay to treat women with violence in certain countries, and in this case it is India, their culture allows this abuse and unfair treatment to occur, and it overlooks how wrong the abuse is.
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Roy begins to criticize the male dominant society in India as he compares the irrational and egocentric men to a ‘male chauvinist pig’. Mammachi is very talented at playing the violin, and one day her teacher was praising her. Because of this praise and her amazing talent, Pappachi makes her immediately stop going to her violin lessons and he destroys the bow on Mammachi’s violin and continues to hurl it into the river. Her amazing talent led her to violence, she was physically and mentally abused by her husband. Pappachi feared that Mammachi would be more successful than him, and that she would make something of herself. He felt threatened by his own wife because she was more talented than him. This jealousy and fear Pappchi possess results in male dominance because he knows he has the power to do so. This incident was Roy’s attempt to reveal the reality of the patriarchal system. From a feminist literary point of view, it is evident that men possess all the physical power in this society and women are seen as weak in comparison to them.
Baby Kochamma is the second generation of women in the novel. Baby Kochamma is besotted and in love with Father Mulligan. She was mesmerized by him. Baby Kochamma felt so passionately about him that she changed her religion for him and became a Roman Catholic. She did not receive the same passion and attraction in return from father Mulligan. When she was sent away, her feelings still did not change and therefore this conveys how she needed attentiveness and love from a male, and she went through great extents to gain it, and she still failed. She was brainwashed and oppressed into thinking she needed a male to feel complete or superior. Baby Kochamma disdained Ammu because she was a divorced single mother on her own. She felt that because Ammu did not have a male presence in her life, that she was inferior to those who did have a male in their life. Baby Kochamma cared more about how others saw her. Baby Kochamma also interferes and destroys Ammu’s chance of being happy when she brings Ammu’s affair to light. By exposing this affair, it leads to her own brother’s death. But she is untroubled by this. Baby Kochamma was not bothered by her brothers encounters with other women, she was content to ruin another woman’s happiness, which from a feminist literary perspective portrays that in this age of society women will always be the offender in these sexual acts, but it is accepted when a man does it, this is wrong, unfair, and sexist.
When her husband finally died, Mammachi provided for her family by running the pickle factory successfully, but she was compelled by doing so. From a feminist literary perspective this portrays that the hard work, talents, and passion from women is ignored and underappreciated by men. Mammachi falls victim to the prejudice beliefs and ways of society. This treatment turns her insensitive and numb, she is almost hardened emotionally. Mammachi endured a lot of pain and abuse from her late husband, but she did not stand up to him or rebel against the abuse. Reading from a feminist literary perspective, we as readers see a traditional Indian woman who does not rebel against her abusive husband, instead she allows it to happen, which resulted in her crying when her husband died. This was not because she was distraught by the death, but instead because it would appear odd if she were not seen crying. A quote from the novel supports this statement: “With her eyes she looked in the direction that her husband looked. With her heart she looked away” (p.30). This portrays perfectly that she was crying and showing emotional just to fit into society’s norm, but her heart and emotions were in fact free from his torture.
In conclusion, it is evident that women will always be inferior to men in certain circumstances, women empowerment is crucial if countries such as India want to see a change, and there is a lot of feminism in this novel and from a feminist literary view there is a lot of abuse and inequality towards women, and Roy really highlights this and raises awareness for the women suffering.
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