Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the hysteric tendencies, inconsistent speeches and silences of woman in Jhumpa Lahiri’s two short stories “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” and “The Real Durwan.” The paper addresses this objective through the application of subaltern perspective: subaltern cannot speak. More specifically, single, poor and helpless women’s position and their inability to speak in need are analyzed in the light of subaltern studies. These two stories expose the issue of hysteric woman and an elderly street woman with different stories, respectively. The disadvantaged women’s inability to speak – parallels the subaltern’s inability to speak. This paper analyses hysterical tendencies, inconsistent behavior of Lahiri’s protagonists as the outburst, thus, the subtle ways of resistance. Thus, the paper draws the conclusion that Lahiri’s stories demonstrate economically and socially marginalized woman who lack the act of protest as they cannot speak, tending to develop the different verbal and physical inconsistencies.
Highlights
Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut short story collection Interpreter of Maladies (1999)exposes the social outcasts, especially in the two stories, “A Real Durwan” and “The Bibi Haldar.” Both the stories’ women protagonists experience social exclusion for two reasons: they are single and they are physically fragile
“A Real Durwan” presents an old woman deported to Calcutta from her land during the partition
Bibi Haldar, a spinster in her twenty-nine, speaks the incomprehensive language when she falls into the convulsion
Summary
Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut short story collection Interpreter of Maladies (1999)exposes the social outcasts, especially in the two stories, “A Real Durwan” and “The Bibi Haldar.” Both the stories’ women protagonists experience social exclusion for two reasons: they are single and they are physically fragile. Exposes the social outcasts, especially in the two stories, “A Real Durwan” and “The Bibi Haldar.”. Both the stories’ women protagonists experience social exclusion for two reasons: they are single and they are physically fragile. “A Real Durwan” presents an old woman deported to Calcutta from her land during the partition. In Calcutta, she faces extreme hardship and oppression from people around where she lives in. Boori Ma gathers the narratives from her past and wants people to listen to her. As a sufferer of unknown attacks, her biological and societal need does not get fulfilled, no member in her society and family tries to find out a man for her as she is regarded as a paranormal woman. Received as bane in the family after the demise of her father, Haldar
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