JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 1

‘POWER’-FUL WOMEN IN LITERATURE

Ms.Deepthi C P Guest Faculty in English BJCSI Arts & Science College, Mulayara TVPM Email id - [email protected] Ph-9072989120

Abstract

The paper titled The „Power-ful‟Women in Literature offers how the life of the so called popular female figures in authority battled with the power politics games of masculinity.Unravelling through their lives offers the readers to understand the myriad shades of this unequal world.Simon de Beauvoir in her magnum opus Second Sex asserts that “women„s idea of herself as inferior to man and dependant on him springs from her realisation that “ the world is masculine on the whole, those who fashioned it, ruled it and still dominate it today are men.”Though the biological distinction between male and female is an accepted fact, the notion that woman is inferior to man is no longer acceptable to women in general and feminists in particular.The old prejudice against woman as being weaker than man in all aspects is also reflected in the language system – particularly English one notice the pronoun is largely male oriented. Now there is not a single position in the society, including administration and government which is not being occupied by woman .Today we have women Presidents, Prime ministers, Scientists, Commanders, Administrators and what not. Thus, the feminist movement aims at overthrowing social practices that lead to the oppression and victimization of women lock and barrel.The contemporary world offers a handful of readings on those “powerful women” who made pronounced accomplishment on their respective fields. Capturing the remarkable stories of their struggle traverses the reader through the path of unexplainable perception on the strength of human soul.The two women quoted below stands for unequitable strength of mind and character who withstood all whirls of war on their feminity with appreciable will and intelligence..

Keywords:Feminity,Power,acceptance

Over the years Feminist Writers and critics have keenly felt the complete negation of the female experience in literature. Even the projection of women has been compressed into few acceptable roles. Women are usually cast into a few popular stereotypes of a narrow range of characterization. Simon de Beauvoir in her magnum opus Second Sex asserts that ―women‗s idea of herself as inferior to man and dependant on him springs from her realisation that ―the world is masculine on the whole, those who fashioned it, ruled it and still dominate it today are men.‖Though the biological distinction between male and female is an accepted fact, the notion that woman is inferior to man is no longer acceptable to women in general and feminists in particular.

The old prejudice against woman as being weaker than man in all aspects is also reflected in the language system – particularly English one notice the pronoun is largely male oriented. Now there is not a single position in the society, including administration and government which is not being occupied by woman .Today we have women Presidents, Prime ministers, Scientists, Commanders, Administrators and what not. Thus, the feminist movement aims at overthrowing social practices that lead to the oppression and victimization of women lock and barrel.

Last December, leader of House Democrats Nancy Pelosi met with President Trump in the Oval Office to discuss a possible government shutdown. During the contentious 15-minute exchange, Pelosi challenged the President, interrupted his interruptions and made clear she would not back down. ―Mr. President,‖ she said, ―please don‘t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting.‖

A year later, Pelosi has proven why those who misjudge her do so at their peril. As Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the 79-year-old is second in line for the presidency and the first woman to hold the speakership in American

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history. She is also the first to return to that role in more than 60 years (her first appointment went from 2007 until 2011, when the Democrats lost control of the House). And she‘s the engineer of the country‘s fourth-ever impeachment proceedings. That is already enough to earn her a spot in the history books, but her wielding of authority is what has catapulted her among World‘s Most Powerful Women at number 3, the highest rank she‘s ever held and the first time she‘s been on the list since 2015, when she was number 38. Pelosi‘s power manifests from the way she‘s directing her authority: on her own terms. She withstood months of pressure from an outspoken wing of her party before initiating the impeachment process, waiting for the strongest possible evidence of the president‘s Constitutional misdemeanors. Elsewhere in her term, she has literally stood up and clapped back to Trump and even executed her own trip overseas to meet with allies and assure them of America‘s continued might in the world. “Don‘t mess with me,‖ Pelosi told a reporter who implied that her impeachment motives were personal. I would make a distinction between power and influence," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has told Forbes. "Some people have no power really, but they have tremendous influence. You know who they are." Yes , the world now posses a handful of feminist beings who in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‗s words, ― who have chosen to no longer be apologetic for their femaleness and their femininity. And who want to be respected in all of their femaleness because they deserve to be.‖ The contemporary literary world offers a handful of real life readings on those ―powerful women‖ who made pronounced accomplishment on their respective fields. Capturing those remarkable stories of their struggle traverses the reader through the path of unexplainable perception on the strength of human soul. The Ivory Throne by young historian Manu .S. Pillai focuses on the remarkable life and work of Sethu Bai ,the last and forgotten queen of the House and ;Cleopatra A Life by Stacy Schiff brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world – Cleopatra queen of Egypt; Becoming a memoir by Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her.

The Ivory Throne

The Ivory Throne hinges on the story of Senior Queen Sethu Lakshmi Bayi and rightly so. The author moves back the curtains of a forgotten era and reveals to us this stalwart whose policies and life ought to be remembered and honoured.The quiet child of a strong mother and a painter grandfather (the path-breaking Raja Ravi Varma) Sethu Lakshmi Bayi was adopted by the Queen Rani Lakshmi Bayi, as was her cousin Sethu Parvathi Bayi at the tender age of five. Both cousins were taken to Travancore from Mavellikara, where a life of rigorous academics, activities and prayer awaited them.

Sethu Lakshmi Bayi was a studious child with a serene nature. She corresponded with her birth parents who encouraged her to stay a steady course with respect to her responsibilities. “As her mother would impress upon her, she was no longer a little girl; she had become an icon and an institution, the traditions and honour of which she was bound to preserve for life.”

Sethu grew to be a queen who was willing to listen to all but made decisions on her own. Anyone who made the mistake of thinking her weak due to her gender or mild demeanour was to quickly learn that she was anything but weak. She was a continuing thread in the strong matrilineal line of leadership that followed. Her regency which lasted from 1924 to 1931 is considered a golden era of enlightened governance.

She took charge in an atmosphere of uncertainty and great change. The Satyagraha movement under Gandhi was picking speed, as was the strong opposition to the young queen particularly by the Junior Rani Sethu Parvati Bai. Furthermore, the people of Travancore were deeply divided along caste and gender lines. The general feeling was that the queen was only an interim ruler, her nephew being next in line to the throne. She was also considered as a figurehead by the then Dewan Raghaviah, since that had been the case with the previous ruler Mulam Thirunal. He fought hard to quell the young queen who turned out to be a keen strategist herself. In the first half of the 20th century, Travancore was a battleground of contesting Volume XIII Issue II FEBRUARY 2020 Page No: 715 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 3

communal interests. The had wrested for themselves a significant share of government jobs by displacing the Brahmins, but were now resisting a similar attempt by Syrian Christians, Ezhavas and Muslims for upward mobility and an equitable share in the pie. In a significant departure from her predecessors and her successor, Lakshmi Bayi departed from the practice of pitting community against community, and took a position that favoured equal opportunity for all. This was a landmark progressive measure, but it earned her the enmity of the upper-caste community of the day.

The leaders of the Swadeshi movement, however, felt that all citizens of India must be treated as equals in the eyes of the Lord. Naturally there was great resistance from the upper castes. Gandhi came down to Travancore to intervene and resolve the matter. The Queen met with the Mahatma who was deeply impressed with her statesmanship. Moderation, discussion, consensus, patience and balance became the hallmarks of her reign. She had to constantly keep the British, nationalist forces and the royal establishment on an even keel, a task she did not always succeed in.

She was responsible for the passing of the 1925 Village Panchayat Act of Travancore. Its stress on autonomy and involvement in village developmental works is seen in Kerala, which has strong people driven panchayat governance even today. She was also instrumental in opening the doors of colleges and offices to women. She also ensured the abolition of special schools for lower castes. The schools in her administration had zero-tolerance for segregation on religious or caste. Midday meals were provided for children from poorer backgrounds and grants for education were instituted. She found despite being diagnosed with tuberculosis the energy to be constantly in touch with her people, democratize administration and spend time with her children.

She lived the remainder of her years as mother and grandmother. Manu.S.Pillai‘s book is remarkable in that he brings to the public eye this forward-looking Queen who seems to have been way ahead of her time, despite the confines of tradition and royalty. She was a leader, with her own distinctive voice, who enthralled whomsoever met her – be it a citizen or a dignitary like Lord Mountbatten.

Cleopatra A Life

Among the most famous women to have lived , Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt for twenty – two years.A goddess as a child, a queen at eighteen , a celebrity soon thereafter , she was an object of speculation and veneration ,gossip and legend even in her own time. Schiff‘s Cleopatra is not the sexually voracious, treacherous poisoner who seduced Julius Caesar and destroyed Mark Antony. Rather, she is an intelligent, able ruler who did nothing that male kings didn‘t do routinely. She tried to protect her own and her country‘s interests in the face of Roman aggression. If Antony had been more clever than Augustus, her children with Caesar and Antony would have ruled the East. Schiff persuades us that the queen‘s liaisons with both men were mutually beneficial. She got expanded territory, protected by Roman legions, while her lovers got her money. And for Caesar, Antony and Augustus, it was all about Egypt‘s wealth, not the color of Cleopatra‘s eyes.

Cleopatra mythologized herself before anyone else had the chance. Roman contemporaries misread the pageants she acted out; early biographers were biased, xenophobic, politically motivated and sometimes sensationalistic, writing for an audience that expected to be dazzled by intrigues reflecting its assumptions. As Schiff observes, Cleopatra may boast ―one of the busiest afterlives in history,‖ including incarnations as ―an asteroid, a video game, a cliché, a cigarette, a slot machine, a strip club, a synonym for Elizabeth Taylor,‖

Although it‘s not Schiff‘s purpose to present us with a feminist revision of a life plucked from antiquity, in order to ―restore‖ Cleopatra — to see her at all — one must strip away an ―encrusted myth‖ created by those for whom ―citing her sexual prowess was evidently less discomfiting than acknowledging her intellectual gifts.‖ A capable , clear – eyed sovereign , she knew how to build a fleet , suppress an insurrection , control a currency , alleviate a famine .An eminent Roman general vouched for her grasp of military affairs .Even at a time when women rulers were no rarity she stood out,the sole female of the ancient world to rule alone and to play a role in Western affairs.She was incomparably richer than anyone else in the Volume XIII Issue II FEBRUARY 2020 Page No: 716 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 4

Mediterranean and she enjoyed greater prestige than any other woman of her age.Nevertheless , a genuinely powerful woman has been transmuted into a shamelessly seductive one.

Becoming

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world‘s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

She recounts her time growing up on the South Side of Chicago as she shares the joys of her childhood as well as some of the tough things. She was a feisty child, driven to do well in school. Her story begins : ―I spent much of my childhood listening to the sound of striving.‖ She speaks lovingly of her roots in this working class family - her parents and her brother and grandparents and how their values shaped the adult she would become. We witness the grief she experienced over the loss of her father and her continuing admiration and love for her mother who was tenacious in seeking a good education for her children. In this memoir, she is so open and honest and it feels so intimate. Michelle shares her love for her husband and daughters. She speaks about the discrimination against the men in her family, about being black at Princeton, about the attacks on her husband‘s citizenship, a conspiracy theory primary pushed by the person who unfortunately followed him after his second term. We discover who she is in the times she is undergoing a self discovery, as she questions her aspirations, as she juggles work and motherhood as Barack‘s involvement and aspirations in politics grow. It felt so intimate as she shares some personal struggles that they faced, ones that I don‘t think she ever divulged publicly previous to this.

Ages have gone since this so called feminist movement have started;a struggle for voice finding initially to a struggle of raising voices to now the struggle for finding acceptance for voices. Finding acceptance among the overpowering stout- hearted macho noises is a tedious task indeed. It is not a hyperbolic statement to say in this postmodern era that women still finds it hard to earn acceptance for their voices ,but if that women posses power the case will be difficult. So the motto will be earn power, then voice. But the statement itself seems to be problematic. Everyone cannot become a Cleopatra or Sethulakshmi Bai where authority just traverses through its ―roots ―but every women needs to find a Michelle Obama within. Entangling all chains of discriminations one needs to find their own roots and subsistence to procure Power. The struggle just not ends there nonetheless it just continues but now you will have that liberty to choose which to fight and which not. In simple words , You are free choose the war you need to fight. Just rememember , A woman with a voice is the strongest.

References

1. Pillai, Manu S. Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore. Harpercollins India, 2015. 2. Schiff, Stacy. Cleopatra: A Life. BOT History, Biography, Release Date: November 2, 2010.

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