LS.2. SHE
BY LAKSHME KANNAN
(DEGREE I YEAR OU SYLLABUS)
INTRODUCTION:
SHE was written
by Lakashmi Khannan. She uses the pen name “Kaveri” for her writings in tamil. She
has received the Manjula Srinivas Award for the best woman in 2012. She is her
own translator. She is famous for her portrayal of a strong and positive women
protagonist. In the poem she Lakashmi Khannan presents an elaborate description
of the external attributes of an Indian woman existence and her inner life of
subordinate and oblivion.
EXPLANATION:
Lakashmi
Khannan, presents in her poem, a nameless woman who is apparently leading an orderly
and contended life, nevertheless feels an emptiness within and breaks down at
the end. The woman is drawn from middle class or upper class society where the
wife has to maintain a certain standards of life and keep up appearance.
In the opening section, the poet
delineates a woman who is elegantly and tastefully dressed, creating a vision
of a modern woman who wears tight-fitting clothes that smack of western
culture. These is about her an aura of confidence as she glibly pronounces “value
judgment”. But beneath this suave and
self- assured appearance there lurks a person who is tense and insecure. Both before
and after marriage, in most upper and upper middle class familie, girls enjoy
the luxury of expensive clothes and the benefit of liberal education, but their
inner, authentic voice remains unarticulated. Lack of self-expression leads to
dissatisfaction and even depression.
In the second section, the scene
shifts to the luxury and comfort in which “SHE” lives. The house is looked upon
as a living creature opening “with clean health” and “breathing an air of
uncluttered ease”. Every room is spick and span and with eye-catching décor,
enough to make a woman “house-proud”. However in this instance, the woman is
not genuinely proud but is forced into being so. Inspite of all the material
comforts, the woman experiences emotional sterility in her life. The
floor swept clean as her empty heart paradoxically, while the house enjoys “clean
health” and breathes an air of uncluttered ease”. The woman is
psychologically and emotionally ill with
her role (home maker) that denies her opportunities of a fuller and more
meaningful realization of the self.
In the concluding section, the woman’s
life is viewed against the backdrop of life outside the house. Through the open
door she has a glimpse of the orderly “backgarden” and the “lengthening shadow”
of her. One gets the impression that life has quietly slipped her by and she is
left with longing loneliness. The oppressive silence of the house sings in her
ears. The inner chaos was in sharp contrast do the orderliness of the life of
nature as symbolized by the garden. The mango tree is in full bloom with the
sudden appearance of “glossy leaves” that shine like copper on the branches. Then
there is the sweet-throated song of the birds in the midst of so much joy, all
she can feel is the peeling stillness and the pain of memories of once pleasant
past.
CONCLUSION:
In each of the three sections of the
poem, Lakashmi Khannan presents an elaborate description of the external
attributes or circumstances of the woman’s existence against the background of
which peeped into her inner life is provided.
Lakashmi Khannan stress
the paradox of a house-proud woman holding suffering behind. The happy appearance
life of deprivation and loneliness.
INTRODUCTION:
SHE was written
by Lakashmi Khannan. She uses the pen name “Kaveri” for her writings in tamil. She
has received the Manjula Srinivas Award for the best woman in 2012. She is her
own translator. She is famous for her portrayal of a strong and positive women
protagonist. In the poem she Lakashmi Khannan presents an elaborate description
of the external attributes of an Indian woman existence and her inner life of
subordinate and oblivion.
EXPLANATION:
Lakashmi
Khannan, presents in her poem, a nameless woman who is apparently leading an orderly
and contended life, nevertheless feels an emptiness within and breaks down at
the end. The woman is drawn from middle class or upper class society where the
wife has to maintain a certain standards of life and keep up appearance.
In the opening section, the poet
delineates a woman who is elegantly and tastefully dressed, creating a vision
of a modern woman who wears tight-fitting clothes that smack of western
culture. These is about her an aura of confidence as she glibly pronounces “value
judgment”. But beneath this suave and
self- assured appearance there lurks a person who is tense and insecure. Both before
and after marriage, in most upper and upper middle class familie, girls enjoy
the luxury of expensive clothes and the benefit of liberal education, but their
inner, authentic voice remains unarticulated. Lack of self-expression leads to
dissatisfaction and even depression.
In the second section, the scene
shifts to the luxury and comfort in which “SHE” lives. The house is looked upon
as a living creature opening “with clean health” and “breathing an air of
uncluttered ease”. Every room is spick and span and with eye-catching décor,
enough to make a woman “house-proud”. However in this instance, the woman is
not genuinely proud but is forced into being so. Inspite of all the material
comforts, the woman experiences emotional sterility in her life. The
floor swept clean as her empty heart paradoxically, while the house enjoys “clean
health” and breathes an air of uncluttered ease”. The woman is
psychologically and emotionally ill with
her role (home maker) that denies her opportunities of a fuller and more
meaningful realization of the self.
In the concluding section, the woman’s
life is viewed against the backdrop of life outside the house. Through the open
door she has a glimpse of the orderly “backgarden” and the “lengthening shadow”
of her. One gets the impression that life has quietly slipped her by and she is
left with longing loneliness. The oppressive silence of the house sings in her
ears. The inner chaos was in sharp contrast do the orderliness of the life of
nature as symbolized by the garden. The mango tree is in full bloom with the
sudden appearance of “glossy leaves” that shine like copper on the branches. Then
there is the sweet-throated song of the birds in the midst of so much joy, all
she can feel is the peeling stillness and the pain of memories of once pleasant
past.
CONCLUSION:
In each of the three sections of the
poem, Lakashmi Khannan presents an elaborate description of the external
attributes or circumstances of the woman’s existence against the background of
which peeped into her inner life is provided.
Lakashmi Khannan stress
the paradox of a house-proud woman holding suffering behind. The happy appearance
life of deprivation and loneliness.
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