The Grip Of Change Character Analysis

P. Sivakami is one of the earliest Tamil Dalit writers who fought for the rights of dalit women who are dually suppressed by the upper caste men and dalit men. P.Sivakami, born in 1957, is a post graduate in History. Later she took up IAS exams as she thought that she would gain wealth and status in the society by coming to such high position. She got through her exams, but considered writing as her first priority. She derived a lot of pleasure from reading and writing. So even after becoming an IAS officer, she continued writing. She became a full time writer in 2008 after taking voluntary retirement from Government Service. From then on, she has been working for the upliftment of the Dalits. She is the first Tamil Dalit Woman to write a novel Pazhiyana Kazhidalum in 1989. A literary and commercial success, the novel created a stir by taking on patriarchy in the Dalit movement. The novel is translated by the author herself and published in English as The Grip of Change (2006).

Part I deals with Kathamuthu’s sovereignty in settling disputes amongst the members of his community, his settling of Thangam’s case, and Gowri’s difference of ideology from that of her father, a new developments in the lives of the younger generation and the slow decline of his power. The change in the status of Dalits is envisioned in terms of education, mobility, awareness of their rights and its assertion. Part II, which is titled as “Author’s Notes”, is an attempt by the author to deconstruct her novel through the depiction of Gowri as a critic. Through the dialogic process, Gowri unravels the disjunction between what happens in reality in the author’s family and community, and her fictional representations of these