Hello and welcome to the Discourse. "Wife" was the second novel by Bharti Mukherjee that was published in 1975. It is the story of Dimple Dasgupta, an Indian girl who faces social and cultural change in the post- Independence India that has made women conscious of the need to define themselves, their place in society, and their surroundings. While Dimple imagines her future as a happily married housewife, she strongly resents her inability to participate in the selection of her husband to be, the arranged marriage has negative consequences for Dimple. Dimple feels treated as property, her feelings totally ignored. Arranged marriage seems to treat the union of husband and wife not as a sacred moment but as a property exchange. She always dreamed of marrying a neurosurgeon but her father chooses an Engineer for her as the bridegroom. Her resentment against the institution of arranged marriage fills her with sadness and a sadistic approach that continues to turn violent and in the end, Dimple kills her husband.
Characters of Wife by Bharti Mukherjee:
Dimple Dasgupta is the main character of the novel. She is a simple Indian girl in her early twenties. She belongs to a middle-class Bengali Brahmin family. She has completed her graduation and is now looking forward to getting married. She hasn’t planned for any career options while her friend Pixie is struggling with typing and shorthand classes to get a job. Dimple hopes of marrying a wonderful man and living a happily married life. While she feels imprisoned at her home, she believes that her marriage will be a liberating experience and after that, she will be having all the fun, partying, and making love with her husband. Dimple’s mother is a traditional Hindu woman who believes in the patriarchial family system and the institution of arranged marriage. She convinces Dimple that her father will find an outstanding husband for her. Amit Basu is a young engineer who has recently got an opportunity to emigrate to the U.S. Unlike Dimple, Amit is a man of serious attitude and philosophical outlook towards life. He is unable to understand the emotional needs of Dimple and expects her to understand her role as a responsible, dutiful wife. Amit is thus, a mismatch for Dimple. Mrs. Basu is Dimple’s mother-in-law who is very critical of Dimple and continues oppressing her. Mrs. Ghose is Amit’s elder sister who is already married. While Amit liked and decided to marry Dimple, Mrs. Ghose makes it clear that Dimple was not the first choice of his family. Jyoti Sen is a friend of Amit in New York City. After migrating to the U.S. Amit and Dimple stay at Jyoti Sen’s home and then they move to an apartment owned by Prodosh and Marsha, who are away on sabbatical. Milt is the brother of Marsha.
Summary of Wife by Bharti Mukherjee:
The story begins as Dimple relishes her girlish fantasy about marriage. She is eager to get married and visions of her prince charming whose amorous advances and glances would drench her with supreme bliss. In Dimple‟s imagination, there is no place for mundane responsibilities and struggle with day-to-day existence like water shortage, electricity failure, and adjustment with in-laws. She believes that marriage will bring liberation to her as she will be free of her mundane virgin life and offer her what she actually wants, parties, glamour, and love. Her friend Pixie is preparing for her professional career as a typist and stenographer. Dimple wants a different kind of life and she values her imagination more than the real life. She dreams to marry a neurosurgeon but as a Hindu girl, Dimple does not have the right to choose her own bridegroom, so cannot guarantee he will come from ―neurosurgeons and architects. She is of average build and she is not very beautiful or fair. Her father, Mr. Dasgupta, an electrical engineer at Calcutta Electric Supply Company, is inclined to look for engineers in the matrimonial ads. Her mother Mrs. Dasgupta keeps convincing her that her father will find an outstanding bridegroom for her. While her parents are hunting for a suitable groom, she starts feeling nervous, sick, and anxious. Her anxieties are also related to the inadequacies of her figure and complexion, as she wants desperately to fit into the slot of an eligible match. She would often write letters to Mrs. Problemwala to provide solutions for her physical and cosmetic problems. But this dream of hers remains unfulfilled as she did not deserve to be the prettiest due to her average beauty. While Dimple is eager to marry and to feel the liberty that she may have after being married, the waiting continues to grow long, and gradually, she starts resenting the idea of marriage when, for prospective match-making, she is displayed as a chattel on several occasions. The condescending discussions regarding her physical features are discussed before her. She feels humiliated and angry but she has to control her emotions.
At last, Mr. Dasgupta invites Amit Basu, an engineer who recently got a chance to emigrate to the U.S. for prospective matchmaking. Amit visits Dimple’s house with his mother Mrs. Basu, and elder sister, Mrs. Ghosh. Mrs. Basu objected to the name Dimple, which she considered too frivolous and unbengali, and the candidate‟s sister, Mrs. Ghose, felt that Dimple was a little darker than the photograph had suggested. Despite that, Amit liked Dimple, and their marriage was fixed.
The next day, Dimple meets Pixie and informs her about her marriage being fixed with Amit, an engineer who is expected to work in the U.S. Dimple shows Amit’s photo to Pixie and she comments, “Your short dark prince charming.” Her comment hits Dimple hard. She always imagined a tall, fair man in her dreams. However, Pixie is too much impressed by Amit and she says, “What a lucky girl you are! You’ll be in America before you know it. ‘ll still be slogging away at my typing and shorthand.”
After the marriage, Dimple comes into Amit’s home in Calcutta, a three-story building on Dr. Sarat Banerjee Road, a place where they live with Mrs. Basu and Pintu, her brother-in-law.
and on the very first day, his sister, Mrs. Ghosh tells her that though Amit liked her, she was not the first choice of his family. She lived a pampered life at her home but she discovers that at her in-law‟s she will have to fill the water from down below, the flat is quite small and the staircase has no light. The demands of the post-marital role fill her with anxieties which include pleasing everybody around. Furthermore, her mother-in-law proves to be too intrusive and won’t even allow her to choose the colors of the curtains and bedsheets in her and Amit’s bedroom. Life after marriage appears much more restrictive to Dimple now as her dreams shatter. She continued to suffer while repressing her emotions in the hope that soon she will go to the U.S. with Amit where she will have a chance to fulfill her dreams. Amit, on the other hand, is unaware of Dimple’s emotional tussles. Like any traditionally brought-up Indian husband, he does not know how to pay a compliment to his wife. He would like her to reside at home and focus on the household chores rather than go out, work, and earn. The culture he is born in requires of him to earn and grant for the future whatever the cost and he withdraws his love and other emotional attachments from his wife in a recreation of the cultural aims.
However, one day she gets a chance to vent out all her repressed anger as she finds a mouse nibbling on her clothes. She decides to hit the mouse as hard as possible. In an outburst of hatred, her body shuddering, her wrist taut with fury, she smashed the head of the mouse. Dimple noticed that the mouse had a strangely swollen fat belly. She realized that the mouse was pregnant. By that time, she was also pregnant with Amit’s child. However, she doesn’t want to be a mother. She feels that the growing fetus in her womb is a parasite, She feels that there is a property of Basu even in her belly that she cannot accept. She decides to jump rope to escape pregnancy. Symbolically, in her rejection of the pregnancy, she rejects Amit.
At last, Amit is ordered to shift to his office in the U.S. However, Amit doesn’t have a proper arrangement of residence there. Thus, Amit and Dimple stay in Queens and live with another joint family in the flat of Amit’s friend, Jyoti Sen. In the U.S. too, Dimple again fails to find freedom. Furthermore, she is not very fluent in English and she is too rooted in Indianness. Thus, she fails to find any social circle in the U.S. While Amit gets busy with his official work for most of the part of the day, Dimple had nothing else to do but to watch TV programs. Gradually, she develops an interest in TV programs showing murder cases. After some months, Amit and Dimple move to a sophisticated part of New York, Manhattan. They live in a luxurious apartment that belongs to Jyoti’s friends, Prodosh and Marsha, who are away on sabbatical. In this apartment, they are freed from joint family life for a while. However, Dimple now realizes that Amit is no company for her and they are mismatched. For Dimple, life was like a dream of luxuries, fashion, glamour, and love. Amit is more philosophical and pragmatic. He knows he is the bread earner and he has to spend most of his time at his work. He expects Dimple to please her whenever he gets some free time as if she is bound to serve her. Back in India, she still had some ways to vent out her frustrations but in the U.S. she suffers complete loneliness and alienation. The New York life appears to prove particularly destructive to Dimple. Her frustration continues to grow. One day, Milt, an American white man arrives at her door when Amit is at the office. He is the brother of Marsha, the landlady of the apartment where Amit and Dimple are living. In order to feel her freedom, Dimple tries to seduce Milt in her bedroom. She wishes him to do her. However, Milt refuses to indulge and goes away. That same evening when Amit returns from the office, she attacks him with the kitchen knife. She stabs him seven times, each time a little harder. She murders Amit as a symbol of acceptance of her shattered dreams. Killing Amit becomes her way to announce her liberty from Amit’s patriarchal rules.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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