Exploitation of Motherhood in Stanadayani and Maratthottil

Abstract

The Bengali short story Stanadayini or ‘Breast Giver’ by Maha Swetadevi and the Malayalam short story Maratthottil or ‘The Wooden Cradle’ by Lalithambika Antherjanam outline and explore women’s identity as a mother and how the romanticism of motherhood for some woman is nothing more than a successful ploy to misuse and exploit her. Both Jashoda and Nangelipennu spend their lives rearing the children of their masters only to die after being rejected by the families. The stories acts as a window to the caste, class, gender, sex, culture, identity, body, and power that plays its role in the society. The status of both the women as care giver or mother collapses as soon as her material worth to the family fades. They swiftly revert to a normal woman who, as a result of her illness, becomes a liability. This research paper attempts to explore the vulnerability of a lower class/caste women by the hands of the upper class/caste custodians, thus making them vulnerable to exploitation and thereby negating her identity.