Motherhood In Sea Of Poppies

It is traditionally thought that women have instincts that make them selfless nurturers. Such assumptions, in turn, shape social practices that make women automatically responsible as caregivers. Feminist theorists argue that such myths, constructed by the patriarchy, undergird social practices that eventually restrict women. Although contemporary feminists have widely vocalized these issues, it is important to recognize that the first formulations on this issue predate twenty-first-century feminism. The French writer Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) argued that women are repeatedly told from infancy that they are "made" for childbearing. While the "splendours of maternity" are forever being sung to her, the drawbacks of her situation—menstruation,

In Sea of Poppies Amitav Ghosh has shown that Deeti ,inspite of being married to an impotent man tries to find satisfaction and fulfillment in life by being Kabutari-ki -ma. But when fate offers her an opportunity to be more than just Kabutari –ki –ma she immediately grasps it. Deeti is able to move forward in life leaving behind her daughter. Amitav Ghosh so tactfully managed the events of the novel that she never seem to us as a bad mother. It reminds us of Simon de Beauvoir’s famous line-“women who most fully experience some form of subjectivity are the best mothers”. Deeti has done the best she can do for her daughter by leaving her at her brother’s home. Kabutari is also shown as happy playing with her

She is called “bhaugi” by men and women on the ship because she possesses the solution of their problems. She is confident and ready to fight for anyone in trouble. Thus on the Ibis the shackles of patriarchy becomes loose and Deeti is able to express herself. The ship becomes the whole world in a miniature form, where people from different parts of the world come together and interact, and transform themselves in the process. Myra Marx Ferree defines the phenomenon as “... this is only a top-down phenomenon that is happening to people rather than also a grassroots process in which individuals and groups are actively engaged, and that there is nothing gendered about it”( 3). Deeti becomes an example of “women be free to define themselves, instead of having their identity defined for them time and again, by their culture and their men” (Faludi 82). Ghosh has tried to show that socio political changes bring drastic changes in women to come out of their sufferings. Through the portrayal of Deeti’s character, Ghosh shows the socio political shifts bringing about changes in women out of their sufferings. His women never get suppressed by the patriarchal society; the will power sprouts within them and sails along with the fate, with never give up attitude, they fight against all odds in the society. P Sailaja and Manija had aptly revealed, in poetcrit, jan. 2007, that ‘Ghosh’s major women characters get rid of their dependence and