The Prison We Broke Analysis

1947 Words8 Pages

Baby Kamble’s autobiography The Prison We Broke is an exploration of overlapping religious, political and social institutions and their impact on the lives of Dalit community in a society that is dictated by Upper Caste Hindus. The autobiography surpasses the radius of personal anecdote and is a historical and political trace, feminist discourse, revolt against the religion of Hindus and the despicable discourse of a cast out neck of the woods(Dalits). The narrative not only manifests Kamble’s life but also her community: “I wrote what my community experienced. The suffering of my people became my own suffering [. . .] So I really find it very difficult to think of myself outside my community” (Kamble 136). The narrative is about the power …show more content…

The Dalit
Panther movement led by the male Dalit writers like Namdeo Dhasal and Raja Dhale in 1972 was indifferent to the rights of Dalit women indicating the practice of patriarchy in the community of Dalits and it was in 1980s that writers like Baby Kamble entered into the literary world to protest against the exploitation of women. She verbalizes in her autobiography about the peculiar condition of Dalit women who are triply marginalized in terms of their class, caste and gender as a result of which Dalit women occupy the lowermost rung in the oppressive system of caste. Maya Pandit in her introduction to the novel states that “If the Mahar community is the ‘other’ for the Brahmins, Mahar women become the ‘other’ for Mahar men”(Kamble XV). Humiliation as Gopal Guru has pointed out in his essay Dalit Women Talk Differently is an individual, collective, social and political phenomena. The Dalit women suffered at the hands of upper caste Hindu society due to their caste and class as well as whips of their husbands and their in-laws due to their gender. The writer elucidates, “But we too were human beings. And

More about The Prison We Broke Analysis

Open Document