SUMMARY AND CRITICAL
APPRECISATION OF “AN INTRODUCTION” BY KAMALA DAS
INTRODUCTION
TO AN INTRODUCTION:
An
Introduction is the most famous poem written by Kamala
Das. The poem is written in confessional tone. This poem gives a very strong
remarks about the patriarchal society and how women are forced to follow the
men. Her poem is full of complex pattern of sentiments and emotional feelings.
She through her poem brings light upon griefs, harassment and the pain suffered
by the young girls and women. She was the first Indian English female writer to
write against patriarchal society and talked about feminism.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR OF AN INTRODUCTION:
Kamala
Das also known as Kamala Suraiya was an Indian author and leading Malayalam
author. She was born on 31 March, 1934 in Kerala. She was born in India when
there was British. She grew up in Calcutta. She always stood up and speak
against domestic violence, marital problems, sexual oppression and about
prostitute in more than 20 books. Her famous works are Padmavati the
Harlot, My story, A Doll for Child
Prostitute. She was rewarded with many awards like Vayalar Award,
Varkey Award, Kerela Sahitya Akademi Award for Story, Muttathu Varkey Award
and more. She died on 31 May, 2009 in Pune, Maharashtra.
SUMMARY OF “AN INTRODUCTION”:
In
the beginning of the poem “An Introduction” the poet says that she is
not interested in politics but she claims that she can name all the politician
who have been in power right from the time of Nehru. By stating that she can
repeat them as assuredly as days of week, or name of month. She secondarily
states the fact that politics in the country is a game of few chosen privileged
who paradoxically rule a democracy. And same people have been in power time and
again.
She says that she is an Indian, born in
Malabar and she is very brown in colour. She speaks three languages, two for
writing and one for dreaming. People asked her not to write in English since
it’s not her mother tongue. English was colonial language dominant as medium of
communication during British time. She had encountered many criticisms in her
life from critic, friends and relatives.
She
asks that why she can’t speak any language she likes it’s her choice to choose
any language. She highlights that the language she speaks becomes her own, all
the imperfections and queerness become her own. The language which she uses is
half-English and half-Hindi which seems funny but the point is that it’s honest
and the imperfection makes it more human, portrait it close to what is call
Natural. The language expresses her joys, grief and hopes. For her it’s like
cawing is to crows and roaring is to lion i.e., is an integral part of her
expression.
She
further says that her speech is the speech of humans that minds can understand
and not strange and queer like the sounds of trees in the storms or of monsoon
clouds or of rain or of dead as these voices cannot be understood.
She
moves on telling her own story, she was a child and later people told her that
she is now a grown up as her body had started showing signs of puberty. But she
didn’t understand as her heart and mind was still of a child. When she asked
for love from her husband not knowing what to ask, he took the sixteen-year-old girl to his bedroom.
Here is a strong criticism of child marriage. She says that she was not beaten
by him yet her womanly body felt body felt to be beaten and wound thus she got
tired of her body. He genitals seemed to her as some burden that has crushed
her. She started hating her female body because it is her body that given her
so much of pain. Thus, she tries to overcome such humiliation by being
tomboyish.
At
the end of the poem, the poet describes her encounters with a man. She soes not
take names for it is the symbolism in her relationship that she seeks to
convey. Hence like him, she can also attribute the title of ‘I’ to
herself. Like men she is also sinner and saint, beloved and betrayed. Her joys
and pains are no different than those of men. Hence, she liberates herself to
the level of ‘I’. Thus “she” is “I” too.
CRITCAL APPRECIATION OF AN INTRODUCTION:
The
poem “An Introduction” is perhaps the most famous poems of Kamala Das
with an autobiographical mode of writing. Kamala Das plays a very significant
role in making the feminist concern and point of view through her poetry. Besides
being a feminist poet, Das is also prominent for her confessional strain in her
writing. “An Introduction” is a confessional poem that makes a lot of disclosure
about the poetess personal life: Dravidian blood, brown skin tone, political
knowledge, linguistic attainments, her writing talent, her nerve-wracking
experience in married life, distancing from the society, expedition for
identity and attempt at self-examination. Das is a woman of firm belief.
“I don’t know politics but I know the
names
Of those in power, and I can repeat them
like
Days of week, or name of months, beginning with Nehru”
The
poetess says that she is not interested in politics but she claims to know the
names of all politicians in power beginning from Nehru. In these lines, she is
complaining about the male-dominance in politics. According to Das she says
that the women in India have been deprived from the politics. Das is greatly
annoyed with the trend as the names of all empowers beginning from Nehru proves
the dominance of male community in the society.
“I am Indian, very brown, born in
Malabar,
I speak three languages, write in
Two, dream in one”
Das
now declares that she is an Indian of brown skin tone and is born in Malabar.
She is far from religious biases as she defines herself in term of her
nationality then by colour and last by the place, she is born in. Further she announces
that she speaks in three languages, write in two and dream in one. By saying so
she advocates that the medium of writing in a language is not significant as
the comfort level of a narrator is important.
“… Why not leave
Me alone, critics, friends, visiting
cousins,
Everyone of you? Why not let me speak in
Any language I like? The language I speak
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses
All mine, mine alone.”
She
requests her critics, friends and cousins to leave her alone. There is a
conflict between writing in regional language and exotic language. They say the
language she speaks is essentially hers. She is appealing to everyone to let
her speak any language she like. In these lines she shows her ownership of the
English language and also the freedom of using it along with its imperfections
and its strangeness is all hers.
“… It voices my joys, my longing, my
Hopes, and it is useful me as cawing
Is to crows or roaring to lions …”
She
says that the language is though not fully English, it is half English half
Indian yet she considers it to honest. Like her, her language is as human as
human she is with imperfections which is quite normal. The language expresses
her joys, griefs and hope. It is very much similar cawing to the crows and
roaring to the lions. It is not deaf and blind speech it has its own message.
The opinion of a person or the thinking pattern is dynamic. That’s why the
language of a person should not be illogical.
“… I was child, and later they
Told me I grew, for I became tall, my
limbs
Swelled and one or two places sprouted
hair.
When I asked for love…
…, He did not beat me
By my sad woman-body felt so beaten.”
Das
was an innocent child like others. With the passage of time she grew up.
Despite the emotional frame of her mind was unchanged, she was still a child
from heart. She got married at very young age of 16. Das was confined in a
single room by her husband. She being a 16 years old girl just asked for love.
She says that she was not beaten by him but her womanly body felt to be beaten.
She got tiered of her body and started hating it for giving her so much pain.
“… I wore a shirt and my
Brother’s trousers, cut my hair short and
ignored
My womanliness”
There
is an underlying sense of emotional agony. She was ashamed by her womanliness
she tries to overcome it by acquiring the look of a boy. Interestingly and
ironically, even as she tries to ignore her womanliness it is the woman in her
that emerges in the process. She cut her hair short and wore boyish clothes.
People criticised her and told her to be familiar with the various womanly
roles. She was accused for violating the law of society.
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