In 8 February 1921, Gandhiji addressed
the congregation in Gorakhpur, evoking a call for sacrifice for
others. It was during the time of independence. Munshi Premchand was
also present in that congregation. In 16 February 1921, he resigned
his government job and decided to join the Satyagrha movement through
his writing. Every individuals who thought himself to be in love with
his country went to warfare; got beaten and put into jail. Premchand
decided to keep on writing on the theme of Swaraj to inspire
patriotism in people's mind. This was a call that presupposed the
willingness to bear pain.
In 1910, he was hauled up by the
District magistrate in Jaipur for his anthology of short stories
Soz-e-watan (Dirge of the nation). The book was confiscated, banned
and all of the copies were burnt. After that he began to write under
pseudonym as Premchand, hiding his real name Dhanpat Rai Srivastava.
During 1930s Premchand declared that his sole desire was to leave a
legacy of masterpiece that would enhance the movement of the
independence.
Premchand paid the price for responding
Gandhi's call by leaving his government job. 'Public debate does not
take place in vacuum. There are preconditions that need to be
fulfilled before a nation or its people can benefit from healthy
public discussion.'(Kharel, Political Communication, p.41). He dedicated to inspire patriotism
through his writing. But his indignation towards the colonialism is
only a half reality, other half of it is the question why he was so
agonized by contemporary social evils. He did not write only for
independence but also could not help himself peeping through the grim
reality of social problems. The slogan of independence surely
idealized patriotism but who would think upon the mechanism of social
regulation that had functioned more or less unchanged and
unquestioned for centuries. Premchand sensed another call to unravel
the mechanism of rigidity and cruel social structure of his time.
Caste snobbery, which operated as a religious imperative, implicating
that it was much more than just a caste system, crushing poverty,
brutal exploitation by landowners, money lender and parasitical
Brahmins, the strong desire for sons to carry on family legacy and
rituals, the shame of widowhood, the proverbial conservatism, etc
were some of the major issues that rankled him most.
In light of his indignation and choice
of his subject matter, the tropism of social force was so imminent to
him that his art is hardly free from the control of it. This study
will only focus on poverty to show how it prevails upon his work.
1. Social Force
The relationship between artist and the
society is interdependent. There is always representation of societal
elements in art. Artist challenges or endorses by silence the status
quo of the society. Human imagination is not only a tool for
acquiring desired pleasure, as many may think wrongly to be the base
of any literature, but also a mode, when properly manifested, to
control other's thought. There is social impulse behind the curtain
that tantalizes the taste of arts. Literature is social product. To
mention literature as social product, it must be seen through the
reference of social phenomena. Social phenomena, though very minutely
occurring, have a great tendency to affect the milieu. It is unlike a
tree fallen in the forest, yet has been unheard by humanity. The
skillful pouncing of a tiger on a fast runner deer is virtually
quotidian event, which is not so meaningful unless it is brought
under National Geography or the Discovery channel. A snapped electric
wire in the street may bring about a multiple conjectures than vines
in the trees of the jungle that are unnoticed by human eyes.
Therefore, there is no meaning of literary work outside the social
realm. We as social being of modern time, have to acknowledge that
society as an institutional world 'was there before an individual was
born, and it will be still there after his death.' (Berger and
Luckman 555)
According to D.P Mukherji, the concept
of Social Force is 'dynamic relationship between stimuli and
response' which should neither be seen as 'series of stimuli nor
series of responses'.Social forces pervade beyond the social
determinism. Social determinism works mainly through economic factors
and biological needs. It is coercive of and external to the actor.
But social forces are not so endemic. 'Social
forces fight between themselves and cancel one another, like
primitive gods' (Mukherji, P. 93). So, the relationship
between and among the forces is dialectical. There is where Marxism
fits into the analysis of it. It is not that society always wins
the game. Sporadically, man has played a chirotic role in the history
of civilization and has given the society a definite course. We
cannot ignore 'the paradox that man is capable of producing a world
that he then experiences as something other than a human product.
Therefore, the relationship between man, the producer, and the social
world, his product, is and remains a dialectical one.
That is, man and his social world interact each other. The product
acts back upon the producer.'(Berger and Luckman 556)
2. Poverty as Social Force
Poverty acts as force
and controls human condition to a considerable extent. Survival becomes focal
point rather than pursuing the value of freedom in poverty. Human beings have
shown an amazing capacity for adjustment to misfit (Mukherji.32). People can live even in the
bondage of difficulty because of the force that upholds them. Poverty, being as
social force, not only directs people's lives in a certain direction but also
controls them. Poverty must be observed critically because it is not an
automatic process but can cyclically last perennial. Different social factors
lurk behind causing this cumulatively. Because of the experience of material
and social deprivation that detains individual reaching full human potential.
The behaviors are internalized through socialization process, which grows the
attitude of resistance to change. The most dangerous thing is that poverty can
be a ground for exploitation. Frederich Angel argues that all conceivable
evils are heaped upon the poor… They are given damp dwellings, cellar dens that
are not waterproof from below or garrets that leak from above… They are
supplied bad, tattered, or rotten clothing, adulterated and indigestible food.
They are exposed to the most exciting changes of mental condition, the most
violent vibrations between hope and fear... They are deprived of all enjoyments
except sexual indulgence and drunkenness and are worked every day to the point
of complete exhaustion of their mental and physical energies…[1]
The
US Council of Economics Advisor stated in 1964, ' The vicious cycle in which
poverty breeds poverty, occurs through the time, and transmits its effects from
one generation to another. There is no beginning to cycle, no end' (quoted in
Moynihan, 1968, p.9). The vicious circle theory of poverty argues that the
various circumstances of the poor combine to maintain them in poverty. They are
trapped in the situation with little chance of escaping. (Haralambos, p.152).
However, force counters its adversaries. Otherwise, it is not a force at all.
Human civilization has full of histories where they fought against the
repetitious mechanism of erosion. The world would have been still in Stone Age,
if the vicious circle theory of poverty were true, at least in all ages. Thus,
it is the nature of the social force that counteracts dialectically and breeds
competing theories.
[1] Source: From The Condition of the Working Class
in England (p.129), by Frederich Engels,
1845/1987.
New
York: Penguin Classics
3. The
Winter Night (Push Ki Raat)
3.1
Summary
Halku
and Munni are husband and wife. The story unfolds the tension between
the husband and wife with the arrival of the landlord for money.
They had kept the money for buying the blanket for Jaunary night
because Halku used to guard the farm at night. Without the blanket he
could not sleep in the field at night. But the landlord would not be
put off. He had threatened and insulted him. The landlord was the
calamity right there and the chilling night was there about to come
as another death in future.
Halku
moved his heavy body and came closer to his wife. He coaxed her and
said that he will manage some other way for blanket but getting rid
off the urgency was important for them now. Munni was not ready to be
credulous because she had already been well acquainted with his
several plans that failed. There left no chance to get blanket by
anyone if the money would not used for buying the blanket.
Halku
was sad. There was no other way but bearing the abuse now. But Munni
was furious and said, why should he abuse you- is this his kingdom?
But
then she realized the bitter truth in Halku's words. She went to
niche in the wall and took out the rupees and handed them to Halku
telling him that he should work other than farming this land.
When
Halku gave out the money he felt as though he torn his heart to
shred. He had saved the money from his work for the blanket. His head
was down cast.
Then
the story shift to the field where Halku spent a whole winter night
talking with Jabra, the dog who accompanied Halku for guarding the
field. Halku did many things to while the difficult moments away. He
talked with dog as his family member. He smoked his pipe. Gathered
some twigs and burned and warmed up. He then fall asleep. After some
time he heard some noise of some wild animals that came for grazing
his field but he did not get up to chase them away. Instead, he did
not leave his place where he slept.
In
the morning, he was found asleep till the high sunrise in the sky.
Mnni came and showed the concern for the crops that was ruined. Halku
on the other hand showed concern for his own life that he was able to
manage his life during the night. They talked on working other way
for paying the tax. Halku was happy that he would not have to pass
the chilly night in the field anymore.
3.2
The cost of freedom and social force
Freedom
is costly and weighed at risk. Many social activists have endorsed
this value by giving their lives for the sake of freedom. The poorer
the people the more costly the freedom is. It works relatively with
the powerful group. Nothing significant can happen except eating and
drinking in poverty, if freedom is not utilized at its full fledge.
Premchand advocates the need of freedom without much said on it.
Halku
and Munni get tensed with the arrival of the landlord. Their
determination for saving money in order to buy a blanket for winter
night has now been shattered. All wisdom and knowledge for choice
does not work when freedom is absent. Munni, as rational being, wants
to react the situation and determines to ignore the stimulus. But the
truth is that only non-living things can remain untouched by the
influence of stimulus. She tells Halku to give the money to the
landlord next time after the harvest,
not right now. Halku coaxes her and tries to convince that he
would think of another plan for the blanket but this time it's
important to think about their urgency. Munni is far removed from her
faith in her situation to believe that her husband can perform a
miracle. She remarks drawing away from him.
'
You have already tried '' some other plan''. You just tell me what
other plan can be found. Is somebody going to give you a blanket? God
knows how many debts are always left over that we can't pay off.'
Halku
is not true to his name. His body is paradoxically cumbersome. Munni
is angry-
'What
I say is, give up this tenant farming! The work's killing you'
Munni's
statement on her husband's work is paradoxically eccentric. Work for
humanity is worship. Work is sustainer of life. Munni's statement is
a record of unknown chronicle that whispers the calamities of many
workers that go hungry despite of their work. It is also a prophecy
to some worshiper who may be killed by their own god (work) they
worship. Work is fundamental to livelihood, but ironically Halku's
work is killing him. 'According to the traditional Black American
subculture, work is defined at best as an unfortunate necessity' (
Haralambos, p. 228)
'
Earn money for your own belly! Give up that kind of farming '
Munni's
advice seems impractical to Halku. Advice is like seeds always
seeking for a fertile ground. There is no fertile ground here for the
advice to be sprouted but only the social force behind that makes
Halku go against his wellbeing.
I
won't give you the money, I won't!
Then
I'll have to put up with his abuse. Says Halku sadly.
The
writer takes the pathos to a deeper level commenting on Munnis's
feeling-
The
bitter truth in Halku's words came charging at her like a wild beast.
The
modern concept of money is that it is the medium of exchanging goods
and services in the market. But the function of money for Halku
family is to detain the abuse and insult. The blanket is yet to be
owned and it remains as unfulfilled desire. The value of freedom
surpasses all values.
Poverty
is so common in all societies. Even the rich country like America
feels poverty at some point at corner. Many hold the notion that it
is a part and parcel of human experience. It is so rampant and common
parlance that most of us have acquired a very simplistic idea of what
it means. In its clichéd form, it may generate a superficial if not
altogether meaningless. Unfulfilled wish is much more than ethical in
poverty. Neither the Freudian notion of repressed unconscious can
satisfy its implication.
Urgent
dictates the importance in poverty. The force of abuse has a greater
threat than the force of chilling winter night that is yet to come
for Halku. Social force inexorably charts the course of his decision.
He acts as rational fool in his poverty. Munni also gives in.
however, she denies at first. -
'Why
should he abuse you- is this his kingdom? '
But
the truth of their poverty works as a wild beast against her
determination.
The
writer takes the note of pathetic tone as Halku takes the money to
give the landlord-
Halku
took the money and went outside looking as though he were tearing his
heart out and giving it away. He'd saved the rupees from his work,
pice by pice, for his blanket. Today he was going to throw it away.
With every step his head sank lower under the burden of his poverty.
The
next part of the story unfolds the consequences of Halku's decision.
Halku spends the chilling night with much difficult. The decision is
based on his conscious choice not because of error of choice. He knew
what was correct choice but was unable to work on his welfare
commitment. Even the most intelligent person can choose what Halku
did in his situation. It is the social force that hinders or
precipitates the power of choice.
A
dark January night. In the sky even the stars seemed to be shivering.
At the edge of his field, underneath a shelter of cane leaves, Halku
lays on a bamboo cot wrapped up in his old burlap shawl shivering.
Underneath the cot his friend Jabra, the dog, is whimpering with his
muzzle pressed into his belly. Neither one of them is able to sleep.
In
this section, the most important point is Halku's communication with
Jabra, the dog.
'Cold,
Jabra? Didn't I tell you, in the house you could lie in the paddy
straw? So why did you come out here? Now you'll have to
bear the cold, there's nothing I can do. You thought I was coming
out here to eat puris and sweets and you came running on ahead of me.
Now you can moan all you want.'
Jabra
wags his tail without getting up in response. Even his canine wisdom
is just for a guess.
'From
tomorrow on stop coming with me or the cold will get you. This
bitch of a west wind comes from nobody knows where bringing the icy
cold with it. Let me get up and fill my pipe. I've smoked eight
pipefuls already but we'll get through the night somehow. This is
the reward you get for farming. Some lucky fellows are lying in
houses where if the cold comes after them the heat just drives it
away. A good thick quilt, warm covers, a blanket! Just let the winter
cold try to get them! Fortune's arranged everything very well. While
we do the hard work somebody else gets the joy of it'
Why
would the writer have chosen a dog to be a character in the story?
Linguists often relates with animal communication in order to
distinguish the uniqueness of the human language. Pragmatically,
language is a purposeful form of behavior. It produces the
illocutionary act as well as the locutionary; that is of grammatical
ones. Wittgenstein wrote- A dog could not have the thought' perhaps
it will rain tomorrow'- and therefore they do not possess the rights
of conscious beings. A dog, Bertrand Russell noted, may not be able
to tell you that its parents were honest though poor, but can anyone
really conclude from this that the dog is unconscious? (Language
Instinct p. 56, 58). Therefore, the implication must have been other
than Jabra, the dog. And there is no other than Halku with Jabra. So,
the implication may veer round to Halku himself, however, the
expression is unlike the soliloquies of Hamlet.
Halku
in a way, resembles Jabra. He guards the field at night. He has left
his home and has come to field to guard whole night. Both of them
share their feelings. Both are suffering from cool night. Neither of
them can sleep comfortably.
He
(Halku) embraced him with the very same affection he would have felt
for a brother or a friend.
He
(Jabra) would come back for a moment, then dash off again at once.
The sense of duty had taken possession of him as though it were
desire.
Dog
is a social animal. it is dutiful, faithful and watchful. It has
voice yet it has not meaningful pattern as human language. Putting
Halku and Jabra at the level of same setting of story has some open
ended characteristics of purpose. But the infinity can be anchored by
the theme of the story, which is poverty. What Halku says to Jabra is
a kind of blurred monologues in ambivalent. There is no meaning
exchanged between the interlocutors. It is the writer's craftsmanship
of the hidden tautology. The implication is stronger when one draws a
hidden tautology between Halku and Jabra. Let us consider the
following expression of Halku made unto Jabra-
Didn't
I tell you, in the house you could lie in the paddy straw?
why
did you come out here?
Now
you'll have to bear the cold, there's nothing I can do
Now
you can moan all you want
From
tomorrow on stop coming with me or the cold will get you
This
is the reward you get for farming
Halku
is Halku. Jabra is Jabra. These are explicit tautology. Halku is
Jabra and vice-versa is what a hidden tautology. Why did you come out
here? We cannot expect an answer from Jabra, the dog. Neither can we
do from Halku himself. Asking question is easier than answering them,
specially when people are gripped by the hidden force.
At
last, he distinctly hears the noise of the wild animals; moving
around and grazing in the field. But, it seems intolerable for him to
go to the field in this cold and chase after animals. The wild
animals eat up Halku's fine crops. But then, suddenly a blast of wind
pierces him with a sting like a scorpion's. his drowsiness holds him
motionless as though with ropes. Wrapped up in his shawl he falls
asleep beside the extinguished fire and stirred up ashes.
The
next day awaits Halku to hire himself to earn some money to pay off
the rent and taxes. The social force creates a consistency in his
commitment. He is not free of his duty.
Were
we born just to keep paying off debts! -
Munni's
realization endorses the tenacity of this force.
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