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| 'Challenges and Problems Faced by Tribal Girl Child in Mahasweta Devi's 'The Why - Why Girl' | |||||||
| Paper Id :
17492 Submission Date :
2023-04-11 Acceptance Date :
2023-04-19 Publication Date :
2023-05-05
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| Abstract |
‘The Why- Why girl’ is a glorious story written by India’s eminent author “Mahasweta Devi”. She was not only a famous Bengali writer but an activist too. She worked for the integrity, empowerment and rights of tribal people especially of Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. Mahasweta Devi introduces us with a young tribal girl child ‘Moyna’ in the story ‘The Why- Why girl’ who belongs to a Sabar tribe. Although, she was a ten year old child but she is very quick in noticing the injustice towards her and this is the reason that she is full of many curious questions which seems simple to listen but they are hard to deal.“Why must i eat the leftovers? Why can’t we eat rice twice a day? Why do I have to walk so far to fetch water? Why do classes in village school get over at 11. When the children, goatherds and cowherds come back from the field after 11 and can, therefore, not attend these classes?”.These curious questions asked by her enables readers to think about the challenges and problems faced by tribal children and about the social and structural discrimination. Through her curious questions, we come to know about the burdensome life of tribals in India as they faced many complications in society including lack of education, resources, indebtedness and inhuman treatment of the landlords. This paper will examine the problems and challenges faced by tribal children through Moyna and how her curious questions (Resistance) asked to the people around her act as a transformatory agent for her tribal community.
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| Keywords | Inquisitiveness, Coherent, Crammed, Annex, Abbreviate, Shackles, Depreciation, Innate, Empowerment, Resistance. | ||||||
| Introduction |
Mahasweta Devi was not only distinguished as a esteemed author but also a political and social protestor, and achiever of India’s topmost civilian awards for her writings – Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan. She was recognized for sharing her opinions countless times against the unfair treatment and injustice suffered by tribals in India. Number of times, she raised the issue related to politics, biasness, injustice, hatred, inequality and differentiation against tribal peoples through her writings.
“The Why – Why girl” is the first and only illustrated children’s book written by Mahasweta Devi. The lively and energetic pattern of pictures in the story was painted by Kanyika Kini. Devi has immense love for children and she wrote this story to emphasize the difficulties and troubles faced by tribal children. She wrote this story very elegantly and through the medium of this book Mahasweta Devi shared her own experience of living and working with tribal community and how she encounter Moyna, the protagonist of the story. Mahasweta Devi struggled and worked for the upliftment of many tribal community and ‘Sabar tribe’ is one among them. Samiti is the association of people where she worked together with the individuals of native tribe for their betterment. ‘Marino’ remarks on Mahasweta Devi’s devoted collaboration with Sabars – “ Purulia (West Bengal) is home for thge association for the Kheria Sabar tribe, the Paschim Bengal Kheria Sabar Kalyan Samiti, of which devi is honorary president”.
Moyna, aged ten, was a tribal female child, who is a member of “Sabar tribe”, a inferior tribal category. This made understandable that she was penniless and her family “owned no land” . In the narrative, Mahasweta Devi revealed that how she encounter Moyna in Samiti. Moyna hinge on opulent landlords for her earning, she worked due to her family cause, her mother was unfit to walk due to her injured leg. Her father had abandoned the family and gone to Jamshedpur for earning purpose and Gora, her brother, brought firewood everyday from the thick forest. Moyna was unable to attend the school because she has to “brings goats home...collect firewood and fetch water and lay traps for the birds”. Even though she performed different task whole day one after another but feels extremely unvalued and unappreciated as they (landlords) neither courteous nor obliged to Moyna for performing their household tasks. The other “Sabars” becomes habitual to the social unjustness because “nobody complained” but Moyna is coherent, vigilant and agitated, she neither tolerate nor pacify herself to accept injustice towards her. This is the cause that Moyna’s mind is crammed with Inquiring questions. She is a inquisitive girl and has a starved mind – “Why do I have to graze the babu’s goat?”, “ Why do I have to walk so far to the river to fetch water?”. She implored countless questions that the postmaster of the village called her “ Why – Why girl”. The trait of consistent questioning, inquisitiveness and interestedness annex allure to her personality that even Devi feels sympathetic and attracted towards her when she meet her first time. Mahasweta Devi incidentally turn out to be a guiding agent to Moyna. She guides her to study in order to find solution to all her “Whys!” (inquisitive questions). R. Pavithra summarize the story as: “ Moyna is burdened with the triple handicap of being a child, a female nad a tribal. Not only does Mahasweta expose the extreme oppression of children in rural India but she knows the way out.”
On being advised to take rest, Moyna inquired Devi “ Who will bring the goats home? And collect firewood and fetch water and lay traps for the birds?”. Moyna queries upset her when she inquired “ Why do I have to graze bubu’s goats? Their boys can do it” and “ Why should I eat their leftovers?”. Her queries are faultless but they make readers anxious as they asserts the difficulties and obstacles faced by children of tribal community. “Sabars” are basically a huntsman, and they possess no land. They lived in the innermost part of jungles and their source of income majorly hinge on forest. In old time, they are forced by aristocratic hindus to spend their lives in jungles. Since that time, the jungles turn into a eternal habitat for them, cause of their income and occupation. However, speedy expansion of cities and industries growth has abbreviate the forests. The disintegration of jungles cause inaccessibility of assets for tribal people which is their principal requirement for sustenance and as a result they started coming out of the jungles to seek employment. In the battle of staying alive, the offsprings of these tribal communities are forced to earn as servants, cleaner, and helper in the house of opulent landlords or in the another townlet away from home like Moyna’s father. Moyna, being a tribal girl was also forced to work and earn due to her family circumstances.
Being a inquisitive child, Moyna, defends herself as soon as her mother (Khiri) advised her “to thank the babu for the rice he sent us?” by replying “Why should I? Does he ever thank one? Why should I?” Moyna is famous for constant questioning, she is a kind of girl who doesn’t thoughtlessly acknowledge the instructions given by others to her. Her mothers gets disappointed and frustrated sometimes because she thought being a young girl, Moyna must not be so outspoken and analytical, and therefore called her “obstinate girl”. Moyna’s habit of interrogating the society conventions and her “whys!” was an instance of her critical reasoning. Questioning to wrong is priceless; Pavithra writes – “it is these questions that push the imaginary boundaries and bring about change, inspire inventions and make people discover new things”. In the story, Moyna’s labouring for the opulent landlords is the example of barter system, in which she swaped her hardwork and labour with ration, i.e, babu’s “leftover rice”.
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| Objective of study | 1. To examine societal and structural inequalities.
2. To analyse Moyna’s challenges and problems as a tribal girl child.
3. To present ‘Questioning’ as a resistance to injustice. |
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| Review of Literature | This story and
many other works of Mahasweta Devi motivate and light up great interestedness
among many readers and writers. This can be demonstrate by the kind of reviews
on this story. Abhinay Renny,
author, reviewed the story “The Why – Why girl” by saying, “Well written and
the author emphasizes the need for education through the narration. The
illustrations are pleasing and beautiful.” Anjana
Balakrishnan, reviewed this book by saying, “Every child must read this book.
To learn about becoming a person who questions everything.”
Harini
Gopalswami Srinivasan, Bangalore based author. She love reading and writing
children’s book. She reviewed the story “The why – why girl” by Mahasweta Devi
by saying, “I absolutely love this book – the characters and the illustrations
all come together in perfection. It also makes a valuable contribution to the
awareness of urban children, who have very little exposure to rural and tribal
cultures.” |
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| Main Text |
Self Determination Moyna resolved
one day to depart and reside with Devi, and when Khiri (her mother) refused her
not to go, she questions her, “Why not? It’s a big hut. How much space does one
old woman need?” Moyna these questions uplift the ancient social and ethical
concern of demand vs. Ambition and distribution vs. Dominion. The outlook of
tribals regarding natural world or nature is varied from the folk who live in
town or cities. The people of tribal community have a strong connection with
nature, they admire natural world, respect it and consider it as a a divine
power. They prayed nature like God and Goddess, and believed that everyone has
a equal right on nature, it is mother to all. In Gilman’s essay “ The idea of
owing the land” the Ghana’s tribal community believed that everyone has the
common ownership on land, whether it is a living being, dead and even those who
do not take birth yet. In this connection, Moyna’s these questions fairly go
with the tribal belief and reflect the concept that land can never be possessed
by anybody. In the course
of her stay with Devi, Moyna interrogate numberless questions but the utmost
decisive and life altering question asked by Moyna was – “Why do you read books
before you go to sleep?” the author responded on this question by saying “because
books have all the answers to your why!”. This reply incites Moyna and Devi
noticed that she become wordless for a while. This inspired her and she convey
a impulse to read and to learn because she never thought that books are
something in which she can find the answers to all her queries. Moyna again
asked “Why shouldn’t i study too?”, “Why couldn’t school open in the afternoon
so that the goat herds and cowherds could attend.” Through Moyna’s questions,
readers come to know about the injustice, differentiation and hardships faced
by tribal children. Author’s answer motivates her to study which enables her to
smash the shackles of illiteracy, darkness, unawareness and confront her to
redefined and to modify the society around her. Moyna, afterwards, becomes the
representative of Samiti. Moyna has a inquiring nature, by mean of which she
discover and grasp numerous unfamiliar things. But, others in her tribe adopted
the fortune without any obligations. They accepted the injustice and
discrimination as their fate. Moyna learns to read by herself and become a
instructor (teacher) in the same school in which she used to study. As a
teacher, she instruct and encourage students to ask question because asking
questions helps to introduce them with enormous and unfamiliar facts of the
world. ‘Resistance’ as
a weapon to injustice Everyone
regards adolescent as a crucial age of life. In this age, a child grow
physically as well as mentally. It is a age when a child is turning into a
adult and ready to become a part of society. But sadly, not every individual is
able to enjoy their childhood, they faced challenges by means of cruelty,
exploitation and mistreatment at a very tender age. It should be appropriate to
allow children to prosper to their complete possibility because children are
the future of society and country, they have a full responsibility to construct
a finer society in collaboration with senior people. The transition in Moyna’s
life take place when she discover from Devi that books have the power to answer
all questions. Afterwards, she meets and argues with the Samiti teachers
regarding school timings because the class timing always clash with the Moyna’s
working hours and that is the reason, she was unable to study and attend the
school . “If you don’t teach me, how will I learn? I will tell the old lady
that none of us, goatherds and cowherds can study if the hours are not
changed”. With her queries she provokes the norms of society and convey the
positive impact on her community as she become the first girl from her
community to be admitted in the village primary school. Moyna, in the
story, is a kind of girl who admire belief, ethic, culture and spread
joyfulness among the humankind wherever she go, but she always remember to put
questions on the useless practices and customs of society that are impractical,
Moyna’s life depicts the hardships of the lower caste children and struggle of
a tribal girl child who are trapped by the violence of exploitation of children
for work, battle of existence, poverty and exposure to injustice. Due to
Moyna’s inquiring nature, her mother (Khiri) described her daughter as
“obstinate” girl. This word “obstinate” picked by Khiri to characterize her
daughter is essential because it focuses on the depreciation of women’s
inquisitiveness and eagerness in the community. The community has never ever
merciful towards the women who put questions on the unnecessary practices and
rituals. Yet, Moyna in the story, opposes the society’s standards and seek her
innate tendency of inquisitiveness to determine the new prospects. With her
curiosity and questions, she challenges the society’s norms and create a
optimistic modification in her community.
Mahasweta Devi
not only disclose the acute domination of tribal children in rural part of our
country but also she presents the gateway. ‘Resistance’ is a automatic reaction
to the domination. ‘Resistance’ provides words to the silent, acceptance to the
boycott and attention to the oppressed. ‘Resistance’ to injustice and
domination is the heart and soul of Mahasweta Devi’s works. She constantly
implored the one main question from her writings, “Why do the big swindlers and
power wielder go unpunished and why do the oppressed communities pay the price
all the time?”. Moyna, in the story being a tribal girl present her resistance
by asking ‘Why!’ and become the first person from her community to challenge
the society’s norms through her inquiring questions. |
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| Conclusion |
This story written by Mahasweta Devi is very appealing. In this book, the author shared her personal experience of spending time and working with the tribal community. She told us about her encounter with Moyna, who is a young tribal girl. Moyna is a strong willed girl with hungry mind and inquiring nature, which author finds to be fascinating. She is really attracted towards her. Author encourage Moyna to study and tells her how she finds all the answers to her ‘Whys!’ by studying and reading books. Later, Moyna ( “why why girl”) becomes a teacher at village primary school reflects the positive influence and the power of concern and curiosity.
This paper reveals that being inquisitive grant not only high achievements in children but also connect to contentment, pleasure, artistry, innovation, increased personal development and adds meaning to life. This story written by Mahasweta Devi depicts the tribal community in progressive light. It also manifest that there is no evil in being a inquisitive and inquiring child, in fact, the story shows that child’s curiosity and their tireless questions are something positive and lead to their Progress and reflects the positive influence and the power of concern and curiosity.
The story unveil the harsh actuality of the poor tribal community in India. It also presents that every individual in the society needs self respect but unfortunately, the prosperous class never given a single thought about this. Just because, if any individual belong to a poor family or a low caste community does not imply that they are not a part of society and they are mistreated. While looking at the sky, Moyna asks, “Why do stars looks so small if many of them are bigger than the sun?” This question put the mark on the reality of tribal people actuality. The contribution of tribal community towards the nation is huge but because they are forest dwellers, not very forward and advanced like the city people and not a part of upper caste doesn’t mean that they are any less humans and can be kept deprived by the rights given by government.
In the story, Mahasweta Devi presents ‘Resistance’ as the best remedy for the domination and inequality. An old proverb says that “He who asks questions remain a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask, remain a fool forever.” ‘Questioning to wrong’ has the power to challenge the authority and hierarchy. Moyna, the protagonist of the story, who was a courageous, rational, sentimental girl with a never ending vitality and keen inquisitiveness who is always crave to know ’Why!’ and challenge the society’s norms by showing ‘Resistance’ to the domination |
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| References | 1. Devi, Mahasweta; Kanyika Kini, “ The why why girl”. Chennai: Tulika, 2003. Print.
2. Gilman, Robert. “ The idea of Owning the Land: An Old Notion Forced by the Sword is undergoing a profound Transition.” Context institute, 07 Nov. 2017.
3. Ramaswamy, Shobha. “Fiction For Children and Young Adults Language in India” 15:1 January 2015.web./ www. Languageindia.com
4. Pavithra, R. “Marginalisation and resilience in Mahasweta Devi’s ‘The Why Why girl’”, International Journal of English Language,. Literature and translation studies. Vol. 2. Issue 4.,2015.
5. Rangarajan, Swarnalatha. "Writers as Mukti' : The Story of Draupati, The Subaltern Who Speaks." Voice of the Voiceless : Perspective on Subaltern literature. Ed. Peter Francis. Chennai : ACE- Loyala, 2003.
6. Estes, Clarrisa Pinkola : Women Who Run With the Wolves : Myths and Stories of Wild Women Archetype, Ballantine Books. 1992. |
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