From Oppression to Empowerment: Dual Representation of Female Identity in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India

Dipak Kumar Doley

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Dibrugarh University (Assam)
Email: [email protected]

The 1947 Partition of British India into two independent nations (India and Pakistan) was accompanied by communal violence unspeakable in its brutality and ferocity. In the months immediately preceding and following the creation of “free” nation-states, untold numbers of murders, kidnappings, rapes and arsons were committed by ordinary citizens of all the major religious groups (Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs) caught up in the turmoil. Writings about Partition often portray the massacre, mutilation, abduction, and rape of citizens’ bodies, particularly female bodies. Manju Jaidka specifies that many writers of Partition literature chose to focus on the marginalization and victimization of women because they served as “symbols of the community to be subjugated; their bodies became sites of contested power” (Jaidka 48). As Jaidka points out, not only do women function as “objects of oppression” in Partition texts, but their utter disempowerment often becomes “the focal point of the narrative, highlighting the impact of history on the meek and powerless” (Jaidka 46). Correspondingly, Rosemary George observes that Partition texts routinely depict women as “communal sufferers, familial victims, and second-class citizens” (George 138), while men are more often portrayed as dominant and powerful. Because of this focus on female victimization, much of the writings about Partition reduces both men and women to “perfect binaries – rapists and raped, protectors and protected, villains and victims, buyers and bought, sellers and sold etc.” (George 142).

Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel Cracking India (1991), which has garnered considerable attention as a trenchant portrayal of the violence surrounding the Partition, can profitably be explored as an examination of such violence, for it depicts a broad cross-section of Lahore society both before and after the city became a part of Pakistan. Deploying a child-narrator, Lenny Sethi, the novel’s plot focuses on Lenny’s Hindu nanny or Ayah (referred to as Shanta twice in the novel), her abduction by a mob led by one of her (spurned) Muslim suitors, Ice-Candy man, and her eventual escape from his clutches. The Ayah’s story is paradigmatic: like her, thousands of women were abducted and/or raped by men of the “enemy” community during the chaotic months before and after Partition.

Much of the criticism of the novel has emphasized the victimization of women. In Modern South Asian Literature in English, Paul Brians declares that Cracking India is characterized by a “pattern of oppression that haunts all women in the novel, from highest to lowest” (Brians 107). Likewise, Manju Jaidka states that “the women sufferers in the story must find an escape route and bow to the dominant power, or else suffer” (Jaidka 49). While it can be  acknowledged that the female characters in Cracking India experience oppression, it can also be asserted that they do not operate solely as victims; rather, Sidhwa’s women possess distinct forms of power: Lenny, as the narrator, exhibits narrative agency, though her moments of agency happen largely prior to Partition; Ayah, similarly, enjoys influence over the male community before Partition – though her authority is primarily based on her physical appeal – which gives Sidhwa an opportunity to comment on the temporal and limited nature of sexual power and physical attraction. Through the events of Partition, Ayah’s power evaporates; she is kidnapped by a group of local men and forced into prostitution. However, the strongest – and most subversive – examples of feminine power in the novel stem from women who are able to completely step outside their traditional domestic roles and utilize their community connections as a source of influence. Both Lenny’s mother and Godmother demonstrate the power gained through economic status – both women are upper-class and educated – and both proactively exert influence and make changes in the lives of those around them. Whereas Lenny and Ayah’s comparatively temporary power is based on physical traits or childish willfulness, the power of Lenny’s mother and Godmother is centered in their identity as influential and privileged community figures, and their ability to step outside their traditional feminine roles to enact deliberate change, working for the good of less fortunate women who have been damaged during Partition.

By appreciating the complexity of gendered power relations that Sidhwa portrays, we, as readers, gain a more comprehensive understanding not only of specific female character traits, but also of how Cracking India breaks free from the hegemony of patriarchal Partition narratives to provide a distinct female counter-narrative. Accordingly, Ambreen Hai has perceived Cracking India as a piece of “narratival border feminism that undoes binary oppositions” (Hai 390). By utilizing a female narrator, Sidhwa presents a uniquely gendered perspective of Partition. Moreover, Sidhwa’s novel provides a comparatively inclusive view of the diverse feminine roles during Partition, roles in which the female characters are not entirely empowered nor entirely victimized. Thus, Cracking India is able to “describe, restore, and heal some of the damage done by male neo-nationalistic discourse” (Hai 390), facilitating a more nuanced understanding of the various ways women were influenced by and responded to, Partition. Rather than simply perceiving Sidhwa’s women as perpetual victims, worthy of being “pitied and patronized” (Hubel 111), the present study examines how the female characters in Cracking India demonstrate not only survivorship, but also agency, using their familial and communal connections and unique perspective to affect change and bring healing. At several points in Cracking India, Lenny, her ayah, her mother, and her godmother are able to move beyond traditional female disempowerment to exercise autonomy and influence within their patriarchal society.

Even though Sidhwa has created empowered female characters in Cracking India and has given to the story a female perspective from Lenny’s point of view, she has also shown to the reader the reality lived by women in India. We see, in the novel, a society where sexual objectification and exploitation of women is part of the routine; a society where women are not seen as individuals but as bodies men can possess. In Cracking India, we have a dual representation of female identity. On the one hand, we see Lenny’s mother as a powerful character because of her active role during Partition, but on the other hand, we also see Lenny’s mother fitting in the submissive, attentive, and serving wifely role in her marital relationship. Mother is an empowered woman outside her role as a wife, where she can become an active humanitarian person, but when she is at home, she is just another abused woman. Likewise, we also see a dual representation of female identity in the character of Ayah. At the beginning, we see the power of her irresistible attractiveness and how she manages to keep a group of men from different ethnicities united around her. Then, her power is completely lost when she is kidnapped and transformed into a dancing-girl, abused by her friends and admirers such as Imam Din and Sharbat Khan, and married to Ice-Candy man, completely losing her power of decision.

The narrative voice in Cracking India is a female voice, which is something that already positions women at the centre of the story and provides us with an interesting female perspective of Partition. The fact that the narrator of the novel is Lenny, a naive, vulnerable, and easily influenced young girl who is constantly learning from what she sees and who, as a child, manages to eavesdrop on many contexts and conversations, allows us to have a complete perception of the events and to connect with different characters. She is so transparent and sincere with what she experiences that we can easily perceive the reality of what is going on. Besides, the fact that Lenny suffers from polio makes her even more vulnerable and dependent on others, though for her it is something to celebrate: “Having polio in infancy is like being born under a lucky star” (Sidhwa 20). While other children have to claim what they want, she just has to show her calipers and, immediately, people would feel sorry for her and give her whatever she wants. Besides, because of her disability, she is kept out of school; Lenny feels protected from a “laborious and loveless life” (Sidhwa 23) by her disability.

The figure of Lenny, as a narrator and as a main character, is also relevant because of her connection with Bapsi Sidhwa’s childhood, which gives to the story a strong sensation of reality. Bapsi Sidhwa revealed that even though she had to create some distance between Lenny and herself, there is a lot of her own childhood experience in the book: “partially I took things directly from my own experience, but the rest is created.” (Sidhwa & Singh 291). Like Lenny, Sidhwa was a young girl who lived in Lahore when the Partition of India and Pakistan took place. By having Lenny as a narrator, the readers are not only able to connect with Ayah and Godmother, two of the most inspirational and influential female figures in her life, but also with Ice-Candy man, a very controversial and interesting character in the novel. Through Lenny’s eyes, the readers connect with her “compressed world” (Sidhwa 11) where women are empowered individuals but also victims of an oppressive patriarchal society.

In Cracking India, Lenny spends most of her time with Ayah, and consequently, with all her suitors from different cultures: the Faletti’s Hotel cook, the Government House gardener, the butcher, Sharbat Khan, and the zoo attendant, but mainly with Masseur and Ice-Candy man, both of them being Muslims. Through Lenny’s perspective of Ayah and her suitors, the readers get to see the harmonious interaction among Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh cultures. Life before Partition seems to be peaceful, and the cultural and religious differences are left apart. Lenny goes everywhere with Ayah, being present even in the more intimate moments with her suitors, which allows her to learn from Ayah’s experiences: “I learn of human needs, frailties, cruelties and joys. I also learn from her the tyranny magnets exercise over metals” (Sidhwa 29). Lenny is fascinated by the power Ayah has over men.

Ayah is presented as a sexually empowered woman and her physical presence is described as irresistible to men. The power Ayah exercises over men has been compared to the power India has exercised over many colonizers and ethnic groups. Some scholars, like Nilufer E. Bharucha, see Ayah as a symbol of the Indian earth:

Lenny’s ayah, the chocolate-brown, desirable, round-cheeked, full-breasted woman, is symbolic of the Indian earth. The ayah, untutored, curvaceous but virtuous, is not naive; she appears to give in to the blandishments of the Ice-Candy Man, but maintains her distance. The Ice-Candy Man who is a Muslim is not her only suitor; she is assiduously courted by Hindus and Sikhs too, as has been the Indian earth. (Bharucha 81-82).

Even though she has many suitors chasing after her, she has the power to choose which man she wants to spend time with and she does not hesitate when she wants to refuse the companionship of any of her suitors. At the same time, Lenny’s admiration and highlighting of Ayah’s body might lead the readers to get the impression that Ayah is reduced to just a body, a symbol of an undivided India.

Nevertheless, as the novel proceeds, the situation starts changing; the country is being divided into Pakistan and India, and people are being divided too. Neighbours who have always been friends turn into enemies just because of their religious beliefs: “It is sudden. One day everybody is themselves – and the next day they are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Christian. People shrink, dwindling into symbols” (Sidhwa 101). The tension in the streets is unbearable and non-Muslim people are no longer safe in Lahore.

During the Partition conflicts, Ayah works as a unifying reason for her group of admirers: “Only the group around Ayah remains unchanged. Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsee are, as always, unified around her” (Sidhwa 105). In fact, even though Ayah is Hindu, she seems to be neutral among them, to impose a neutral position in order to leave religion aside and prevent conflicts among her admirers. Thus, it can be said that she has the power to unify men from different ethnicities in a context where people are killing one another precisely because of religious differences. However, Ayah is not only a central figure in Lenny’s life and in the union of a multicultural group of admirers, but also the protagonist of the most shocking moment of the novel; when she is kidnapped by a group of Muslims led by Ice-Candy man. This moment is crucial not only because of the horror it causes to see that Ice-Candy man is totally commanded by the beast that inhabits him and which Lenny so much fears, but also because Lenny is the one who tells Ice-Candy man where Ayah is hiding. Unconsciously and without being aware of the dangers and consequences involved, Lenny betrays Ayah.

Lenny is a Parsee girl, therefore, her family is in a neutral and distant position during the Partition conflicts. The Parsees are a very small minority in India and they are not considered a threatening community. During the British colonial period in India, the Parsee community assimilated themselves to contemporary British norms and was influenced by Western education and ideas. Thus, during Partition they tried to avoid conflict and were not forced to leave or to convert to Islam, as they could remain the same and once more, adapt to the current situation by maintaining themselves as imperceptible as possible. Some scholars, like Bharucha, argue that Lenny’s betrayal symbolizes the betrayal of the Parsee community for turning their back on the conflict: “the wider and constant betrayal by all Parsees of the one land which has given them refuge” (Bharucha 82), implying that, by keeping the neutral and distant position of a witness, they are actually betraying the land of India that welcomed them. In fact, we can find many conversations in the novel where, in community dinners, Parsees are discussing where they should position themselves and whether or not are they betraying their neighbours by remaining neutral:

“I don’t see how we can remain uninvolved,” says Dr. Mody, whose voice, without aid of mike, is louder than the colonel’s. “Our neighbours will think we are betraying them and siding with the English.”

“Which of your neighbours are you not going to betray?” asks a practical soul with an impatient voice. “Hindu? Muslim? Sikh?”

“That depends on who’s winning, doesn’t it? Says Mr. Bankwalla. “Don’t forget, we are to run with the hounds and hunt with the hare.”

“As long as we do not interfere we have nothing to fear! As long as we respect the customs of our rulers…” (Sidhwa 45-48)

However, we do not see Lenny’s family in a totally distant position from the events, at least not its female constituents. We are told that her mother and aunty are involved in some way in the conflict. First, when Ayah tells Lenny, Cousin, and Adi about the petrol cans in the family car, they think that Lenny’s mother and aunty are setting fire to Lahore, and that they are the arsonists. Then, we come know what Lenny’s mother and aunty are doing is smuggling petrol to help their Hindu and Sikh friends to escape and to rescue kidnapped women by sending them to their families across the border or to the Recovered Women’s Camps. Thus, we can see how Lenny’s mother and aunty take advantage of their Parsee position not to remain just as witnesses of the tragedy but to help their friends and abducted women, even though they are risking their lives in doing so.

Another female character that does not remain as a mere witness of the events is Lenny’s Godmother, Roda. From the very first moment, Godmother is described as a fundamental pillar in Lenny’s life: “The intensity of her tenderness and the concentration of her attention are narcotic. I require no one else” (Sidhwa 17). Moreover, Roda is described as a very influential and respected character, and she proves to be so at the end of the novel, by finally extraditing Ayah from the Hira Mandi and restoring her to her family in Amritsar. In fact, Godmother is the strongest representation of female power in the novel. She dares to challenge Ice-Candy man, questioning his manhood and even threatening him with death. She makes him realize the wrong he has done to Ayah: “You permit her to be raped by butchers, drunks, and goondas … you have permitted your wife to be disgraced! Destroyed her modesty! Lived off her womanhood!” (Sidhwa 260) She makes him burst into tears and feel ashamed of himself. Furthermore, she decides to go with Lenny to his house in the Hira Mandi to see Ayah’s condition by themselves and finally defy patriarchal power by defeating Ice-Candy man.

Sidhwa has managed to create very powerful female characters in a context where we would expect the prototypical passive and submissive women. As Kleist argues:

the strongest—and most subversive—examples of feminine power in the novel stem from women who are able to completely step outside their traditional domestic roles and utilize their community connections as a source of influence. Both Lenny’s mother and Godmother demonstrate the power gained through economic status—both women are upper-class and educated—and both proactively exert influence and make changes in the lives of those around them.            (Kleist 70)

Thus, in spite of being in a war context, where women are seen as passive subjects that must be protected from the enemy, we can see how Lenny’s mother and Godmother take advantage of their Parsee and upper-class position to play an active role during the conflicts generated by the Partition.

Even though Sidhwa has created empowered female characters in Cracking India and has given to the story a female perspective from Lenny’s point of view, she has also shown to the reader the reality lived by women in India. In the novel, we see a society where sexual objectification and exploitation of women is part of the routine; a society where women are not seen as individuals but as bodies men can possess; a society in which young boys like Cousin see the sexual abuse of women as normal and make fun of it because it is the example they have been given; and also a society where women are blamed for being women, for being abducted and raped, and for bringing dishonour to their families.

Thus, in Cracking India, we have a dual representation of female identity. On the one hand, we see Lenny’s mother as a powerful character because of her active role during Partition, but on the other hand, we also see Lenny’s mother fitting in the submissive, attentive, and serving wifely role in her marital relationship. Images such as: “She puts toothpaste on Father’s toothbrush, removes his sandals, his socks if he is wearing socks, blows tenderly between his toes, and with cooing noises caresses his feet,” (Sidhwa 75-76) evidence that Lenny’s mother’s role at home is subordinate to the men of the house. We are even made to think that Lenny’s mother might be suffering from physical abuse: “Father has never raised his hands to us, one day I surprise Mother at her bath and see the bruises on her body” (Sidhwa 224). Thus, Mother is an empowered woman outside her role as a wife, where she can become an active humanitarian person, but when she is at home, she is just another abused woman.

Likewise, we also see a dual representation of female identity in the character of Ayah. At the beginning, we see the power of her irresistible attractiveness and how she manages to keep a group of men from different ethnicities united around her. Then, her power is completely lost when she is kidnapped and transformed into a dancing-girl, abused by her friends and admirers such as Imam Din and Sharbat Khan, and married to Ice-Candy man, completely losing her power of decision. Nevertheless, Sidhwa conveys an encouraging message by doing so, and decides not to finish the story that way. Ayah is finally given back her voice and she is able to express her desire to go with her family in Amritsar, and more importantly, she is given hope for a better future.

As Kleist defends, “Sidhwa presents a uniquely gendered perspective of Partition. Moreover, Sidhwa’s novel provides a comparatively inclusive view of the diverse feminine roles during Partition, roles in which the female characters are not entirely empowered nor entirely victimized.” (Kleist 70). In Cracking India, we find very powerful female characters that are restrained by their social and cultural environment. They find themselves in a context of a patriarchal society, where they are not given equal rights to men and are forced to live a dutiful life at home which prevents them from being totally in power of their lives. Sidhwa succeeds in representing both this impossibility for most women to be completely powerful and at the same time their rejection to remain passive and obedient.