It starts with family
But family is a creation, a construct
A method to instill a sense of boundaries
A method to create a sense of predictability
A way of life
A way to survive
This family is in what seems to be Bengal, in India. The place of women is restricted, yet, happiness is possible in that space. The place of men is restricted too, because when women are weakened in position, it is always and only weakened with respect to a weakened male. Yet communities thrive on this differential superiority. Survival happens.
What's left after the dramatics of what constitutes this notion of family is debris - feeling debris. The shattered pieces in the aftermath of a massive shakedown, pieces that cannot be put together again. Any effort at reconstruction will inevitably fail, why? The core of feeling was never strong.
The head of the family and his wife are in charge of a large household. There is a group of widowed aunts, possibly the wives of dead uncles, maybe they are widowed sisters, it doesn't matter. They are there, on the sidelines, fed to a bare minimum just to keep the body alive.
The younger brother has been recently wed. His wife is a child, maybe 14. Child marriage was the norm, nobody thought otherwise, it was a natural way to be. You were born, you grew you married and extended the family line. The young wife is happy, life is all in place. And that is how it begins.
Each member speaks for him/ herself as the story unfolds from the point of return of the young wife after delivering her first born son.
But family is a creation, a construct
A method to instill a sense of boundaries
A method to create a sense of predictability
A way of life
A way to survive
This family is in what seems to be Bengal, in India. The place of women is restricted, yet, happiness is possible in that space. The place of men is restricted too, because when women are weakened in position, it is always and only weakened with respect to a weakened male. Yet communities thrive on this differential superiority. Survival happens.
What's left after the dramatics of what constitutes this notion of family is debris - feeling debris. The shattered pieces in the aftermath of a massive shakedown, pieces that cannot be put together again. Any effort at reconstruction will inevitably fail, why? The core of feeling was never strong.
The head of the family and his wife are in charge of a large household. There is a group of widowed aunts, possibly the wives of dead uncles, maybe they are widowed sisters, it doesn't matter. They are there, on the sidelines, fed to a bare minimum just to keep the body alive.
The younger brother has been recently wed. His wife is a child, maybe 14. Child marriage was the norm, nobody thought otherwise, it was a natural way to be. You were born, you grew you married and extended the family line. The young wife is happy, life is all in place. And that is how it begins.
Each member speaks for him/ herself as the story unfolds from the point of return of the young wife after delivering her first born son.
No comments:
Post a Comment