Amit Pandey
Research Scholar
Dept. of English & MEL
University of Allahabad
In
India, the post - Independence era has witnessed a growing of literary talent,
more so in the genre of novel, that too, by Indian women novelists. Kamala Markandaya
occupies a prominent position amongst the post-Independence Indo-Anglian
novelists. One among the innumerable critical approaches to any genre of
literature is Psychology and as, David Daiches says: The behaviour of
characters in a novel" can be studied," in the light of modern
psychological knowledge and, if their behaviour confirms what we know about the
subtleties of the human mind, we can use modern theories as a means of
elucidating and interpreting the work.”1 In this article, an attempt
is made at the interpretation of Markandaya's Possession from a psychological
point of view.
Possession kamala Markandaya's fourth novel presents the complexities of
human relationships, the East-West encounter along with the theme of politics.
In this novel, the novelist depicts how the western culture has the tendency to
exploit physically as well as psychologically the innocent and the poor for
their selfish gains. Caroline Bells, an English lady, tries to possess a poor
Indian village boy, Val, but all in vein. Caroline is a representative of the
rich-westernized society, which thrives on the talent of the poor section of
society. Val’s return to India and his refusal to go with Caroline Bell
symbolizes the psychological struggle of India's independence and consequent
freedom from the Britishers.
Caroline Bell is the
representative of typical capitalism who believes in exploiting the poor
physically as well as mentally. She discovers the talent of painting in Val, buys
him from his parents, takes him to England and makes him a source financial
gain and satisfying her sexual lust. The insatiable thirst for money compels
Val's fathers to forget his relations with him. Val's mother knows her
husband's disposition already. She says: He
has already decided. Did you not hear him? It was the money- it was too much
for him. But it is always so, men are ever free and easy with that for which
they have neither suffered nor laboured.3
Anasuya, Caroline’s
friend, narrates the story of Possession.
Therefore, the story is told mainly from the Indian point of view. Iyenger has
given his views on the role of Anasuya: Perhaps
Anasuya (or Kamala Markandaya) is trying to make the story of Caroline and
Valmiki something of a parable of colonialism, the passing of one empire, and
the current insidious movement of new-colonialism.4
Anasuya presents the story
from the Indian point of view and delineates it as a reporter. She is a very
enigmatic character and it is very difficult to fathom her. She is the bridge
between Kamala Markandaya’s Eastern and Western world. Anasuya tells the story
of Valimiki’s life and like Mirabai of Some
Inner Fury passes some instances of languages that are to be exemplified
for its simplicity. The gradual progression in Valmiki for the language
learning procedure shows sometimes the translating method of Markandaya's from
one language to another, yet is reflects the artificiality and presents the actual
psychological development of the character.
Anasuya knows very well
about the Indian tradition and culture. When Caroline discovers the artistic
excellence of Val, she wants to take him with her to England. Anasuya advises
her “You forget” I said, “He may have a family. He may not want to leave them.
They may not want to leave him. In this way Anasuya denied candidly to help
her: "I mean I was not going to help you. This boy is a human being, even
if he is a goatherd and a simpleton. He is not a toy to be picked up and
discarded when something else takes your fancy." Anasuya knows very well
the psyche of the Indian family which is why she refuses to help, whereas
Caroline is taking what she wanted.
Anasuya knows the instinct
of Caroline who wants to achieve Val at any cost. She analyses the anxiety and
psychological perplexity of Caroline for Val and her attachment with Swamy. It
seems as if she can read well the heart and the mind of Caroline. She
delineates: I think she saw him as in the
end the real adversary the one who could, more formidably than anyone else who
had crossed her path, show up for shadows
and a legitimates entitlements to the boys, and resists her taking and
keeping possession of what she wanted.5
Markandya is very innovative and inventive while
employing the ordinary words for human emotions and passions because they are
directly connected with the human psyche. In fact, Anasuya is a product of two
cultural modes- the East and the West. On one hand we see her eagerness about
search for identity and on the other she encounters the conscious and unconscious
motives of her friend. Anasuya describes Caroline’s psyche in this way: She was supremely confident born and brought
up to do so, as a missionary in the full
Armour of his mission, dogged by none of the hesitancies that handicap lesser
breeds.6
East- West encounter plays
an important role in Markandaya's novels in presenting the psychological
conflicts. In the novel the novelist shows through Valimiki the development of
tribal psyche into western one. Valmiki's interest in painting and his faith in
Swamy are the part of his culture life. When he is sold to Caroline Bell,
Valmiki's life begins to change and more importantly he has to change his
thinking as well as his psyche in order to adopt western culture.
Ellie is another beautiful
character portrayed by Markandaya. She is a twenty year old Jewish girl who has
suffered the cruelty of Nazis in the camp. She is raped there almost every
night and described as." A victim of European crime in European
confines." Caroline reckons
her." better than nothing". She is an orphan, helpless and
suppressed. The emotional aspects shake the inner fibers of human psyche and
reveal the emotional fervor in language. She tells Anasuya about her mental condition
and her love for Val: I lie with a man-So
I do not talk about love, because I do not know if that is what I feel. It is
not easy to feel because I am burnt out, inside. But Valmiki loves me. He does
not know it, but he does. At times like tonight he forgets he cannot understand
himself how it is possible to love someone so dull as I am, you can see in his
face he is asking this question. Then when the others are gone and it is day
time again he comes back to me, we are of one kind.
Anasuya is deeply impressed
with Ellie. She says, I found it was not she but Ellie who dominated me. Pale,
ineffectual Ellie, asleep or more probably awake in her room across the
landing, surrounded by Valmiki’s work, and carrying his seed in her womb. Caroline
expels Ellie because she cannot bear Valmiki's relationship with another girl.
She even informs Annabel about Valmiki's illicit relationship with Ellie. This
shows the neurotic anxiety of possessiveness in Caroline who wants to achieve
Val by fair or foul means.
Markandya not only discovers and portrays the
Feminine psyche of the ordinary world but also of the substandard bordering on
abnormal women. He has expertly given a complex portrayal of Ellie’s mounting
agony, which makes the novel a remarkable psychological study of female
neurotic fears. A vigorous emotional and general sexual life would have given
her a sense of protection and stopped her psyche from decaying but non-stop
rapes, happening in the concentration camp have made her life hell. In spite of
her frustration she carries the seed of Valmiki in her womb. She feels for a
child, “If I had no feeling for a child would I have conceived? It is no
relationship in the world than that of a woman and her child but unfortunately
she has not got the love of a husband or a lover. Her life remains unsatisfied.
She is raped almost every night and now it seems that she is suffering from
neurotic anxiety. Freud says: . . .
Experience shows . . . That woman who, as being the actual vehicle of sexual
interest of mankind, are only endowed in a small measure, with the gift of
sublimating their instincts, and who . . . when they are subjected to
disillusionments of sexual life, fall ill of severe neurosis which permanently
darken their lives.
After Swami’s arrival in
England Valmiki remains in Caroline house but under Swami's spiritual influence.
In her opinion Swami should not have been allowed in England, She thinks that
spiritualism is a threat to her plan of physical and materialistic possession
of human-beings. She wants to control Val not only physically but mentally as
well which is why she wants to send Swami back to India. From the very
beginning she is aware of the fact that Valmiki is deeply influenced by Swami.
She is very eager to possess they boy and in order to do so she seduces him
into an almost incestuous carnal alignment despite the wide difference between
their ages. Whenever she fails to possess him, she describes it as;" That
England and India never did understand one another".
As far as Caroline is
concerned Valimiki is a way to achieve success for her in the society. She has
got the recognition of higher society with the help of Val and now she wants to
make him her lover. It seems that she is suffering from superiority complex and
in order to salsify her psyche she has done all the kinds of things to drive
his attention away from Ellie. He is shocked when he comes to know about the
forged letter and also her selfish motives. He has realized that it is Caroline
who is responsible for turning out of the house as she cannot undergo his
relationship with Ellie.
Caroline is completely
against the amiable relationship developing between Val Annabel. She fails in
separating them by creating such circumstances that Annabel breaks up her
relations with him. Annabel represents the typical English girl of the fifties.
She is against her family's will and turns down their plans for getting her
married. The novelist portrays her
character: Annabel, a girl of eighteen,
is small, slim, ordinary looking bright-brown eyes; brownish gold hair cut is
ragged urchin style, the short spiky ends appearing all over head.
Though she is a “liberated
soul", she looks at her romantic world through the eyes of Caroline who
shows her what she wants show.
When Val comes to know the
real picture of Caroline, he leaves England and comes back to India. Caroline
follows him to regain but he denies as he does not want to be possessed by her
again.
A psychological study of
Markandaya's Possession reveals that
the women reflect a sense of isolation, fear, bewilderment, emotional
vulnerability and possessiveness as a symbol not only of growth, life and
fertility but also of withdrawal, regression, suppression, neurotic anxiety,
decay and death. Kamala Markandya is aware of the fact that all the sweet ties
of home and family depend upon sex. But in this novel she has presented the
dark side of it. It is obvious that it is she who has initiated the lead of
woman’s transformation from possession to person through her novel. I would
like to conclude the paper with the words of Stephen Ignatius Hemenway: She is definitely one of the most
production, popular and skilled Indo-Anglican hone list and a super
representative of the growing of the growing number of Indian women writing serious
literature in English.11
Work-cited:-
1.
Daiches,
David. Critical Approaches to Literature,
Kolkata: Orient Longman, 1984, p.337.
2.
Krishnaswamy,
S. Kamala Markandaya Autonomy,
Nurturance and the Sisterhood of Man: The Women in the Indian Fiction in
English.(New Delhi: Ashish Publishing House), p.167.
3.
Markandaya,
Kamala. Possession, (London: Putnam&co., 1963), p.20.Iyenger, K.R.
Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English. (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd),
p.211.
4.
Markandaya,
Kamala. Possession, (London: Putnam&co., 1963), p.104.Freud, Sigmund.
Civilized Sexual Morality and Moral Illness, Trans. James Strachey Penguin
1986), p.47
5.
Markandaya,
Kamala. Possession, (London: Putnam & co., 1963), p.189
6.
Hemenway,
Stephen Ignatius. The Novels of India
(Vol.2 The Indo Anglian Novel Calcutta (Kolkata); Writers Workshop, 1975),
p.52.
