The Modern Woman: A Look at her status (1934)
Her prominent works include Atita ke chalchitra ( The Moving Frames of the Past) and Smriti Ki Rekhayen (The Lines of Memory). Her famous poetic publications are Nihar, Rashmi, Neerja and Sandhya Geet. Her prose writings support women's rights and education and also reflect the plight of Indian women. One such work is this essay called Modern Woman: Look at her status. During the Chaotic times of the National Movement, whatever the women accomplished which they had never done or not known as proof of their strength. Of the Sacrifices of those women can be forgotten, the history of the National Movement too can be. This sudden awareness of some of the Indian women and their participation in the National Movement benefited the female society a large. The Myths of their helplessness and sentimentality disappeared and the state of lacking physical strength attached to womanhood was removed. Mahadevi highlights the fact that because of the age-old practice of traditional upbringing, the woman's psyche is made to believe that she is inferior under the Man in various sectors. She exasperates, why always women had to compete with men to receive the vital needs rather it should be given based on her sole potential to produce efficacy.
Today's modern women enjoy momentarily they are not merely focused on long-lasting interaction. They don't give any real significance to the man. Instead of accepting the fact, they just blame the circumstances. Women have the innate quality of kindness. Women always have a soft side in their hearts but some women try to force themselves to get deprived of them. Women thought that overcoming man, positions her high in society. Men didn't try to prove their intelligence in society. They set the standard and they are considered as rule-makers so they hold the authority over the world and try to keep all of them under their feet. Women always try to speak to prove themselves but for men, there is no need to prove themselves as women did. Women usually shout and fight for their freedom but can anyone think of whom she is asking for her freedom? We know the answer, yeah it's to men right. It shows well that men are the ones who decide what must be done in society. They have full authority. Still, women are protesting which clearly shows that we live in a patriarchal society. She states that competing with a man lay her on the successful throne. But it's a complete absurdity, competing with the man didn't take her place high instead it shows that man is already in a greater power that's why women make progress to get the power so she tries to compete with them. It's a pity for women that she has to prove her wisdom and maturity in addition to her capacity.
She made an important
classification of women Who were considered as representatives of the Modern
Era into three:
•
The first section includes women Who shattered
the shackles of conventions and offered anomalous assistance to the men to make
our Politics movement dynamic.
• The second section of women made their
education benefits both for their livelihood and also for the service of public
welfare.
• The third section comprises affluent women Who
combined their inadequate education with substantial Western modernity to shape
their domestic life into a new mould.
She made this categorization
with the central focus to recognize the internal forces that operate beneath
the resemblance in their external life. Mahadevi claims that each woman's
perception of modernity is different and it is based on her circle of
boundaries, joys and sorrows and she finds her modernity to overcome her
specific flaws. She also discussed the untold plight of Modern women that can
be only understood when we study their differing viewpoints. She
asserts that conservative women (mere prisoners of ancient conventions)
attitudes towards Modern women are more enviable. She emphasizes the
fact that the tradition-ridden male society views them with contempt and the
people Who speak words of encouragement to Modern Women offer no real help. As
a result, The modern woman was left to suffer in isolation from the ancient
woman. Despite her efforts to draw everyone's attention gets no compassionate
assistance.
The man permitted women to accompany him in
marching which proved them restricting their movement, he had committed a grave
injustice to her. Only a cripple has been cursed with immobility, likewise to
turn someone mobile into a cripple is the biggest cruelty. While working for
the nation’s progress women also had their interests and it is also true that
her outcome effort was bittersweet. It may appear inconsistent, but what woman
gained was valuable and what she lost was no less precious. Also, during the
National Movement, a modern way of thinking as a witness included both literate
and illiterate women from all classes. But the leaders among them could not
guide them towards their intellectual development. These women were taught
absolute self-control but like the military discipline of soldiers, it remained
one-sided where self-control and self-restraint are different.
A soldier is required to
lay down his life is different from self-restraint. A good Soldier can teach
one how to die and a good civilian how to live. There is the beauty of death
and the splendor of the life of one another. It is innate that a Soldier
and a civilian lead different lives which make easiest for one to be difficult
for another. Women, during the era of the national movement, volunteered to
accept the self-control and toughness necessary as a significant part of life
and not just to achieve the goals. Owing to this, a kind of harshness
penetrated into them and with restraints of conventions, women were pushed
down. They failed to remember that their revolt was rewarding only it leads to
progress in life and rebellion is not an introduction to a social being but an
expression of his or her discontent, Since ancient times, women have developed
the flexibility to adapt to all situations and because of this reason, her
stubbornness has formed to be an element of surprise. Many people believe that
women have the following special characteristic despite an element of
misapprehension however it cannot be called entirely baseless.
a) Appreciate freedom with knowledge of its
limits to moral restraints,
b) Concern towards
all people – good and bad.
c) Developing closeness or brotherhood with countless persons
– worthy and unworthy.
d) Dispensable toughness.
Women who became part of the binding commitment in the tragic era made their revolt an unfailing weapon. Despite respecting their sacrifice, society fears their rebellion and rudeness. This created suspicion about them among the supporters of modernity.
As the essay goes down the line, Varma begins to cogitate
over the definition of modernity that varied from woman to woman in accordance
to their own needs, taking up the encounters faced by women, who participated
in national movements, as an archetype, and who "perceived modernity as a
form of national awakening". She states that in the process of Social
progress Man keeps reducing the risk of destructive situations by adapting
along with increasing his utility. Whereas, a Woman’s the life-force was
destroyed as she was incapable of adapting herself. She kept her vision fixed
until circumstances blocked it from all sides. Therefore, For progress, Woman’s
life too requires the same resilience. Further, almost every educated woman,
who made a mark in public life rebelled against the family bounds that demanded
her to be sacrificial and self-renunciation. Here, Employing Rebellion as her
"infallible weapon", The essay turns to assert that "the enlightened
and educated women of today" only remembers "the factors responsible
for her deplorable condition", and now only yearns to seek the
ultimate goal.
Her task would uplift her quality of living:
" The task of the woman- a forerunner of
revolution and the flag-bearer of freedom will conclude with the wholesome
reconstruction of life and not its destruction."
"The Modern
Woman", therefore, finally ends on a note of gleeful hope, only if
humanity, exclusively women, understands the deeper nuances of life, and take
rebellion only as a means to express discontentment and to assert one's demands
to achieve an exuberant future.
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