Marginalization of Outcaste Untouchables in Fiction: A Study of Selected Works
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1504.32Keywords:
caste-system, untouchability, discrimination, violence and abuse, literatureAbstract
Outcaste untouchables in India have been subjected to centuries of oppression and discrimination by upper-caste Hindus. ‘Although the government of India passed legislation known as “The Scheduled Castes…. The Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989” (2014), they are considered ritually polluting and are denied fundamental rights to education, freedom of movement, and access to justice’ (Mayell, 2003). The paper aims to discuss the marginalized untouchable communities, euphemistically called Dalits, in Indian Anglophone fiction from the Dalit discourse perspective. Literary works such as Sea of Poppies (2008), Untouchable (1935), and The God of Small Things (1997), have depicted the dehumanizing treatment Untouchables are exposed to within the caste system. This study is qualitative research. Through a keen study of these selected works, research papers, and theories related to the untouchables and caste system such as Ambedkarism and Subaltern studies, it is highlighted that Dalits are often forced to live in squalor, work in difficult situations for menial jobs, and are vulnerable to violence and abuse. The findings highlight the ongoing marginalization of Dalits, who endure disproportionate poverty, hazardous labor, and systemic violence. Despite India's modernization, Dalits face discrimination across various demographic factors, underscoring the urgent need for social justice and equity measures.
References
Anand, M. R. (1935). Untouchable. Penguin Classics.
Atiyat, R., & Khassawneh, R. (2022). Into the Darkest Corner: A Literary Feminist Examination in the Light of Authoritative Intervention. International Review of Literary Studies, 4(1), 18-30.
Bhatnagar, V. (1999). Fictions of Caste: Dalit characters in the modern Indian novel. In The Critical Studies of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Atlantic, 93-107.
Chakrabarty, D. (2000). A small history of subaltern studies. A Companion to Postcolonial Studies, Balckwell. pp. 467-85.
Cilano, C. (2009). Where “Tomorrow”?: The God of Small Things as Derridean Ghost Story. In Globalizing Dissent. (Eds). Prologue Antonia Navarro-Tejero. Routledge. pp. 41-54.
Cowasjee, S. (1973). Author to Critic: The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand. Calcutta: Writers Workshop.
Deliege, R. (1992). Replication and consensus: untouchability, caste and ideology in India. Man (New series), 27(1), 155-73. https://doi.org/10.2307/2803599. Retrieved on 18/10/2024.
Dhar, N. (2017). Shadows of slavery, discourses of choice, and Indian indentureship in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 48(1), 1-35.
Forster, E. M. (1935). Preface. Untouchable. By Mulk Raj Anand. New Delhi: Arnold Associates. 7 - 10.
Fox, L. C. (2002). A martyrology of the abject: witnessing and trauma in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 33(3-4), 35-60.
Froula, A. (2009). In-Between and Elsewhere: Liminality in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. In Globalizing Dissent (Eds). Prologue Antonia Navarro-Tejero. Routledge. 55-62.
George, C. J. (1994). Mulk Raj Anand, his Art and Concerns: A Study of His Non-autobiographical Novels. Atlantic Publishers & Dist.
Ghafoor, S., & Farooq, U. (2020). Can subaltern be heard: an analysis of The Kite Runner and The Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini: can subaltern be heard. International Review of Literary Studies, 2(1), 29-38.
Ghosh, A. (2008). Sea of Poppies. Macmillan, USA.
Hantal, B. (2022). A review of the perspectives of social justice with special reference to the Ambedkarism. Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 0(0), https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X221076623. Retrieved on, 16/10/2024.
Imran, M., Chen, Y., Wei, X. M., & Akhtar, S. (2020). Veiled courage: Inside the women’s resistance against violence through their writings. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 26(1), 74-93.
Imran, M. & Hart, J. L. (2019). Embroidering within boundaries: Afghan women creating a future. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 46(2), 335- 337. DOI: 10.1080/13530194.2018.1549003. Retrieved on, 25/10/2024.
Imran, M. & Ismail, S. M. (2022). Khaled Hosseini’s women as modern archetypes: A study of obedient, resistant, and empowered Afghan women. Frontiers in sociology, 7(1041435), 1-10. Doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.1041435. Retrieved on, 15/11/2024.
Imran, M., Tilwani, S. A., & Morve Roshan, K. (2023). An Answer to Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak? A Study of Marginalized Women’s Autobiographies. Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 0(0), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X231166999. Retrieved on, 10/10/2024.
Jadhav, N. (2005). Untouchables: My Family’s Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India. Simon and Schuster.
Jani, P. (2009). Beyond “Anticommunism”: The Progressive Politics of The God of Small Things. In Globalizing Dissent. (Eds). Prologue Antonia Navarro-Tejero. Routledge. pp. 63-86.
Joshi, B. R. (1986). Untouchable! voices of the Dalit liberation movement. Zed press.
Joyia, M.I., Foarroq, U., Ghafoor, S., & Gull, A. (2017). Courageous Women: A Study of Resilience of Women in Khaled Hosseini’s Novel- A Thousand Splendid Suns. Language in India, 17(1), 98-108.
Mayell, H. (2003). India’s “untouchables” face violence, discrimination. National Geographic News, 2. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/indias-untouchables-face-violence-discrimination. Retrieved on 10/12/2024.
Mukherjee, A. P. (1991). The Exclusions of Postcolonial Theory and Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable: A Case Study. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 22(3), 27-48.
Outka, E. (2011). Trauma and Temporal Hybridity in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Contemporary Literature, 52(1), 21-53.
Punter, D. (2003). Arundhati Roy and the house of history. In Empire and the gothic: The politics of genre, Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 192-207.
Rana, P. K. (2017). The Colonial/Civilized Pervert: The Play of Masochism and Self on the Periphery in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies. Middle Flight, 6(1), 100-110.
Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. India Ink.
Saini, R. (2016). Mulk Raj Anand and Om Prakash Valmiki as a representative of the unheard voices: A Study of Untouchable and Joothan. Research Journal of English Language and Literature, 4(3), 222-228.
Sana, A. (1993). The Caste System in India and its Consequences. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 13(3/4), 1-76. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013170. Retrieved on, 10/10/2024.
Sharma, K. L. (2012). Is there Today Caste System or there is only Caste in India?. Polish Sociological Review, 178(2), 245-264.
Shiva, V. (2016). Biopiracy: The plunder of nature and knowledge. North Atlantic Books.
Singh, O. K. (2012). Re-inventing Caste: Indian Diaspora in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies. Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language & Literature, 6(1), 47-62. https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v6i1.401. Retrieved on 11/10/2024.
Singh, S., & Thorat, A. (2014). Caste restricted occupation mobility; have reforms compelled employers to be caste blind?. Himalayan Journal of Contemporary Research, 3(2), 2319-3174.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. (2014). Department of Social Justice & Empowerment: Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. https://socialjustice.gov.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/POA%20Act.pdf. Retrieved on, 10/09/2024.
Thorat, S. & Katherine, S. N. (eds). (2010). Economic Discrimination in India, New Delhi: Oxford University Publications.
Trivedi, D. (1999). Small is Beautiful. In Explorations: Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Eds. Indira Bhatt and Indira Nityanandam. Creative Books, 185-190.
