Motherhood In Salman Rushdie's Shame

The present study focuses on the changing phase of motherhood in Salman Rushdie’s novel Shame. The notion of motherhood has conventionally discharged a herculean and extensive connotative function which transcends the pragmatic aspects of the role of women. The heritage that the women pass on generation after generation is that of dependence and yet the tenacity with which the dependent vine clings and survives is the triumph of womanhood. One must learn to interpret a new the experience the mothers have passed on to the child, to see them in terms of struggle, often unconscious, to find and maintain some peace, beauty and respect for themselves as women. She is given high respect and honour in society and myth, legend, religion and tradition.

Much of the aura surrounding the mother in the Vedic, Puranic or the Brahamanic period, is missing though – flushed away by the massive movement of history. Woman is the centre of concern for Salman Rushdie in the novel. The idea behind this is to pay emphasis on woman’s perspective as a mother and on the nature of experiences that unravel the relationship between mother and child. The chief motive of the novel is that hatred often comes out of shame and the unhappy relationships become the ill omen of their shame. The concepts of shame and shamelessness are explored through the relationship between the mother and the child.

Key words: Struggle, Womanhood, Culture, Relationships, Individualism, Gender.

Introduction

India is a land of culture and tradition. It is known in the entire world for its cultural heritage. In India, the role of a mother is considered to be pivotal. An Indian mother, for ages has been treated like a Goddess, a divine personality. She symbolizes creativity and continuity. She is known as the treasure house of all precious things which influences, shapes and forms the life of a child in the best possible manner and also occupies the power to bring

Relationship is an important aspect in the existence of every individual. If we look at the delineation of human relation in art and literature, we shall find that emphasis has been laid on changing roles and perspective of mothers and how the changed circumstances, changed the way they look at their children. Salman Rushdie, one of India’s eminent novelists, in the novel Shame (1983), focuses the attention on contemporary Pakistan, by embarking frivolously shrouded political personalities from the real life. In the novel, Rushdie provides an insight of societal and political life in Pakistan. He is mordant of the communal affairs of the nation which are the consequent of the tyrannical, oppressive and flagitious legislative proceedings of the rulers of Pakistan. The novelist with his deep critical insight projects before us the shaping influences of culture in the form of honour and shame, shame and shamelessness. Rushdie himself has stated in the novel that the country he is referring in the book is not Pakistan and also the novel is not a feminist novel but there is no denying from the fact that women holds a significant position in the novel. Rushdie characterizes the murky illustration of the social milieu of Pakistan in which women have to encounter hazardous excruciation and despotism and repression becomes the talk of the town. The prominence on the social, political &