Retrospection on the Quest for Self-Identity of the Female Characters

in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night

Name: Shreya Hazra

Roll No.: 17DEN062

U.G IIIrd Year

Supervisor: Dr. Bhagabat Nath

Department of English

Ravenshaw University

Paper Code: D604

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirement of the Degree in Bachelor of
Arts in English.
Acknowledgement

In the course of writing this dissertation paper, I have received the assistance and encouragement from
many individuals, I wish to convey my sincere regards to all of them.

I would like to express my gratitude to my revered teacher and supervisor, Dr. Bhagabat Nath, for his
insightful guidance perceptive comments and timely suggestions. I am equally indebted to my revered
teacher, Dr. Khagendra Sethy, Head of Department, English Department, Ravenshaw University,
Cuttack for his timely suggestions and patience.

I am also grateful to my teachers, Mr. Gurudev Meher Dr. Sambit Panigrahi, and Mr. Sakti Sekhar Dash
for their guidance and support throughout the making of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Dr.
Urmishree Bedamatta for her immense support and encouragement.

Lastly, I would like to thank my parents and my friends whose constant support and belief went a long
way in helping me to complete this paper. Without the guidance and support of these people writing this
paper would have definitely been a difficult task.
Declaration

I, hereby, declare that this dissertation paper titled “Retrospection on the Quest for Self-Identity of the
Female Characters in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night” being submitted to the
Department of English, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, India in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English is an original work done by me under the
supervision of Dr. Bhagabat Nath, Professor, Department of English, Ravenshaw University. I further
declare that this work has not been submitted in this or any other form for another degree or diploma to
any other University or institution. Information derived from the published and unpublished works of
others have been duly acknowledged in the text and references are given in the Works Cited section. For
documenting both primary and secondary sources, I have consulted the 7th edition of the MLA
Handbook.

Shreya Hazra
Certificate

This is to certify that the dissertation paper submitted by Shreya Hazra, bearing the Roll No.
17DEN062, entitled, ‘Retrospection on the Quest for Self-Identity of the Female Characters in Githa
Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night’, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts in English is the result of an original work done under my supervision and has not been
submitted in this or any other form for another degree or diploma to any other University or Institution.

Signature of HOD Signature of Supervisor

Objective: The objective of this dissertation is to present how women of different social classes and
ages survived through patriarchy to create a space of self-worth and happiness.

Keywords : Patriarchy, Feminism, Marriage, Self-identity, Womanhood

The Commonwealth award winning first novel by Githa Hariharan ‘The Thousand Faces of
Night’, is considered a milestone in the field of Indian English fiction and a prominent contribution to
Indian feminist literature. The novel explicates the physical and psychological condition of women in
India.It attempts to portray the efforts of Gita Hariharan in creating a new archetype of women’s identity and
demarcate the suffering and predicament of women. It can also be associated with the three phases of
feminism according to Elaine Showalter’s Towards a Feminist Poetics. This paper is a portrayal of the
different phases of a woman’s suffering both inside and outside the boundaries of her home as well as
her motherland. Throughout the novel, Githa Hariharan weaves the plight of her women characters with
the female characters from Indian mythology and other Indian Goddesses.

The women characters in The Thousand Faces of Night, are a mirror of the mindset that even though
literacy has made women aware of their own worth and encouraged them to stand up for their own
rights, yet her day to day happiness is largely ignored and considered meaningless by the male counter
parts, there is very little that a women can do to escape from this plight. Despite their experiences of
hardships, the protagonist Devi’s mother, Sita, her grandmother and Mayamma have a positive attitude
towards life and somehow find some kind of happiness and contentment in life with their determination.
Their attitude challenges the institution of familial relations, one of the oldest institutions of Indian
society. Githa Hariharan takes three different women characters from three generations of same family,
and exposes the difference in their mindset influenced by their surroundings, education and economic
independence. Devi, Sita, Mayamma expose the reality of female fate – only age and generation
changes, the reality of female fate remains constant throughout time.
The title of the novel also gives a glimpse of the thoughts that the author wants to convey. ‘Night’ of the
title symbolises the life of female which is clouded by the darkness of sufferings and sacrifices.
‘Thousand Faces’ symbolises the sufferings and struggles of women which is not one not few but
numerous.
Introduction

Plot and characters in a novel are always inter-related and the backbone any literary work.
Characters are social representatives and example of human behavior in a social structure. In The
Thousand Faces of Night, Githa Hariharan portrays the condition of India women dwindling between
tradition and modernity capturing their split consciousness and portraying it through both the
submissiveness and the struggle for individuality of her charecters. The Thousand Faces of Night is
centered around the sexual and marital experiences of Devi, Sita, and Mayamma. These alternative
viewpoints explores the position of women entrapped in a patriarchal power structure. She presents a
mixture of facts and fantasies related to men and women, love and death and emotions as painful as
loneliness. Hariharan connects them with myth and social status of women within the boundaries of
space, time and society. The Thousand Faces of Night, is a story of Devi, Sita and Mayamma and brings
out the difficulties a woman faces for the sake of protecting her identity in a male dominated society.

The emotional frustration of these women is vividly portrayed reflecting an example of Indian ethos.
Hariharan weaves the threads of Indian customs, traditions, rituals, and superstitions very dexterously in
a rich literary fabric.

Devi
Devi , the central character of the novel, is born in a traditional Brahmin family but with the support
of her mother succeeds in breaking the barriers of the household and goes to U.S.A for her further
studies. After spending two years abroad, she returns to her motherland for a better life promised by her
mother. Her stay abroad was like a dream which came to an end and now she had to accept the
conventional Indian marriage system. Devi was told mythical stories by her grandmother during her
adolescence whenever she raised questions about life. Devi’s grandmother does not dwell on the most
prominent figures of the Hindu mythology rather she retrieves the characters like Gandhari, Amba and
Ganga, who were often rendered invisible in the patriarchal version of myths. As Devi grows up she
finds a connection between the stories of her grandmother and her real life incidents. She realizes that
she was beyond the happenings that took place in the lives of the people around her.

Devi’s life was full of disillusionment and she always thrived on illusions of womanhood. Migration to a
new place, the vast emptiness in her In-laws house, her husband’s absence and his inability to attach
with her on an emotional level, passing away of her father-in-law and her inability to conceive a child
lures her towards Gopal, whom she thinks to be an ideal companion and elopes with him to find the love
and attention her husband failed to render. But only to be ditched by him as well and ultimately return
forever in a world of affection and comfort of her mother, Sita. Considering Elaine Showalter’s three
stages of feminism in Towards a Feminist Poetics, Devi fits into the third stage, the Female Phase. She
rejects the dependence of male structures and turns herself away from the male counterparts in the
attainment of self-discovery - a search for self-identity.

She returned to India and she expected her marriage to be a gradual growth from a healthy sapling. She
was initially impressed by the frank nature of Mahesh and she married him. When she got married
Mahesh she realized that he is too self-occupied. Devi discovered that for Mahesh marriage is simply a
necessity in his life and he fulfilled his age factor. He never tried to make any connection with his wife
except for bodily needs. He never acknowledged the fact that Devi too possessed an individuality of her
own which she needed to express outside the role of just being a wife.

Devi’s relationship with Gopal was initially a soother to her emotional pain and to some extent he tried
to give what Mahesh failed. She was much impressed by his care towards her, his music talents and
affectionate words spoken by him. But when he lifts up his mask Devi realizes even he was infatuated to
her and that he was no better than Mahesh. She realizes that in a patriarchal world it is difficult for a
woman to exist and find a man with similar emotional understanding who not just use her for physical
needs.

Devi suffered anguish and betrayal both within and outside her marriage. Devi lived through fantasies
and mythical stories all her childhood, hence the reality fell like a thunderbolt on her life, leaving her to
search for her own way of fulfilment.
Sita

Devi’s mother Sita is a middle-aged woman, represents life between two generations. Sits also
suffered a sacrificial married life but she emerges as a symbol of sacrifice and mute acceptance of the
realities of her life. Her parents had trained her to be an ideal veena player. After her marriage she took
her veena with her to her in-laws house which she inherited as a part of her dowry. Sita played her veena
only after completing her household chores but one day while she was playing the veena, she was
scolded by her father-in-law for not performing the duties assigned by him. In pride and anger Sita
pulled the strings from the wooden base her veena and never touched it again. That day she detached
herself from the strings of past to fulfil her present duties as a perfect wife, blameless housekeeper and
obedient daughter-in-law.

Sita’s sacrifice is compared with the mythical character of the Mahabharata, Gandhari, who turned her
anger against herself. Gandhari was married to the prince of Hastinapur, Dhritarashtra. She was much
pleased by the warm welcome, the culture and riches of Hastinapur, later she became furious on
knowing that she was married to a blind man. In her pride and anger, without uttering a single word she
tore off a piece from her red skirt and tied her eyes tightly. Gandhari blindfolded herself to show her
loyalty towards her husband and presented herself as a dutiful wife. Sita’s anger was disclosed by
pulling out the strings of her veena with the intention of never playing that veena ever again. As a young
daughter-in-law of a conservative Brahmin family, she channelizes all her strength to become a good
wife and mother. She faced her husband’s death bravely and arranged a marriage for her daughter with
an educated and well-to-do business executive. As she cleans and dusts her veena, it symbolizes her
decision to lead a life according to her own wish and to fulfil the unfulfilled desires. After getting
disillusioned and disappointed with human beings, Sita tries to find solace in music. According to
Devi’s grandmother, Sita is a modern version of Gandhari, a personification of self-sacrifice. But Devi
finds the gaps between Gandhari and Sita’s stories. Although Sita did not speak a single word of
protest, but the blood on her fingers spoke volume symbolizing silent protest.

According to Elaine Showalter’s three stages of feminism in Towards a Feminist Poetics, Sita can be
categorised under the second phase, the Feminist phase. She asserts herself in determined efforts to
attain social equality. Sita reacts according to the Feminist phase by silently protesting against the
standards and values in favour of autonomy.

Sita welcomed her daughter after she came back from America. She thought arranging a marriage for
her daughter would finally help Devi let go the indecisive confusion from her brief stay in America. Sita
had great hopes from her daughter when she sent her to the in-laws. After fighting throughout her
marriage with her husband about raising her child, her ferocious struggle paid off when she could cater
her daughter the best possible life she could. Thus, Sita felt devasted and betrayed when she received the
letter from Mahesh, Devi’s husband, stating that Devi had run away. But she also knew that Devi would
return to her once she gets out of the disillusionment with her lover.
The tune of the Veena that Devi hears after returning symbolises the beginning of a new relationship
between Sita and Devi and renewal of their life.

Mayamma

Mayamma, one among the feminine trio, provides another version of a woman’s existence. While
telling the story of Mayamma, Hariharan uses the technique of juxtaposing the past with the present.
Mayamma’s painful story of her survival starts with her own marriage. She was married at tender age of
twelve with a useless drunkard and gambler who just tortured her and used her every night just for
physical pleasure. Mayamma suffered in her marriage as a wife, as a daughter in law and finally as a
mother. Her mother in law was just concerned to get Mayamma give birth to a boy to fulfil her desires
of having a grandson. As narrated by her to Devi, the horrifying time when she had a miscarriage,
conceived after ten years of torture and fear, the village doctor with blood dripping hands told her that a
woman should learn to bear some pain and it was the sins of her previous birth that her child was still
born. Even after such pain and suffering, Mayamma’s mother in law slapped her, mauled her breasts and
pummelled her already swollen stomach until she was dragged away still shouting and cursing
Mayamma. The insult never ended there, Mayamma had to go through infinite superstitions,
unnecessary rituals and physical torture from her mother in law, until destiny finally blessed her with a
boy.
Doom fell upon Mayamma when her husband took away the entire money and left home, her mother-in-
law also passed away cursing Mayamma even in her deathbed. She was left behind with her son who
turned out to be a complete brute and a wastrel just like his father, beating and threatening his mother till
even he passed away from fever. Despite his crude behaviour, Mayamma served the last rites of her
dead son. She did not feel any pain, on the other hand she realized the deep sense of release. Left all
alone, she becomes a trusted servant at Mahesh’s mother’s and she showed her ability as a benevolent
housekeeper, a cook and a governess. A victim of patriarchal violence, Mayamma found support in
Parvatiamma, but when she left home Mayamma felt destitute and later found the will to live again
through Devi.

With regards to Elaine Showalter’s three stages of feminism in Towards a Feminist Poetics, Mayamma
fits into the Feminine phase. Mayamma is an example of a typical Indian female from the generation
which accepted her fate, cursed it but lived the way other people expected he to be. To her generation of
Indian women, life meant accepting their fate without any complaints.
Conclusion

The Thousand Faces of Night, thus projects the three main characters Devi, Sita and Mayamma
trying to find their own identity in their own ways. All of them has high hopes and expectations from
their married life but all they received was disappointment and disillusionment.

Mayamma gets married at a very tender age, accepts her fate and endures the burden of her fate. She
finds solace in Parvatiamma and then Devi. Sita, married at the age of twenty, proved to be a perfect
wife, mother and dutiful daughter-in-law. She also faced many hurdles from giving up playing her
veena to adjust through the situations without losing her individuality and finally having the support of
her daughter at the end. Devi lived in a world of fantasies which shattered after her constant failure
seeking love and affection from both Mahesh and Gopal, as they both failed to recognise her as an
individual. Lastly, she seeks comfort in her mother and starts a new journey searching self-identity.

These three women have their own notion of identity which they seek to accomplish in some way or
other. They groomed a dream of a happily married life, instead they had to go through pain, tears and
insecurity. Besides their husband, even the other male counterparts that came in their life did not provide
any support. In a male dominant world, the men failed to make them feel secure and failed to
acknowledged their individuality.

Thus, The Thousand Faces of Night, is a mirror which shows the social reality how at every step the
women are expected to take birth only to make sacrifices and fulfil the expectation of others especially
the male counterparts. Hariharan has projected with perfection the female ethos. Women too have many
unacknowledged needs which lie hidden deep in their hearts but it can’t be curbed for too long and she
finally frees herself from the suffering and repression on her own when her male companion fails to
accept that even she has the right to vent out and sustain her individuality.
Works Cited :

Sekar, Sivarajani. Differing Faces and Roles of Women in Githa Hariharan's The Thousand Faces of
Night; Myth and Reality. Academia.edu,
www.academia.edu/19497738/Differing_Faces_and_Roles_of_Women_in_Githa_Hariharan_s_The_Th
ousand_Faces_of_Night_Myth_and_Reality. Print.

Hariharan, Githa. The Thousand Faces of Night. New Delhi. Penguin Books, 1992.

Yellaiah, J and Pratima.G. “ Inside and out there : Male constructs and Female choices in Githa
Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night”. Kakatiya Journal of English Studies23 (2004). Print.

Samson. F. “Mindset of Women Characters in Githa Hariharan’s Novel The Thousand Faces of Night”,
vol.2, issue 4 (July 2015). www.irjet.net/archives/V2/i4/Irjet-v2i4157.pdf . Print.

Manimozhi, Dr. R. “Quest for Self-Discovery in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night”.
Vol.2, Issue 2 (April – June 2017). www.puneresearch.com/times. Print.

Kumar, Ajay. “The Heroine in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night”. Cyber Literature 23.1
(June 2009) : 67 – 72. Print.