A Real Durwan by Jhumpa Lahiri - Essay Example

A Real Durwan: A Post-Colonial Study Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Thesis ment 3 A Real Durwan: A Critic of Post-Colonialism 4 Conclusion 6 Works Cited 7 Introduction ‘A Real Durwan’ appeared as a short story before its readers in a compilation of nine small stories entitled as “Interpreter of Maladies”. Published in the year 1999 by the Indian American writer Jhumpa Lahiri, the book captivates the lives of Indians and Indian Americans who were entangled between their past and present, between the culture they have received in legacy and adaptations in the ‘New World’ to which they are initiated and destined to spend their rest of the life. ‘A Real Durwan’ is a story of an old woman, ‘Boori- Ma’ as introduced in the story and her inconsistent stories of her lavish past life which raises an aura of disbelief around her. Shattered by the partition of India, Boori Ma becomes homeless and takes refuge under the staircase of an old brick building in Calcutta where she does menial jobs like sweeping the staircase and in return gets refuge and food along with some odd things at times from the people of the building and neighborhood. Moving away from the usual canonical theme for which Lahiri is renowned, she presents a complete post-colonial and Marxist themes in the story, ‘A Real Durwan’. There is no such strong hinge on Diaspora. Rather the consequence a society, its people and culture encounters after the decolonization founds profound expression in the story (Shands, “Neither East Nor West”). Thesis Statement This essay intends to explore and analyze the subtle theme of alienation and discourse towards existential crisis expressed through the post-colonial critic and reading of the story ‘A Real Durwan’ by Jhumpa Lahiri. A Real Durwan: A Critic of Post-Colonialism At the outset, it might always seem that Lahiri’s story, ‘A Real Durwan’ is a prolific expression of her recurrent motifs and themes of Indo-American Diaspora. However, there is something beyond this mundane and well established fact that can be traced in the story, ‘A Real Durwan’. Something extra is definitely traced in the text by Lahiri but that extra is not only concerned with the geographical barriers and cultural complexity this time. Nevertheless, an impeccable study on the complexity prevailing on the specific nexus of space and time in the post-colonial as well as post-modern backdrop compels to make the character of Boori Ma central to the reading (Shands, “Neither East Nor West”). The story ‘A Real Durwan’ captivates a time span wider and intensified. Starting from the tenure of post-partition in India, the plot of the novel also oscillates to and fro to the past of Boori-Ma when India was undivided and was under the colonial regime of British rule. Juxtaposition of both the time frames enables the readers to form an idea where the characters are subjected to a transformation of cultural traditions shaped and affected by post-colonial globalised paradigm. Also the radical and cultural change of the individuals flicker as in the case of the story ‘A Real Durwan’ through the character of Boori Ma in the diverse parts of the world. However, to detail the changes the characters undergo due to the effect of decolonization is a very long drawn and complex procedure. Only a portion of it can be well captivated as tried to be transmitted through this paper focusing on the character of Boori Ma. The pivotal figure or the protagonist of the story, ‘A Real Durwan’ as she is, and the attitudes and activities of the characters surrounding her daily chores of life gradually through the development of the plot helps to trace the treatment of post-colonial elements in the story of Lahiri. The treatment of the character of Boori Ma who undergoes a social and cultural change in different historical circumstances shapes the post-colonial discourse in the text. The feeble woman of age sixty-four is a care taker and a sort of door woman in the apartment during the tenure of post-partition and post-independence in India. In this regard, the backdrop or the setting of the story is important. The story is set against the post-independence time frame in the city of Calcutta, a city which at that time was all set to embrace modernity and developing material wealth. Yet in this city of joy and dreams, a sixty-four year old lady had to depend on all sorts of menial chores of daily life she used to provide to the residents of the building. Her work actually can be termed very easily as the works not done by woman usually in an oriental society. Boori Ma is a refuge from East Bengal, who arrived at the city in a humble cart, is shown in the story well managing to clean and do all sort of odd jobs in order to satisfy the residents of the building where she took shelter. It seems that the residents of the building are actually tolerating her despite her loyal service towards them. The reason was her stories from her past life before she became homeless was very hard on the part of the residents of the old building to digest owing to her present condition. Boori Ma claims of being a wife of a rich land-owner and keeps on saying about her extravagant life and weddings at her home, sprinkling her pet phrase at the beginning of her very erratic muttering, “Believe me, don’t believe me” (Lahiri 79). She speaks about her extravaganza thus: “Mustard Prawns were steamed in banana leaves. Not a delicacy was spared. Not that this was an extravagance for us. At our house, we ate goat twice a week. We had a pond on our property, full of fish” (Lahiri 71). And at all these stories were greeted by her neighbors with high degree of suspicion resulting in their comments like: “What kind of land-owner ended up sweeping stairs?”(Lahiri 72) And when a newly laid sink gets missing from under the staircase, the old woman is suspected without a single benefit of doubt that she has planned with the robbers and helped them to steal the sink. Also she was accused of neglecting her duty and none of her arguments were accepted by the residents due to her past stories full of incongruous and inconsistent material when compared to her present situation. Undoubtedly, the character of Boori Ma form the story, ‘A Real Durwan’ is symbolic. The character of Boori Ma embellish on a double discourse. At the first place, she can be described as a narrator of unreliable stories, a person who loves to build and live on the superfluity of day dreaming. But then on a deeper delineation of the character she can be regarded as symbolic representation of nostalgia. Her presence evokes the rich heritage and cultural legacy of India from the times of pre-colonial and colonial era. She is an unreliable narrator shamming on her past at one plane and on the other she can be definitely looked upon as an ambassador of India’s rich past and culture indigenous in nature. Conclusion ‘A Real Durwan’ ends with a search of a better and real protector of the house. This is metaphoric of India’s future in the post-colonial era where the past colonial exquisiteness is supposed to efface from the culture and memory of people. In its place globalization and extreme rationalism is going to take over leaving the society to ponder on the hangover of whatever is past and discrete. As regards to the Boori Ma, she undoubtedly is a representative of those people in the post-colonial era who are threatened by their existence. They do not have their own home, land, job or culture. Everything they relish is their past which is long forgotten and they have nothing to bank upon as their present is shattered and future is hollow. Works Cited Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. Print. Shands, Kerstin W. Neither East Nor West. Postcolonial Essays on Literature, Culture and Religion, 2008. Web. 16 Sep. 2012. Read More