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Text Formation in the Poetry of Robin S. Ngangom and Mamang Dai: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Comparative Study

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 Charanjit Singh1 & Gurjit Kaur2

1Department of English at Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, Punjab (India). ORCID: 0000-0001-9191-0955. Email: charanjit@lkc.ac.in

2Department of English at PCM S.D. College for Women, Jalandhar, Punjab

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages 1–18. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne15

First published: June 23, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract

Being an active field for the interplay of diverse linguistic processes such as condensation, displacement, substitution and ellipsis manifested through a wide variety of literary devices in the pursuit to expand the semantic possibilities of language and communicate the experiential and interpersonal meanings aesthetically, the language of poetry and the unique ways by which different linguistic elements in it are structured and sequenced has always been a matter of curiosity among the linguists (Levin 1963a, Baker 1967, Landon 1968, Jakobson 1968, Cable 1970, Cureton 1981, Muller 1981). Expanding the scope of this linguistic enquiry to the poetry of North-East India, the present paper by the use of SFL model of taxis explores the text construction strategies in the poems of two hitherto linguistically unexplored North-East Indian poets Robin S. Ngangom and Mamang Dai in an endeavor to ascertain the most frequently used structures in the poems of these two poets, the tactic relations in the clause complexes in their poems, the use of embedding in their structures and the similarities or variations in the poetry of these two poets on account of the usage of taxis and embedding.

Keywords: SFL, Taxis, Embedding, Hypotaxis, Parataxis, North-East Indian Poetry

  1. Introduction

Poetry is a primary form of literature that communicates human thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions, dreams, desires, aspirations, actions, reactions or reflections in a dramatic, descriptive or narrative form foregrounding the aesthetic elements in human language through the use of meter, rhythm, symbols, images, similes, metaphors, alliteration, ambiguity and such other figures of speech and thereby expanding the semantic possibilities of language, enhancing its communicative competence, magnifying its aesthetic appeal and widening its suggestibility. The frequent and abundant usage of a variety of linguistic processes, most commonly condensation, displacement, substitution and ellipsis, and the unique ways by which different linguistic devices are structured to generate the overall effect of a poem has always kept the syntax of poetry open for linguistic analysis and exploration through the use of diverse linguistic frameworks and methodologies. For instance, Levin (1963a) observes that the novelty of the language of poetry is on account of its tendency to deviate from the structures lying within the generative capacity of grammar. Baker (1967) analyzes the structure and operation of sentences in the poetry of thirty English poets, fifteen from the second half of the 19th century and fifteen from the first half of the 19th century, and discovers that there has been a noticeable shift in the syntax in the poems written from 1870 to 1930 with dislocation and elaboration becoming less frequent with the passage of time and parenthetical interruption coming in vogue. Landon (1968) studies the unconventional word-order in English poetry. Jakobson (1968) analyses parallelism in poetic language using illustrations from a variety of Russian and Czech poems.  Cable (1970) analyzes the hypotactic and paratactic structures in Beowolf and observes that the style in this old English poem is largely paratactic. Cureton (1981) studies the use of iconic syntax in e.e. cummings’ poetry and finds that his use of iconic structure is indicative of medium being the message in his poems. Muller (1981) analyses the syntactic structures in popular English folk ballads and concludes that the sentence structure in English folk ballads is basically parataxis and that there are two types of parataxis in these ballads – paratactic syndetic and paratactic asyndetic. However, this listing of studies on the syntax of poetry is merely indicative and not in any way exhaustive. The present paper using Systemic Functional Linguistics as the theoretical model analyses the text construction strategies focusing on taxis and embedding in the poems of two hitherto linguistically unexplored North-East Indian poets —Robin S. Ngangom and Mamang Dai. The paper specifically focuses on the following research questions:

  1. What are the most frequently used structures in the poems of Robin S. Ngangom and Mamang Dai- clause simplexes or clause complexes?
  2. Which tactic relations (paratactic or hypotactic) are more frequent in clause complexes in the poems of these two poets?
  3. What is the extent of the usage of embedding in the poems of these two poets?
  4. What are the similarities or variations in the poetry of these two poets on account of the usage of taxis and embedding…Full-Text PDF

Monumental Inhumanity beyond Tears: Lamentations of Despoil in Nagaland and Niger Delta Eco-poetics

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Austin Okeke1, Emeka Aniago2, Mary-Isabella Ada Igbokwe3, Kenneth C. Ahaiwe4

1Lecturer, Theatre & Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

2Senior Lecturer, Theatre & Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

 ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3194-1463. Email: emekaaniago@gmail.com

3Lecturer, Theatre & Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

4Lecturer, English & Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages 1–18. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne14

First published: June 23, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract

This paper examines the social interventions, inclinations and paradigms in Temsula Ao’s poem “My Hills” and Tanure Ojaide’s poem “Delta Blues” as reflections and interrogation of deplorable human actions propelling the degradation eco-heritage in Nagaland Northeast India, and Niger Delta south-south Nigeria. Thus, our focus will be on how both poets present similarities in their lamentations and advocacy against monumental inhumanity destroying natural environment. Therefore, drawing from the concepts of eco-criticism, this paper examines nuance of advocacy and interrogation of the direct/indirect complicity and disinterest subsumed in the shades of actions and inactions of both ‘insiders’ and ‘others’ who are in many ways, interwoven in the social malaises and negativities Ao and Ojaide project. To add rigor to the analysis, this paper adopts ‘eco-criticism’, to discuss the portrayal of social identity questions, environment despoil, and the subsisting human/environment symbiosis in Nagaland and Niger Delta as portrayed in the selected poems. In the end, the study observes that the selected poems are advocacy texts subsumed in nuances of social intervention paradigms that project certain universal commons reflective of inhabitants of regions in despoil and environment degradation.

Keywords: Heritage, identity, poem, northeast India, eco-criticism, intervention

Introduction

Temsula Ao and Tanure Ojaide are literary icons, who through their creative visions make poetry that provides the literary representation of realities in their societies which variously offer a valuable opportunity to their readers to deepen their knowledge about the designated subjects from diverse perspectives. While a good number of scholars have examined the poetics of Ao and Ojaide in many ways, none have looked at how Ao’s “My Hills” and Ojaide’s “Delta Blues” share clear commonalities in their portrayal of eco-heritage despoil. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of Ao’s[1] poem “My Hills” from the collection of poems titled Book of Songs (2013) and Ojaide’s “Delta Blues” a poem in a collection of poems captioned Delta Blues and Home Songs (1998). The aim is to deepen our understanding of both writers’ common point-of-view regarding the catastrophic destruction of eco-heritage in Nagaland in India and Niger Delta in Nigeria as monumental inhumanity. Our purview is to discuss how both poets similarly portray certain human actions as variables that adversely alter eco-heritage and the reasons behind their effusive interest. More so, we intend to examine how the designated poems mirror analogous throes manifestly reflecting despoils and agony as collective and personal experiences in Nagaland and Niger-Delta. To analyse how both poems fall within the eco-poetry category, we are applying the concept of eco-criticism to discuss the poets’ presentations of human–environment relationships in their poems. This paper, through an interpretive approach, attempts an elaborate explanation of some of the artistic techniques evident in Ao’s “My Hills” and Ojaide’s “Delta Blues”. More so, we shall examine the efficacy of both poems in encapsulating their lamentations and what we can deduce as the metaphorical meanings subsumed in the poems. In order to place the frame of our study and thematic areas of focus in clear perspectives devoid of ambiguity, we shall start by explaining what the following expressions, eco-heritage, eco-criticism, and eco-poetry variously denote in the context of this study.

Eco-heritage, Eco-criticism, and Eco-poetry: Perspectives

Eco-heritage represents all naturally occurring flora, fauna, topography, habitat, and eco-system that exist in a given geographical location. The word eco-heritage suggests that the above mentioned are components part of a natural environment, which means that they are not originally man-made; rather they are nature’s gift to humanity. In his description of natural environment, Oluwafemi Sunday Alabi (2021) notes:

In all encompassing words, natural environment refers to the physical set-up which encompasses earth, air, water, land, trees, fauna, flora, rivers, lakes, mountains, hill, valley, the seasons and all original inhabitants of a given geographical location which can be harmed by man’s activities.  (2)

Thus, it is essential for people dwelling in a given geographical location to recognize that their environment (both the living and non-living things) is an inheritance that must be preserved, conserved, and banqueted to the next generation. Thus, eco-criticism is a meticulous attempt to discuss how people’s proper management or mismanagement of their eco-heritage is portrayed in literature and arts. The term ‘eco-criticism’ was first used by William Rueckert in his 1978 pioneering essay titled “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Eco-criticism” to discuss how ecology and its concepts are critically relayed in literary studies. According to Susie Brien (2007) the argument presented by Rueckert in his eco-criticism conceptual frame, revolves around the supposition that “the environment is in a state of crisis, largely of human making, and that urgent action is required if future disaster, encompassing humans and other species, is to be averted” (179). Thus, eco-criticism according to Cheryll Glotfelty (1996) which began to evolve as “the study of the relationship between literature and physical environment” (xviii), have attained relevance in interpretive study of film and environment, music and environment, and fine art and environment. The idea here is that an eco-critic, (a scholar interested in interpreting the shades and nuances of ecology and eco-heritage management/preservation and/or mismanagement/degradation representation in arts and literature), needs to understand that literature, in many ways, represents peoples’ creative attempts to share their thoughts and ideas on any subject of their choice. Also, an eco-critic needs to appreciate that essentially the thoughts and ideas creative writers and artists share, emanate from one or a combination of emotions and feelings, such as anger, grief, happiness, melancholy, fear, nostalgia, paranoia and disillusionment (see Onuora et al 2021; Okpara et al 2020; Brady 2013; Carroll 2003; Davies 1994; Dewey 1934; Kemp 2021; Robinson 2005). In support of the above supposition, scholarly findings indicate that the emotions and feelings individuals are filled with, are differently propelled by the altering influences emanating from human realities (Gary 2021; Okpara et al 2020; Robinson 2017; Tilghman 1970). Consequently, the thoughts and ideas which poets (like every other creative artists) share, are essentially the shades of their inclinations, interests, ideologies, worldviews and desires, which are either literally or metaphorically embedded in the words of their poems. Therefore, it is logical and plausible to assert that since poets are humans, poetry is a human artistic product, which like other human artistic products, is naturally propelled and defined by the quantity and quality of the poet’s accumulated knowledge, ideas, experiences, creative vision, ideological bent, mental health, inclinations, and agenda. For this reason, literary critics in their works variously aim at deepening the understanding of the aforementioned variables.

In essence, eco-criticism as an analytical frame “takes as its subject, the interconnections between nature and culture, specifically the cultural artifacts of language and literature” and “as a critical stance, it has one foot in literature and the other on land; as a theoretical discourse, it negotiates between the human and the nonhuman” (Glotfelty 1996: xix). The context of ‘the human and nonhuman’ as applied by Glotfelty in his comment above, denotes creative representation of human actions such as the preservation or degradation of eco-heritage components, for instance water (rivers, streams, and lakes), fauna and flora, which are all nonhuman. To Lawrence Buell et al (2011) eco-criticism is an eclectic cross-disciplinary initiative that “aims to explore the environmental dimensions of literature and other creative media in a spirit of environmental concern not limited to any one method or commitment” (418). What this means is that eco-criticism covers efforts by eco-critics to dissect and interpret eco-critical works, to explain their relevance and contributions towards the pursuance of knowledge and awareness regarding human realities. Also, eco-criticism enhances the appreciation of the writers’ attempts at propagating their point-of-views on matters concerning the actions and inactions of man that adversely affect environment, eco-system and eco-heritage.

On individual or collective experiences as source materials for eco-poetry, Champa Chettri (2019) observes that “in different periods, poets adopted varied themes and modes of expression” to aid their attempts at portrayal and representation of social realities, in a bit to re-aggregate people worldview, ideology and behaviour (3). Essentially, Chettri is of the view that “poets are influenced by social, political and economic circumstances of their period”, and that “their surroundings, milieu, history and culture not only shape their poetry but also become important ingredients of their works” (2019: 3). Chettri’s contribution indicates that poets usually draw inspiration from their experiences and when these experiences form the thematic basis of their poems, their poetry can be classified as ‘poetry of witness’. The idea here is that ‘poetry of witness’ are poems that project ‘unequivocal social message’ because the information they communicate are based on actual realities. As regards ‘poetry of witness’ the core essence is that a poet “writes about what he has personally gone through and not what he has imagined” (Chettri 2019: 4). For Ao and Ojaide, their representations in “My Hills” and “Delta Blues” respectively are based on what they have witnessed. Therefore, it makes sense to refer to both poems as socially engaged poetry because they are unambiguously purpose driven attempts. As Carolyn Forché (1993) puts it, poets use their poetry “to speak for more than one and to engage all others” (34). Hence, eco-poets such as Ao and Ojaide arguably fit into the above category because as we shall see in the analysis of their designated poems, both aim at creating awareness that propel the promotion of germane point-of-views that could lead to positive change in people’s behaviour.

Nagaland and Niger-Delta Despoil as Source Material for Ao and Ojaide’s ‘Poetry of Witness’

Nagaland in Northeast India

The source material for Ao’s poem “My Hills” is from the realities in Nagaland. To get a clearer understanding of her source material, we shall take a look at relevant scholarly contributions espousing pertinent aspects of Nagaland, as means of providing proper background to Ao’s themes and inclinations. According to Patricia Mukhim (2005), “what is referred to as North-east India happens to be a land mass with a geographical area of 2.55 lakh sq.kms., which is a mere seven percent of the country’s total area” (178). Furthering, she notes that “the region shares only two percent of its boundary with India, while the remaining 98 percent is bordered by the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, and China” (Mukhim, 2005: 178). In addition, she observes that “in terms of their physical features, ethnicity, culture, food habits, and language, there is a closer affinity with the people of Southeast Asia than the population of mainstream India” (178). Nagaland is one among the eight states in Northeast India with Kohima as its capital and it became the sixteenth state of India on the 1st December 1963. Nagaland is divided into eleven districts and it shares borders with Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, and Myanmar to the east. On tribal demography in Nagaland, Chettri (2019) states that “there are sixteen major Naga tribes in Nagaland namely Ao, Angami, Sumi, Lotha, Chakesang, Kachari, Kuki, Konyak, Phom, Chang, Sangtam, Rengma, Yimchunger, Pochury, Zeliang, and Khiamniungan” and that “other Naga tribes are also found in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Myanmar” (175). Chettri (2019) further observes:

The Nagas are not a homogenous tribe; each of the tribes has distinct cultural tradition, social structure, rituals, festivals, folklores, belief system, dialect, costumes and immensely rich heritage handed down through generations. They believed in a supreme creator, many deities, spirits and medicine-men, who appease and banish these spirits according to the requirements. English is the official state language and the medium for education in Nagaland and intertribal communication is carried out in Nagamese. (175)

The Northeast India is gifted phenomenally with abundant resources and breath-taking topography and eco-system, however, due to a bitter long-drawn conflict between the Indian government and the Naga freedom fighters; the eco-heritage has been monumentally altered. According to Paula Banerjee and Ishita Dey (2018):

By early 1951, the Nagas asked for a plebiscite and were predictably refused. Under the auspices of NNC, the Nagas themselves called a plebiscite in which almost everyone voted in favour of independence. On 16 May 1951, that plebiscite was held in which 99.9 percent voted to reassert the Naga position in favour of an independent homeland devoid of domination and political control of any sort. (2012: 8)

War was ignited after the Indian government declared the 1951 plebiscite null and void; consequently, the Naga people gradually began to dissent through insurgencies. In response, the government called in the military to crush the rebellion. The armed conflict which has exerted and has continued to exert a massive toll on the environment and its inhabitants is infamously acknowledged as the longest armed conflict in South Asia (Kikon, 2005; Longkumer, 2018).

This conflict has adversely altered the Nagaland ecology and landscape, leaving behind a deplorable and degraded eco-heritage, which Ao bitterly laments in her poems “Lament for an Earth” (1988), “Blessings” (1988), and “My Hills” (2013). In their essay titled “An Ecocritical Reading of Poetry from India’s Northeast” (2017) Neeraj Sankyan and Suman Sigroha examine the presentation of human-environment relationship in the writings of Temsula Ao and Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, who are both poets from Northeast India. They looked at how their eco-poetry was “informed by a deep love and concern for their indigenous cultures, traditions and fragile environments” (Sankyan & Sigroha, 2017: 57). Furthermore, they observe that Ao’s poems in many ways represent “a poetic voice that employs the power of lyric to raise environmental awareness amongst the peoples of these regions” (Sankyan & Sigroha, 2017: 57). Thus, Sankyan and Sigroha (2017) observe that Ao’s poems “serve as an urgent reminder to the indigenous people of their great cultural heritage comprising sustainable customs and traditions” (57). Similarly, Ray P. Prajna (2016) observes that writers from Northeast India echo stirring words through their writings in their attempts to “give voice to the people’s narrative suppressed by the meta-narrative of conflict and terror” (70). Furthering, Prajna (2016) notes:

These suppressed narratives demand recounting and sharing. Writers from Indian hinterland, Temsula Ao and Easterine Kire, just like their contemporaries Arupa Patangia Kalita, Mitra Phukan, Anjum Hasan, tell stories of marginalized people to save their history from being silenced and forgotten. (70)

For instance, in “Lament for an Earth” Ao laments the degradation and destruction of the ecology through avoidable human actions, and in “My Hills” she projects the shades and nuances of irony, traumatic experiences, aggression and conflict with deep analysis of human conditions at different levels of the society. The conflicts between underground rebels and the Indian Forces in Nagaland can be considered a domestic conflict as it is limited to a particular region and involves few ethnic groups claiming territorial sovereignty. This is because “the unfair representation of the region in the nationalist discourse has had an adverse effect on the psyche of the people who felt wronged by an indifferent Indian State” (Sankhyan and Sigroha, 2017: 113).

In their study titled ‘Psychosocial Impacts of War and Trauma in Temsula Ao’s Laburnum for My Head’ Raam Kumar T. & B. Padmanabhan looked at the psychological impact of domestic violence over the combatants as well as non-combatants whose lives are inseparably intertwined with violence and bloodshed, observe that violence in Nagaland have generated “unbearable trauma and misery” (2020: 1). To Poimila Raman (2018) “violence and political unrest in the North-Eastern states of India go hand in hand in disrupting the ordinary lives of the people” (140). In their description of the sense of catastrophe in Nagaland as subsumed in Ao’s poems, Neeraj Sankhyan and Suman Sigroha observe that violence perpetrated by the insurgents engaging in rebellion and the harsh retributive response of the Indian military have generated massive devastation, hence:

The endangering of the traditional/indigenous culture in the face of invasion of an alien culture marked by modernity and globalization coupled with the gross misrepresentation of the heterogeneous character of the region under the erroneous homogeneous ‘Northeast’ label further adds to the woes of this region. It is only natural hence that most of the literature emanating from this region carries a deep-rooted concern for the social issues that plague these areas. Temsula Ao, from Nagaland, is one such accomplished writer who strives to bring about a social change in her region by creating awareness about all the issues mentioned above. (2017: 113)

To Tilottoma Misra, (2010) literature from the Northeast India depicts “perceptions of the traumatic experience of a people living in the midst of terror and fear and yet cherishing hopes that human values will triumph some day and new dawn of peace would emerge out of this trial” (xix). Thus, scholars are of the view that the region suffers from a severe identity crisis which can be attributed to the “redrawing of boundaries that began with the Partition of the Subcontinent” (Misra, 2010: xvii). Elaborating a bit further, Rakhee Kalita (2008) notes:

The story of these people is the story of history’s accidents, of an arbitrary line drawing boundaries across geographically and culturally contiguous lands dismembering the natural and inevitable growth and movement of a community – a consequence of colonial ambitions, political battles and failed bureaucratic strategies. (17)

Thus, the feeling of alienation elucidated in the above scholarly contributions generated the sense of victimhood perpetrated by the ‘State’, hence insurgency is more or less a desperate attempt to ruffled the India state as well as draw the attention of the international community to the ongoing subjugation and repression which have subsisted for decades. To Ved Prakash (2008), the insurgency in India’s Northeast is “an ethno-cultural phenomenon, in the sense that perceiving their ethnic identity threatened, they seek political power to preserve it” (33). Just as most scholarly contributions analyzing the conflict in Northeast India blame marginalization of the people by the central government through repressive policies and forceful reliance on military might to repress, Grace Pelly (2009) observes that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) which empowers the military to deal ruthlessly with the insurgents, apparently have not helped. In explaining this, she states:

The rationale for AFSPA is that the armed forces need ‘special powers’ to prevent terrorist activity in the region and to contain independence movements. In practice, however, the police and the military forces use the powers and immunity that AFSPA grants to deal with ordinary matters of criminal justice. This highlights that increased powers given to State actors results in increased violence against civilians, fuelling a mutual distrust. (Pelly, 2009: 124)

In an attempt to summarize the variables that instigate crisis and agony in Northeast India, Neeraj Sankhyan and Suman Sigroha (2017) observe:

The insurgency and violence coupled with the endangering of the traditional/indigenous culture in the face of invasion by an alien culture marked by modernity and globalization, coupled with the gross misrepresentation of the heterogeneous character of the region under the erroneous homogeneous ‘Northeast’ label further adds to the woes of this region. (114)

According to Champa Chettri (2019) “the distinctive feature of North-Eastern state is its poetry and their uniqueness lies in the true representation of contemporary events and problems like ecological degradation, corruption, loss of identity and cultural values, conflict, migration and violence” (23). Thus, Temsula Ao in her poems represents “Ao’s myth, folklore, tradition and culture to comprehend the present cultural degradation, identity crisis and conflict” (Chettri, 2019: 175). For instance, in Book of Songs, Ao’s poems encapsulate her position on the recovery of history, environmental degradation and the people’s melancholy. Furthermore, this collection portrays Ao’s firm courage of conviction, and her deep compassion, her desire to recover the past and work towards a peaceful future of progressive togetherness. Consequently, being a prominent voice from her Ao community, Ao uses her poetry to let the entire world be aware of her people’s history, subsisting realities and needs. Espousing more on her poems’ source material, Chettri (2019) notes that Ao’s “poetry is motivated by her real-life experiences” (229). In many ways, being a firsthand witness makes Ao’s poetry reflect dense emotions and empathy. Therefore, Chettri (2019) suggests that Ao’s choice of language subsumes:

Her immense desire to delve deeper into the history of her community and revive her fast-decaying tribal culture can be seen in her poetry. Ao tries to capture the changing times, and many aspects of her culture. She has raised her voice against the ominous prospect of losing her long cherished and revered culture tradition and folklore. (229).

Still on Ao’s projection of empathic emotions in her poems, Neeraj Sankhyan and Suman Sigroha (2016), observe that Ao’s poem “My Hills” in many ways laments the lost of peace and verdure in her region, and that she depicts a sense of loss and nostalgia, as well as quest for the regeneration of their glorious past (117). Thus, in the poem “My Hills” “she reflects upon a sense of alienation that haunts her in the present and a longing for the bygone days” by portraying “natural imagery to depict the once paradise like state that prevailed in the region” (Sankhyan and Sigroha, 2016: 117).

Niger Delta, South-South Nigeria

In his book titled the Poetic Imagination in Black Africa, Ojaide (1995), notes that what informed eco-poetry in Africa and in particular Nigeria is the “senseless destruction of our original neighbours, the trees and animals” (16). In essence, Ojaide’s poetry represents emotion laden lamentation aimed at creating more awareness regarding the wanton destruction of eco-heritage by exploitative governments and the oil multinationals. Thus, Ojaide’s poem “Delta Blues” is one way of looking at the Niger Delta people’s response to oil exploration in their domain, which has had an adverse impact on their eco-heritage and livelihood. In line with the reports of Awosika (1995) and Ukiwo (2009), “the Niger Delta, located on the Atlantic coast of southern Nigeria is the world’s third-largest wetland” which “occupies a total land area of 75,000 square kilometres” and “is the world’s second largest delta with a coastline of about 450 km” (in Nwaozuzu et al 2020). According to Judith Burdin Asuni (2009), “the Niger Delta consists of six or nine oil-producing states in southern Nigeria, depending on one’s geopolitical definition” and “the Niger Delta is home to about 140 ethnic groups in the nine states included in a broader definition of the region” (3). As of December 2021, Niger Delta is composed of 9 out of 36 states in Nigeria, (Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Imo and Rivers), and it has 185 out of 774 local government areas (see Nwaozuzu et al 2020). As documented by Nwilo and Badejo (2006), “the strategic polito-economic importance of Niger Delta revolves around the fact that nearly all of Nigeria’s proven oil and gas reserves and a total of 159 oil fields and 1481 wells in operation are located in the region” (Nwaozuzu et al 2020). As documented by Nwilo and Badejo, (2006), the “total production from Nigeria’s oil fields in Niger Delta region increased from 308 million barrels in 1970 to 703,455 million barrels in 1991 and production peaked in 1980s when the total output was 753.5 million barrels per annum, out of which 93% was exported overseas” (Nwaozuzu et al 2020). Furthermore, “though the GDP ratio contribution of oil and gas dropped significantly from average of 37% to 40% achieved in 1980s, 1990s and beyond, to an average of 12% in 2000s, it has delivered from the 1970s to 2019 more than 70% of foreign exchange for Nigeria” (Nwaozuzu et al 2020). Consequently, between 2000 and 2004, oil and gas accounted for 75% of total government revenues, and 97% of foreign exchange earnings (Ukiwo, 2009). In the face of the clear evidence that Nigeria depends heavily on the crude oil extracted from the Niger Delta to obtain foreign exchange, Asuni (2009) observes that the conflict in the Niger Delta revolves around the fact that:

The oil industry exploited and polluted the area, wiping out the traditional livelihoods of fishing and farming and providing few jobs or benefits in return. Despite its mineral wealth, the Niger Delta is one of the poorest regions in Nigeria. There is no infrastructure to speak of and the inhospitable geography of the region has added to the region’s remoteness from the rest of the country. (3)

Thus, the dismay and anger portrayed by a poet such as Tanure Ojaide in his poems are hinged on the projection that “Nigeria has drawn more than $400 billion in oil revenues from the delta since independence, around $200 billion in the last decade alone” (Asuni, 2009: 5). Elaborating, Asuni acknowledges that though “statistics are unreliable” to some extent, however, “there is consensus that around 51 per-cent of the Niger Delta’s people still live on $2 or less a day, only 49 percent have access to safe drinking water, there is one secondary school for every 14,679 children, and one child in five dies before his/her fifth birthday” (Asuni, 2009: 5). It is the clear lack of desire or will to plough back substantial resources to the Niger Delta for purposes of development and environment management and conservation are the major reasons given by the Niger Delta freedom fighters, in response to the enormous outcry from Niger Delta people. In response, eco-poets such as Tanure Ojaide, Niyi Osundare, Odia Ofeimun, Nnimmo Bassey, Christopher Okigbo, and Ken Saro-Wiwa have applied their poems to publicize and challenge the environmental degradation, injustice in social projects allocation, and the capitalistic practices of the oil multinationals. These poets, project the oil multinationals as those whose exploration has led to the destruction of eco-heritage in Niger Delta, while they blame the government for doing very little to turn around the destruction of the Niger Delta environment. These woes sum up the horrendous inhumanity that is going on for decades (see Ali, 2017). Espousing, Ali (2017) observes that eco-poets of Nigerian extraction such Tanure Ojaide apply their poetry to “celebrate nature’s beauty and potentials” as well as to “chastise exploitative activities of man” and at the same time “urge moral and social change in favour of the natural environment” (1). Furthermore, Ali (2017) notes that most “poets’ particular environments influence the form and style of their poetry”, hence, “there are more environmental challenges in the contemporary world of Tanure Ojaide which his poetry reflects” (1).

In his description of the trajectories of inclinations in Ojaide’s poetry, Uzoechi Nwagbara (2010) observes that “Ojaide’s poetic enterprise follows in the footsteps of this mould of interdiction, which can be called resistance poetics” (17), which are defined by the language nuances. Thus, Ojaide’s collections of poems, Delta Blues & Home Songs and Daydream of Ants are examples of eco-critical literature in which he variously relays his worldview and quest. Which are “to use literature to engage the realities in his milieu” because “for him, literature is a reproduction of social experiences” and “refraction of the totality of human experience” (Nwagbara, 2010: 18). In his explanation of what constitutes Ojaide’s milieu realities, Inya Eteng (1997) notes:

What currently prevails in the Southern oil enclave is a specific variant of internal colonialism […]. The specific highly exploitative and grossly inequitable endowment/ownership-exchange entitlements relations between the Nigerian state and the oil-bearing communities in particular, which explains why the enormous oil wealth generated is scarcely reflected in the living standard and life chances of the peasant inhabitants of the oil-bearing enclave. (21)

Thus, Ojaide uses his poems to highlight the exploitative environmental policies that have allowed the ongoing degradation of the Niger Delta eco-heritage. Thus, “with the emergence of eco-criticism, Ojaide’s writings have come to be considered environmentally conscious texts because they show a serious connection with the natural world as well as foreground how man’s activities affect his environment and ecology” (Nwagbara, 2010: 18). Similarly, Darah (2009) observes that the poetry of Ojaide “fits into the tradition of outrage against political injustice, exploitation, and environmental disasters” (12). Furthermore, Darah (2009) contends that “on the basis of sheer output, Ojaide is the most prolific in the Niger Delta region” and that “from his titles, one can discern an abiding concern with the fate of the Niger Delta people” (12). Some of Ojaide’s collections of poems include; Waiting for the Hatching of the Cockerel (2008), The Tale of the Harmattan (2007), When It No Longer Matters Where You Live (1998), Delta Blues & Home Songs (1998), Daydream of Ants and Other Poems (1997), The Blood of Peace and Other Poems (1991), and Labyrinths of the Delta (1986). Ojaide besides being a celebrated prolific poet, is a scholar critic, activist, nationalist, cultural entrepreneur and novelist.

Despoil, Pains, and Disenchantment in Ao’s Eco-poetics

The eco-poetics of Ao and Ojaide in many ways portray the feeling of nostalgia, melancholy and disenchantment as they recollect the breath-taking splendour, and allure their eco-heritages represented before their degradation. Both poets similarly lament the wanton destruction of their natural environment brought about by deplorable human actions. In Ao’s Nagaland, it is the case of the long-drawn violent conflict between the Indian military and Nagaland freedom fighters. In Ojaide’s Niger Delta, it is the issue of deplorable oil exploration practices leading to consistent oil spillages, massive gas flaring leading to loss of livelihood (farming and fishing), and the ravaging armed insurgency. Ao in her poem “My Hills” (2013) interrogates the negative impact of exclusion and discrimination experienced by the marginalized Nagaland tribes which have substituted peace and prosperity with violence, trauma, pain and anger.

She laments the impact of violence on the eco-heritage, represented metaphorically as ‘hills’ in the poem’s title “My Hills”. She attempts to present to reader through this poem how the long drawn war in Nagaland has created melancholy, anger and sadness. She also presents a nostalgic feeling in her recollection of the serenity, peace and splendour her natural environment represented. Beginning with a melancholic mood, she writes:

The Sounds and Sights

Have altered

In my hills

Once they hummed

With bird-song

And happy gurgling brooks

Like running silver

With shoals of many fish (line 1 – 8) (Ao, 2013: 157 – 158)

In lines 1 to 3, Ao laments the negative changes in her people’s cultural activities (music and songs), and natural rhythms (from trees and animals) which she referred to as ‘sounds’. The expression ‘sights’ include (the topography and festivities) which are adversely altered because of degradation propelled by the ravaging war. The expression ‘in my hills’ indicates Ao’s affinity, affiliation, fondness, empathy and identification with Nagaland which is her ancestral home. In lines 4 to 8, Ao reminisces by painting a picture that represents what the natural habitat – her hills — was before the degradation she refers to as alteration in line 2 began. In line 4, Ao applies personification by suggesting that the hills —the entire landscape — were exuding scintillating melody. The expression ‘birdsong’ in line 5, ‘happy gurgling brooks’ in line 6, and ‘shoals of many fish’ in line 8, are imageries and metaphors Ao utilized to suggest a naturally existing serene, peaceful and healthy ecosystem before the catastrophic alteration. These memories captured in line 4 to line 8 represent the realities of the pre-war era in Nagaland. In these lines (4 to 8) Ao presents to the readers who did not witness Nagaland’s eco-heritage before despoil, the healthy and beautiful reality it was, which will help them to appreciate better why she is melancholic with the subsisting reality. Still reminiscing, she writes:

The trees were many

Happy, verdant green

The seasons playing magic

On their many-splendored sheen

When summer went

The hills echoed

With the wistful whispers

Of autumnal leaves

Fluttering to their fall

In the winter-smelling breeze (line 9 – 18) (Ao, 2013: 157 – 158)

From line 9 to line 12, Ao indicates that the ‘flora’ in the region were lush, beautiful and healthy. From line 13 to line 18 Ao speaks about the climatic condition and weather of the region, which she presented as healthy with beautiful features. Again, in these lines (9 to 18) Ao spent significant time attempting to recollect, as a means of letting her readers see what avoidable actions have denied humanity. Then, in the following lines, she haltered her beautiful memories and transited abruptly to replicate the solemn mood which subsumes the pain and despoil war has brought to her and her people:

But today

I no longer know my hills,

The birdsong is gone,

Replaced by the staccato

Of sophisticated weaponry (line 19 – 23) (Ao, 2013: 157 – 158)

Then, from line 19 to line 23, Ao bemoans the catastrophic alteration that has taken place in her war-torn region. In line 19, Ao’s words ‘but today’ though literal means subsisting, however connotes the metaphor of when the catastrophic alteration actually began. Ao’s expression ‘I no longer know my hills’ in line 20 deftly encapsulates and summarizes her point-of-view. The above expression is a poignant conclusion laden with varied emotion and attributions. An attribution is that the expression suggests that she saw, dwelled and experienced ‘sounds’ and ‘sights’, emanating from the ‘fauna’, ‘flora’ and ‘ecosystem’ in the time of healthy and alluring habitat of Nagaland. In line 21, Ao bewails the loss of peacefulness and allure which the metaphor ‘birdsong is gone’ denotes. Thus, as at the period of publishing the poem “My Hills” the period of negative alteration characterized by a disturbing, dangerous, and destructive sounds of weapons of war emanating from the barrels of the Indian military and the insurgents (the freedom fighters) subsists. Still painting the picture of despoil, Ao bemoans:

The rivers are running red

The hillsides are bare

And the seasons have lost

Their magic

Because the very essence

Of my hills

Are lost

Forever (line 24 – 31) “My Hills” Book of Songs (Ao 2013: 157 – 158)

In lines 24 and 25, Ao laments the alteration that the war has dealt with ‘flora’, ecology, environment, and water sources. In line 24 the expression ‘the rivers are running red’ is a metaphor bewailing the spilling of human blood as a result of the war. In line 25, she statement; ‘the hillsides are bare’ moans about the massive negative effects the long draw war has brought upon the environment and ecology health. From line 26 to line 31, Ao observes that the beautiful ‘sights’ which the dwellers and tourists enjoyed are catastrophically altered, again because of the avoidable war. Thus, what remains are charred trees and agonizingly depleted wildlife in ravaged ecosystem and habitat. Thus, some of the animals have been driven off the region or are under extinction hence the beautiful and scintillating ‘sounds’ they produce are either diminishing or some gone. Also, the movement of heavy military equipments and explosion of bombs contribute towards the distressing degradation. Thus, the seasons though continue to come and gone as usual in the region, their allure and positive effect on topography and ecosystem are rapidly diminishing or barely evident. Clearly, line 27 to line 31, are filled with Ao’s sad emotions which are laden with discomfiture, disenchantment, melancholy and deprivation. Through this approach, Ao succeeds in presenting the seriousness of the issue at hand, which indicates her deployment of poetry as a powerful weapon of subversion, protest, conscience aggregation and advocacy.

In the essay titled ‘Terror Tales: The Naga Insurgency in the Writings of Temsula Ao and Easterine Kire’, Prajna Paramita Ray (2016) observes that Ao uses writings to publicise the “traumatic experiences of common Naga people living in the midst of violence” (58). Poignantly, Debashree Dattaray notes that “poets such as Temsula Ao, Mamang Dai, Cherrie L. Chhangte have vociferously critiqued neo-imperialist assumptions of indigenous identity, refusing to be labelled within so-called mainstream literary traditions of criticism” (2015: 37), and Prajna concludes that Ao’s poems “successfully reconstructs and problematizes the historicity of Naga insurgency by weaving together polysemic voices of authority and dissent” (2016: 66).

Despoil, Pains, and Disenchantment in Ojaide Eco-poetics

Just as studies on Ao’s eco-poetics on Nagaland suggest, scholarship on Ojaide’s[2] eco-poetry, provides similar illumination on the economic, socio-political and cultural implications of eco-degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, South-South Nigeria, as well as the trope of eco-alienation (see Abba and Onyemachi 2020). The overview of Ojaide’s Delta Blues and Home Songs as presented in the collection’s blurb, indicates that this collection of poems “is a poetic diatribe against the environmental degradation of the Niger Delta and the unjust system which makes the people to be chief mourners and paupers in the midst of their oil wealth” (1998: blurb). Ojaide’s poems majorly revolve around “the feeling of disconnect between the inhabitants of the Niger Delta region and the oil wealth in their community” (Abba & Onyemachi, 2020: 1). Thus, Ojaide’s poetry “demonstrate that the Niger Delta indigenes, as a result, have been compelled to perceive the oil environment no longer as a source of improved life but as a metaphor for death” (Abba & Onyemachi, 2020: 1). Furthermore, Ojaide through his poems portray how the oil-rich region is perceived as an endangered environment because “oil exploration destroys the environment and reduces the opportunity for human survival” (Okuyade, 2013: 75).

“Delta Blues”, like most of Ojaide’s poems provides a deep and dense account regarding the deplorable human actions against Niger Delta eco-heritage and the inhabitants. In “Delta Blues”, Ojaide laments the monumental inhumanity which is driven by greed and selfishness subsumed in ultra capitalist penchant and worldview. In the first seven lines in “Delta Blues” Ojaide lets the reader feel his affinity, the context of despoil, the factors responsible for the existing despoil, the world’s apparent disinterest regarding the continuing degradation of eco-resources and heritage in Niger Delta. In the beginning line, Ojaide starts with recollection of warm memories as he states:

This share of paradise, the delta of my birth,

Reels from an immeasurable wound.

Barrels of alchemical draughts flow

From this hurt to the unquestioning world

That lights up its life in a blind trust.

The inheritance I sat on for centuries

Now crushes my body and soul . . . (line 1 – 7) (“Delta Blues” Ojaide, 1998: 21)

In line 1 Ojaide reminisces about the serenity, beauty and health of the Niger Delta natural environment, just as Ao speaks about her experiences of Nagaland before the beginning of its degradation, which are the good memories. However, in line 2, he sadly bemoans metaphorically, the monumental destruction of Niger Delta eco-heritage. And in line 3, he blames ‘crude oil’ exploration, results in massive spillages that contaminate the mangrove forests, rivers, creeks and farms. In line 4, he refers to the ‘oil’ buying countries as ‘selfish’ and ‘sanctimonious’ because all they care about is the consistent flow of oil regardless of the immense inhuman consequence that has become the reality of the Niger Delta inhabitants for decades. In line 6, he alludes to concept of eco-heritage as he indicates that the natural environment and all that are found therein are inheritance. Furthering, exuding his disenchantment, he sadly narrates:

My nativity gives immortal pain

Masked in barrels of oil

Stew in the womb of fortune.

I live in the deathbed

Prepared by a cabal of brokers

Breaking the peace of centuries

And tainting not only a thousand rivers,

My lifeblood from the beginning,

But scorching their sacred soil was debauched

By prospectors, money-monger?

My birds take flight to the sea,

And animals grope in the burning bush (line 8 – 19) (Ojaide, “Delta Blues” 1998: 21)

From line 8 to line 19, Ojaide attempts to elaborate deeply his repulsion as he touches on how ‘oil’ which supposedly should be ‘blessing’ has turned to a propelling factor and curse behind the despoil metaphorically. Also, in these lines, he points and elaborates on the culprits, the magnitude and consequences of their deplorable actions, the victimhood consciousness and bitterness of the Niger Delta inhabitants, and the scary future which this generation will leave behind. In line 10, he describes the massive oil reserve as fortune, however in line 11; he    deplores the precarious situation he (as the metaphoric representation of Niger Delta) dwells in. Essentially, because he speaks about a shared reality which he unambiguously emphasized in line 1 ‘this shared paradise’, he is supposedly using the expression in line 11 ‘I live in the deathbed’ to suggest his affinity and involvement, even though his feelings and experiences are common to Niger Delta Inhabitants. In line 12, he indicts the individuals, proxies and government agencies responsible for the oil commerce, as those behind the destruction of the health of the eco-heritage through their actions and inactions in line 13. In line 14, he poignantly points at what oil exploration has done to the nature resources using contaminated waters and land as clear illustrations. He bemoaned this reality because the waters and land are the sources of livelihood for the Niger Delta people who are mostly farmers and fishers in lines 15 and 16. In line 17, he describes the individuals in oil exploration in Niger Delta as self-centred capitalists. Thus, in lines 18 and 19, he laments the loss of fishes to contaminated waters and wildlife because of the relentless destruction of their habitat. Clearly, Ojaide’s words and comments in line 8 to line 19, subsumes melancholic disenchantment and anguish, which will propel the reader to appreciate the extent of nature resources destruction as a means of encouraging positive consciousness and better behaviour towards environment regeneration and conservation.

Conclusion

The eco-poetics of Ao and Ojaide portray the deplorable avoidable actions of people, the disinterest in conservation of natural environment in Niger Delta and Nagaland which have altered the eco-heritage in both regions adversely. The poems “My Hills” and “Delta Blues” portray dense poetic consciousness propelled by the poets’ love and affinity towards their eco-heritages. Though both poets employed relevant poetic devices and metaphorical nuances, such inclusions did not create ambiguity; hence in both poems the uses of language are fairly understandable depending on the awareness of the readers. Clearly, both poems serve the purpose of creating awareness to the global community, as a means of drawing attention to the destruction of the eco-heritage in Nagaland and Niger Delta. Consequently, both poems are advocacy texts, variously deploring the wanton destruction of natural habitat and eco-heritage. Also, both poets in the opening lines of their poems suggest unambiguous empathy and connection to the plight of the locals in their poems. More, so both poets observe that before the massive despoil in Nagaland and Niger Delta, both regions once had healthy and beautiful environments. Similarly, both poets singled out deplorable human actions as the reason behind the monumental degradation of their eco-heritage. They also presented their lamentations to accommodate locale specific realities even though their projection of their eco-heritage degradation reflects very similar consequences, such as possible extinction of some ‘flora’ and ‘fauna’, long lasting contamination rivers, streams, and lakes, and irredeemable defacing and degradation of once beautiful topography. Succinctly, both Ojaide and Ao deplore the apparent reality of disinterest by the global community who appear distant, lukewarm, or oblivious of the pain, agony and turmoil in the Niger Delta and Nagaland regions. Lastly, both poets suggest that the subsisting behaviours will continue to harm the environment; hence they have to stop for meaningful regeneration to commence.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding
No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

Acknowledgement
Feature image by Tarun Baratiya.

Notes

[1]Temsula Ao, born in 1945 is a renowned writer, a poet, an academician, a recipient of numerous awards, is one of the most celebrated women writers of North-East India. Her prominent works include two collections of short stories titled These Hills Called Home: Stories from the War Zone (2005), Laburnum for my Head (2009), Aosenla’s Story (2017) and an essay called Henry James Quest for the Ideal Heroine (1989). Her poetry collections are Songs that Tell (1988), Songs That Try to Say (1992), Songs of Many Moods (1995), Songs from Here & There (2003), Songs from the other Life (2007), Book of Songs (2013), and Songs along the Way Home (2017). Her other prominent works include The Ao Naga Oral Tradition (2012), Once upon a Life: Burnt Curry & Bloody Rags, A Memoir (2014) and On Being a Naga: Book of Essays (2014) (see Chettri 2019; Dattaray, 2015).

[2]Prominent among Ojaide’s poems are The Questioner (2018), Songs of Myself: A Quartet (2015), Love Gifts (2013), The Beauty I Have Seen (2010), Waiting for the Hatching of a Cockerel (2008), The Tale of the Harmattan (2007), In the House of Words (2005), I Want to Dance and Other Poems (2003), In the Kingdom of Songs (2002), Invoking the Warrior Spirit: New and Selected Poems (2000), When It No Longer Matters Where You Live (1999), Invoking the Warrior Spirit (1999), Delta Blues and Home Songs (1998), Daydream of Ants (1997), The Blood of Peace (1991), The Fate of Vultures (1990), Poems (1988), The Endless Song (1988), The Eagle’s Vision (1987), Labyrinths of the Delta (1986), Children of Iroko and Other Poems (1973).

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Austin Chibueze Okeke is a lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he received his PhD in Acting and Directing. He teaches Directing, Acting, Speech and Voice Production, Communication Theory, and Non-Verbal Communication. His research interest cuts across diverse spheres of Theatre art with a soft spot for Applied Theatre. He is a Fulbright Alumnus from the University of Kansas, USA.

Emeka Aniago is a senior lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he received his MA in Drama and Theatre Arts before obtaining his PhD in Theatre and Film Studies from the University of Wales, United Kingdom. He has published his research papers in books and journals in Africa, Europe and Asia. He is President of the Africology Research Network and a member of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Arts.

MaryIsabella Ada Chidi-Igbokwe, an MBA and did her Ph.D. in Theatre Arts from University of Nigeria, Nsukka where she currently teaches Theatre Management, Creative Economy and Theatre Entrepreneurship. She has extensive experience in anti-corruption and development reforms in the public and private sectors. Her research interest is in the role of theatre in the fight against corruption.

Kenneth Ahaiwe is a Lecturer in the Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Currently he is completing PhD Thesis at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. His areas of interest are African Literature, Communication and Speech, and Poetry. He has published scholarly papers in national and international journals.

Bhima Bhoi, the Subaltern Saint Poet of Odisha

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Anand Mahanand

Professor, Dept. of Materials Development, EFL University, Hyderabad-500007. ORCID id: 0000-0003-0372-2482. Email: amahanand991@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.15

First published: June 23, 2022 | Area: Dalit Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 2, 2022)
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Abstract

This paper aims to understand the life of Bhima Bhoi as a subaltern saint poet and studies his poems, his reformative teachings and their impact on the people.   It also discusses some of the principal philosophical ideas in his poems.  The paper argues that Bhima Bhoi as a poet of humble origin had social reform, simplicity and devotional undertones in his poetry and this is the reason why his poems were popular among the masses. It also analyses some features of his poems that contribute to this popularity.

Keywords: Bhima Bhoi, Subaltern saint, Mahima Dharma, Satyayuga, Alekha

Introduction

There are two traditions of bhakti: saguna bhakti and nirguna bhakti. Though there are certain commonalities between these two, there are differences too. Saguna bhakti is “god centric and nirgun bhakti is human centric” (Sahoo 14). Saguna bhakti evokes the attributes of   gods, whereas nirgugna bhakti stresses on human and spiritual values.  Nirguna bhakti saints could achieve their sainthood due to their refinement, humanistic and spiritual values. They   gave primal importance to human beings. They also highlighted social problems such as the exploitative feudal system, caste hierarchy and gender inequality. They raised voice against inequality and oppression and worked for establishing a better social order.

 The Natha saints in North India in the 15th century were the followers of nirguna bhakti. It had its impact till the 18th century. We also have other saints such as Goswami Tulsi Das (1550-1600) who preached these ideals among the masses. In the same way, Saint Kabir (1505) of the 16th century preached ekeswaravad or oneness of God.  Bhima Bhoi’s Mahima Dharma is also a similar religious movement.

 Bhima Bhoi and Mahima Dharma

Before Bhima Bhoi, there were bhakti poets in Odisha. They were Balarama Das, Jagannatha Das, Achyutananda Das, Yashobanta Das and Sishu Ananta Das. Each of them lived in different times during the 16th century and wrote bhakti poems and preached before the advent of Sri Chaitanya in Odisha. Bhima Bhoi was influenced by Mahima Goswami. It will be helpful here   if we have a glimpse of the life of Mahima Goswami.

The legendary life of Mahima goswami

 Mahima Goswami is also known as Mahima Gosain, Mahima Swami, Jogeswara Mahaprabhu,  and Mahima prabhu. There is no written biography of this saint and there are no official records of his date of birth, names of parents and place of birth. Whatever facts about him are available, they are based on legends and oral narratives. He is said to have appeared in Puri in 1826 and there he was known as “dhulia baba.” He was called dhulia baba because he was seen simmering himself in dhuli or dust.  His fundamental philosophy was monotheism or ekeswaravada.  He preached ekaswaravada among people and became very popular in Puri.  As Nayak mentions, his popularity was not tolerated by the brahmins of Puri. So, he was forced to leave Puri.  He left Puri and came to Khandagiri,  Bhubaneswar and did japa here.  He lived there for four years then in 1838 left Khandagiri and went to Dhenkanal’s Kapilas hills and lived there for twelve years. Then he travelled in Rairakhol region and in other places and met people and preached his ideas. He also performed some miracles. Around this time, he rescued Bhima Bhoi from a deserted well.  He established the famous Mahima gadi in Jaronda and many Mahima Tungis in different parts of Odisha to preach Mahima Dharma or the religion of the Glory of God.

The life of Bhima Bhoi

Bhima Bhoi, the follower of Mahima Swami, also had a legendary origin. Like the hagiography of any other saints, the details of his birth and parentage   are not recorded.  His followers do not believe that he was born from a mother’s womb. However, according to one source, Bhima Bhoi was born in 1855   in a village called Jatasingha in Sonepur district of Odisha (Mahapara). He was born in a grove on the ridge of a pond.  A Kondh adivasi couple called Danara Bhoi and  Maharagi Bhoi who had no children had found him in a grove and adopted him. Bhima’s adoptee father, Danara Bhoi passed away after a few days.  Danara’s younger brother (Bhima’s kaka) who lived in Athamallik came and took Bhima and his mother along with him. After a few days, Bhima’s adoptee mother Maharagi  also died.  His uncle married a girl from the neibouring house.  Bhima was taken care of by the newly married mother for a few years. She gave birth to two children later. Then she started ill-treating Bhima.  Bhima, not able to suffer the ill-treatment, left the village and started wandering and begging. He reached a village in Rairakhol area and was kept as a servant by a rich and kind-hearted farmer called Chaitanya Pradhan.   He worked for Chaitanya Pradhan of Rairakhol as a help taking care of his cattle. He lived in a chawl near Pradhan’s cowshed as he was an untouchable Kondha, He used to   listen to the recitation of Bhagabata and Purana from the   Bhagabata  Tungi  that was near the chawl.  Bhima Bhoi “was said to have lost his eyesight in early childhood after an attack of small-pox” (Mansingh 143). He was said to have been rescued by Mahima Goswami. When he was twelve, he left the job given to him by his master and wandered and did tapa at Kapilas where his guru Mahima Swami had meditated and preached.  He recited songs and they were inscribed by four Brahmain disciples. Bhima Bhoi confesses that he had not learned any Vedas and Puranas but whatever his guru dictated, he just recited that. Bhima Bhoi worked in Jaronda region for some time. Then he   left Jaronda and set up his ashram in Khaliapali near Sonepur. He had many disciples and married and set up his family after that. According to a source he passed away in Khaliapali in 1895.

Bhima Bhoi’s poetry

 Bhima Bhoi composed more than one hundred collections of poems.  But only about   twelve   are available. There are efforts to collect more texts by the poet.  Important among them are Brahma Nirupana Gita, Stuti Chintamani, Astaka Bihari Gita, Chautisa Madhu Chakra and Bhajanamala. Two collections namely, Atha Bhajan and Bangala Atha Bhajan are written in Bangla.

The collection Brahma Nirupana Gita is an important text by Bhima Bhoi. Here he describes the nature and characteristics of the Brahman, the abode of Guru Mahima or Mahima Mandir and ways to worship the Guru Brahma.  It is in the form of a dialogue between  Gurudeba and Nirakara, he explains these concepts. First Nirakara asks questions about Brahma. In response, Gurudeba describes Brahma and his features, then talks about his abode.  About the Mahima Mandir he says that

stiri purusha sethare atanti samana

Guru shishyankara sethi nahi bhinna bhinna. (Bhoi, Stuti 6/58)

Trans: Men and women are equal there

There is no discrimination between the teacher and the student.

Brahma mahanityabasi sarbe eka jati

Ahimsa Bhubana tahin  nathai araasthi.(6/59)

Trans: All the   dwellers in the bramaloka are the same

There is no quarrel among them as it is the abode of non-violence

In chapter seven Nirakara asks him how to worship Brahma. He explains him how to  worship him through the Mahima Nama or thorough the name of the glory of God:

He stressed on the spiritual attributes of Shanta, Shila Daya, Kshyama:

Mahima garbharu jata hela chari dharma

Shanta shila daya kshama boli anka nama. (7/60)

Trans: Four dharmas emerge from the womb of Mahima

They are shanta,shila, daya and kshama.

He describes the Brahman in binary. He says that he is the disciple and he is the guru. He is the darkness and he is the light and so on. He has no eyes but has eyes, he has no ear but has ears.  He also highlights the ill-practices of people, the way they practice idol worship and they should refrain from this meaningless.  He says:

E ghate Jagannatha achhi,

Pratima michhare pujuchhi

Murthi Pratima suska katha

Se tate nebeki Baikuntha. (qtd.  in Nayak 14)

Trans: Lord Jagannath resides in this body

Why do you worship the idol that is made of wood?

Will the wood and image take you to heaven?

According to him the Brahman resides in every one’s heart, one should respect others as divine instead of worshipping idols.  He asks, “Will the idols that are dry wood take you to heaven or give you salvation?”. According to this text, the Brahman is all powerful.  This body and the word are run under his command and under the mercy of the all-powerful.  About the existence of the Brahman, he says that He is everywhere but He is nowhere.  He is like the air.  He is present but you cannot see Him. He also says that in worshipping the Brahma there should not be barna bibheda or caste discrimination. If one makes a distinction, he will go to hell.  As he sings:

Brahma  bhagati re au barna bheda nahi

 Je bheda kariba kumhi narkare padai. (Bhoi, Brahma 11/103)

Trans: There is no varna difference in Brahma Bhakti

The one who differentiates will go to hell.

The poet also emphasises that the intellectuals who show their knowledge cannot achieve the Brahman because He is not attainable through knowledge but through Bhakti or devotion.  It is through quest or through craving for the Brahman that one gets Him. This craving is akin to the craving of a child for its mother.

Stuti Chintamani

Stuti Chintamani is regarded as “the most important poetical work of Bhima Bhoi” (Mahapatra 28). It consists of one hundred bolis or chapters and each boli or chapter has twenty stanzas. Each stanza is of two lines. So, the text consists of 4,000 lines. The poem is a set of prayers to Brahma. The poet prays to redeem human beings from sufferings and injustice they undergo in the Kaliyuga. The poet elaborately describes the sorrows and suffering of the people.  He narrates how they have deviated from the path of Satya Mahima Dharma or the religion of Truth and indulged in inhuman activities. As a result, they have been suffering. The poet is deeply disturbed by the injustice and suffering of the world. He says that there have been sin, tyranny, exploitation, and atrocities. Alekha Mahima is the only answer to these maladies. He is disturbed over the fact that instead of coming to the right path human has been indulged in the worship of false god, arrogance and inhuman activities forgetting his own nature.  He should save the world. The poet describes the power of Alekha Mahima as supreme. The poet prays again and again to Alekha Niranjan or the indescribable and the pure God to save the soul of the humans.   He also proposes ways to achieve salvation.  Here the poet gives importance to bhakti over gynana. He proclaims that bhakti can achieve what gyana cannot.  That is why many intellectuals go on arguing about the God but cannot attain God whereas the devotees can realize Him.  He says that I see Him through my mind’s eye. That indicates that through devotion a devotee can find Him.  In this sense, as Mahapatra argues that Bhima Bhoi’s Bhakti is like that of Sri Ramakrishna. As he states, “there is something with Bhima Bhoi which is reminiscent of Ramakrishna Paramahansa”(38). For both bhakti is the primal way to find God. Bhima Bhoi also   terms Shiva, Rama and Krishna as devotees of the supreme being or Mahima Swami. They could realize Him through their devotion.

In Stuti Chintamani, the poet prays O

Lord how long should I suffer? I have been ill-treated by people. Wherever I go, I face condemnation. People call me by caste and say that I am a Kandha. I bear the condemnation on my shoulders as showers of rain. When I tell them to follow the Truth to come out of this, they insult me, when I talk about your glory, they thrash me and say kick him out saying, let us see how his master saves him. When I preach your glory as an unseen god, they call me Christian (a heretic).

He prays for the end of misery and suffering of the people and for a new age that is Satya yuga or the age of Truth.

Astaka Bihari Gita:

The poem Astaka Bihari Gita is another text by Bhima Bhoi. Here, the poet highlights the social injustice and suffering of humans. He warns people that there is rise of untold injustice, quarrel and unhappiness in the world and people should follow the right path without which there is going to be more misery and hardship. He also suggests that human beings should forget their ego and take refuge in the supreme being.

Bhima Bhoi frequently plays with the symbolism of the feet (pada). The padapadma or the lotus feet of the guru is respected in all religions.  In Indian tradition, guru is considered as God.  For   Bhima Bhoi Guru Brahma is Mahima Swami who appeared in human form.

In his poem Shishu Veda, the poet says that salvation can be achieved through Alekha. Then he goes on to describe the attributes of Alekha. One can meet Alekha through brahma vidya.  He is arupa (without image) and anakara (shape). He is in everyone and engages in lila.

Sunya garbhe alekha, alekha  garbhe  sunya

Alekha purush sunya ekai samana (qtd. in Nayak 179).

Trans: Alekha resides in sunya and sunya in Alekha

Because they are one and the same.

One can may note the way the poet weaves words in his poems and explains complex philosophical thoughts skillfully.

Chautisa Madhu Chakra

Chautisa Madhu Chakra is another significant poem by the poet. It deals with social degeneration and the need for a new age.  It also deals with different concepts of Mahima Dharma and ways to attain salvation. Chautisa, infact, is a form of poetry in Odia.  It is written in nabakshari brutta meaning each line of the poem consists of nine letters.  The special feature of a Chautisa is that the beginning of each line begins with a letter of the alphabet in a chronological order like ka, kha, ga…. He has gone a step forward and composed his poem in reverse order of the alphabet. As Mahapatra explains, “The concept of Mahima Dharma, the end of Kali yuga and the need for divine grace to bring about salvation of individual and the social regeneration have been explained in this” (40).  It is a wonderful piece of devotional poem that can be recited with musical rhythm.

Bhajanamala

Bhajanamala or devotional songs by the poet are a significant body of literature. They are in the form of songs. They are also very popular among people. The musicality of his songs is a special feature. They are wise sayings on different aspects of divine life. The devotees   sing these songs with instruments called Khanjani  and  gini. These bhajans  were written to motivate people to move towards the Brahma and follow Him. They urge people to be   in niskama bhakti to get salvation. He gives his example as to how he has determined to be a committed devotee. He sings:

 Vandana padapdmaku

Dhyayi arupanandaku

Bichara karichhi laye

Chari pure nama brahma

Ate ananta akshaya

Abalapna anakara

Ana sadhane udaye. (Bhoi, Bhajana 1-2)

Trans: I praise the lotus feet of the Lord

And meditate upon the Formless One, full of bliss.

 I am determined to meditate on the   Brahma who pervades the four worlds.

 He is endless and un-diminishing and greater than all.

 If you follow Him, you are following the satya dharma

 and you will be able to overcome all obstacles.

 You will not be able to be scared of anyone.

The other poems are Adi Anta Gita, Padmakalpa,  and Brahma Samyukta Gita

Bhima Bhoi’s language: mystic and musical

Bhima Bhoi uses language untouched by modern   influence and it is really mystic. It suits   the oral tradition and also to the common folk.  He departed from use of the Sanskritized Odia and adopted the vernacular Odia. The language is colloquial in nature.  Since he set up his ashram and preached mostly in the Western part of Odisha one can trace the inclusion of many local words and also its influence on the structure of the lines of his poems. Sambalpuri words like  ghae= once, chheka=block, tuna= curry, khechad=mischief and structures like nahi sahipariba= cannot tolerate,  nahi sunithilu= had not heard are typical to the colloquial language used in the Western part of Odisha. He wrote for the common people. So, his language is like “spoken sung” a feature of a typical bhakti poetry. It is musical, rhythmic and lyrical. Andrew Schelling says that bhakti poetry is “carried by the poet’s voice. It has been composed orally, sometimes spontaneously.  Only later it has been written” (xxi).  The same has happened in the case of Bhima Bhoi. He used to recite his poems and there were four scribes who would write them down.  Another feature of bhakti poetry as   Schelling describes is that “in bhakti poetry there is   a minimal art of maximum involvement” (xxi).  Bhima Bhoi’s voice and person can be identified in each line of his poems. They are emotive expressions. His poems are rhythmic and rhyming. They are also simple and easy to understand and remember.   Hence even unlettered people can understand, remember and recite.

The teachings and philosophy of Bhima Bhoi

 Like his Guru’s, Bhima Bhoi’s main teaching was Ekaishwara  Brahmavada or One God who is aleka, indescribable, arupa, has no image, nirakara, no shape and niranjana, pure.  He lives in sunya or in void.    He can be achieved through the ideals of Mahima swami.  Some of his followers   came from established families, but he also had followers from the ordinary sections of society, from the subaltern castes from women groups and so on. They lived and worked together forgetting their social identities. The followers have early bathe and bow to the sun god and pray to him. They pray to the sun god before the sun set and have their food. They don’t eat during the night. They were taught simple truths of life like not to lie, not to steal, not to involve in adultery, not to discriminate and so on. He was a social reformer and was a strong subaltern voice. His teachings were liked by people at large. So had many followers in and outside Odisha at that time. Even now they practice this tradition with devotion and dedication.

Conclusion

Bhima Bhoi came from an adivasi family. He was also unlettered but had extraordinary vision and poetic imagination. He assimilated what he heard and transformed it into poetry from his spiritual realization.  His spiritual concepts are unique. His teachings and poems are also unique.  He was a social reformer who raised voice against caste system, included women in his cult and fought against idol worship and orthodoxy. His teachings had a greater impact on the people of Odisha, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and parts of West Bengal.  It was also a religious tradition that was open to all sections of society including the lower castes and women.  It also said that even a sinner can get salvation through bhakti. Though there are limitations and contradictions within this tradition it has been a major popular religious tradition of India.  Needless to say, his poems played an important role in the spread of his thoughts and spiritual practices.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

References

Bhoi, Bhima. (2013).  “Stuti Chintamani” Sanatha Kabi Bhima Bhoi Granthabali. Ed. Nayak, U.C. Cuttack, Grantha Mandir. 303-456.

—. “Brahma Nirupana Gita.” (2013). Sanatha Kabi Bhima Bhoi Granthabali. Ed. Nayak, U.C. Cuttack, Grantha Mandir, 189-302.

—. (2013). “ Bhajanamala” Sanatha Kabi Bhima Bhoi Granthabali. Ed. Nayak, U.C. Cuttack, Grantha Mandir. 625-841.

Baumer, B. and Beltz, J. (2010). Verses from the Void: Mystic Poetry of an Odia Saint. Delhi: Manohar.

Mahapatra, Sitakant.(1983). Bhima Bhoi. Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.

Mansigh, Mayadhar.(2012). A History of Oriya Literature. Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.

Nayak, U C. (2013). Ed.  Santha Kabi Bhima Bhoi Granthabali.Cutttack: Grantha Mandir.

Sahoo, Prabhas Ranjan. (2007) “Bharatiya Santha- Parampara O Mahima Dharma” Eshana.  55. December. 13-30.

Schelling, Andrew. (2011). Ed. The Oxford Anthology of Bhakti Literature. Delhi: OUP.

Bio-note

Dr Anand Mahanand has been teaching at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad for more than 23 years.  His research interests lie in Studies in English and ELT.  His important books include English through Folktales, Tribal Literature in India, English for Academic and Professional Skills and Literature for Language Skills. He has translated folktales and some of the texts by Buskin Bond, Gopinath Mohanty and Pratibha Ray.

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Plays into Assamese Farce: A Study on Historical Perspective

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Mohammad Rezaul Karim
Department of English, College of Science & Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia. ORCID: 0000-0002-8178-8260. Email: karimrezaul318@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages 1–14. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.ne13

First published: June 20, 2022 | Area: Northeast India | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Themed Issue on Literature of Northeast India)
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Abstract

William Shakespeare has always been unanimously the most accepted model to follow for the writers of tragedy, comedy and other types of dramas. He enjoyed a great fascination in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first few decades of the twentieth in India and almost all his works were translated to or adapted into different languages. As the Assamese writers did not lag behind in this respect too, they were inspired to translate and adapt Shakespeare in 1887 starting with The Comedy of Errors as Bhramaranga in Assamese. In this article, the researcher aims to examine the available Assamese translations and adaptations of Shakespearean comic plays and studied how far they contributed to the growth and development of Assamese comedy in particular and modern Assamese drama in general. With the help of the comparative method of analysis, the researcher found that Assamese comedy specially farces and the complete pre-independent Assamese dramatic literature have been impacted by the dramas of Shakespeare.

Keywords: Assamese drama, comedy, farce, Shakespeare, translation, adaptation

Introduction

Farce or Prahasana was a popular dramatic type in ancient Indian literature. It was a “one-act drama intended to excite laughter” (Wilson, 1971, p. 18). The subject was the playwright’s invention and dealt basically with the pranks and the tumults of the shallow dramatis personae of every kind. Thus, the Sanskrit Prahasana is much like the European farce, but it cannot be said that the former had any influence on our modern farce writers. We have no records of any farce being written in pre-British Assam, either in Sanskrit or in Assamese. Medieval Assamese drama was intended to please and edify, but it does not present a single instance of farce. In other words, Assamese literature does not have any tradition of writing farce. The writing of farces, like other types of drama, was undoubtedly a product of western influence, which came directly through English and also indirectly through Bengali. “During the early years of the growth of modern Bengali stage farces were more powerful and lively than serious drama: the heat and excitement that arose from the conflict between the old and the new in the society are nowhere more in evidence than in these plays” (Ghosh, 1968, p. 471). The Assamese students studying at Calcutta during the latter half of the nineteenth century, who read Bengali plays and also saw many of them performed, and who later became playwrights themselves, undoubtedly imbibed much of the art of farce writing from Bengali. Since the Assamese society of the time presented almost similar phenomena, it was not difficult for them to write farcical pieces like those in Bengali. It is also noteworthy that even in Shakespearean drama it was the lighter comedies almost verging on the farce that first attracted our earlier playwrights. All this shows that the nineteenth century and the earlier decades of the twentieth were congenial for farces and light satirical comedies rather than serious social drama – the audience wanted them, and the writers not only found the material for such plays but also models to follow.

Shakespeare enjoyed a great vogue in India in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first few decades of the twentieth, and almost all his works were translated to or adapted into different Indian languages during the period. The Indian student of Shakespeare knew quite well that the people, who were experiencing a renaissance in every walk of life, would appreciate the works of Shakespeare with their emphasis on such ideals as belief in the greatness of man, patriotism, nationalism, and the Renaissance craving for a greater and fuller life. So, they undertook the great task of translating Shakespeare into their own languages, and as a result of this, the languages of India abound in translations and adaptations of Shakespeare.

The Assamese writer, too, did not lag behind in this respect, and since 1887 the year the first adaptation of The Comedy of Errors was brought out, there has been quite a good number of translations and adaptations of Shakespeare, some of which, unfortunately, have not encountered with the audience till today. The Assamese literature seems to be deficient in the main types of comic dramas. In the period we are dealing with, the type which is predominant is farce. Satyendranath Sarma stated that “the moral decay in the social life of the Assamese during the nineteenth century provided sufficient materials for writing farce and light comedy” (2015, p. 302). There are exceptions no doubt but seem to approximate in tone to farce when we examine its features closely. In this study, an attempt is being made to examine the available translations and adaptations of Shakespearean comic plays and to see how far, if at all, they have contributed to the growth and development of modern Assamese drama. The researcher has endeavoured to find out how much the Assamese dramatists have received from Shakespeare and what the responses of the Assamese dramatists to Shakespeare are.

A systematic and critical study of the subject appeared when Priyaranjan Sen brought out his work, Western Influence in Bengali Literature, where the writer has examined the Western impact on different branches of Bengali literature as well as the various channels through which this influence penetrated Bengal. Another work on the subject is Harendra Mohan Das Gupta’s Studies in Western Influence on 19th Century Bengali Poetry (1859 – 1887), in which the author examines in detail the historical background of the new influence. Outside Bengali literature, Syyad Abdul Latif’s work, Influence of English on Urdu Literature, deserves special mention. Another important work on the subject is The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. X, Part II, by R.C. Majumdar deals with the subject of Western influence on Indian thought and culture as well as the Indian people’s reaction to it. Dr Satyabrata Rout in his article Indianizing Shakespeare: Adaptations and Performances studied that “the socio-cultural milieu of India fusing with the tradition of West, often creates an ‘Indianized Shakespeare’” (2016, p. 1). Parvin Sultana in her research article Indigenising Shakespeare: A Study of Maqbool and Omkara observed that the literary world of Shakespeare has gone beyond the limits of the time and space and has been predominating the Indian literary sphere for about two centuries now (2014, p. 52). In fact, this subject has attracted diverse critics and historians in recent years, and it is neither possible nor necessary to mention all the works done so far, nor to speak of such publications in the vernacular languages.

Modern Assamese literature, like Bengali or any other literature of modern India, is largely a product of Western influence. This influence has permeated all the branches of this literature, including drama, on which the influence of Shakespeare has been so profound that the new drama that came into being in 1857 with Gunabhiram Barua’s Ram Navami has hardly any direct link with pre-British Assamese drama which has a four-century old history. Pona Mahanta has undergone his research, Western Influence on Modern Assamese Drama (1985) and studied the western influences on Assamese drama, however, he has not centrally focused on William Shakespeare. Maheswar Neog and Satyendranath Sarma have touched on the subject in a general sort of way in their books, Asamiya Sahityar Ruprekha (1970) and Asamiya Natya Sahitya (1973) respectively, but as the titles indicate, these books are concerned more with the growth and development of Assamese drama than with Shakespearean influence. Karim and Mondal (2019) studied the influence of William Shakespeare over pre-independent Assamese tragedy and the style and technique of Assamese drama. A few articles have also been written on the influence of Western dramaturgy especially Shakespearean over the Assamese dramatic atmosphere by Dr Dayananda Pathak, Dr Rajbongshi, Rajbongshi and Boro, Dr Paramananda Rajbongshi, Smriti Rekha Handique, Sailen Bharali, Basanta Kumar Bhattacharjee, etc. limiting their area of the subject in one or two dramas only. Thus, the question of Shakespearean influence on modern Assamese comedy since 1887 can be a subject of very close and careful study.

As the subject of the study is comparative, usually the method of comparative analysis is observed throughout the investigation. The study is based on both the primary and secondary sources and chiefly the technical devices of pre-independent Assamese dramatists are examined.  The importance of the stories and events of the Assamese dramas have been emphasized sometimes and citations to the text of the dramas are drawn up in some cases. The researcher endeavoured to furnish other references to the works of other authors to rationalize the statements and sometimes examples are provided to augment the hypothesis to establish the study more logical and reasonable.

Ratnadhar Barua, Gunjanan Barua, Ghanshyam Barua and Ramakanta Barkakati

The first Shakespearean play to be done in Assamese was The Comedy of Errors. Bhramaranga (1887). The Assamese version of the play is rather an adaptation than a translation as the story is wholly recast to an Indianized background. The four students studying at Calcutta, Ratnadhar Barua, Gunjanan Barua, Ghanshyam Barua and Ramakanta Barkakati who did this pioneering work, wrote in their preface:

There are many difficulties in translating Shakespeare into Assamese. In the first place, Shakespeare’s language and thought are so difficult that let alone a foreigner even British scholars have not been able to determine their precise meaning. Besides, it is not easy to transfer the thoughts, customs and behavior of an alien people to an adapted version, and so something of these has to be left out. While we have tried all our best to maintain the poet’s thoughts and ideas without loss, we have sometimes been constrained to change even some ideas of the great poet in order to fit them into the changed background. We have been very careful to see that the poetic quality of the piece is not destroyed, yet we do not dare to say that it is not strained since we have undertaken to translate it. (1887, p. 1)

We have seen that farces and light comedies were very popular during the initial years of the Western impact, and it was in keeping with the literary temperament of the time that the first Shakespearean play to be rendered into Assamese was The Comedy of Errors. In The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare does not seem to have any philosophy to propound, nor is he serious in tone or intention. An atmosphere of fun and gaiety pervades the whole play, which does not seem to belong to any particular place or time. What matters most here are the different situations in which confusions are created leading to the hilarious fun, and once the translator is able to create similar situations in the new background that he adopts, the rest of his work becomes easy. This is what our translators have done, or at least tried to do. They have discarded the blank verse in favour of prose in order to make it down-to-earth and appealing to their audience. The names of the dramatis personae are aptly chosen: Solinus, Duke of Ephesus, becomes Ajitsimha, king of Mayapur; Aegeon, merchant of Syracuse, becomes Dhanbar, a merchant of Kamrup, while the two pairs of twins are the two Niranjans (one is Mayapuriya, the other is Kampuriya, meaning from Mayapur and from Kampur respectively). Ephesus, the scene of the original story, becomes Mayapur in the Assamese version, which is certainly an apt name for a place where such incidents happen.  (The word ‘Mayapur’ literally means ‘a city of magic’). Pinch, the school, is transformed into a village quack so that he fits well into the local situation. All the female characters except Luce have been retained, and their names are appropriately chosen: Sumanthira, Malati, Tara, Sonpahi, and all these names sound very Assamese indeed.

The use of colloquial prose in the dialogue throughout the play, except in the incantation blabbed out by the quack, Takaru Bej, lends more local colour to the story. The language is so nicely colloquilized and the sentiments localized that the translated piece reads almost like an original work. One example alone will prove this point. Pinch, thinking that Antipholus of Ephesus, is possessed by the devil, takes hold of his hand utters:

I charge thee, Satan, hous’d within this man.
To yield possession to my holy prayers,
And to thy state of darkness hie thee staright
I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.
             (The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene iv)

In the Assamese version, Pinch becomes a village quack who tries to dispel the evil spirit thus:

namo chakravak utapati bhaila,
tridarsha daityara maya samharibe laila
chausasti joginir ban kati khanda khanda karila
hum hum gir gir sagarar mala
      (Bhramaranga, Act IV, Scene iv)

Such a quack and a ‘mantra’ or incantation must have been very appealing to the Assamese audience in the 1890s, many of whom actually believed in evil spirits as well as in the ability of a quack to drive them off from a human being. Commenting on Bhramaranga (1887), Satyendranath Sarma says that “as the first attempt at translating Shakespeare it is undoubtedly a successful work”. Sarma further opines that “anybody unfamiliar with the Shakespeare play cannot say that it is a translation, so skillfully is the rendering done” (2015, p. 7). Satyanath Bora, who was extremely delighted to witness the performance, made a very significant comment upon it. Bora wrote in Jonaki:

I have read the book thoroughly, and I have also witnessed its performance. The book is small in size, but of unique qualities…. The writers have adapted the English thoughts to the needs of the Assamese speech; therefore, while the thoughts are intact, the book is Assamese in spirit. (1890, p. 85)  

Bora evidently felt that the Assamese literature was generally deficient in the humour of the type displayed in the Shakespeare’s drama, however, exceptions can be made in the case of Kaniyar Kirtan (1861) and Kovabhaturi, written by Hem Chandra Barua; as in them the laughter is caused through manipulation of ideas, and Bhramaranga (1887) introduces a new consciousness in literary circles about the possibility of development of comic literature that is mainly expressed through the manner of speech or style. Evidently, he hinted at the appearance of a new consciousness of comic literature in Assamese in the Jonaki period. He particularly drew the attention of the writers and the audience to the role style plays in comedy. One has however to note that he makes no difference between farce or ha–sya rasa.

Hemchandra Barua

Hemchandra Barua’s Kaniyar Kirtan (1861), which the author subtitles in English as a “Play in Assamese on the Evils of Opium-eating”, was, of course, “put on the board quite a number of times at Sibsagar and elsewhere. And this was the first modern Assamese play to be performed on a modern stage at Sibsagar” (Hazarika, 1967, p. 92). The story of the play, briefly, is as follows: Bhadreswar Barua, a revenue-collecting officer (mouzadar), had a son, Kirtikanta. One day an Assamese preceptor, Padmapani, paid a visit to Bhdreswar’s house. Padmapani, who was an opium addict, would not be satisfied unless he was treated with a bit of the drug. Kirtikanta saw him eat the opium and could not help tasting it. This turned him into a regular opium-eater, and the result was that he was soon reduced to a skeleton. In due course, his wife, Chandraprabha, too, became a victim to the evil. Kirtikanta was unable to run the office of his father when it fell to him and took to unfair means even for mere existence. At last, he was arrested and sent to jail. Meanwhile, his wife died. After a few days in prison Kirtikanta also died in utter repentance.

Kaniyar Kirtan thus, is purely a social play, dealing as it does with a very serious contemporary problem. The play was written with a view to revealing the wicked influence of opium-eating that had long been preying upon the very vitals of Assam. Technically as well as stylistically, it is decidedly an improvement upon Gunabhiram Barua’s Ram-Navami (1857). It has nothing to do with prastavana nandi (introductory verse) or Sutradhara (anchor), which are integral parts of Ankiya Nat (one-act play in Assamese). The technique as well as the style is largely modeled on Shakespearean dramaturgy with no influence at all of Sanskrit drama. No doubt, the playwright has a moral to convey, but it is not delivered through a Sutradhara but through the hero himself, who admits repentantly:

Opium is the worst of poisons.
The opium-eater hasn’t the least wisdom.
Alas! Alas! What a terrible misery!
Opium is at the root of the destruction of Assam.
(Kaniyar-Kirtan, Act VI, Scene iii)

The play is in four acts with three to four scenes in each act. The playwright shows some skill in dramatic construction. The plot is developed well, and the degradation of the hero as a result of a deep-rooted evil is tellingly shown. The play, despite its serious theme, bristles with bitter satire and biting sarcasm. But the satire and the sarcasm are only on the surface: They should not be allowed to mislead us into believing that Kaniyar Kirtan is a farcical piece.

Modern Assamese dramas, as discussed above, are divided into acts and scenes exactly like a Shakespearean drama. This is undoubtedly a result of the Shakespearean influence, for during the latter half of the nineteenth century no dramatist was read and imitated as much as was Shakespeare. Kaniyar Kirtan is divided into four acts, though not five, each having separate scenes. Pona Mahanta observes:

Like Gunabhiram Barua, Hemchandra Barua was also from an aristocratic family of Assam, educated in Calcutta, and as such, it was but natural that in technique as well as in theme they were influenced by European, particularly Shakespearean drama, although it has to be admitted that much of this influence came through Bengali. (1985, p. 65)

Padmanath Gohain Barua

Padmanath Gohain Barua has given us three farcical pieces: Gaobura (The Village Headman, 1890), Teton Tamuli (1908) and Bhut ne Bhram (Is it Ghost or Illusion, 1924). Gaobura, the earliest yet the best of the three, is rather a light comedy than a farce (Barua, 1964, p. 153). It gives a near realistic picture of the British administration of the time. The contemporary Assamese life and society in the countryside are also nearly truthfully depicted. Its story is as follows: Bhogman, a well-to-do and respectable peasant, is forcibly recruited as a porter by a team consisting of the village headman, the mandal (surveyor) and police. These petty government servants are corrupt and accustomed to taking bribes. Bhogman considers this to be an insult and to amend it, he himself decides to become a headman. He believes that this will bring him power and prestige. Through the good offices of the mouzadar (Settlement Officer), he gets the honorary job of a headman and is now entitled to prestige and some dues. However, the job being honorary and time-consuming affects his normal domestic and farm work, and he soon finds himself in straitened circumstances. His poverty becomes pronounced and he is even unable to pay his revenue dues. We then find Bhogman collecting rations for the District Magistrate (who is on a tour) forcibly from some villagers gratis, but this does not bring him credit but only maltreatment by the officer’s retinue. Misfortunes come to him in quick succession. The mouzadar orders attachment of his property for collecting arrears of revenue due in his name. In the fifth Act, attachment of property takes place under humiliating and pitiable circumstances. Then the Magistrate tries him on the charge of the forcible lifting of some hens from a Muslim house. This he had to do in spite of himself, as he was asked to collect rations for the District Magistrate gratis. It is during the trial that the Magistrate comes to know about the actual circumstances under which an honorary gaobura (village headman) has to discharge his duties. He takes to remedy the situation, but by then Bhogman is already tired of his job and relinquishes it, heaving a sigh of relief.

In this light comedy, the character of Bhogman is the main object of pity and laughter. There are, however, satirical elements that are directed against the practice of bribery, the inferiority complex of Indians before the Sahibs, greed for money among rural jurors, forcible collection of rations, the peculiar Hindi jargon used by sahibs and administrative ignorance of the part of high officials. But these are secondary elements. In Bhogman’s character, we find several situations of laughter. Firstly, Bhogman’s false sense of prestige is not becoming a porter and his equally unreal solution is accepting the job of a village headman to save his eroded prestige. This feudal sense of prestige is already anachronistic in the new milieu ushered in by British rule. Secondly, the contradiction between his behaviour and the real social situation is carried in the drama to a comic magnitude in two ways. At home, he faces an economic crisis which ruins his peace of mind and drives him to a state of acute misery. Outside, he is insulted in the most cynical manner by the sahib’s menials on the flimsy ground of insufficient supply of ration. His misery reaches an acute tragic proportion from his point of view, but strangely this only evokes mere laughter, though not unmixed with pity. This is so because his moral views are feudal; he does not realize that an honorary job in a capitalist society is useless and only a source of misery.

His eccentricity is highlighted by the fact that he remains unaware and unrepentant till the end. This leads to the development of the comic situation which we all enjoy, but not without some compassion for him in his misery. In many ways, Bhogman is an authentic comic character. He is comic without appearing to be so. But it is the humour of a different kind. There is sadness in it. Bhogman makes himself a butt of ridicule because he knows no English and also because he is ignorant of the ways of a British officer. Allardyce Nicoll observes, “Humour, we shall find, is often related to the melancholy of a peculiar kind, not o fierce melancholy, but a melancholy that arises out of pensive thoughts and broodings on the ways of mankind” (1998, p. 199). The humour of Gaobura is certainly of such nature because, despite the fact that much of it appears in words, manners and situations which are apparently ludicrous, it is as a whole tinged with thoughtful broodings over the ways of the world. This is clear in the conversations between Bhogram and his wife as well as between him and another village headman. These are full of concern about their own lot. It is only the way they talk and their mannerisms that often make us laugh.

Teton Tamuli (1909) and Bhut ne Bhram (1924) are two other dramas by Padmanath which are called comical. Among these two dramas, the latter cannot be called comical in the true sense. The author himself was aware of this when he said, “It is true that the drama may not be fit to be called comic; but if this can remove the illusory belief in ghosts among men even to a limit extent, the author would be gratified” (Gohain Barua, 1971, p.  313).

Gohain Barua further says, “the play is a series of scenes drawn with a view to removing the popular superstitions about ghosts” (1971, p. 313). Considering the advanced age of the author, Gohain Barua additionally observes, “the play, it is true, may not deserve to be called a farce, but he (the author) would consider his labour rewarded if only it helps in removing, at least partly, the superstitions concerning ghosts in which the society is steeped” (1971, p. 313). The way in which the educated members of a “reforms Committee” try to prove the unreality and non-existence of ghosts, their initial doubts and hesitations, the dialogue of the rustic folk concerning spirits, are sure to rouse laughter even in the most reserved among the audience.

Teton Tamuli, on the other hand like Bezbarua’s Litikai, is a farce based on a folk story. Teton, according to Dr P.D. Gosvami, is “a picaro or picaroon of Assamese oral literature. The story is still popular among Assamese villages” (1947, p. XXIII). Teton is a witty plebeian. Driven out of his home for his sharp witty tongue, he goes out into the wide world as a needy and hungry man. However, he is soon involved in deeds of crime such as theft, cow-killing and cheating a woman fruit-seller. Charges are brought against him in the King’s court. He argues his case well but cunningly and proves that he did not commit those offences. The defence is witty in nature. Later on, he makes himself eligible to marry the daughter of a court official by a clever device and this helps him in becoming an official of the court. The drama retains the absurd atmosphere of a folk story.

His paradoxical replies are as witty as his literal interpretation of a few sentences uttered by the tiller and the fruit-seller. This is what the tiller says: sou baghar bukuloi yova garuto mar eta mari rakhi diyagoi. Literally interpreted, this would mean that Teton should go and beat the bull that is fit to be devoured by a tiger to death. Teton actually goes and kills the bull. But this is not what the tiller meant. He spoke in a figurative manner and simply asked Teton to help him in stopping the running wily bull so that he could take him to the field. He used idiomatic expressions instead of plain speech. Baghar bukuloi yoa means ‘wily’ or ‘damned’ whereas, mari rakhi diyagoi means ‘to control and stop the bull’ (Gosvami, 1947, pp. 292-293).

In the King’s court, Teton argues cunningly that he acts as he has been instructed and got acquitted. This is a travesty of justice, but a concession to the incongruity of words. The paradoxical utterances that create verbal misunderstandings among two ridiculous characters here give rise to laughter. Exaggerated situations, ludicrous characters and humorous dialogue are the stuff of which this farcical piece is made.

All the three plays are in five acts divided into scenes. The matter in the plays is so thin and light that hardly any of them needs a five-act structure. This only shows how fast the tradition of the five-act play was held in Gohain Barua even in the third decade of the twentieth century.

Durgaprasad Majindar Barua

Mahari (The Tea Garden Clerk) by Durgaprasad Majindar Barua was written in 1893 though it came out in print in 1896, which was a “roaring success on the stage for several decades” (Neog, 1975, p. 22). The play in three acts with a few scenes to each act depicts how a young man, with the help of the European manager’s native mistress, succeeds in getting a clerical post in a tea garden and how his own ignorance together with the jealous head clerk’s conspiracy ultimately compels him to leave the job. There is much in the play to rouse laughter: the eccentric Mr Fox, the English manager of the garden; the fisherwoman, Makari, who is the manager’s mistress; and Bhabiram, the newly-appointed young clerk, provide most of the fun. In fact, the characters, the situations and the dialogue are all contrived in such a way as to create mirth. Bhabiram’s ignorance of English, Mr Fox’s smattering of Assamese, and Makari’s often unrefined and biting language are the sources of much of the fun which is so characteristic of the piece. Mahari, indeed, was so popular on the stage that the eccentric Mr Fox and his fisherwoman mistress, Makari, “become by-words for hilarious comedy, and several good actors of Assam became widely known by these roles” (Neog, 1975, p. 22). Of his other farces, Negro(?) which is not available now, ridicules the blindly Westernized people of Assam, while Kaliyug (1904), written in collaboration with Benudhar Rajkhowa, satirizes the hypocrisies of preceptors and priests (Mahanta, 1985, p. 208).

Benudhar Rajkhowa

Benudhar Rajkhowa gained vast admiration as a farceur with his Kurisatikar Sabhyata (The Civilization of the Twentieth Century, 1908). Tini Ghaini (Three Wives, 1928), Asikshita Ghaini (The Uneducated Wife), Chorar Shristi (The Creation of Thieves, 1931) and Topanir Parinam (The Consequence of Sleep, 1932). In the first, the playwright exposes the hypocrisy of the Westernized youths of Assam. They are contemptuous of the older and time-honoured faiths of their own land but are not prepared to accept whole-heartedly the Western faiths either. They profess to be atheists and non-believers in the caste system, whereas, in reality, they follow all the older customs for fear of society. Tini Ghaini and Asikshita Ghaini show how co-wives and uneducated wives can make a husband’s life miserable. In Topanir Parinam, laughter is created through a play on the word ‘topani’ meaning ‘sleep’. A young man, called Topani, seduces a young girl and is compelled to marry her. Chorar Sristi appears to be patterned after Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew. Two husbands, Dhumuha and Mauram, lead unhappy lives with their wives because of temperamental incompatibility. Dhumuha, a quarrelsome and excitable young man, is married to a simple and amiable woman; while Mauram, a peaceable youth, is married to a termagant. One night a clever and well-meaning thief comes to know of this unhappiness, and with the help of a charm that he knows gets the wives exchanged. The shrew, who was making Mauram’s life miserable with her fiery temperament, is completely tamed by the stormy Dhumuha.

These little plays of Rajkhowa may be called light comedies of situations. The mirth is created not so much through characters and dialogue as through shrewdly contrived situations. But beneath the laughter lies the playwright’s corrective motives. In all these plays he not only exposes the hypocrisies of the educated class but also pleads for a rational approach to life.

Lakshminath Bezbarua

Lakshminath Bezbarua wrote four comic dramas, Litikai (1890), Nomal (1913), Pachani (1913) and Chikarpati Nikarpati (1913). All these pieces depend on their theatrical effects on exaggerated situations, incongruous characters, malapropisms, and other deviations from the normal. Satyendranath Sarma points out that “the dramas are deficient in dramatic action and based mostly on the laughter of situations and incongruity of words” (1973, p. 300). The author amended the elements of the stories derived from the folk stories to match his requirements.

In Litikai (1890), we found that there are seven orphaned arch fools, who work in a home of Brahmin family. These fellows have strange manners of executing things and they kill their master’s mother in one of their brainless acts.  This provokes the master to execute them in revenge. However, one of the fools managed to escape his end, and in return, out of revenge married the master’s sister-in-law by cheating. The seven orphaned arch fools as characters in the play, however, did not imprint any mark with their verbosity.  Their plebeian personalities are highlighted in the humorous way of speech and naivete. They are unlettered, mostly indolent, credulous, superstitious, and parasitic. They talk in a strange manner and do ridiculous acts frankly and one would surely get the conviction that they live in a mock world.

The seven arch fools sometimes observe the straightforward meaning of the expression and act seriously which generates laughter. The word ekatha– signifies either a ‘measure of rice’ or ‘a measure of land’. In one occasion, all the fools are asked by the master to hoe a katha of land, however, each fool evades the allotted work and they hoe a piece of earth weighing a katha.

A similar act is done by the fools, which ensues in killing the master’s mother, Subhadra –

Satotai – ai ai, dangari kot thom? Kan cigi ahiche tenei, kouk begai, kot thom? Kouk, kouk.
Subhadra – (khongere) thoboloi thai pova nai yadi mor murar operate tha.
(Litikai, Scene III, Act IV)

[The seven fool brothers – o mother, where will we place these bunches of paddy?  It is hurting our shoulders, quickly tell where will put these? Tell, tell.

Subhadra – (Angrily) If you don’t find any place to put those bundles, keep those bundles on my head.]

And to our surprise, they do so in reality and as a result, the mother of the master dies.

The master now realizes that the fools are mere burdens to him, therefore, he makes up his mind to do away with them. He succeeds to kill six of them, but the seventh one manages to escape from his master’s grudge. Interestingly, the living fool abruptly acts like a very clever fellow and successfully manipulates to espouse the master’s sister-in-law by way of cheating. The end, as Satyendranath Sarma points out, is somewhat improbable and there the fifth Act appears to be rather out of tune with the spirit of the whole drama. Sarma further says, “There is plenty of horseplay in the drama and it emanates from the improbable incongruities and most trivial incidents. It is a short play with a weak plot and indifferent characterization” (1973, p. 301). It is a pure farce.

In Nomal (1913), the mirth is created through a series of situations in which a rickety old man is constantly humiliated and mortified because of his foolishness and malapropisms. The brief story of the play is as follows: Naharphutuka approaches to spiritual master in Athiyabari sattra to request him to give a suitable name for his newborn baby. The guru of the Athiyabari sattra, then, is introduced to us. He leads a life of pompous manner by earning money in a dishonest way.  He gave a name for Nahraphutuka’s son, ‘Nomal’. As he has some problems with pronunciation, he uttered the name as ‘Nemel’ (which means ‘do not sail’). As he fears forgetting the name, he starts repeating the name ‘Nemel’ on his way home. A trader who is about to start his voyage on a boat hears Naharphutuka uttering ‘Nemel’ and on hearing this the merchant becomes angry and beats him. Naharphutuka then ruefully says, ‘nohowabor hol ou’ (happened something unusual). And he utters these words as he proceeds on. A rich Ahom is passing that road in a palanquin in a ceremonial and glamourous way, misunderstanding the utterings to be really meant an inauspicious remark on his noble rank. On being angry, the merchant beats him again. Then, Naharphutuka cries out in torment and says, ‘one is more oppressive than the other’. This very uttering again offends two diseased travellers. One is suffering from elephantiasis and the other is suffering from goitre. Then, they act with him very roughly too. Being traumatized and disheartened, Naharphutuka, arrives home and he realizes that he has forgotten the name. However, he remembers the name ‘Nemel’ when his wife is almost opening his bag. (The term ‘Nemel’ also means ‘do not open). The consortium of words with the action of the unfolding of bag helped him remember the name. It is, therefore, oral and incidental misconception that creates this farcical story to progress on. The element of satire present in the play is incidental and there is much entertainment in the word ‘Nomal’. A sort of punning impact is articulated while Naharphutuka utters it in the rural fashion. The incidents of beating Naharphutuka are brief and merely ridiculous. These ridiculous fancies are hilarious and comical.

Bezbarua gives a slightly better account of himself in Pachani (1913). It is comparatively a graceful farce and there are juxtapositions of contrasting ideas and intertwist of fun and satire. The play is segregated into five scenes. As the play opens up, we see that Dharmai Pachani, a childless man, who is religiously devoted, has developed a habit of having guests every night. That night, he returns home without any guests after a vain search for them. Then we see that he is busy making a ‘dheki-thora’ (grinding stick of a ‘dekhi’ or a pounding machine), and at this moment two guests have turned up. Then, he, being overjoyed having the guests, goes shopping. His wife, on the other hand, does not like this attitude of her husband and she used to drive out the guests. She holds the grinding stick of the pounding machine and tells them that she is going to beat them up with the stick. On hearing this, the guests flee and at this very moment, Pachani arrives from shopping. He feels disappointed with the departure of the guests. His clever wife informs him that the guests are greedy and that on being refused to hand over to them the ‘dheki-thora’ (grinding stick), they took offence and left. Then, Pachani gets the grinding stick in his hand and follows the guests with the intention to give it to them. When the guests see that Pachani is following them with the dreaded piece of wood in his hand; they speed and run out of that place. The husband returns back unhappy with a small pet animal (a domestic cat) as a guest and as a substitute. It is full of zest and laughter, especially the scene in which Pachani follows the panicked guests with the piece of wood in hand.

In Chikarpati-Nikarpati (1913) also, there is full of fun. It arouses laughter through the two thieves’ display of methods used by them in larceny as well as of corruption in the court. Pona Mahanta observes, “these plays are nothing but purely farcical pieces which undoubtedly appealed to the rustic audience of the time” (1985, p.  205). Chikarpati-Nikarpati starts with a scene where a trial is going on. In the trial, Chikarpati is adjudicated for a charge of theft of a brass pot. It comes to an end in his liberation from the charges. The adjudications are convened in the modern court, however, as Chikarpati’s state is governed by a king, the adjudication scenes are old-fashioned and traditional. To see the capability of the acclaimed thief, the king employs him to steal a ring from him when he is sleeping in the bedroom. And in this mission, Chikarpati successfully steals the ring from the king. Then, the king employs him to get him a man for his daughter’s bridegroom. And in this also, he becomes successful. Later, when the bridegroom becomes the king, he announces the thief to be his minister.

B.K. Bhattacharyya (1982) opines that –

The drama is not only loose in structure, but full of improbable incongruities. A thief who steals a brass-pot is introduced as the great thief. Then the king uses his services for procuring for his daughter a bridegroom, who again promises him to make him his minister. All these are very amusing, as the identical appearances of the two thieves, Chikarpati and Nikarpati create a comic situation based on chance. (pp. 193-194)  

The atmosphere of the play is, however, farcical. The trial scenes and the scene of the conversation between the pleaders of opposite parties in the Chikarpati case are a reflection of manners of Bezbarua’s time and the former is full of plebian laughter. But the scene of a heart-to-heart talk between the pair of lovers, Rongdoi and Chikarpati is improbable, extremely light and farcical. According to Birinchi Kumar Barua (1964):

The exaggerated situation, irony of thought and words, malapropisms and humorous dialogues – these are the characteristics of these farces. There is hardly any development of plot. The humour is low because it is invariably one of situations. Exaggeration is the very breath of these farces and hence they are often unreal. (p. 150)

Of the many other farces published before the thirties, mention may be made of Chandradhar Barua’s Bhagya-Pariksha (Fate Decided, 1916). Based on the tale of Khaza Hosen in the Arabian Nights, this little play in a lighter vein dramatizes the relative merits of fate and affluence. Padmadhar Chaliha in his Nimantran (Invitation, 1915) creates laughter by exploiting the lack of common sense on the part of four ‘foolish wise men’. Mitradev Mahanta, a leading actor and playwright, has published quite a good number of farcical pieces of which Biya Biparyaya (The Marriage Debacle, 1924) and Kukurikanar Athmangala (The Reception of the Night-blind son-in-law, 1927) were at one time ‘warmly received at every theatre in Assam’. In the former piece, mirth is created through incongruous situations and behaviour. He also ridicules through dramatic exaggeration such evils of contemporary society as child marriage, dowry and superstition. The source of laughter in the latter play is mainly the incongruous behaviour of the son-in-law, who, in his vain attempts to conceal his night-blindness, only exposes himself and makes himself ridiculous. Mahanta has published a few more farces such as Eta Curat (One Cigarette), Tengar Bhengar (The Clever Rogoue), Checha Jyar (Cold Fever), Achin Kathar Thora (The Bluff Giver) and others. All these pieces are meant for mirth which the playwright creates through exaggerated situations, spicy dialogue and ludicrous characters.

Farcical pieces and low comedies continued to be written even after the thirties of the twentieth century, but gradually their place came to be taken by serious social plays. Of those who wrote such plays after 1930, mention may be made of Lakshminadhar Sarma, Surendranath Saikia, Kumudchandra Barua, Karunadhar Barua, Binandacchandra Barua, Prabin Phukan, Premnarayan Datta and a few others. In most cases, the light dramatic pieces written by these writers were like sugar-coated pills because, although their apparent aim was to arouse laughter, they also aimed at exploring the follies and hypocrisies of a society still in transition. But after the Second World War, the farce as a dramatic type almost ceased to be a living force, its place being taken by plays on serious social as well as psychological themes. The effects of the War, the disillusionment that immediately followed the attainment of Independence, the rapid spread of scientific and technological knowledge, and the popularity of such thinkers as Marx and Freud – all came to have their impact on literature including drama. Pona Mahanta (1985) stated:

The audience no longer looked for boisterous comedy created through exaggeration of all kinds; instead, they wanted to see flesh and blood human being in real human situations. The playwright was ready to give them this, and as a result drama became almost entirely social and inward in place of farcical and mythological (p. 210).

Conclusion

Although the new drama in Assamese began with plays of a social-realistic type, the latter years of the nineteenth century and the initial ones of the twentieth were largely a period of farces, as well as translations and adaptations. Shakespeare was naturally the first and the greatest favourite to be translated, adapted and imitated. But while several of the Shakespearean adaptations seem to have been successful as stage plays, their influence on the Assamese drama is not obvious. The writers of the plays draw their subject matter from indigenous sources. But, the themes apart, all these plays were modelled on Western dramatic methods, particularly those of Shakespeare. And with the plays of Bezbarua and Gohain Barua, Shakespeare, whose influence had been felt as early as 1857, became the dominant influence on pre-independent Assamese comedy and all types of Assamese dramas. Of all the fields of literature, dramatic piece of art is unquestionably responsive to societal transformation. The pre-independent Assamese dramatic literature is in debt for its progress to its exposure to the West. It is also greatly responsible for the phenomenal transformation of our society, which in every facet, has gone through in the course of the period. Thus, it can be concluded that this influence has been continuously operating in various ways and it is found that the entire pre-independent Assamese dramatic literature has been affected by the plays of Shakespeare. Though the content of the plays is native, the style and technique are purely modelled on the dramas of William Shakespeare.

Declaration of Conflict of Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding

No funding has been received for the publication of this article. It is published free of any charge.

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Reason: Pedagogy and Complementarity in Marguerite Porete’s The Mirror of Simple Souls

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Javiera Steck1 & Josefa Vecchiola2

1Universidad de Chile. ORCID: 0000-0002-1169-7304. Email: javiera.steck@ug.uchile.cl

2Universidad de Chile. ORCID: 0000-0002-3438-1062. Email: josefa.vecchiola@ug.uchile.cl

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.13

First published: June 20, 2022 | Area: Scientific Philosophy | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 2, 2022)
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Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of reason in The Mirror of Simple Souls by Medieval French Beguine Marguerite Porete (c. 1250-1310). Our first strategy will be revising the function of Reason as a character throughout the text’s dialogues, in which Reason, Love, and Soul participate as main characters. Secondly, we intend to compare Reason and Love, as well as to understand whether these different forms of intellect are complementary or opposite to each other in some way, given the text’s inscription in a premodern Medieval philosophy. Finally, we would like to understand reason within the frame of the possible pedagogical uses that Marguerite conferred to it in her text.  

Keywords: Marguerite Porete, Love, Reason, Medieval Female Mysticism, Intellectus rationis, Intellectus amoris, Pedagogy.

In the following study, we intend to explore, in the first place, why French Beguine and mystic Marguerite Porete (13th-14th c.) inserted Reason as one of the main characters from her renowned book The Mirror of Simple Souls, a dialogical treatise. Mystic experience (that is, the experience of union with God) is commonly presented in the medieval female mystic tradition as that which transcends the comprehensible or the perceivable through reason. That is why the insertion and centrality of Reason as an allegoric character and mediator require a deeper examination since this prominence is not self-explanatory as mystic experience does not conceive Reason as the only means to its complete fulfilment. Exploring the possibilities of this question about Reason’s protagonism opens two paths. The first points toward the –in our opinion, quite fruitful– comparison between the allegoric characters of Love and Reason so as to understand if their relationship is one of opposition or complementarity, by associating those perspectives with the different philosophical traditions coexisting in the Middle Ages[1]. On the other hand, the second path leads us to propose the possible pedagogical usefulness of incorporating the allegoric character of Reason in The Mirror of Simple Souls.

To elaborate on all of the above we must, firstly, briefly identify the character of Reason. This appears in the first part of The Mirror (chapters 1 to 122), where a group of allegoric characters are introduced: Love, Reason, and Annihilated Soul being the main characters and the ones who take part in a collaborative dialogue. These characters give an account of Love’s crucial role in Marguerite’s text: to show lost souls the way towards the Country of Liberty[2]. It is by Love’s hand that we can see Reason for the first time as part of a mystic experience. Love states:

“Hijos de la Santa Iglesia -dice Amor-, por vosotros he hecho este libro, a fin de que oigáis, para valeros mejor, la perfección de la vida y el estado de paz a los que puede llegar en virtud de la caridad perfecta de la criatura a la que le es concedido este don de toda la Trinidad. Don del que oiréis dirimir en este libro a través de las respuestas de Entendimiento de Amor a las preguntas de Razón” (Porete, 2005, p. 35).

“Children of the Holy Church –says Love-, for you I have made this book, so you can hear, so you can better make use of life’s perfection and the state of peace to which it can get to, by virtue of the creature’s perfect charity upon which the gift of the whole Trinity is bestowed. A gift about which you will hear its settling in this book through the answers of the Understanding of Love to the questions of Reason” (Porete, 2015, p. 34-35)[3].

Questioning through dialogue is the communicative entrance with which the character of Reason is present and inserted in The Mirror. From Love’s wisdom and Reason’s rational questions (which identify the souls under Reason’s rule and, hence, attached to Virtues), a window is opened to elucidate the paths that can lead the soul to its liberty. Thus, ordinary people will be able to comprehend the insufficiency of the very same reasoning they make use of. An example of such dialogue is the following:

“Razón: Pero, dama Amor —dice Razón—, querríamos, si os place, entender bien y más abiertamente ese don?que el Espíritu Santo da a tales Almas (…).?Amor: ¡Ay, Razón! —dice Amor—, siempre seréis tuertos vos y los que se alimentan de vuestra doctrina. Pues ciertamente está medio ciego el que tiene las cosas delante de los ojos y no las reconoce. Y es lo que os pasa a vos” (Porete, 2005, p. 82).? 

“Reason: But, lady Love –says Reason–, we would want, if you please, to understand better and more openly that gift which the Holy Spirit gives to such Souls (…). Love: ¡Ah, Reason! –says Love–, you will always be one-eyed, you and the ones that feed from your doctrine. For, certainly, he who has things before his eyes yet still doesn’t recognise them is half blind. And that’s what happens to you” (Porete, 2005, p. 82).

However, considering all of the above, it’s crucial to ponder the following: why is there a predominant presence of Reason if we, as readers, are facing the tale and teachings of a mystic experience which is unintelligible under rational principles? To answer this question, we have to notice that, first, the road to perfection proposed by Porete entails seven states moving upwards from “el abandono del pecado hasta la gloria” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.327) (“the renunciation of sin to glory”), of which the first four states remain under the rule of Reason, while the other three are governed by Love. Secondly, we must note that said path implies three instances of death (those of sin, of nature, and of spirit), and two downfalls: the fall of Virtues into Love and the fall of Love into Nothing “que lleva al alma al más profundo anonadamiento de sí, capaz de renunciar al propio Amor por amor” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.327) (“which leads the soul to the deepest annihilation of itself, capable of giving up Love for love”), a moment that depicts the descending path. In regard to this, it’s fundamental to highlight that it is precisely in the change from Reason’s domain to Love’s where Marguerite Porete’s main concern is to be found, since, as Garí points out, she:

“le interesa sobre todo enseñar cómo se alcanza ese estado, es decir, mostrar el paso entre ambos regímenes, el de la Razón y el del Amor, que es a la vez el de la muerte al espíritu y el que asciende del cuarto al quinto nivel de perfección” (Porete, 2005, p. 23).

“is, above all, interested in teaching how to reach that state, that is to say, showing the passage between both regimes, Reason’s and Love’s, which is at the same time the one of death to the spirit and the one that ascends from the fourth to the fifth level of perfection” (Porete, 2005, p. 23).

Also, it is worth mentioning that to understand the importance of Reason through the path the lost ones start, and the passing from one regime to the other, it’s necessary to acknowledge the fact that this road entails highlighting begging as the very first step lost souls take before arriving in the state of liberty, and that these begging as the action takes place, precisely, under Reason’s rule. In Soul’s case, present throughout Porete’s text, begging occurs first when the pleading creature, as they try to find God, makes use of rational tools such as thinking and writing.

“Y cuando vio que no encontraba nada, se puso a pensar; y su pensamiento le dijo que fuera a buscar lo que reclamaba en el fondo nodal del entendimiento de la pureza de su supremo pensar, y allí fue a buscarlo esta mendicante criatura, y pensó que escribiría sobre Dios de la manera como quería encontrarlo en sus criaturas. Y así escribió esta mendicante lo que estáis oyendo” (Porete, 2015, p.136) (la cursiva es nuestra).

“And when she saw that she didn’t find anything, she began to think; and her thought told her to go look for what she was claiming in the nodal fund of her supreme thinking’s understanding of purity, and there she went looking for it, this begging creature, and thought that she would write about God in the way she wanted to find him in her creatures. And so, this beggar wrote what you are hearing” (Porete, 2005, p.136) (italics are ours). 

And then, she resorts to the questions:

“pues preguntando puede llegarse lejos, y preguntando puede encontrarse el propio camino, o reencontrarse si se ha salido de él” (Porete, 2015, p.170) (la cursiva es nuestra).

“since by asking you can go far, and by asking you can find your own way, or find yourself again if you have left it” (Porete, 2005, p. 170) (italics are ours).

Thinking, writing, and questioning are tools, then, that involve a rational logic that, even though they lead the Soul to beg for it is still too soon to have an encounter with God, they set the start of the road for these souls to arrive at the so awaited dejection which, let’s not forget, occurs in those states of most elevated understanding governed by Love. However, the one who recognises in this treatise the importance of such an action (begging) as a rational and erratic, though necessary, the process is indeed the allegoric character of Soul, who is, also, convinced of this need. All of what we have exposed so far can be seen in Soul’s confession to Trinity when she mentions the importance of creatures begging:

“El Alma:  Cierto, pues es necesario hacerlo antes de llegar en todo al estado de libertad, estoy segura. Y con todo —dice esta Alma que escribió este libro—era tan necia en la época en que lo escribí, o más bien que Amor lo hizo por mí a petición mía, que ponía precio a cosas que no se podían hacer, pensar ni decir, como haría aquel que quisiera encerrar el mar en su ojo, llevar el mundo sobre la punta de un junco, e iluminar el sol con un farol o una antorcha. Era más necia que quien quisiera hacer estas tres cosas. Cuando puse precio a lo que no podía decirse/ y me hallé presa en escribir estas palabras./ Pero así emprendí mi camino/ para acudir en mi propio socorro,/ y alcanzar al fin la cúspide del estado del que hablamos/que es el de la perfección” (Porete, 2015, p. 137- 138) (la cursiva es nuestra).

“Soul: True, for it’s necessary to do it before getting completely to the state of liberty, I’m sure. And yet –says this Soul that wrote this book– I was so foolish at the time that I wrote it, or rather that Love wrote it for me at my request, that I put a price on things that cannot be done, thought nor said, as would do the one who wanted to lock the sea within his eye, carry the world on the tip of a reed, and illuminate the sun with a lantern or a torch. I was more foolish than someone who’d want to do those three things. When I put price to what cannot be said | and I found myself prisoner of writing these words. | But that’s how I started my way | to come to my own rescue, | and to reach finally the cusp of the state which we talk about | that is of perfection” (Porete, 2005, p. 137-138) (italics are ours).

The role of Reason through Soul’s journey to the Country of Liberty is also illuminated in her appearance as the “gatekeeper” of said path, a metaphor that identifies her as an initiator of the way to God. In Porete’s words:

“Razón: ¡Ah, por Dios, dama Amor! -dice Razón-, dinos qué será de Vergüenza, la más bella de las hijas de Humildad; y también de Temor, que tantos bienes ha hecho al Alma y tantos bellos servicios; y qué será de mí misma, que no he dormido mientras me han necesitado. ¡Ay de mí! -dice Razón-. ¿Nos echará de su casa ahora que ha alcanzado señoría?

Amor: ¡No, no! -dice Amor-. Al contrario, vosotras tres permaneceréis en su mesnada y seréis las tres guardianas de su puerta, de forma que nadie que vaya contra Amor pueda penetrar en su casa sin que os despertéis; pero no os comportéis de ninguna otra manera más que como porteras, pues si no os veríais confundidas; y no seréis escuchadas en ningún caso más que como tales” (Porete, 2015, p. 103) (la cursiva es nuestra).

“Reason: Ah, by God, lady Love! –says Reason–, tell us what will become of Shame, the most beautiful of Humility’s daughters; and also of Fear, that so many goods have done to Soul and so many beautiful services; and what will be of myself, that I haven’t slept while I’ve been needed. Woe is me! –says Reason–. Will you throw us out of her house now that you’ve reached ladyship?

Love: No, no! –says Love–. On the contrary, you three will remain in her legion and will be the three guardians of her door, so that no one who’s against Love can penetrate into her house without waking you up; but do not behave in any other way than as doorkeepers, since if you do, you would see yourselves confused; and you won’t be listened to in any case more than as such” (Porete, 2005, p. 144).

In this way, we observe (as Laura Durán does in her article about The Mirror, whom we paraphrase in what follows) that when Reason asks Love what will become of her and her servants (Virtues), Love answers that they will remain as “porteras de la casa del Alma” (Durán, 2021, p.20) (“doorkeepers of Soul’s house”), therefore, it is Reason who first discerns what kind of behaviour leads or not to the path of God.

To forgive, to write, to think, to ask oneself: all of them are actions with an initiatory sense, but, furthermore, these are actions that Soul carries out the moment she embarks on an inner quest. As Garí states in her article:

“Margarita busca primero en el mundo [exterior] un espejo donde reconocerse y no encuentra nada; al interiorizar entonces su búsqueda hace de su entendimiento un espejo que refleja lo divino sobre el mundo” (Garí, 1995, p.60).

“Marguerite seeks in the [exterior] world a mirror where to recognise herself and she doesn’t find anything; when interiorising, then, her search she makes of her understanding a mirror that reflects the divine upon the world” (Garí, 1995, p. 60).

Like Garí, we observe that the beginning of the mystical path is the interiorization of the quest, and the first stage of such process is marked by reflection, mediation, question, thinking that is begging, also, writing, which is especially capable of revealing or, at least, investigating Porete’s Soul’s inner “I”. Reason has, hence, a fundamental and initial place in the experience. The centrality of Reason’s role is due to both her initial and mediating importance and to Soul’s need to abandon her in order to reach the encounter with God.  In mystic experience, Reason is the border that must be trespassed.

Complementarity or Opposition? Love and Reason in Medieval Mysticism.

The starting point for the assessment of a likely opposition or complement of the characters of Love and Reason is to observe the extent to which each of them possesses a coupled form of understanding, inasmuch as Marguerite Porete sees both of them as paths of knowledge. The result is clear: Reason’s understanding tends to judgement, is insufficient, and cannot comprehend what is essential within mystic experience, as it is, according to Porete, a “too low” understanding for it to “highly comprehend”, in contrast to divine Love’s understanding, who “comprende bien y sin obstáculos” (Porete, 2015, p.48) (“comprehends well and with no obstacles”).

The reason is not, then, a likely vehicle for reaching the highest levels of liberty of the soul, as neither are institutions and instances that unfold under their law. In other words, Virtues, the Sacred Scriptures, and the Holy Church (“the little one”, as Porete calls it). In this way, Love and Reason are, to some extent, contrary, because Reason’s understanding, due to its own constitution (rational, argumentative, inquisitive), cannot comprehend Love’s understanding nor the possibilities for liberation that it offers. Love’s understanding, inextricably associated with divinity, is in itself an intuitive knowledge that derives from the unitive experience or God Himself; a knowledge that presents itself as clarification, without human rationality’s mediation. To Durán, as in Marguerite Porete’s case as in Mechthild of Magdeburg’s:

“es por amor que el alma se une a Dios y, en tanto tal, el amor tiene un lugar por sobre el pensamiento o conocimiento… [que es] posibilitado sólo por el Amor”(Durán, 2021, p.22),

“it’s because of love that the soul is united with God and, as such, love has a place above thinking or knowledge… [which is] enabled only by Love” (Durán, 2021, p. 22)

As to Garí, Love’s understanding “refleja la experiencia del alma como experiencia de un saber que se es” (Garí, 1995, p-60) (“reflects the experience of the soul as an experience of knowing that you are”), which is also “saber-otro que se sitúa más allá de la ley, de la razón mediadora” (Garí, 1995, p.58)[4] (“other knowledge situated beyond the law, beyond mediating reason”).

In The Mirror, though, we see that this difference of capabilities between both intellects is acknowledged by Reason, which is clearly seen when she states:

“esto no lo puede entender nadie a no ser que lo aprenda de vos [Amor] a través de vuestras enseñanzas, pero no a través de mi entendimiento” (Porete, 2015, p. 50).

“nobody can understand this unless they learn this from you through your teachings, but not by means of my understanding” (Porete, 2015, p.50).

Although, based on Love and Reason’s contrary abilities, we could state that they are in an opposition relationship –an opposition that is also completely hierarchical, in which Love is deliberately superior and annuls the importance of Reason–, the reality in The Mirror is different. If we read carefully, we can observe that, indeed, the rule of reason is an absolutely necessary step in the mystical path toward the union with God. It is not replaceable nor expendable, since, as we already saw, it possesses an initiatory role: reason is the first step inwards, marked by thought, doubt, the soul’s plead, and the exercise of questioning. It happens that institutions and instances existing under the law of Reason are Christianity’s first school, hence strictly necessary for starting the journey to liberty. It is through them that ordinary people get to know the Christian doctrine, as they also apprehend with these institutions the first models of Christian piety, charity (Mary, mother of God, but also Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist), and the Holy Trinity, examples that allow the adoption of Christianity’s main maxims and God’s wishes in one’s life. The reason, further, is necessary for mystic experience due to another factor. Reasoning is the dialectic instance which, through thought and inner questioning over God, allows the Soul to understand the need for negation, overcoming, and transcendence of Reason herself: only the excess of Reason allows Reason’s liberation – an absolutely necessary step, as we saw, for the road from the liberation of the soul to the encounter with God –, which can be seen in Love’s statement below:

“Pero ahora, esta Alma ha ganado y aprendido tanto con las Virtudes que está por encima de ellas” (Porete, 2015, p. 60)

“But now, this Soul has won and learnt so much with Virtues that it is above them.” (Porete, 2015, p. 60)

Here we observe that the soul that looks for its own liberation learns, in the first place, from Virtues, and only after that learning, it comes to be “above” them, a moment that coincides with the passing from Reason’s government to Love’s.

Reason and Love, then, are not actually related in opposition. Instead, they collaborate with each other, as it can be seen when Love expresses her willingness to dialogue with Reason and the latter, in turn, points out that she will not “tener mayor gozo ni mayor honor que el de ser sierva de tal señora” (Porete, 2015, p. 78) (“have grater joy nor honour than that of being the servant of such lady”). So that Reason finds herself voluntarily in the service of Love.

In regard to the initiatory role of Reason’s understanding, the following fragment is particularly illustrative:

“Razón: ¿Cuándo estuvieron sujetas las almas? Amor: Cuando permanecieron en el amor y la obediencia a vos, dama Razón, y también a las otras Virtudes;?y tanto permanecieron que se hicieron libres” (Porete, 2015, p. 40) (la cursiva es nuestra).

“Reason: When were the souls subject? Love: When they remained in love and obedience to you, Lady Reason, and to the other Virtues; and too long they endured that they made themselves free”.  (Porete, 2015, p. 40) (italics are ours).

Here, certainly, continuity is shown between the passage from Reason’s understanding to Love’s as complementary and integrated parts of the same process. In this respect, we must remark that complementarity between Love and Reason is not a fortuitous event[5]. Indeed, the notion of complementarity is illuminated if we point out an historical-philosophical approach to The Mirror. During the High Middle Ages (9th-10th c.) there were two philosophical theories developed around sexual difference: the theory of complementarity of the sexes and the theory of Aristotelian polarity[6]. Furthermore, a part of European Feudal thought envisioned that “el amor es un intelecto, uno de los dos intelectos con los que nace cada criatura humana” (Rivera, 2005, p.103) (“love was an intellect, one of the two intellects each human creature is born with”) where both intellects are intellectus rationis and intellectus amoris, that is to say, the intelligence of reason and the intelligence of love, where the latter is typically associated with feminine understanding. It is in this tradition of thought were Porete is located along with other mystic women. Regarding the existing gender-intellect correspondence during the High Middle Ages, Cirlot and Garí remark:

“la teología era el dominio de los hombres, el de la alta cultura. La visión dicotómica, tan propia de la cultura medieval, siempre repartidora de funciones, hizo recaer la experiencia en las mujeres. En una ordenación del mundo a partir de los géneros, a lo masculino correspondían la cultura clerigal, la escritura, el latín, el conocimiento teologal, mientras que a lo femenino correspondían lo laico, la oralidad, las lenguas vulgares, la experiencia” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.38),

“theology was men’s domain, that of high culture. The dichotomous vision, so typical of Medieval culture, always distributing functions, made experience fall on women. In a world order based on gender, to the masculine corresponded clerical culture, writing, theological knowledge, while to the feminine corresponded the secular, orality, vulgar languages, experience” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.38),

Thus, we identify a gender-based distinction of understandings. Regarding, in addition, that during this period, along with the proliferation of a new feminine spirituality[7], that proposes the vindication of women’s intellect (the understanding of Love), feminine mysticism thus takes distance from “la enseñanza teológica y teórica y a la mediación con las instituciones ofrecidas en esa relación por la figura masculina del sacerdote” (Cirlot &Garí, 2021, p.26) (“the theological and theoretical teaching and the mediation of institutions offered in such relationship by the male figure of the priest”), fundamentally identified with the law and rationality (intellect) associated with men, while “conocimiento experiencial femenino (…) exige para sí el reconocimiento de su relación inmediata con lo Divino” (Cirlot & Garí, 1999, p.26) (“feminine experiential knowledge (…) demands for itself the acknowledgement of its direct relationship to the Divine”).

Throughout this period, then, the theory of polarity of the sexes implied the defense of the legitimacy of one of the intellects, i.e., the intellectus rationis, which was identified as masculine, establishing a hierarchy that underrated the intellectus amoris, according to women’s inferiority, at the same time that, in such context of epistemic tension, medieval mystic women were the ones who, with their writings, depicted intellectus amoris as an absolutely key element in the configuration of their experience[8], defending its relevance and value (as we can see, this happens with the role of Love in The Mirror)[9]. Therefore, this exercise constitutes the legitimation of an understanding typically considered feminine, and with that, the legitimation of women’s authority as knowledge-producer subjects, usually through intellectus amoris –or knowledge through intuition– since:

“En la mística femenina, el amor a Dios no es una idea, sino una experiencia terrible en la que el alma arrastra al cuerpo a participar en ella” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.42),

“In feminine Mysticism, love for God is not an idea, but a terrible experience in which the soul drags the body to take part in it” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.42),

experience that altogether takes place in the woman’s body. Why? Because, according to the thinking of the time, “Dios se había querido manifestar a lo más inferior, a lo más frágil, que dentro de los valores medievales profundamente misóginos eran las mujeres” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.38) (“God had wanted to show Himself to the most inferior, the most fragile, to that which, in the deeply misogynistic medieval values, were women”), so much so that even when men were those who experimented the unitive experience – such as Master Eckhart, his disciple Henry Suso, as well as Saint John of the Cross, all of them after the bloom of twelfth-and-thirteenth-century Medieval Feminine Mysticism– “la feminización constituía la necesaria humillación para la unión con Dios”” (Cirlot & Garí, 2021, p.39) (“feminisation constituted the necessary humiliation for the union with God).

In this sense, our reading of The Mirror of Simple Souls is supportive of other scholar’s perspectives, for example, Blanca Garí and Laura Durán who are quoted here, in which we, as they either do, see in Medieval Mystic writings as a vindication of love’s intellect –a confirmation that love is a fundamentally feminine legitimate and necessary path of knowledge– and with that the authority of women, in contrast to the predominance that learned theology and scholastics had enjoyed until when talking about God.

Nonetheless, our goal is to also emphasise, besides Love’s understanding’s vindication –an absolutely key element in The Mirror-, the readiness for conciliation with Reason’s intellect. In other words, Marguerite Porete does not show total rejection of what then was seen as a masculine ability, but she offers a possibility for integrating both understandings, an integration whose ultimate goal is to arrive at the union with the Divine. To be clear: this necessary character of Reason for the path to God is not an interpretative novelty of our own. This has been pointed out by Blanca Garí, for instance, who affirms that the text The Mirror of Simple Souls would not make sense without Reason’s participation, even in spite of the fact the book itself represents her as “desentendimiento” (Garí, 1995, p.61) (“misunderstanding”), as well as Garí states that

 “Razón … es la gran mediadora de la libertad, [ya que] a través de ella llegan los rayos de Entendimiento [al Alma] que ella misma no entiende” (Garí, 1995, p.64);

“Reason… is the greatest mediator of liberty, [since] through her the rays of understanding reach [the Soul] that she herself does not comprehend” (Garí, 1995, p.64);

and, in similar way, it appears mentioned in Durán’s work:

“La palabra de Amor no se debe contradecir (…) Razón es la oponente de Amor, facultad que debe morir para que el Alma alcance su transformación. Con todo, Razón es esencial en la conversión” (Durán, 2021, p.15) (la cursiva es nuestra).

“Love’s word must not be challenged (…) Reason is the opponent of Love, the faculty that must die for the Soul to reach its transformation. With all, Reason is essential in the conversion” (Durán, 2021, p.15) (Italics are ours).

What we want to do, regarding the acknowledgement of the need for Reason as our basis, is to show an emphasise this wish about integrating understanding, and rethink this in relation to the terms with which sex was thought about during this part of the Middle Ages, so that the defence of both intellects’ complementarity implies a defence of sexual complementarity, of human capabilities as a whole. Thereby, we observe that the treatment of Reason as a necessary element in the mystical pathway, from an author, who at the same time assigns Love’s understanding one of the highest qualities, obeys an integration impetus of constructing a thinking and undivided existence, but integral and complex in its multiplicity.

In this manner, we assert that Medieval mystic Marguerite Porete’s genius (we stick, for now, to what we have seen so far in The Mirror of Simple Souls) is not limited to simply inverting the hierarchical binomial established around sex (thence, around intellect) by the Aristotelian polarity theory, binomial where, formerly, Reason and the masculine voice had the authority to talk about God. However, after having fiercely defended intellectus amoris’ legitimacy in her mystic experience, she also advocates for the legitimacy and need of intellectus rationis (allegorically embodied by Reason in The Mirror) as the main backbone of our spiritual experience. It seems to us that, perfectly in tune with the philosophy of complementarity of the sexes, The Mirror transfers this complementarity to its correlate in the two possible understandings for the human being. This implies that Reason and Love complement each other and, once they are integrated into the other, constitute a totality. Reason in The Mirror is no less for taking an initiatory role. Marguerite Porete does not propose a progressive hierarchy, but a conjunction of opposites in an order, where its two constituents are necessary conditions for the inner path ahead.

Reason: One of the Pedagogical Strategies to Teach the Road to Perfection.

Resuming our questioning about Reason’s protagonism, let us remember that the second path that is opened is due to the proposal concerning the possible pedagogic use of incorporating this allegorical character in The Mirror of Simple Souls. For this, let’s stop with the fact that Marguerite Porete, since she started writing about her vital experience about searching for God, does not only produce a mere narrative about her, but she also presents us:

“(…)?un tratado didáctico, mistagógico, que pretende comunicar a otros y otras esa experiencia, y que pretende enseñar desde ella” (Cirlot & Garí, 1999, p.237).

“(…) a mystagogical, didactic treatise, that intends to communicate to others such experience, and that wants to teach from it” (Cirlot & Garí, 1999, p.237).

Writing, then, could be for Marguerite Porete the pathway that leads her towards perfection, and the dialogue she inserts in her text, one of the pedagogical methods for passing through the seven stages and three deaths. Further, that interaction is composed by the same authorities, that is to say, Love and Annihilated Soul, in a manner that both characters confer legitimacy to their own discourse thanks to their contact to and direct knowledge of God.

From said argumentative, didactic dialogue contained within the first part of The Mirror, where Marguerite Porete inserts the character of Reason, and that, shows her true pedagogical intention for the Simple Souls to understand and learn from The Mirror by reading it, we could infer that Porete –first of all– does not completely abandon the argumentative logic in which Reason remains locked. In fact, she gives Reason space to reflect within the dialogue, because she asks about ordinary people. This character speaks from intellectus rationis and no from the logic of the active and the contemplative, logic that for Reason are just “palabras de doble sentido que se hacen difícil de comprender para su entendimiento” (Porete, 2015, p.49) (“double-meaning words that make themselves difficult for their understanding”). It is because of this that we believe Reason (as an allegoric character) is put in the work as the pedagogic way and strategy to catch those souls that are still under Reason’s rule and that, by feeling identified with her presence, manage to start, and be led towards perfection. In Porete’s text that is made evident when Reason, repeatedly asks Love to clarify some doubts for ordinary people. An example of that can be seen in Chapter 13 when Reason says:

“Ahora, Amor -dice Razón-, habéis condescendido a nuestros ruegos aclarando las cosas para los activos y los contemplativos; pero os ruego aún que se lo aclaréis a la gente común, algunos de los cuales podrían por ventura alcanzar este estado. (…) y si se lo explicáis, este libro mostrará a todos la verdadera luz de la verdad (…)” (Porete, 2015, p. 49).

“Now, Love –says Reason– you have condescended to our pleas clarifying things for the active and contemplative; but I still beg you to clarify this to ordinary people, some of them might, by chance, reach this state (…) and if you explained this, this book would show everybody the true light of truth (…)” (Porete, 2015, p. 49).

The road of experience moves upwards within the dialogue. Yet this ascension to God does not advance linearly – the image of a staircase is insufficient –, otherwise, it’s travelled in the form of a spiral, since the soul’s ascent has the particularity of approaching and taking distance from God, as the sway of a descending feather. It is a form of construction present throughout The Mirror that is guided by the “cercanía y distancia como nudo de la relación amorosa, traducida aquí en amor místico” (Porete, 2005, p.18) (“closeness and distance as a knot of the loving relationship, translated here as mystic love”). The far-close behaviour, set up from the courtly novel[10], is present from the beginning, specifically in the prologue to The Mirror, when Porete explains her book’s function and with that commits herself to contrast God and Soul’s relationship with that of the King and the maiden’s. According to Coral Cuadrada, this comparison made by Marguerite implies the assertion that:

“El amor humano está relacionado con el divino, que se puede experimentar la unión con Dios sin mediación alguna. (…) Margarita toma de la expresión y de las imágenes cortesanas francesas, con frecuencias utilizadas en la literatura y en la música, representaciones que le sirven para describir la fusión del amor” (Cuadrada, 2018, p. 309).

“Human love is related to the Divine, it’s possible to experience the union with God without any mediation. (…) Marguerite takes from French courtly expressions and images, frequently used in literature and music, useful representations to describing the fusion of love” (Cuadrada, 2018, p.309).

On the other hand, to philosopher Wanda Tommasi:

“hay dos relatos que circunscriben el recorrido del Alma en su itinerario hacia la unión con Dios: el primero se refiere al significado mismo del libro, el segundo a la actitud del alma que “mendiga” a Dios” (Tommasi, 2002, p. 91).

“There are two narratives that circumscribe Soul’s trip in her itinerary towards the union with God: the first one refers to the very meaning of the text, the second to the attitude of the soul that ‘begs’ to God” (Tommasi, 2020, p.91).

And precisely, the first narrative refers to the history of the maiden and King Alexander that is to be found, as we mentioned earlier, in The Mirror’s prologue. Said the above, it is in this comparison of love’s fusion that Marguerite Porete makes between the Soul and God – as opposed to a mundane and courtly love – where we observe Porete’s second major pedagogical strategy, which, although it is not directly related to Reason (nor its pedagogical use just described), it does reveal the author’s authentic pedagogical intention, so that her primordial goal writing The Mirror is to teach, to show the path, for the ordinary people to have an example, in the clearest manner, of how Soul’s way to God is and to accomplish the so awaited unitive experience. If we consider the main purpose of The Mirror teaching, then, the use of Reason as a pedagogical strategy acquires, under this view, even greater importance.

To summarize what has been just said, there are two pedagogical strategies with which Porete illustrates the mystical pathway: the first one is when Reason is conferred a relevant place within the dialogue, and the second, is that of comparing these fusions of love between the Soul/God and maiden/King through characteristic elements of troubadour poetry. Both are strategies of a different kind, but with the same objective: to make the mystic experience’s understanding, throughout her treatise, a more accessible form of knowledge.

It is also important to point out that Love confers Reason, within the treatise, a space for dialogue, debate, and the logical argumentative questioning, despite being conscious that Reason is not at the level of its own knowledge. In this sense, Love’s humility is a fundamental characteristic, because it is the feature that evinces her true pedagogical intention. The purpose and true invitation of Love, then, is for ordinary people to be guided through the discovery of Reason’s insufficiency of knowledge and to overcome it. Love’s will is to dialogue with Reason manifests, too, that there is no intention to rank both forms of understanding, even when Reason’s insufficiency is always an assertion through the dialogues. This is due to the fact that, as we already mentioned, the first states governed by intellectus rationis are, without doubt, necessary for the path that leads Soul to its annihilation.

The question about pedagogy, as we can see in The Mirror, is a crucial matter and it is indeed present throughout the most part of the treatise. We have seen, also, how Marguerite Porete enquires about the use of different narrative strategies as didactic tools to accomplish her goal in The Mirror: “producir un discurso didáctico que tenga efectos en la vida de sus lectores” (Durán, 2021, p.2) (“to produce a didactic discourse that has an effect in the lives of her readers”). Porete’s work, then, is linked to pedagogy since “se pretende comunicar un saber, posibilitado por la experiencia del amor (…)” (Durán, 2021, p.2) (“it intends to communicate knowledge enabled by the experience of love (…)”). A matter that should be highlighted is that the fact that one of Reason’s main functions is her pedagogic role is by no means trivial, not in a context where women were quite limited when teaching about God. This happens, just as Cirlot and Garí assert – and as we have previously seen – at the time of Beguines, Dominicans, and Medieval Franciscans, when there is an emergence of tension between theological and theoretical teaching strictly related to the masculine figure of the priest (seen as the institution’s mediator), as opposed to the feminine experience’s knowledge that claims the recognition of the immediate relationship with the Divine (Cirlot & Garí, 1999, p.26). These two forms are opposed generating a tension that –as said by the aforementioned authors– grows over time, since the proliferation of the latter knowledge –feminine experience– could promote the disappearance and discredit of institutional mediation, for what women remained deliberately excluded from teaching. Actually, Durán comments in a footnote that:

“Enrique de Gante mostró la disposición para permitir a las mujeres -quienes no accedían a la enseñanza universitaria en teología- ejercer un papel restringido como doctoras de teología ex beneficio, por contraposición al ejercicio ex officio” (Durán, 2021, p. 16).

“Henry of Ghent showed the willingness to allow women – who did not have access to university training in theology – to exercise a restricted role as doctors in theology ex beneficio, in contrast to the ex officio practice”. (Durán, 2021, p.16).

Such tension, which is detrimental to those women who felt the need to teach from their experience, refers to Marguerite Porete’s work, and it is Laura Durán who identifies it when she asserts that the personification of Reason (and the other characters), besides allowing the audience to have a “representación de los medios para encontrar a Dios” (Durán, 2021, p.15) (“representation of the means to find God”), it will allow readers to elude the author’s own voice, “quien de este modo evita disculparse por escribir y enseñar siendo mujer” (Durán, 2021, p.16) (“who in this way avoids apologising for writing and teaching being a woman”). Therefore, we can say that pedagogy is a transversal resource for Medieval mystic women and, as such, a space for resistance where these women –belonging to the “nueva teología [que] se caracterizó por la escritura en lengua vernácula y por el lugar central de la experiencia mística” (Durán, 2021, p.2) (“new theology [that] is characterized for being written in a vernacular language, and for the central place of the mystic experience”) that emerges in the 13th century– conceived it as a place that confronts the historical limitations assigned to them.

Conclusion.

In a conclusion, we consider it fundamental to summarize that Reason’s presence is crucial in The Mirror of Simple Souls for the following reasons. In the first place, because Marguerite Porete’s main concern is to teach Soul’s passage from the Rule of Reason to Love’s government, inasmuch as this is a necessary process for the liberation of the soul – as, at the same time, it is not the only vehicle to reach that goal. The understanding of Reason must be overcome and replaced by the understanding of Love, with whom, notwithstanding, is found in a complementarity relationship regarding the totality of the mystical pathway. Secondly, Reason is the main element because, by being inserted in the dialogue of The Mirror, it is used as a pedagogical tool to guide the soul towards the awaited union with God.

About the Echoes of Love’s understanding and the Idea of Complementarity in the 20th c.

We wish to finish our work by reflecting on the concept of complementarity and its possible resonance in 20th-century female authors’ writings. Certainly, this Theory about the sexes, which also advocated for the legitimacy of another form of knowledge (i.e., intellectus amoris) did not survive Marguerite Porete’s times. Modernity, just as Rivera poses, settled its epistemic foundations on a theory inherited from Aristotelian polarity: Humanism’s unity of the sexes (Rivera, 2005, p.98) which, like its predecessor, only recognizes the value of intellectus rationis, this time associated to a universal and sexually neutral subject.

Intellectus amoris tradition, though, has marginally survived in the echo of Medieval mystic women’s voices: either through the direct reception of their texts (like Master Eckhart’s case in the 13th c., who may have known The Mirror and, more recently, Simone Weil’s case, who read The Mirror when its authorship had not been restored to Marguerite Porete), or through spontaneous feminine philosophical and aesthetical proposals that seek to go back to concepts such as love’s understanding of the search for intellectual and sexual complementarity.

Virginia Woolf, for instance, with her approach to androgyny and the unity of mind in A Room of One’s Own, narrates in one of the final chapters of her essay:

“Porque cuando vi a la pareja subir al taxi, la mente sintió como si luego de dividida, se hubiera adherido de nuevo en una fusión natural. La razón lógica y natural sería que los dos sexos cooperaran. Hay un instinto profundo, aunque irracional, en pro de la teoría de que la unión de hombre y mujer procura la mayor satisfacción, la más cabal felicidad. Pero la vista de dos personas subiendo al taxi y la satisfacción que eso me produjo, hizo que también me preguntara si no habría en el espíritu dos sexos, correspondientes a los dos en el cuerpo, y si no sería preciso unirlos para lograr completa satisfacción y felicidad. Y me puse a delinear de cualquier manera un plano del alma, en el que dos poderes presidían, uno varón y otro hembra; y en el cerebro del hombre el varón predomina, y en el cerebro de la mujer la hembra predomina. El estado normal y placentero es cuando están los dos en armonía, colaborando espiritualmente. Hasta en un hombre, la parte femenina del cerebro debe ejercer influencia; y tampoco la mujer debe rehuir contacto con el hombre que hay en ella (…) una gran inteligencia es andrógina” (Woolf, 2010, p.93) (las cursivas son nuestras).

“For certainly when I saw the couple get into the taxi-cab the mind felt as if, after being divided, it had come together again in a natural fusion. The obvious reason would be that it is natural for the sexes to cooperate. One has a profound, if irrational, instinct in favour of the theory that the union of man and woman makes for the greatest satisfaction, the most complete happiness. But the sight of the two people getting into the taxi and the satisfaction it gave me made me also ask whether there are two sexes in the mind corresponding to the two sexes in the body and whether they also require to be united in order to get complete satisfaction and happiness? And I went on amateurishly to sketch a plan of the soul so that in each of us two powers preside, one male, one female; and in the man’s brain the man predominates over the woman, and in the woman’s brain, the woman predominates over the man. The normal and comfortable state of being is that when the two live in harmony together, spiritually co-operating. If one is a man, still the woman part of the brain must have effect; and a woman also must have intercourse with the man in her (…) a great mind is androgynous.” (Woolf, 2015, p. 71).

We can see here that androgyny is, for Woolf, an idea about the mind, a balanced state between the male and female spirits that coexist in the mind of each person, in which both intellects (and the values and forms of writing that, in the first five chapters of A Room of One’s Own, Woolf tries to distinguish them according to sex) collaborate, without impeding creative activity. This is the mind which has total liberty for representation. Thus, the mind that is able to create integral works, faithful to the original vision of its author, requires both understandings: a great intelligence is androgynous (an example of which is Shakespeare). Woolf makes explicit, for all of us women, her ideal of sexual and intellectual complementarity, while she proposes her aesthetic theories about the mental and material conditions that allow the production of integral works of art (particularly novels).

Another woman who has highlighted the concept of complementarity is María Zambrano, with her proposal about the poetic Reason as methodology for thinking. She asserts in her work Claros del bosque:

“Y la visión lejana del centro apenas visible, y la visión que los claros del bosque ofrecen, parecen prometer, más que una visión nueva, un medio de visibilidad donde la imagen sea real y el pensamiento y el sentir se identifiquen sin que sea a costa de que se pierdan el uno en el otro o de que se anulen” (Zambrano, 2019, p.31) (las cursivas son nuestras)

“And the faraway vision of the centre is barely visible, and the vision that forest clearing offer, seem to promise, more than a new vision, a way of visibility where the image is real and the thought and the feeling identify themselves without losing or cancelling each other out” (Zambrano, 2019, p. 31) (italics are ours). 

Here she shows us the vision that emerges from the contemplation of the clearing is the union between feeling and thinking as one: for us, the complementarity of Love and Reason’s understandings. Letting aside the evident similarities between the language used by Zambrano in her work and that used by the Medieval female mystic (a language that puts special emphasis on love, the revelation through poetic beauty, the annihilation, and the ineffable experiences, to say the least). Blanca Garí also explores the relationships between The Mirror of Simple Souls and the text Philosophy and Poetry, another book by Zambrano, in her text Le plus de l’amé regarding these themes. For Garí, this last book by Zambrano “[tiene] el anhelo de reconciliación de ambas, filosofía y poesía, en la razón poética” (Garí, 2010, p.62) (“[has] the longing for the reconciliation of both philosophy and poetry in poetic reason”), as it also shows a rediscovery and reconquest of “la inteligencia de amor y [d]el arte de conocer desde la razo?n mi?stica y la razo?n poe?tica”  (Garí, 2010, p.57) (“the intelligence of love and the art to learn from mystic reason and poetic reason”). We, for our part, note that the proposal of the complementarity of understandings (love and reason) in Zambrano’s work is especially evident, even though the vindication of sexual complementarity is not as explicit as in Woolf’s essay.

To conclude this Little circuit of intertexts between The Mirror and the writings of contemporary authors, we also intuit, as so does Simone Weil, 20th-century philosopher, that this loss of understanding through love –which characterized the transition to Modernity– has been a loss that largely explains this spiritual crisis, but also the social and material ones, in which the West has been constantly submerged. Weil argues, in her writing L’agonie d’une civilisation vue à travers un poème épique, that the effects produced by the Albigensian crusades in Languedoc:

“Europa jamás ha vuelto a encontrar el mismo grado de libertad espiritual que se perdiera como resultado de esa guerra” (Weil, 1960, p. 3).

“Europe has never found the same degree of spiritual liberty that was lost as a result of that war” (Weil, 1960, p. 3).      

In this text, the author does not explicitly mention the notion of intellectual nor sexual complementarity. However, she talks about the alliance between the troubadour culture and the Cathar lifestyle that took place in Languedoc, an alliance that advanced in peace and with a sense of loyalty that, to our view, refers to the importance of love and its corresponding understanding. We agree on this with María Milagros Rivera, who states that Simone Weil “defines Cathar religion and troubadour culture as a civilization: a Mediterranean civilization destroyed by force”, this culture’s emblems being:

“una altísima inspiración y libertad espirituales: una sociedad que tuvo en cuenta el intellectus amoris, el entendimiento del amor y la potencia mediadora de la lengua” (Rivera, 2005, p. 110).

“A towering spiritual inspiration and freedom: a society that took into account the intellectus amoris, love’s understanding, and language’s mediating potential” (Rivera, 2005, p.110).

This consequential spiritual crisis in the West has been commented by Gilbert Durand, French anthropologist, who has thoroughly studied the history of symbolic thinking in Western culture. Alain Verjat, who closely studies Durand’s work, observes that the latter shows that said crisis is due to the fact that “occidente apostó (y desgraciadamente ganó) por el racionalismo y el cartesianismo, de los que el método científico es el producto directo, tanto en las ciencias ‘exactas’ como en las ciencias ‘humanas’” (Verjat, 2011, p.19) (“the West bet for (and unfortunately it won) Rationalism and Cartesianism –its direct product being the scientific method– both in ‘exact’ sciences and ‘human’ sciences”). This event unfolds ever since, in Western history, Aristotelian conceptualism, i.e., “el pensamiento directo, que se funda en el realismo de la percepción” (Verjat, 2011, p.19) (“direct thought, which emerges from the realism of perception”), oriented towards objective knowledge “de las realidades del mundo profano y del dominio de la naturaleza” (Verjat, 2011, p.19) (“of the realities of the profane world and the domination of nature”), overcame Platonism in the symbolic thought that supported an indirect thinking that could “designar algo más allá de los sensible” (Verjat, 2011, p.19) (“design something beyond the perceptible”). This is a fact we mentioned earlier from the perspective of the theory of the polarity of the sexes, which implied, too, the defense of one of the intellects’ legitimacy (intellectus rationis). This crisis, then, lays its foundations ever since only one path to knowledge is recognized as valid, while symbolism became increasingly discredited in philosophy, “de tal modo que el Siglo de las Luces pudo proclamar el triunfo de la razón, relegando todo lo que no fuera racional al desván de las supersticiones” (Verjat, 2011, p.19) (“so that the Age of Enlightenment could claim the triumph of reason, relegating anything but what is rational to the attic of superstitions”).

Returning to the authors’ approaches: the troubadour culture, their visions on love, and their spiritual freedom and richness, persecuted through the Crusades against Albigensian (Rivera, 2005, p.107) are longed by Simone Weil, as María Zambrano looks forward to a reconciliation between philosophy and poetry, while Virginia Woolf looks for synthesis and complementarity both intellectual and sexual through androgyny, which is proposed as one of Woolf’s solution to gender-sex oppression against women – which is not the only one[11]. That is to say, each of these authors perceive, in one way or another, “una pérdida insoportable de libertad humana en la historia” (Rivera, 2005, p. 109) (“an unbearable loss of human liberty in history”). Further, it is important to consider that all of them wrote amidst crisis in their corresponding territories (two World Wars and, in Weil and Zambrano’s cases, the Spanish Civil War), and that they were intensely related to war. So they wrote in a moment when questioning about how they got to such a critical point led them through similar paths of thoughts. Thus, our intention is to point out the need to build a philosophy that does not deny otherness[12], the affections, or (transcendental) knowledge that is not mediated by reason. This is a reflection that has taken quite an important place within feminine thought, both past –as we saw in Marguerite Porete, and other Beguines and mystic women– and current, as Zambrano, Woolf, and Weil’s contributions have shown.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Notes

[1]It’s worth mentioning that the protagonist’s building as allegoric characters is a clear reference to Medieval Courtly Literature, specifically from Jean Meung and Guillaume de Lorris’ Román de la Rose.

[2] A place that is both a “un modo de ser y un estado” (Garí, 1995, p. 54) (“way to be and a state”) where mystic experience takes place, crucially marked by the renunciation of the will and the annihilation of the soul.

[3] All the quotes in this article that required translation to English have been translated by Catalina Soto Caballero and edited by Yennadim Medina Reales.

[4] This characterization of Love as the highest possible form of understanding for the Soul, along with the insufficiency and abandonment of Reason, is a theme that was “común a buena parte de la mística femenina del siglo XIII y XIV” (Garí, 1995, p. 63) (“common to a large part of 13th-14th centuries Female Mysticism”), and therefore, quite frequent in the emerging “Teología Vernácula” (Durán, 2021, p. 1) (“Vernacular Theology”) of the 12th century. It is important to highlight that Marguerite Porete’s writing is framed within a major feminine spiritual movement that crystallised in Western territories since 1200 (Cirlot & Garí, 1999, p.17), where, besides the novelty about a group of women taking hold of writing for the first time, new currents of feminine spirituality and new religious movements led by women emerged such as, for example, Cathars, nuns, recluses, and beguines. Marguerite Porete belonged in the last group: the mulieres religiosae.   

[5]What’s more, the problem of love and reason as two fundamental human capabilities, along with whether they complement or compenetrate each other, possess a long trajectory in Medieval thought. As pointed out by Meis in her article, “Razón y amor en la teología medieval incipiente: Aproximación desde la confluencia de las fuentes griegas y latinas” (2002) (“Reason and Love in Early Medieval Theology: An approach from the Confluence of Greek and Latin Sources”), theological development of authors such as Hildegard von Bingen, William of St. Thierry, Anselm of Canterbury, and Bonaventure –among others– underscores, in different ways, the importance of the collaboration between both human capabilities (love and reason) in the search for Truth and, thence, God.

[6] The complementarity of the sexes Theory establishes that men and women are substantially different, but equal in worth. Active mostly during the 12th and 13th centuries, this thought implies that both men and women complemented humanity, that is to say, we belonged to the same species. According to María-Milagros Rivera, this Theory was “efecto y causa de mucha libertad en la vida de las mujeres” (Rivera, 2005, p-96) (“effect and cause of too much freedom in women’s life”). Contrary to this one is the polarity of the sexes theory, which has its origins with Aristotle. This Theory poses that both men and women are substantially different and that men are superior to women. This thought was mainly spread by the Church and Universities through the thirteenth century (Rivera, 2005, p. 98).

[7] Considering that in the 12th century proliferation of secular and heretic spiritual groups had already begun – paradoxically at the same time the clergy’s authority and power was in the process of consolidation (Walker Bynum, 1984, p.19) – medievalist Caroline Walker Bynum affirms that beguines (group to which Marguerite Porete belonged to) were, probably, “the first ‘women’s movement’ in Western history” (Walker Bynum, 1984, p.14). At the same time, she points out that after the year 1200, mystic women were already more numerous than mystic males (Walker Bynum, 1984, p.18), that is to say, she observes a rise in spiritual and religious participation of medieval women.

[8] In this sense, the mystic tradition in itself questioned Reason as a means to God’s knowledge, the “Biblical interpretation… based on rational, philosophical and theological arguments” (Lerner, 1993, p.65), by stating that “transcendent knowledge came not as a product of rational thought, but as a result of a way of life, of individual inspiration and sudden revelatory insight” (Lerner, 1993, p.66), and that “mystics saw human beings, the world and the universe· in a state of relatedness, open to understanding by intuitive and immediate perception. Its practitioners saw God as immanent in all of creation, accessible through unconditional love and concentrated dedication manifested in sincere prayer and religious devotion” (Lerner, 1993, p.66). Women, who did not have access to elite education as theologians, in spite of remaining excluded from this knowledge, used mysticism “as an alternate mode of thought to patriarchal thinking” (Lerner, 1993, p.77).

[9] Mystic women were not the exception. Just like Rivera, Tomassi and Weil propose from diverse perspectives, the relevance of intellectus amoris was defended by both male and female troubadours, Cathars and Albigenses, as well as by the “knightly Civilization” that emerged in Provence and was expressed in Occitan language.

[10] It is important to highlight that many of the beguines have been inspired by courtly poetry, and because of this, finding expressions of this style is not an aspect exclusive to Porete. As it is mentioned in the introduction to the text El lenguaje del deseo [The Language of Desire] (1999), many writings by beguines are marked by, first, the use of vernacular languages or mother tongues to “expresar sus experiencias… para cantar sus exigencias apasionada del amor” (Hadewijch, 1999, p.39) (“express their experiences… to sing their hot-blooded demands of love”), a matter that ends up emancipating those languages. Second, the inspiration of Courtly Poetry. And thirdly, the renovation of spirituality. These three elements allow that beguines’ writings, such as those by Hadewijch of Ambers, Marguerite Porete, and Mechthild of Magdeburg, become an exceptional contribution that “se encuentran, junto a trovadoras, trovadores y autores de las canciones de gesta, en el origen de las grandes literaturas europeas” (Hadewijch, 1999, p.39) (“can be found, along with both female and male troubadours and chanson the gests’ authors, at the origin of the great European literature”).

[11] Not the only one, since androgyny posed by Woolf. A Room of One’s Own last chapter is just one of the feminist proposals of the essay. In the rest of the chapters, in tune with difference feminism or “social feminism” (Marcus, 2010, p.145), Woolf’s approach reaffirms the category “women” and its consequent “difference”, based “on the belief that women’s values and skills, whether innate or culturally constructed, are excluded in male-dominated societies”. In this way, in a “complex and often contradictory” synthesis (Marcus, 2010, p.144), Virginia “calls for a new understanding a valorisation of specifically female values” (Marcus, 2010, p.145) –in a vindication of female difference– as well as she points towards a dilution of the same category “women” through androgyny and the necessary sexual complementarity of the sexes.  De este modo, en una síntesis “complex and often contradictory” (Marcus, 2010, p.144), Virginia tanto “calls for a new understanding and valorisation of specifically female values” (Marcus, 2010, p.145), en una reafirmación de la diferencia femenina, como apunta también a una dilución de la categoría “mujer” a través de la propuesta de la androginia y la necesaria complementariedad sexual de los intelectos.

[12] Just as Gilbert Durand tried in Science de L’Homme Et Tradition (1975), after understanding that throughout history many thinkers that did not fit in the dominant Western philosophy’s principles were excluded. Thus, Durand “expresa la necesidad de escribir una historia de la «antifilosofía», de rescatar a «todos los “rechazados” por el pensamiento occidental oficial»” (Hadewijch, 1999, p.34) (“expresses the need to write a history of ‘anti-philosophy’, to rescue «all of the ‘rejected’ by the official Western thought»”), and  so he makes an extensive list where he names those forgotten men (“the others”) from the Middle Ages to present times- However, Durand’s complaint also seems to reproduce otherness and marginalization since it does not include any woman, as pointed out by María Tabuyo in El lenguaje del deseo (Hadewijch, 1999, p.34-35).

References

Cirlot, V., & Garí, B. (1999). El anonadamiento del alma en Margarita Porete. En Cirlot, V. y Garí, B., La mirada interior: escritoras místicas y visionarias en la Edad Media (pp. 223-253). Ediciones Martínez Roca.

Cirlot, V., & Garí, B. (2021). 8 mujeres: sus vidas y su obra. En Cirlot, V. y Garí, B., La mirada interior: escritoras místicas y visionarias en la Edad Media (pp. 15-48). Siruela.

Cirlot, V., & Garí, B. (2021). Itinerarios espirituales: escaleras, caleidoscopios y la mística del descenso. En Cirlot, V. y Garí, B., La mirada interior: escritoras místicas y visionarias en la Edad Media (pp. 316-330). Siruela.

Corral, E. (2018). Mística y amor cortés. En C. Cuadrada (Ed.), Voces de Mujeres En La Edad Media: Entre Realidad Y Ficción (pp. 309-320). Walter de Gruyter GmbH.

De Lorris, G., y De Meung, J. (1985). Román de la Rose. Quadems Crema.

Durán, L. (2021). Matilde de Magdeburgo y Margarita Porete. Diferentes modos de comprender el amor en la unión con la divinidad. Síntesis. Revista de Filosofía, 4(1), 1-26.

Durand, G. (1999).Ciencia del hombre y tradición. El nuevo espíritu antropológico. (A. López y M. Tabuyo, Trad.). Paidós.

Garí, B. (1995). El camino al “País de la libertad” en El Espejo de las almas simples. Revista d’Estudis Feministes, 9, 49–68.

Garí, B. (2010). Le plus de l’ame. María Zambrano y la mística de la Edad Media. Revista Aurora, 11, 56-62.

Garí, B. (2005). Introducción. En M. Porete. El espejo de las almas simples (pp. 9-33). Siruela.

Lerner, Gerda. (1993). The Way of the Mystics-1. The Creation of Feminist Consciousness (pp. 65- 87). Oxford University Press.

Marcus, L. (2010) Woolf’s feminism and feminism’s Woolf. En S. Sellers (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf (pp. 142 –179). Cambridge University Press.

Meis, A. (2002). Razón y amor en la teología medieval incipiente: Aproximación desde la confluencia de las fuentes griegas y latinas. Teología y vida, 43(4), 541-579.

Porete, M (2005). El espejo de las almas simples (B. Garí, Trad.). Siruela.

Porete, M. (2015). El espejo de las almas simples (B. Garí, Trad.). Siruela.

Rivera, M.-M. (2005). La diferencia sexual en la historia. (1a ed.). Universitat de València.

Hadewijch. de A. (1999). El lenguaje del deseo: poemas de Hadewijch de Amberes. Trotta.

Tomassi, W. (2002). Filósofos y mujeres (C. Ballester Maseguer, Trad.). Narcea.

Verjat, A. (2011). Presentación. En Gilbert D., La crisis espiritual en Occidente. Las confesiones de Eranos (pp. 9-27). Ediciones Siruela.

Walker Bynum, C. (1984).  Jesus as a mother. University of California Press.

Weil, S. (1960). Écrits historiques et politiques. Gallimard.

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Zambrano, M. (1993). Filosofía y poesía. Fondo de cultura económica.

Javiera Steck Navarrete. BA in Hispanic Literature and Linguistics from Universidad de Chile. Teacher Assistant of Literary Theory (Universidad O’Higgins), Introduction to Literary Theory (Universidad de Chile). Has been collaborator in the latinoamerican culture and politics magazine La Raza Cómica and Palabra Pública magazine from Universidad de Chile. Javiera belongs to the program P.I.A., “Programa Interestudiantil Autogestionado” (Self-managed Inter-student Program) of Linguistics and Hispanic Literature, and the women’s outreach and research project “Revista Elena”. Her major interests areas are Latin American Literature, Feminist Theory, and Female Medieval Mystic.

Josefa Vecchiola Gallego. BA in Hispanic Literature and Linguistics from Universidad de Chile. Josefa belongs to the program P.I.A., “Programa Interestudiantil Autogestionado” (Self-managed Inter-student Program) of Hispanic Literature and Linguistics. Her major interest areas are Chilean Contemporary Literature, Female Medieval Mysticism, and Education.

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Image of Woman in Indonesian Folktales: Selected Stories from the Eastern Indonesian Region 

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Sugiarti1, Eggy Fajar Andalas2 & Aditya Dwi Putra Bhakti3

1Department of Indonesian Language Education, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia, sugiarti@umm.ac.id

2Department of Indonesian Language Education, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia, eggy@umm.ac.id

3Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Politic Science, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia, aditya@umm.ac.id

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.12

First published: June 19, 2022 | Area: Gender Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number2, 2022)
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Abstract  

In Indonesia, a folk tale is used as a medium of entertainment as well as a teaching tool for children. Parents read folktales to their children at night. Folktales are used in the text of Indonesian lessons at the elementary education level. However, Indonesian folktale is suspected of being gender-biased. Although there is research on this subject, there is still little research on Indonesian folktales originating from Eastern Indonesia. Previous research conducted is still focused on the western region of Indonesia, for example, Java and Sumatra Island. This study aims to understand how women are depicted in Eastern Indonesian folktales, especially to understand the objectification of female characters. Based on the results of our research, we argue that many female characters in Eastern Indonesian folktales are subject to objectification. The objectification of female figures is carried out in the form of women as objects of sexuality, women as a medium of exchange of power, and women being passive and working in the domestic sphere. This finding shows that the folktale of Eastern Indonesia cannot be separated from patriarchal ideology. These stories show that women in the imagination of the Indonesian people still occupy an inferior position compared to men. Furthermore, the female characters also experience objectification and inequality as in folktales from Western Indonesia. The patriarchal point of view in folktales has deep roots and spreads in Indonesia. Research proves that the ideology of folktale is not always in harmony with the ideal values ??that exist in society. It takes a critical attitude towards the selection of stories that will be conveyed to children

Keywords: Image of Woman, Objectification, Indonesian Folktales, Eastern Indonesian Region

Introduction

According to the Central Statistics Agency of Indonesia (2015), 1331 ethnic groups inhabit the territory of Indonesia, an archipelagic country consisting of various cultures. The cultural heritage of Indonesia is enriched with artifacts produced by these diverse ethnic groups as hinted by the presence of 366 documented folktales in the nation. (Baihaqi et al., 2015) But, in comparison with a large number of ethnic groups, the number of documented folktales is very little. The existence of folktale in a community occupies an important position. A folktale is an ethnographic description of the community that owns the story (Dundes, 1969) because it contains its values and worldview (Andalas, 2018; Aristama et al., 2020; Sulistyorini & Andalas, 2017). For generations, the folktales have been passed down as “cultural treasures” that contain the cultural essence or cultural DNA (Bar Zaken, 2020) of a particular community. In other words, understanding the folktale of a community will gain knowledge and views of the community’s life (Andalas, 2015; Dundes, 1969). These various cultural treasures are passed down between generations and perceived as shared cultural truths.

In Indonesia, a folktale is used as a medium of entertainment as well as a material for teaching to children. Parents’ reading folktales to their children at night and their usage in the text of Indonesian lessons at the elementary education level shows the importance of folktales to the people of Indonesia. However, in reality, various folktales, that are constantly reproduced and consumed in reading books or learning materials in schools, are suspected of being gender biased (Eliyanah & Zahro, 2021). Andalas & Qur’ani (2019) argue that Indonesian folktales have an imbalance in the proportion of characters and a particular stigma is attached to the male or female gender.

Various folktales found throughout the world also contain gender bias as exemplified in Persian folktales where male and female characters are depicted as different-sex objects while men are portrayed as independent, rational, strong, and accomplished characters and women as the opposite (Hosseinpour & Afghari, 2016); the folktales of Sri Lanka which reflect male dominance in the stories (Medawattegedera, 2015). However, there are also examples of exceptional  folktales where the women are not subordinated or subjugated rather heightened as the African folktales which reject or subvert women’s patriarchal control, manipulation, exclusion, and oppression (Florence, 2016; Sheik, 2018); or folktales found in Saudi Arabia present brave and intelligent women (Al-Khalaf, 2019).

The outcomes of previous research intensify the belief that folktale as a form of cultural heritage must be assessed concerning its topic, form, and content as it is related to the children’s acquisition of knowledge. Understanding these parts of folktales is crucial as the pragmatic development at the level of early childhood is not adequate to comprehend the problem of gender bias that is socially and culturally imposed on them.

Studies on gender issues in folktales found in several regions of Indonesia, as in Java (Ariani, 2016; Hapsarani, 2017; Iswara, 2019; Juansah et al., 2021; Rochman, 2015; Sari, 2015; Setiawan et al., 2016; Wulansari, 2020), folktales from Sunda (Fauzar, 2019), folktales from North Sumatra (Baiduri, 2015; Paramita, 2020; Syahrul, 2020), and folktales from Southeast Sulawesi (Putra, 2018) among others, have been carried out. Instead of the research works of a large quantity done on the folktales originating in the Western parts of Indonesia like Java and Sumatra Island, the folktales of Eastern Indonesia have not been observed from scholarly perspectives. So, it has an utmost necessary to do research works on those unsung tales. So, this study aims to throw light on the folktales originating in Eastern Indonesia. This research aims to understand how women are depicted and also objectified in Eastern Indonesian folktales. It is expected that the results of this study can complement the results of previous studies. Understanding this issue will help us reassess the story based on the topic, form, and content because it is related to the acquisition of knowledge that children will receive. This is also important because perceptions at the early stage of children’s growth and development are not suitable for understanding the problems of socially and culturally imposed gender ideology.

Gender Representation in Folktale

Representation is the practice of constructing meaning through signs and language (du Gay et al., 1999; Hall, 2003). From this perspective, language is not understood as a stable thing and will always be tied to the context in which it attends. In everyday life, human beings use language to translate and construct various meanings about various things around them. Various objects that exist around human life are understood as neutral things. However, through human beings’ marking, the meaning of an object is attached by constructing several representations. The meaning attached to an object is not standard but fluid, and can always change according to the context of human development in interpreting things.

Hall (2003) views language as a representational system because, through language, human beings can maintain the dialogue that occurs and allow them to build a culture of shared understanding and interpret the world around them in the same way. Language is a medium that can represent thoughts, ideas, and feelings in a culture. Therefore, representation through language is essential for creating meaning because culture is a battleground for meaning. Through culture, various meanings about things are created and legitimized as a common truth.

As the author’s ideological space, folktale provides dozens of spaces for interpretation and hypnotizes his readers to unconsciously participate in the ideological flow contained in literary works (Sugiarti & Andalas, 2018). This is because the process of reproducing literary works is not isolated from the cultural, political, and social context of a society and, in turn, will shape the worldview of writers, readers, and the audience (Arimbi, 2009). In the context of this research, a folktale becomes a space for the representation of gender construction from the perspective of Indonesian society. The various divisions of roles inherent in each character, regarding how to be a man and a woman, are a form of representation of the ideology of gender in Indonesian society. These various ideologies are embodied in literary fiction spaces that the readers will receive.

Through the representational system built-in folktale, the identity to be a woman or a man is built. Identity, in the study of feminism, is not understood as a singular thing. Identity is the result of the construction of individuals or groups in the self-labeling process. Gender, from the point of view of feminism, is seen as the result of socio-cultural construction prevailing in a society. Therefore, the gender identity attached to the roles that men and women must carry out in human life is the result of human construction and is not innate. Therefore, gender identity is a political matter. The identity construction process does not occur in a single or causal process at the subject’s will but is a temporal process that operates through the repetition of norms (Butler, 1993).

In this identity politics, feminism is positioned to attack the traditional identities attached to women based on traditional norms built from the point of view of men’s minds. Women are invited to build awareness of their identity by understanding it as a flexible thing (plural) and not like what men have attached to it (Lara, 1998).

Apart from this, space and time also significantly influence the process of identity formation. Different moments will create different identity narratives, and different environments build different historical perspectives (Arimbi, 2009). In this context, it is crucial to understand the form of gender identity built in the narrative of Indonesian folktales.

Female Objectification

The existence of folktale as a cultural product of society cannot be perceived as a value-free cultural product. Folktale as a cultural product is ideological. A folktale is constructed based on a particular point of view. Within this framework of thought, feminist criticism aims to weaken oppression against women from economic, political, social, and psychological perspectives.

The perpetuation of operations against women on cultural products, such as folktales, is carried out by using the male point of view in seeing the reality of life. This point of view then seems to be seen as neutral and inclusive even though it is not neutral and inclusive because it tends to objectify women (Hapsarani, 2017).

Objectification theory argues that women experience sexual objectification when they are treated as body parts or a collection of body parts judged on their benefit to others  (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Sexual objectification is a form of dehumanization because women are seen as objects or commodities (Nussbaum, 1995). Women are treated as objects which do not have complete power over their destiny and can be bought or sold without considering their experiences and feelings. This shows that sexuality and sexual relations are born by asymmetric power structures.

Seven conditions indicate the occurrence of objectification in a person: 1) if someone is treated as a tool to fulfill goals, 2) if someone is treated as a person who cannot determine his wishes, 3) if someone is treated as a person who has no agency, 4) if someone is treated as if they could be exchanged with other objects, 5) if someone is treated as an object that can be hurt, 6) if someone is treated as something that can be owned, and 7) if a person’s feelings and experiences are considered unimportant (Nussbaum, 1995). These indicate the occurrence of objectification in building subject-object relationships.

Based on the opinion above, it appears that the various descriptions in Indonesian folktales need to be evaluated in the framework of gender studies. Various representations of the objectification of women in stories are indeed very dangerous, especially when children consume folktales. Sexual objectification is the beginning of the emergence of sexual violence, which has significant consequences on one’s understanding and perspective on sexual violence (Loughnan et al., 2013). When a person sexually objectifies another person, he will perceive that that party is lower than himself. The perception of women as objects of men, especially in terms of sexuality, is very dangerous for children’s understanding of gender. Women are only seen as objects or commodities.

Impact of Gender Biased Reading Materials on Children

In contrast to sex, gender is a trait that is attached to human beings based on their socio-cultural roles in society. Throughout the history of the development of human life, there have been situations of injustice in the position and roles of women in various spheres of human life. Women tend to be positioned as inferiors who must submit to the superiority of men who dominate human life (Bourdieu, 2001).

As a fundamental dimension in understanding social life individually, gender becomes a tool for self-awareness in responding to and understanding various phenomena around them. In addition, gender awareness also influences how human interactions may be held as a worldview from birth to death (Taylor, 2003). Therefore, a person is never born with a particular gender but with the freedom to determine the roles and positions they want in their lives.

Childhood is a crucial period that will affect the way of life until adulthood. This stage is the initial stage for children to learn to understand various realities and respond to them. Through reading materials or fairy tales that they consume every day, children will get information on attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors that they will emulate and apply in their lives. In this position, it is crucial to be aware of the stereotypes that are widely practiced by patriarchal cultures regarding how men and women should play their roles in life. If children are presented with gender-biased stories from an early age, this will affect how children perceive various things in their future lives.

Various forms of ideology and teachings, both explicit and implicit, exist in literary works created from a patriarchal point of view and continue to be studied and shared in each generation. As a result of this kind of consumption, children will perceive various things in the story as a truth stored in their subconscious, and unconsciously will become their guide in interacting and behaving with their environment in the future. If this continues, children from an early age will begin to perceive biased gender roles in memory even though they cannot discriminate between men and women sexually (Bussey & Banddura, 1992). This is despite the view that, in reality, children feel that they have to identify themselves sexually, as male or female. If this is allowed to continue, there will be efforts to perpetuate patriarchal culture to limit the various roles of women from an early age and limit children’s social processes in the later years of development (McDonald, 2010).

Method

This study uses a qualitative method and the feminist literary criticism approach. Sources of research data are Indonesian folktales originating from Eastern Indonesia, namely 1) “The Legend of Ile Mauraja from East Nusa Tenggara”, 2) “The Origin of Lake Limboto from Gorontalo”, 3) “The Origin of Botu Liodu Lei Lahilote from Gorontalo”, 4) “La Upe from South Sulawesi”, 5) “Sawerigading from South Sulawesi”, 6) “La Onto-Ontolu from Southeast Sulawesi”, 7) “Indara Pitaraa and Siraapare from Southeast Sulawesi”, 8) “The Legend of the Horn of Nature from Central Sulawesi”, 9) “Napombalu from North Sulawesi”, 10) “Alamona n ‘Tautama n’Taloda (First Man in the Talaud Islands) from North Sulawesi”, and 11) “Four Sultans in North Maluku from Maluku”. The eleven stories have been accessed from the documentation done by www.ceritarakyatnusantara.com. This website is one of the complete databases for the preservation of folktales. The stories on the website are managed by the Center for the Study and Development of Malay Culture, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The selected eleven stories fulfill the following criteria:  1) The stories come from the eastern part of Indonesia; 2) there are female characters in the story; 3) there is a depiction of the role of female characters in it. The eleven stories are analyzed using content analysis techniques with a feminist perspective to criticize how women are depicted in folktales in Eastern Indonesia.

Results and Discussion

This study aims to describe the representation of female characters in Eastern Indonesian folktales, especially the objectification of female characters. The data shows three forms of the objectification of female figures: women as objects of male sexuality, women as a medium of exchange of power, and women who are passive and work in the domestic area.

Women as Objects of Male Sexuality

Objectification theory argues that women experience sexual objectification when they are treated as body parts or a collection of body parts judged on their benefit to others (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Sexual objectification is a form of dehumanization because women are seen as objects, or commodities (Nussbaum, 1995). Women are treated as objects which do not have complete power over their destiny and that can be bought or sold without considering their experiences and feelings. This shows that sexuality and sexual relations are born by asymmetric power structures.

In Eastern Indonesian folktale, it is found that the story is not neutral, and it tends to be inclusive because the depiction in the story tends to objectify women. In the eleven stories analyzed, this depiction was found in eight stories, namely “The Legend of Ile Mauraja from East Nusa Tenggara”, “The Origin of Lake Limboto from Gorontalo”, “The Origin of Botu Liodu Lei Lahilote from Gorontalo”, “La Upe from South Sulawesi”, “Sawerigading from South Sulawesi”, “Napombalu from North Sulawesi”, “Alamona n’Tautama n’Taloda (First Man in the Talaud Islands) from North Sulawesi”, and “The Four Sultans in North Maluku from Maluku”.

The representation of women as objects of sexuality in the stories like “The Legend of Ile Mauraja”, “The Origin of Botu Liodu Lei Lahilote”, “The Origin of Limboto Lake”, “Alamona n’Tautama n’Taloda” (First Man in the Talaud Islands), and “The Four Sultans in North Maluku” show similar motifs. These five stories have the same motive; they begin with a male character who accidentally sees seven beautiful women taking a bath. Girls are depicted as half-human beings, such as angels or other creatures. The male character then peeks at seven girls who are bathing and decides to steal a wing or other object that causes one of the youngest nymphs not to return to heaven. The girl is then married to a male character to have a child. However, the ending is not happy because someone will always separate them; whether they die or one of the characters (female) finds the object or wing and leaves the man. At the end of the story, a different motif is found in the Origin of Lake Limboto because women defeat male characters with their supernatural powers.

In “The Legend of Ile Mauraja” from East Nusa Tenggara, for example, it is told that one day a king who was looking for a goat got lost and entered a cave. However, he accidentally saw seven girls bathing in a river from the cave. He was fascinated and wanted to marry one of them. He took one of the garments and hid it in a tree hole. The clothes belonged to the youngest. They got married, but fateful fate made them burn to death (Samsuni, 2011c). The original story of Botu Liodu Lei Lahilote from Gorontalo also tells the same thing. However, in this story, the main character is a young man named Lahilote. One day Lahilote accidentally peeked and was fascinated by seven nymphs who were bathing in the lake. Lahilote then took one of the wings of the seven nymphs and hid it in the house. It made her unable to return to heaven. Lahilote comes back and pretends to help him. Long story short, Lahilote married the youngest angel and lived in harmony until finally the youngest angel who had been tricked found her wings hidden by Lahilote and returned to heaven (Samsuni, 2009a). The same story of the Origin of Botu Liodu Lei Lahilote is also found in the story of Alamona n’Tautama n’Taloda (The First Man in the Talaud Islands) (Samsuni, 2010a), dan and the Four Sultans in North (Samsuni, 2010b). The thing that distinguishes the story of the Four Sultans in North Maluku is that the object stolen by the male character is a shawl.

The above four stories refer to the same scene, namely the desire of men to have women in the wrong way. They want to have women based on their physical image, which is beautiful. The objectification of the women in the story is practiced as women are treated as body parts or bodies that are only judged based on their utility. In the story, the description of the objectification of the female body is illustrated through the narrative and dialogue as found in the following Legend of Ile Mauraja:

How surprised he was when he saw seven beautiful girls bathing in the river in the cave.

“Oh… how beautiful those girls are!” murmured the King’s with admiration.

Seeing the beauty of the girls came his intention to marry one of them. So, he secretly took one of the clothes from the girl that was placed on the river bank. Then he hid the clothes in a tree hole. (Samsuni, 2011c).

In the data above, women are objectified for their physical beauty. Similar representations are also found in other stories. In the original story of Botu Liodu, Lei Lahilote is described as “He then hid behind a big tree, then peeked out to check on the situation…He watched their every move without blinking an inch. The handsome young man was fascinated by the beauty of the girls.” (Samsuni, 2009a) likewise in the stories of Alamona n’Tautama n’Taloda (The First Man in the Talaud Islands) and the Four Sultans in North Maluku. The woman in the story lives in a culture that places her body to be looked at, judged, and objectified (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). In fact, in the stories, “Alamona n’Tautama n’Taloda” (First Man in the Talaud Islands) and “The Origin of Lake Limboto”, expressions of exploitation of the female body are described in a more vulgar way. In the story, “Alamona n’Tautama n’Taloda” (First Man in the Talaud Islands), verbal expression is expressed by “from behind the phone, he then observes the movements of the angels who are taking a bath. Wow, this is a really amazing sight. How beautiful those women are,” murmured the Crab Man in admiration.” (Samsuni, 2010a). Likewise in “The Origin of Lake Limboto”, which is “from behind the tree, he watched the seven nymphs bathing until their eyes did not blink a bit.” (Samsuni, 2009b).

In La Upe, Sawerigading, and Napombalu stories, female characters are visually exploited by male characters through their physical beauty (Samsuni, 2009c, 2009e, 2009d). Unlike the four stories above, in these three stories, the exploitation of women’s bodies is expressed in the admiration of the female characters’ physical appearance by the male characters. Through the description of physical beauty, the male’s sexual desire is displayed. This picture needs to be taken seriously because the representation of women’s bodies and the desire for male domination over women’s bodies need to be viewed as social practices (Goffman, 1971) and systems of power (Laqueur, 1990). This picture, at the same time, confirms the dominance of men over women (Bourdieu, 2001). Women become weak figures who are displayed more with just their physical aspect. The depiction of female intellectuals as human figures is not found in the story. Various descriptions found regarding the objectification of women in Eastern Indonesian folktales are in line with research findings on Western Indonesian folktales (Baiduri, 2015; Fauzar, 2019; Hapsarani, 2017; Iswara, 2019; Juansah et al., 2021). Women in folktales in the region also experience sexual discrimination in the form of objectification. The female characters in folktales tend to be passive, and the beauty aspect is the main attraction for male characters to get female characters. In addition, women become objects, especially of the sexuality of male characters.

Various representations of the objectification of women in stories are indeed very dangerous, especially when children consume folktales. Sexual objectification is the beginning of the emergence of sexual violence and it has significant consequences on one’s understanding and perspective on sexual violence  (Loughnan et al., 2013). When a person sexually objectifies another person, he will perceive that that party is lower than himself. The perception of women as objects of men, especially in terms of sexuality, is very dangerous for children’s understanding of gender. Women are only seen as objects or commodities.

Women as an Exchange of Power

Women are objectified when they are seen or treated by others as objects(Nussbaum, 1995). Objectification works through the experience of treating a body that is judged in terms of its usefulness for (or consumption by) others (Hapsarani, 2017). In the folktales of Eastern Indonesia, two stories describe female characters as a medium of exchange of power. The two stories are “Sawerigading” from South Sulawesi and “Indara Pitaraa and Siraapare” from Southeast Sulawesi. This depiction cannot be separated from the use of the background of events during the royal period. In the story of “Sawerigading”, the princess of the Chinese kingdom was used by her father to strengthen the ties of brotherhood with the kingdom of South Sulawesi. Putri does not have a role in participating in making choices in her life for the power of male characters (Samsuni, 2009e). Likewise, in the story of “Indara Pitaraa and Siraapare”, the king’s daughter became a gift for Indara Pitaara for helping to kill a giant snake. Putri has no power over her destiny and choices for the sake of perpetuating the king’s power in this region (Samsuni, 2011a).

The objectification of women as a medium of exchange of power in both of the stories occurs because women do not have the power to make decisions. In both the stories as well as in almost many folktales from Indonesia, women are depicted as passive beings who do not have the power to have opinions or make decisions (Toha-Sarumpaet, 2010). The depiction in folktale almost entirely depicts decisions made by men. This condition has implications for the emergence of constructions regarding the nature that a woman must possess. A good woman is a woman who obeys the decisions of men. However, in the folktale above, the passivity of women causes them to become objects for the medium of exchange of power. Women become commodities for men’s interests in perpetuating their power.

Women are Passive and Work in Domestic Areas

One of the methods of objectification of women is identifying a person based on his body or body parts (Langton, 2009). In Eastern Indonesian folktales, some depictions limit women’s space based on identifying their physical condition. The female characters in the story are described as having only access to the domestic area. Women occupy a passive role and obey the male characters. This is because women are depicted as physically weak characters and need men as their protectors.

In most of the stories, female characters are only described as having access to the domestic sphere. The female characters are tasked with taking care of household needs. In the story of La Onto-Ontolu, by the female character, Grandma, everything that deals with the kitchen area is done (Samsuni, 2011b). The grandmother figure is a representation of the depiction of the role of women in this region. Likewise, in the story of Indara Pitaraa and Siraapare, the mother character is depicted as the person who is responsible for the kitchen to meet the food needs of her children. Unlike the female characters, the male characters have access to get out of the domestic area. They have to work outside and even have access to leave the village to earn a living (Samsuni, 2011a).

The data shows that in the folktale of Eastern Indonesia, women are also described as being more dominant in the domestic sector. This picture is in line with the research findings conducted by  Zahro et al., (2020), which state that in Indonesian folktales, female characters tend to maximize their potential in the domestic sector and ignore broader competencies. Moon & Nesi (2020), in their research on fairy tales from East Nusa Tenggara, also found that women have more roles in the domestic area. Women rarely appear in public. This means that the images of women in folktales, both in the Western and Eastern regions of Indonesia, tend to represent women’s roles in the domestic sphere.

The placement of women’s positions only in the domestic area is closely related to how men perceive women’s physical strength. Many female characters in Eastern Indonesian folktales depict women as passive beings who have no will. Characters are treated as individuals who do not have the autonomy or ability to determine their desires (Nussbaum, 1995). For example, in the story of La Onto-Ontolu, the character Putri Bungsu must obey her husband’s invitation to leave her family at the palace (Samsuni, 2011b). The female character is described as a good figure if she follows her husband’s decision.

This picture shows the position of women in the family. A man is the head of the family as well as the protector of his wife and children. This construction influences how men view women’s position as weak creatures who only need to work at home and wait for the results of men’s hard work.

Women’s domestic roles and passivity are in contrast with the more dominant characteristics of men. Men have a much stronger physical body and can protect women. This depiction is emphasized in the Legend of the Horn of Alam story as a male character who comes to save a female character from being kidnapped (Samsuni, 2019). Similar stories are also found in several other stories. In this construction, men become patrons for women who nurture and protect.

Conclusion

This study aims to understand how women are depicted in Eastern Indonesian folktales. This understanding is mainly related to the objectification of female figures. Based on the analysis conducted on eleven folktales, it is found that many female characters in Eastern Indonesian folktales are subject to objectification. The objectification of female figures is carried out in the form of women as objects of sexuality, as a medium of exchange of power, and as being passive and working in the domestic sphere. This finding shows that the folktale of Eastern Indonesia cannot be separated from patriarchal ideology. These stories show that women in the imagination of the Indonesian people still occupy an inferior position compared to men. Furthermore, the female characters also experience objectification and inequality as found in the folktales of Western Indonesia. The patriarchal point of view in the folktales has deep roots and spreads in Indonesia. Research proves that the ideology of folktale is not always in harmony with the ideal values ??that exist in society. It takes a critical attitude towards the selection of stories that will be conveyed to children.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Funding
The authors would like to thank the Directorate of Research and Community Service – Directorate General of Research and Development Strengthening – Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia for funding this research.

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Imagine, Integrate, and Incorporate: English Language and its Pedagogical Implications in EFL Classrooms

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Sohaib Alam
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, College of Sciences and Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al kharj, Saudi Arabia. ORCID: 0000-0002-9972-9357Email: s.alam@psau.edu.sa

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.10

First published: June 19, 2022 | Area: EFL Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number2, 2022)
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Imagine, Integrate, and Incorporate: English Language and its Pedagogical Implications in EFL Classrooms

Abstract

As the English language is accepted globally, it becomes a challenge for the teachers to learn the new theories and practices and get updated as per the requirements and needs of the learners. It is very necessary to know the needs of the learners in order to help them or push them towards learning. Knowing your learners’ needs means half of the work has been done, the only thing the teacher has to do is to select the methods and apply the appropriate strategies in the classrooms. The existing practice of teaching English in the classroom does not offer much to the students to practice receptive and productive skills in real-life situations. The present study focus on developing language skills by using different strategies and activities in real-life classroom situation to enhance the language skills of the learners. The study uses a quantitative method to collect data from the respondents through a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire was based on a five-point Likert scale and the reliability and validity were tested through SPSS version 20. The Cronbach alpha was tested and the results were satisfactory. The findings of the study clearly show that if the strategies and method of pedagogy in the classroom will be changed to more learners-centred and activity-based, the learning outcomes will be better and language skills were enhanced.

Keywords: Pedagogy, Receptive skills, productive skills, language learning activities, Incorporation

Introduction

English is spoken all over the world and English language teaching and learning is one of the most fascinating as well as challenging tasks for the pedagogues as well as for the learners. As the English language has spread and travelled across the world it has changed its colour and form. Different people have accepted and used the English language as their second language or foreign language to convey their opinions, values, thoughts, and feelings. The power of the English language can be seen as most of the textbooks which are available in this world irrespective of the field they have existed in English language and if not it is translated into it. The English language is considered the lingua franca of our country, spoken by the majority of the people. It is the means of employability in each and every sector. A person who is fluent in the English language can get a job very easier. Now a day it is the minimum requirement of almost every job. The uniqueness of the English language lies in its diversified nature as wherever it goes it changes its structures and function. The emergence of the English language as a global language is an example of how it is quickly reached and accepted by the people. The most important point of the English language is the flexibility to adjust to the native language.

Learning a language whether it is second or foreign is indeed a very complex process. It needs special care, effort, and calibre to master that language because there is always mother tongue intervention when you learn a language. Shinsuke Tsuchiya (2016) discussed the other important distinction which is the dichotomy between native and non-native speakers. He further explains the idea by acknowledging the diversity of speech and practices in different ethnic communities in the world. However, this is the fact that non-native speakers have not been hired or given opportunities over native speakers irrespective of the truth that whether they are more effective or not. Because sometimes the problem of mutual intelligibility also occur when it comes to second language classroom specifically in India where a number of diverse mother tongue exists. The author also explains that individuals perceive the notion of native and non-native differently. Tsuchiya opines:

The practice of dichotomizing natives and non-natives as two homogeneous groups is at best misleading. This is because individuals routinely perceive ‘natives’ and ‘non-natives’ differently, depending on a wide variety of factors. These factors include but are not limited to, linguistic ability, educational background, competence in other languages (s), dialect, citizenship, ethnic background, skin colour, and even gender and sexual orientation. One way to deconstruct the dichotomy is to study those who do not fit in the dichotomy through ethnographic studies. Such individuals would include heritage speakers, dialect speakers, and those who are linguistically but not “ethnically” native speakers. (p. 3-4)

Therefore, to develop an effective and efficient model of teaching strategy, activity based on language questions which target to improve productive and receptive skills of English language learning is the foremost pragmatic strategy that can be developed and applied in foreign language classrooms. Language learning has some basic concepts and theories about how language is learnt, acquired, and taught. Behaviourism is basically psychology theory which is concerned with the behaviours of the individual. It has dominated the field of second language acquisition until the end of the 1960s. The approach is focused on the external individual’s environment. Behaviourist says language learning is habit formation, the procedure of linking stimulus and responses. This process is regarded as a learning instrument and has to be reinforced, practised, observed, and corrected. Behaviourists emphasize on imitation of stimulus as a process of learning. The central idea is dependent upon the observation, measurement, and verification of the subject i.e. is a language learner. The principles of the theory rely on observation, repetition, drill practice, and stimulus-response. Naderi, S., Ajmal, M., Keezhatta, M. S., & Alam, S. (2021) write in the paper titled “Stroke Effect of English Teachers on the Learners’ L2 Motivational Self-System”

The interaction between teacher and learner can be considered a fundamental element in the educational context. Hall and Walsh (2002) asserted that the quality of teacher-learner interaction in the language learning contexts is a major factor to have effective and efficient learning and teaching process. Moreover, this kind of interaction has an essential role in progressing a positive learners’ academic development and a social enhancement as well. In fact, the promoted interaction between teachers and learners provides a safe and suitable environment for both learners and teachers. (108)

Language has four skills i.e. LSRW, apart from this it has two aspects also that is vocabulary and grammar. To learn a language or acquire every individual has to learn the rules of the language as well as the vocabulary irrespective of whichever language they are learning. “Teachers believed that the motivation levels of the entire class and of individual students depend highly on the teachers. Technology was perceived as important for today’s classroom by all teachers” (Ajmal et al., p. 543). Universal grammar theory refers to the structure of the certain set of rules which are inherent in humans. The theory has been proposed by Noam Chomsky in 1986, and he argued that humans have the ability to organize limited language constraints in their minds. In addition to, he elaborates that every language in this world has a limited number of similar structure or set of rules that exists in humans naturally. “In certain situations in which the child is not presented with any consistent linguistic model, they appear to have the capacity to invent some aspects of language” (Carroll, p. 42). The above-mentioned statement of David Carroll in his book Psychology of Language supports the notion of Universal grammar. This set of rules is known as Universal grammar and it is also supported by the Creole languages. Aleksander Kobylarek (2020) says “the point of education depended on introducing people to human achievement by creating a certain development continuum” (p. 6).

The aforementioned ideas about language and its aspects of how to learn its nuances to practice in real-life situations are the demand of today’s competitive world. To solve the problem of pedagogues in the classroom teaching the study focus on how to develop a strategy based on activities of the English language and its implementation or integration in real-life classroom teaching.

Literature Review

The present study reviews some of the important articles and books pertinent to the idea of integrating, incorporating and imagining the language skills in the classroom pedagogy. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language Fourth Edition (2014) by Celce-Murcia, Marianne, Donna Brinton, and Marguerite A. Snow accentuates the methods of language teaching comprehensibly, elaborates on how to assess the language skills and its aspects i.e. grammar and vocabulary, and highlights the integrated approaches of ESL and EFL classrooms with providing relevant content.  Additionally, the book focuses on the information about the learners that are relevant for classroom interaction and foreground issues that are important for the professional development of the teachers. The book is a comprehensive demonstration of approaches, methods and techniques to make teachers capable enough to facilitate teaching English as a second or foreign language. It can be used as a reference book or guide for specific training and professional development in academics. The book is a canon of each and every aspect that is important and affects teaching-learning process. It is substantial because each chapter begins with a question that previews the contents of the chapter. It also throws light on key concepts and terminologies that are pertinent to ESL and EFL contexts. Apart from this, the chapters elaborate on conceptual underpinnings (research and theory), followed by classroom implications. The uniqueness of the book is each chapter ends with the future trends and recommendations, a conclusion and summary followed by the discussions, questions, suggested activities, and recommendations for future readings. The suggested materials can be utilized for stimulating critical thinking, application, and exploration.

Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (2000) by Diane Larsen-Freeman is a remarkable contribution to the field of language teaching and learning. The book discusses new methods through more attention to the learning process providing the methodological choice to the teachers. Second Language Pedagogy (1987) by N.S. Prabhu is a landmark book which aims to present a particular view of second language pedagogy through fascinating and exciting procedures and tasks in language teaching. This approach was referred to as the ‘Bangalore Project’ and some called it ‘Communicational Teaching Project’. The project had some very interesting ideas of giving the instruction as tasks, and their implication in the syllabus design is what we have known as ‘procedural syllabus’. Prabhu describes “development of competence in a second language requires not systematization of language inputs or maximization of planned practice, but rather the creation of conditions in which learners engage in an effort to cope with communication” (Prabhu,  p. 1). So what he focused through his idea of communicational approach or procedural approach or task-based language learning is that creating the situation (tasks) is very much important for the production of appropriate linguistic expression.

Approach and Methods in Language Teaching (2001) by Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rogers is a remarkable work which gives us insights into the approach, methods, and techniques of language teaching, split into three parts. The book discusses cooperative language learning, content-based instruction, task-based language teaching and the post-methods era. The book aims to offer an inclusive and lucid description of major and minor movements in language teaching methods from the commencement of the twentieth century to the current times. The aim of the authors is to present a straight and inclusive depiction of a meticulous approach or method.

Blended Learning: Creating Opportunities for Language Learners (2012) by Debra Marsh reflects the blending of learning methods, approaches, and strategies in language learning classrooms. It discusses the incorporation of the pedagogically sound learning materials which support the approach. “Blended learning can refer to any combination of different methods of learning, different learning environments, different learning styles” (Marsh, p. 3).

Sayeh Abdullah’s article “Challenges for Teaching English as a Second Language and their Remedies” (2013) analyses the challenges and barriers to teaching in EFL classrooms. The article discusses the cultural nuances that influence the language learning process which is an important barrier for second language learners. Cognition of new structures and skills is very important among learners; the use of real-life situations can give learners ample experiences to understand. The new words and new expressions should be discussed and explained to learners in order to comprehend them easily. The author defines “it is demanded that the English language teachers must be skilled enough at lowering these barriers and sparking student interest and curiously by developing a creative, wise and passionate curriculum” (Abdullah, p. 371). However, it has been noticed that after decades of teaching English teachers have not achieved what they are supposed to; somehow they are lacking in creativity and experiments; new approaches in their classroom. Teaching the second language has been a difficult assignment, particularly, in working with the students who hail from diverse cultures and backgrounds as it entails a number of intricacies which can be overcome through the application of suitable approaches. The paper focuses on the problems of learners of a second language, mainly, English.

“Drama in Education and its Effectiveness in English Second/Foreign Language Classes” (2004) by L. Athiemoolam address the challenge of using drama in ESL/EFL classrooms and its effectiveness. The article aims to draw attention to the use of creativeness, role play and frozen images as procedures to support the learning process among learners who are learning English. It also focuses on the development of communication skills among English language learners at the school or university level. The author enumerates the usage and application of drama techniques and the invaluable role of drama in developing oral communication. The author emphasizes that drama and theatre develop creativity and confidence among learners, by using creative drama like pantomime, role play, and improvisation. One can stimulate authentic situations in the classroom for the development of the English language.

In “Drama Techniques for Teaching English” (2004) Vani Chauhan discusses the alternative method of teaching English through drama by providing context for language production. The article examines the benefits of using drama in the classroom by asserting that drama empowers the teachers’ repertoire of pedagogic strategies. The author elaborates on the effectiveness of drama in the ESL classroom and demonstrates the warm-up game to trigger the learner’s ability to respond, then describes the drama activities through which teachers can teach the English language. The activities include the interrogative roles, telephonic conversations, and soliloquy. Each activity is very clearly designed and described with follow-up and variations.   The article discusses drama as an alternative method in the EFL classroom which is the primary aim of this study. It strengthens the present study by demonstrating a way how it will be implemented in the second language classroom.

The literature review discusses different methodologies and strategies discussed by the authors to cater for the need of the students in EFL/ESL classroom pedagogy. The limited study discussed above shows that there is a gap between the ideas, strategies, and approaches and their implementation, integration and incorporation. The present study tried to fill the gap in the actual integration of activities and strategies in the real-life classroom pedagogy.

Research Methodology

The research methodology follows a valid and reliable method to collect data through a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire was used firstly to conduct a pilot study to know the weakness and strength and implement the changes accordingly. The respondents were chosen by using the purposive method and the entire respondent were studying in an undergraduate program. The questionnaire was based on five-point Likert scale. For the present study, only a few statements related to language teaching will be analysed and try to find out the possible solution related to the classroom pedagogy. The language-based statements are designed to get information about the effectiveness of activities and exercises in language classrooms. The options are ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 means strongly disagree and 5 means strongly agree. The statement-based questions intend to inquire about the usefulness, and effectiveness of the concept of language activities in classroom learning and teaching.

Data Analysis

The first statement in the questionnaire comes under the dimension of language-based and asks “I like activities in the classroom to learn English”. This statement aims to know whether students like activity as a strategy in learning English or whether it has not been added to the curriculum nor practised by teachers. All of the language-based statements are coded as (LB) for tabulation and analysis.

Graph 1

The responses recorded are shown in the Graph 1 above, thirty-two (32) students selected ‘strongly disagree’, forty-eight (48) students selected ‘disagree’, two hundred thirty-two (232) students selected ‘neutral’, four hundred ninety-five (495) students selected ‘agree’, and one hundred ninety-six (196) selected ‘strongly agree’. The responses from the participants are quite positive about using activity as a tool for learning English as it is loud and clear from the table 4.15, that 70%of the respondents marked positively when asked do they like drama activities, exercises, and lessons in the English classroom. However, 23% of the participants responded that they feel neutral or they are okay with the approach whereas only 8% of the students responded negatively. Statistical data for statement one (LB1) shown in graph 15 have received positive responses from the respondents. The kind of responses received for this particular statement gives strength to the present study as it is proposing a new approach to teaching and learning which has not been used earlier or is not generally practised because of end number of reasons by the teachers.

The next statement, based on language skills, asks “drama in the English language classroom makes learning easy”. This particular statement intends to establish the fact whether drama and theatre-based activities are helpful in learning English or it does make the process of learning easy. As it is shown in Graph 2 below, twenty-nine (29) students selected the option ‘strongly disagree’, fifty-six (56) students selected ‘disagree’, and two hundred two (202) students selected ‘neutral’.

Graph 2

The second statement of language-based (LB2) intends to know the opinion of respondents about drama makes learning English easy as a teaching tool, with the presupposition that minimum effort and maximum output can be achieved through drama-based activities. Approximately, 70% of the students responded positively to this statement which means they believe drama will help them to learn the English language easily if it is opted for by the teacher and added to the curriculum by policymakers.

Statement three (LB3) of language-based appears in the questionnaire as statement number fifteen (15). This statement tried to get input from respondents on how effective are language games and role-play in improving their English language. The participants responded to this particular statement, sixteen (16) students chose the option ‘strongly disagree’, thirty-eight (38) chose the option ‘disagree’, one hundred fifty-two (152) chose the option ‘neutral’, five hundred thirty-five (535) chosen ‘agree’, and two hundred sixty-two (262) chosen the option ‘strongly agree’. It is clear from Graph 3 below, that most of the respondents feel that language games and role-play activities in English language classrooms improve the accuracy and fluency of their language skills.

Graph 3

Graph 3 (above) shows that almost eighty (80) per cent of the participants responded positively to this statement whereas only 5.4% responded negatively.

Statement four (LB4) of language-based appears in the questionnaire as statement nineteen (19), which intends to ask about projects, presentations, and assignments. As data shown in Graph 4 below, eighty-three (83) students selected option ‘strongly disagree, eighty-six (86) students selected option ‘disagree’, two hundred fifty-five (255) students selected option ‘neutral’, three hundred forty-six (346) students selected option ‘agree’, and two hundred thirty-three (233) students selected option ‘strongly agree’. It is clear from graph 18, that fifty-eight per cent (58) of the students responded positively to this statement and 16.8% of the students responded negatively. The rest of them responded to the option neutral.

The next statement LB-5 asks activity-based teaching improves the oral skill of the students. It also investigates activities as a tool of learning helpful in developing the pronunciation skills of students.

Graph 4

As it is clear from Graph 5 below, eleven (11) students selected the option ‘strongly disagree’, forty students (40) selected the option ‘disagree’, two hundred and two (202) students selected the option ‘neutral’, four hundred fifty-three (453) selected option ‘agree’, two hundred ninety-seven (297) selected option ‘strongly agree’.

Graph 5

The next statement based on language is LB 6 which asks about opportunities students are having in their everyday life. This particular statement intends to ask how frequently they speak English outside the classroom. Practising linguistic structure as much as possible develops the language skills of students.

Graph 6

The response recorded after tabulation of data reveals, twenty-nine (29) students responded ‘strongly disagree’, sixty-one (61) students responded ‘disagree’, one hundred ninety-three (193) students responded ‘neutral’, four hundred thirty-eight (438) responded ‘ agree’, two hundred eighty-two (282) responded ‘strongly agree’. It is clear from Graph 6 above, almost seventy-two (72) per cent of the students responded positively to the statement whereas nine (9) per cent of the students responded negatively.

If respondents who marked option ‘neutral’ for example taken as they do not have opportunities or least opportunity to use English in their daily life then a large number of students are not using English or do not get the opportunity to use it in their day to day communication. The reason can be different for every individual, maybe they are shy and hesitate to communicate in English because they think others might point out their mistakes and make fun. The other reason for not using it is that they are not able to produce appropriate linguistic structures of language, lack of vocabulary, lack of motivation and so on.

The next statement in this segment is that LB7 intends to ask how English can be learnt by putting minimum effort for maximum output with the help of drama techniques.

Graph 7

The response recorded after tabulation of data reveals, that thirty-five (35) students selected option ‘strongly disagree’, eighty-nine (89) students selected option ‘disagree’, two hundred eighty-nine (289) students selected option ‘neutral’, four hundred twenty-one (421) selected option ‘agree’, and one hundred seventy-three (173) selected the option ‘strongly agree’. It is clear from Graph 7 below, total of 12.45% students responded negatively to this statement whereas sixty (60) per cent of the students approximately responded positively to this statement.

Most of the participants believe that English can be learnt with minimum effort through the use of drama and theatre as a tool for learning. The approach of using drama as an instructional method in second language classrooms gives motivation and makes the learning process easier.

The next statement of language-based is LB8 intends to ask about word games and puzzles help to improve vocabulary. The response recorded after tabulation of data shows that sixteen (16) students selected option ‘strongly disagree’, thirty-five (35) students selected option ‘disagree’, one hundred fifty-two (152) students selected option ‘neutral’, five hundred five (505) students selected the option ‘agree’, and two hundred ninety-five (295) students selected option ‘strongly agree’.

Graph 8

It has been observed by several teachers and scholars that students especially at the undergraduate level face difficulties in speaking and writing because they do not have enough vocabulary to express their thoughts and feelings. Even when writing descriptive answers in exams they keep on repeating the same expressions. This technique of using word games in the classroom does help them to improve their vocabulary and will directly develop their oral and written skills in the English language. As you can see in graph 8 above, only five (5) per cent of students responded negatively to this statement whereas eighty (80) per cent of the students responded positively. In this regard, there is a need for enhancing the vocabulary of the students at the undergraduate level and working with word games can be an essential strategy to develop their vocabulary.

The last statement LB9 investigates the effectiveness of the approach of using drama activities in language teaching classrooms. The responses recorded were: twenty-two (22) students selected the option ‘strongly disagree’, thirty-eight (38) students selected the option ‘disagree’, one hundred forty-four (144) students selected ‘neutral’, four hundred seventy-five (475) students selected the option ‘agree’, and three hundred twenty-four (324) students selected the option ‘strongly agree’. As it is clear from graph 23 (below), six (6) per cent of the students responded to this statement negatively whereas eighty (80) per cent of the students responded positively. 14.5% of the students responded neutrally.

Graph 9

Inferences and Findings of the Study

The findings of the present study are discussed in the form of inferences made by analysing the data which were collected through the questionnaire. There are discussed below:

The researcher found that the use of unscripted activities i.e. extended role play develops cooperative learning, group work and pair work among students. Apart from these, it was observed that students often feel boredom in the classroom if the teacher is not using interactive methodologies but these drama-based activities make the learning interesting and useful for the overall improvement of the personality and language of students. Traditional methodologies do not offer an interactive teaching style which is why students are unable to perform well when asked inside and outside the Indian classroom. These activities are the easiest way to make the learning of English language effective as it stimulates motivation among learners. The majority of students responded that while indulging in drama-based activities they are able to interact actively and effectively without any pressure. Furthermore, the efficacious nature of the activities can be seen as it develops the imagination of the students because the activities are designed in a way that promotes the student’s involvement in the classroom and gives them autonomy to learn the English language. The teacher’s role is to be a torch bearer in the classroom.

It was noticed through the responses recorded that language games facilitate students to learn new linguistic expressions and it is easily available through the Android platform on mobiles. Students find language games easily accessible to them and they can utilize them for their language improvement. A number of language games are available for vocabulary building and grammar improvement online and offline. The comprehensible finding suggests that these language games enhance confidence and creativity as they are not redundant but rather spontaneous in nature.

It was found that using non-verbal activities in the classroom improves the body language of the students. These activities improve the kinaesthetic skills of the students i.e. how to interact with others without using words or sentences through gestures and postures. It is an effective strategy for teaching the English language in the second language classroom. Moreover, it also develops the mutual intelligibility of the students. Leo Jones (2007) says:

In student-centred classes, students don’t depend on their teacher all the time, waiting for instructions, words of approval, correction, advice, or praise. They don’t ignore each other, but look at each other and communicate with each other. They value each other’s contributions; they cooperate, learn from each other, and help each other. When in difficulty or in doubt, they do ask the teacher for help or advice but only after they have tried to solve the problem among themselves. The emphasis is on working together, in pairs, in groups, and as a whole class. Their teacher helps them to develop their language skills. (p. 1)

One of the major findings that were perceived through the responses of the students is that they do not rely on reading authentic materials rather than they prefer to read sub-standard market materials that are easy to read in order to pass their examinations. Most of the students responded that they use online content as their reading materials, and very few students responded that they regularly read newspapers and magazines. The English Language has four skills and two aspects that have to be practised to be a fluent and accurate writer or speaker reading and listening serve as the input of the language that goes into the subconscious mind of individuals. Speaking and writing are the output of the language without input the desired output is not possible. Apart from these input and output skills, it is important to inculcate the aspects of language, i.e. grammar and vocabulary. Drama as an instructional approach is potent enough to foster these skills and aspects in a holistic teaching strategy.

This approach gives a kind of training of pronunciation to the students as it uses ICT and audio-visual materials if available. Using this method the teacher’s role is to act as a guide and supervise the activity by giving appropriate feedback wherever needed. Sometimes if the infrastructure is available audio-video materials are used for ice-breaking or warm-up activities to push students toward the learning process. Moreover, Alan Maley and Alan Duff’s (2013) book titled “Drama techniques in language learning” is an important resource book for activities that can be used in EFL classroom pedagogy. The data reveals and the researcher also believes that the use of multimedia materials gives students a kind of training so that they can listen and see to imitate the language structures and supra-segmental features in a real-life situation. Aleksander Kobylarek (2021) says that “education practices to be appropriate, knowledge about education must have a solid foundation” (p. 9)

It is observed that this approach gives the opportunity to the students to use the English language inside and trains them to use it outside with confidence. In the Indian context, students have very little or no exposure in using the English language in their everyday life. Even in some cases, students do not have exposure to listening to the native speaker to imitate them to learn the exact pronunciation. The findings conclude that this approach is very helpful in learning English as it is cost-effective, efficient, and can be used without any infrastructure in open spaces.

It was noticed and the majority of the respondents said that traditional chalk and lecture teaching methods are one-dimensional way and do not promote students’ involvement, participation, autonomy, and freedom whereas learning the English language in a second language context should be two-way communicative act, should be thought-provoking, exchanging ideas, and should allow students to engage and participate in the classroom. Drama as a strategy for teaching the English language initiates the learning process which traditional methods do not support. Even the errors are not welcomed in traditional teaching practices which Stephen Pit Corder said is very significant for a beginner.

It was pointed out that the researcher firmly believes that drama as a method of teaching motivates learners to practise the English language inside and outside the classroom. Traditional teaching styles do not offer ample motivation and they minimize the hesitation of the students because of the lecture method which students often find boring. It was observed that students feel connected to the idea of using drama and they actively interact in the classroom with a result, they gradually use the English language more. They also find it very interesting to practice language structures through assigned roles. Alam, S., Al-Hawamdeh, B. O. S., Ghani, M. U., & Keezhatta, M. S. accentuates:

The use of activities based on drama in education is efficacious in developing the creativity and critical skills of the learners. It is also helpful in fostering the non-verbal skills of learners in real-life situations. Additionally, if the approach is used in the right way it can have a positive impact on the learning outcomes of the students in ESL and EFL classrooms. The challenge is to devise the activities according to the classroom nature and the level of the students (p. 40).

It was noticed that the reverberation of the linguistic expression in the classroom enhances the personal, social, and cultural values among learners. The activities developed and designed for classroom teaching purposes are improvised from real-life situations and that is why the students feel it is important to practice and subscribe to the idea of enacting those situations in the classroom. In the process of acting out the expressions, they inculcate the social etiquette, values, courtesy, manners, decorum, protocol, and politeness. This leads to the understanding that drama is not only helpful in teaching the English language but also effective in the overall personality development of students.

Conclusion

As discussed above it is clear that the activities based teaching is far more effective than the traditional method of direct teaching. The learners are quite comfortable and not reluctant to use language in real-life situations because these strategies give them a king of training and practice of receptive and productive skills. The efficacies of the activities are visible when learners had been asked how they feel about it. The only problem that is faced by pedagogues around the world is that suitable activity according to individual classrooms nature is not available. Also, Aleksander Kobylarek (2021) points out that “low digital skills of teachers became a cause of problem when it comes teaching with the help of technology” (p. 6). In this regard study conducted by Alam et al. (2020); Alam et al. (2022); Al-hawamdeh, B. O. S., Alam, S (2022), Process Drama as a Method of Pedagogy in ESL Classrooms: Articulating the Inarticulate, Practice and Principle of Blended Learning in ESL/EFL Pedagogy: Strategies, Techniques and Challenges, Praxis and Effectiveness of Pedagogy during Pandemic: An Investigation of Learners’ Perspective is beneficial because they discuss some sample activities in their study. Either the teacher has to devise the activity according to the nature of the classroom or do some changes accordingly. The article also discusses the importance of blended learning, challenges and problems teachers face in the real classroom pedagogy. The limitation of the study is that it is conducted on a small sample size of only undergraduates and for policy making and changing the syllabus and curriculum there is a need for huge data and support from the agencies and government.

Acknowledgement

This publication was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.

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The Association between Linguistic Competence Components and Listening Comprehension of Thai EFL Learners

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Siwaporn Singhkum1 & Chomraj Patanasorn2
1English Program, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. Email: siwaporn.singhkum@gmail.com

2English Program, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. Email: chomraj@kku.ac.th

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.09

First published: June 19, 2022 | Area: EFL Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number2, 2022)
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The Association between Linguistic Competence Components and Listening Comprehension of Thai EFL Learners

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the extent to which there is an association between components of linguistic competence and listening comprehension and to examine whether one component of linguistic competence is a stronger predictor of listening comprehension than another. Participants included 107 Thai EFL learners whose major is English, and they were asked to complete a linguistic competence test and a listening comprehension test. Correlation and multiple regression were used to determine the statistical relationship between linguistic competence components and listening comprehension. Results indicated that all components except syntactic competence significantly correlated with listening comprehension albeit mostly in small correlations. Listening comprehension significantly correlated with phonological competence (r = 0.296, p = 0.002), morphological competence (r = 0.292, p = 0.002), and the strongest predictor was semantic competence (r = 0.326, p = 0.001). Although linguistic competence significantly correlated with listening comprehension in EFL learners, it had only a small influence on listening comprehension due to the covariance of 16.4 per cent out of all factors involved in listening success.

Keywords: EFL Learners, Linguistic Competence, Listening Comprehension

INTRODUCTION

Listening is a cognitive process that intertwines various complex mechanisms involving the coordinated operation between neurological processing and linguistic processing (Barker, 1971; Weaver, 1972; Cutler, Dahan, & Van Donselaar, 1997). In order to comprehend audio input, the neurological processing primarily supports listeners in receiving the input, activating related constituents, such as attention or consciousness as well as transferring the input to the listeners’ minds (Liberman, Cooper, Shankweiler, & Studdert-Kennedy, 1967). Linguistic processing engages the manipulation of the input by integrating phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic competence to help listeners understand a message before they generate a response (Cutler & Fodor, 1979). According to Cutler, Dahan and Van Donselaar (1997), the integral processing between neurological processing and linguistic processing automatically collaborates in terms of receiving, decoding and interpreting in comprehending the audio input. Hence, the more fluent neurological processing and linguistic processing contribute to the more effective listening comprehension.

Besides the cognitive systems, listening comprehension also involves two kinds of competence including non-linguistic as well as linguistic competence to deal with the incoming input (Buck, 2001). According to Eysenck (1998), non-linguistic competence utilizes macro-level mechanisms (e.g., accessibility of stored knowledge in long-term memory) to help listeners understand the concept, topic or context of what they listen to. In other words, the shared knowledge between listeners and speakers or listeners’ prior knowledge and the incoming audio input can provide understanding as well as mental images to promote listening comprehension. For instance, a speaker says that his dog did it again, and if the listener has shared knowledge about the speaker’s dog, the listener will be able to immediately recognize which dog he is talking about and what crime it had committed. To give another example, a listener listens to a happy-ending drama, and when the story is halfway through, they may correctly predict the ending. This is a result of the familiarity with the happy-ending theme, which the listener possesses in his/her prior knowledge. Al-Qaraghooly and Al-Bermani (2010) explain that non-linguistic competence is always coincidental with linguistic competence which can help listeners discriminate, recognize and understand the spoken message.

Linguistic competence relates to the application of phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic knowledge in activating micro-level mechanisms, such as acoustic signal analysis, word retrieval as well as syntactic and semantic interpretation (Clark & Haviland, 1974). For example, a listener needs to segment the ending phoneme of the past-tense verb as well as recognize the adverb of time when listening to a story about the past or the listener may interpret the background event and the main event of past-continuous-tense and past-tense sentences to comprehend the circumstance in the story. According to Cutler and Cliftion (2000), linguistic components (i.e., phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic competence) in listening can be neither completely separated nor combined when they are functioning. This means that in order to comprehend the continuity and coarticulation of the audio input, the simultaneous activation of partially overlapping components of linguistic competence functions.

Accordingly, these non-linguistic and linguistic components used to comprehend audio input operate depending on the cognitive tasks (e.g., for the familiar-context audio input, listeners’ mind weighs more on non-linguistic competence meanwhile for the speed and unfamiliar-context audio input, the linguistic competence is more activated.) (Cutlter & Cliftion, 2000; Clashsen & Felser, 2006). In other words, these phenomena of non-linguistic and linguistic competence activation occur in a form of problem-solving. However, the way to identify whether the non-linguistic competence or linguistic competence should be employed relies on linguistic competence to discriminate sounds or recognize words in the continuous audio input. Hence, it can be claimed that linguistic competence is the basis of listening comprehension. Subsequently, many scholars (e.g., Anderson, 1995; Cutler & Clifton, 2000; Schneider, Avivi-Reich, Leung, & Heinrich, 2016) have attempted to examine the relationship between linguistic competence and listening comprehension in different ways.

Over the past decade, research on linguistic competence and listening comprehension has become more extensive; however, it is still limited compared to the relationship between other dimensions of listening comprehension studies (e.g., listening strategy or affective filter studies) (Vandergrift & Cross, 2018; Rudner, Ahlander, Brännström, Nirme, Pichora-Fuller, & Sahlen, 2018). In addition, regarding linguistic competence, most studies have solely been found to emphasize each component of linguistic competence to listening comprehension. For example, Rabia (2019) studied only the relationship between phonological competence and listening comprehension whilst Becker (2016) studied the relationship between listening comprehension and semantic competence, Sapoetra (2017) studied listening comprehension and syntactic competence, and Masrai (2019) studied on listening comprehension and morphological competence. All the findings suggest a strong relationship between the individual linguistic competence component and listening comprehension; nevertheless, it remains unclear whether all linguistic competence components are interrelated in the identical context. Moreover, even though some researchers use the term linguistic competence in their studies, some parts of linguistic competence (e.g., only phonological and morphological competence) are illustrated in their research focus. To illustrate, the studies of Avivi-Reich, Daneman and Schneider (2014) as well as Schneider, Avivi-Reich, Leung, and Heinrich (2016) employed the term linguistic competence, but only phonological and morphological competence were tested. This entails insufficient information to account for the relationship between linguistic competence and listening comprehension. Additionally, the participants employed in most studies are natives of English and advanced English as a second language (ESL) learners. However, less proficient English as foreign language (EFL) learners who experience more difficulties with linguistic competence and listening comprehension are understudied.

Many EFL learners encounter serious obstacles in developing linguistic competence as well as achieving listening comprehension. According to Krashen, Long, and Scarcella (1982) as well as Karimi (2016), the development of linguistic competence of EFL learners is not parallel as a result of their different degrees of personal exposure to the English language. In other words, some learners may have a higher exposure to English morphology while others are more exposed to another component of linguistic competence.  Many studies have examined factors affecting English exposure in a foreign language environment, and one of the key factors is the prior linguistic competence influence (Rast, 2010). There are cross-linguistic influences in every aspect of EFL learners’ interlanguage (e.g., phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics). The level of linguistic transferability or development depend on linguistic distance and salience. In addition, the higher or lower level of transferability or development associates with how English can be salient to learners (Lu, 2010). For instance, Thai learners may be easier to perceive the English syntax (e.g., subject-verb–object sentence structure) than phonology (e.g., dropped consonants or intonations).

This notion is supported by Samer and Zoubi (2018) that the learners have inconsistent exposure to components of linguistic competence of English as evidenced by the difference in exposure level. Therefore, due to the unequal exposure, the development of each type of linguistic competence is varied which consequently entails various difficulties in speech perception, such as the inability to discriminate acoustic cues because of lacking phonological competence or failing to interpret messages due to syntactic or semantic competence deficiency. According to Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011), as a result of linguistic competence limitation during information processing in a speech perception process, the learners’ listening comprehension is unsuccessful. To illustrate, learners with limited vocabulary stop and think about the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary causing them to miss the next part of the speech. Several studies reveal that developing only one component of linguistic competence (e.g., shadowing audio texts to develop phonological competence or vocabulary drilling to develop morphological competence) can improve listening comprehension (Rabia, 2019; Migdadi, Yunus, & Daradkeh, 2019). This implies that if one component out of four unequal linguistic competence components is higher and makes listening comprehension improved, there may be a dominant component in helping the learners comprehend audio input. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the extent of correlation between the linguistic competence components and listening comprehension as well as examine whether one component of linguistic competence is a stronger predictor of listening comprehension than another.

Linguistic competence

The term ‘linguistic competence’ was introduced by Chomsky (1965). It is suggested that this notion is directly related to the theory of generative grammar (i.e., a system of rules that generates language) and provides a clearer picture of language. Chomsky (1965) distinguished ‘linguistic competence’ from ‘linguistic performance’. Linguistic competence is one’s mental representation of linguistic rules while linguistic performance refers to the ability to produce or comprehend the language.

Later in the 1970s to early 1980s, when the social-oriented model of second language acquisition emerged, many scholars attempted to revise Chomsky’s notion of linguistic competence and performance. Hymes (1972), Halliday (1973) as well as Canale and Swain (1980) stated that Chomsky’s theory of linguistic competence (1968) was impractical. It did not account for differences among languages, and Chomsky’s (1965; 1968) definition of linguistic competence only focused on the grammar, but no reference was made to socio-cultural or contextual rules, which entails the lack of sufficient evidence to explain the output of performance. In other words, besides the grammatical rules which cover the competence of phonology and morphology, Chomsky’s definition of linguistic competence cannot explain why individuals produce speech differently in the same situation. Therefore, the components presented by Hymes (1972), Halliday (1973) as well as Canale and Swain (1980) are syntax and pragmatics. The phonology, morphology and semantics (i.e., how words, phrases, clauses or sentences are pronounced, structured and what they mean) are accounted for as parts of syntax and concerning the pragmatics (i.e., how language is used in situations) was added when the correspondence between competence and performance is considered.

In addition, Smith and Wilson (1990) also proposed their view of linguistic competence. They stated that linguistic competence does not only cover syntactic rules governed in a language, but also the pronunciation and meaning of words constructed by those rules. Smith and Wilson (1990) argued further that linguistic competence is used for two main tasks. First, it monitors language production (e.g., separating grammatical from ungrammatical sentences, right and wrong word choices, correct pronounced and mispronounced speech, or definite or indefinite meaning interpretation) and identifies potential mistakes or errors. In addition, they argue that L2 learners possess different levels of linguistic competence because competence is not simple but complex and subtle. Thus, the richness of linguistic competence relies upon an individual’s exposure as well as memory storage capacity. Linguistic competence is an unconscious stored knowledge of how the expression is pronounced and the meaning attached to those sound and orthographic features in a grammatical sentence (Smith & Wilson, 1990). Notably, there are four components specified by Smith and Wilson (1990) comprising phonology (i.e., stored information on phonological features as well as phonological rules), morphology (i.e., stored information of internal morphological features of the word), syntax (i.e., stored information of how words are put together to construct phrases, with how phrases are put together to build longer phrases or clauses as well as with how clauses are put together to create sentences) and semantics (i.e., stored information of meaning of words as well as the meaning of the word relations in a sentence, and these can be technically called lexical semantics and phrasal semantics). Unlike in the social-oriented model, pragmatic competence is not part of the notion of linguistic competence presented by Smith and Wilson as they consider it as a type of non-linguistic competence, and a part of semantics in cases of alteration of meaning based on contexts.

To sum up, there are different explanations of linguistic competence based on researchers’ interests as well as assumptions. In this study, linguistic competence is indicated based on Smith and Wilson (1990) due to the coherence of the listening process that listeners’ mind unconsciously employs four faculties of linguistic competence (i.e., phonological, morphological, syntactical and semantic competence) in comprehending audio input.

Listening comprehension

Similar to linguistic competence, listening comprehension has also been defined in a variety of ways. The most widely accepted explanation of listening comprehension relates to the process of constructing understanding from the audio input. In other words, listening comprehension normally relies upon subconscious competence stored within listeners’ minds. When audio input is internalized, different sources of competence are systematically and unconsciously derived.

Vandergrift (2002) explains that in listening comprehension, listeners usually employ two sources of competence including non-linguistic and linguistic competence. Firstly, non-linguistic competence involves listeners’ knowledge that has been acquired in their life as well as mental images stored in their minds. Both are drawn to process the audio input by calling on similar scenarios and previous experiences. In other words, for this source of competence, listeners can comprehend the theme or main idea of what they listen to. Secondly, linguistic competence relates to phonology (i.e., the sound system), morphology (i.e., the morphological form and morphological formation), syntax (i.e., how words are combined to form phrases, phrases are combined to form broader phrases or clauses, and clauses are combined to form sentences) as well as semantics (i.e., the meaning of words, phrases or sentences). It plays a role when we discriminate sounds, recognize words, and interpret the audio input by analyzing units in some linguistic dimensions. Explicitly, linguistic competence helps listeners gather the details for their listening comprehension. For example, listeners may know that the situation occurred in the past by segmenting the -ed sound of the verb used and/or noticing the adverb of time. It is seen from Buck (2001) and Vandergrift (2002) that the top-down process always involves the non-linguistic competence, and the bottom-up process relates to linguistic competence when the listening comprehension.

Regarding Buck (2001) and Brown (2007), listeners do not separately activate non-linguistic and linguistic competence to handle the flowing audio input. Instead, non-linguistic competence and linguistic competence are activated for different purposes during listening. To illustrate, for the non-linguistic competence activation in the top-down process, if listeners cannot catch all words in the audio input, they will get the gist from some words. As in top-down processing, listeners create metal images or know the contexts by building meaning based on supposition, conclusion, purpose, and other pertinent information in order to try to recognize linguistic expressions. On the other hand, for the linguistic competence activation in the bottom-up process, if listeners are not familiar with the topic they listen to, they will focus on every single word to know what it is about. In bottom-up processing, listeners initially try to decode a message by focusing on sound patterns or internal structures of words, rules and meaning before understanding scenarios. The co-existence of these two processes is basically an interactive process (Tokeshi, 2003).

Besides linguistic and non-linguistic competence engaging in listener factors in understanding the audio input, listening comprehension also involves audio-input and speaker factors. Cutler and Clifton (2000) explain that the audio input reaching the ear carries other noises in the environment. Therefore, listeners need to primarily distinguish the audio input from other background noises reaching the ear at the same time. In addition, different phonemes contain distinctive features from articulatory factors (e.g., a place of articulation to produce [k] is different from [b]), so it may lead to some obstacles in decoding the whole audio input when phonemes come together as a pattern. Besides decoding phonemes, there are other factors influencing decoding the audio input, such as the speakers’ coarticulated words as well as the quality of sound.

As the audio input produced by the speakers is normally coarticulated (i.e., they do not speak one segment discretely after another), the listeners have to be competent in phonology to identify and decode phonemes as well as phoneme patterns. If listeners cannot identify the sound they listen to, they will not be able to decode it into a phonetic representation. For instance, listeners cannot identify whether they hear the sound [?] or [?], so they cannot determine whether the word is complement or compliment. Moreover, the quality of sounds, such as speakers’ voice, amplitude and speech rate, also affects listeners’ audio input decoding. Different speakers have different voices (i.e., someone has a high-pitched voice, and someone has a low voice), and sometimes, the tones of voice may be difficult for listeners to identify the phonemes. Similarly, if the speakers utter too far from listeners to hear it, or even utter very fast, the listeners may not even detect anything (Cutler and Clifton 2000).

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study were (1) to investigate the extent of the correlation between linguistic competence components and listening comprehension and (2) to examine whether one linguistic competence component is a stronger predictor of listening comprehension than another.

METHOD

Participants

The participants in the current study included 107 third-year English major students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University for the academic year 2020 using convenience sampling.

The participants’ English listening proficiency level was classified into A1-B2 by using Dialang, the international placement test. According to Dialang (n.d.), learners who can understand very simple phrases about basic personal topics (e.g., personal information or friend) with slow and clear messages were classified as A1 level, learners who understand expressions and common words and get the main point of useful information (e.g., travel announcements and directions) in short, clear and simple messages were classified as A2 level, learners who can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters (e.g., school, tv or radio current affairs) in relatively slow and clear messages were classified as B1 level, and learners who understand longer stretches of speech and complex lines of argument involving reasonable familiar topics (e.g., personal and professional life).

Initially, there were 131 participants (i.e., seventy-four A1 participants, twenty-seven A2 participants, fifteen B1 participants and fifteen B2 participants); however, there was an exclusion due to the submission time of the online test. Some test submission checks detected too little time spent (less than 10 minutes out of the total 40 minutes) which could assume that the participants guessed the answers and too much time spent completing the tests (more than 40 minutes as a result of using time detection instead of time limitation). The total number of exclusions was twenty-four participants (i.e., fifteen A1 participants, two A2 participants, one B1 participant and five B2 participants).

Instruments

The instrument included a linguistic competence test and a listening comprehension test. A linguistic competence test comprised of four subtests including a phonological awareness test adapted from Venkatagiri and Levis (2007), a morphological awareness test adapted from Bian (2017), and a syntactic awareness test adapted from Cain (2007) and a semantic awareness test adapted from Lehmann (2007). The vocabularies used for the adaptation in all tests were randomly selected from the Oxford 3000 Word List (2019). For a phonological test, there were seven main tasks to assess different phonological constructs including phonological blending, phonological manipulation, phonological segmentation, phonological sequencing, rhyming and alliteration and non-word reading. In some tasks, participants needed to record and upload audio/video clips into the link provided. However, the tasks did not take time (e.g., saying one to two words). Additionally, participants were suggested to use mobile phones for this test in order to ease the recording and uploading.  For a morphological awareness test, there were four main tasks to assess morphological awareness including morphological form, morphological formation, reading vocabulary and listening vocabulary. For a syntactic awareness test, there were three main tasks to assess syntactic awareness including knowing the grammatical structure of sentences (form) by using language element task, manipulating the grammatical structure of sentences (meaning) by using situational response task as well as producing the grammatical structure of sentences (use) by using grammar construction task. For a semantic awareness test, there were two main tasks to assess semantic awareness including lexical semantics and phrasal semantics. Each test contained 40 items and participants were allowed to complete it within 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, a listening comprehension test adopted from dialangweb.lancaster.ac.uk was used for the listening comprehension and placement test, and there are three tasks including listening for detail, inferencing, and identifying the main idea. The recording in each item was played once before allowing participants to select the correct answer. There were three different sets of the test varying texts according to the vocabulary level of participants and switching items for the same level. However, the total number and topic were the same.

Due to the coronavirus-19 transmission, a linguistic competence test was conducted online through Google form while a listening comprehension test was directly conducted via the website. The topic of the tests was selected by focusing on topic familiarity due to the control variable (i.e., non-linguistic competence).  The specification of each test was presented in Appendix 1.

Data collection

The participants were given explanations about the listening and linguistic competence tests, and the time detection feature in each linguistic competence test, which required them to manage time and finish each linguistic competence test within forty minutes. The listening comprehension and placement tests were firstly conducted to get listening comprehension scores as well as separated them into English listening levels based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (A1-B2), and the linguistic competence test was provided based on participants’ English listening level. After the English listening level of participants had been determined, participants were assigned to complete and submit a linguistic competence test including the phonological awareness test, morphological awareness test, syntactic awareness test and semantic awareness test within a month. Therefore, participants could manage their time to complete all sub-tests of the linguistic competence test.

Data analysis

All results of participants’ responses were assessed. For answers to filling in the blank and multiple-choice questions, the scores were checked according to the scoring rubric (i.e., one point per correct response). Meanwhile, performance in video clips in the phonological awareness test was rated by employing inter-rating scales from two people including the researcher as well as the university teacher majoring in English to avoid bias. After the result was scored, the statistics of correlation and multiple regression were used to generate the statistical outcome for answering research questions.

Descriptive statistics (i.e., mean and standard deviation) and correlation were employed to analyze the data from the linguistic competence test and listening comprehension test in order to investigate the statistical relationship between two variables including linguistic competence and listening comprehension. In addition, a multiple regression analysis was used to measure the relationship between independent variables (i.e., components of linguistic competence including phonological competence, morphological competence, syntactic competence and semantic competence) and a dependent variable (i.e., listening comprehension) in order to examine whether one linguistic competence component is a stronger predictor of listening comprehension than another.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Table1 Correlation and multiple regression predicting listening comprehension (N=107)

Zero-order r   SE p
Predictors Semantic Competence Syntactic Competence Morphological Competence Phonological Competence Listening Comprehension
Intercept 7.204 1.855 .000
Phonological Competence .296

(.002)

 .184 .081 .025
Morphological Competence .435 .292

(.002)

 .062 .101 .542
Syntactic Competence .519 .395 .147

(.131)

 -.082 .098 .403
Semantic Competence .406 .612 .240 .326

(.001)

 .157 .070 .028
Linguistic Competence .789 .731 .846 .661 .359

(.000)

 .089 .023 .000
Mean 18.91 16.36 17.95 21.92 13.96 R2 = .164
SD 8.423 5.711 6.490 6.537 5.103

*Significantly at 0.05.

According to the assumption testing, the association between linguistic competence components and listening comprehension is linear, and there is no multicollinearity in the association between linguistic competence components and listening comprehension as VIF values were below 10 and tolerance values were above 0.2. In addition, the values of residuals were independent as the obtained values were close to 2 as evidenced by the Durbin-Watson value of 1.037, and the values of residuals which were normally distributed were constant as the residuals showed no obvious signs of funnelling. Besides, there were no influential cases biasing the model as all values were under 1 suggesting individual cases were not influencing the model.

Based on the first research question, the extent of correlation between linguistic competence and listening comprehension was investigated. The result reveals that the correlation between linguistic competence and listening comprehension is less than 0.5 (r = 0.359, p = 0.000) which means there is a statistically significant relationship between linguistic competence and listening comprehension. However, considering the components of linguistic competence, it was found that all components except syntactic competence significantly correlate with listening comprehension. The following correlations were found: phonological competence (r = 0.296, p = 0.002), morphological competence (r = 0.292, p = 0.002), syntactic competence (r = 0.147, p = 0.131) and semantic competence (r = 0.326, p = 0.001).

Furthermore, to answer the second research question, a multiple regression was calculated to examine whether one linguistic competence component is a stronger predictor of listening comprehension than another. The result of multiple regression indicates that a significant regression equation is found (F(4,102) = 4.985, p < .001), with an R2 of .164. The predicted listening comprehension of participants is equal to 7.204 + 0.184 (phonological competence) + 0.062 (morphological competence) + 0.157 (semantic competence) – 0.082 (syntactic competence), where they are measured in scores. Participants’ listening comprehension increased by 0.184 scores for each score of phonological competence, 0.062 for each score of morphological competence, and 0.157 for each score of semantic competence. Meanwhile, participants’ listening comprehension is decreased by 0.082 scores for each syntactic competence which shows a negative relationship to listening comprehension. It is seen that phonological competence (? = 0.025) and semantic competence (p = 0.028) are significant predictors of listening comprehension, and the stronger predictor is semantic competence (r = 0.326).

Regarding the investigation of a correlation between linguistic competence and listening comprehension in the current study, the result shows a positive linear relationship between linguistic competence and listening comprehension. This corresponds to the findings of some other studies (Oh & Lee, 2014; Karal?k & Merç, 2019) showing that there are relative contributions of linguistic competence to L2 listening comprehension. Although linguistic competence significantly correlates with listening comprehension, it has only a small influence on listening comprehension due to the covariance of 16.4 per cent out of all factors involved in listening success.

Noticeably, besides linguistic competence, a number of factors affect listening comprehension achievement. Nichols (1948) suggests that apart from the listener’s competence and characteristic, the speaker’s characteristics, speech production ability and quality as well as channels or methods of speech delivery can apparently influence listening comprehension. Flowerdew and Miller (2005) claim that not only linguistic and non-linguistic competence plays a role in cognitive activities in the listening process, but also individualization, affective factors, and textuality. This study lends some support to this conclusion as linguistic competence accounted for less than 20 per cent of participants’ listening comprehension.

The findings are also consistent with a number of studies nowadays (Worthington & Fitch-Hauser 2012; Asriati, 2017; Oh & Lee, 2014). Worthington and Fitch-Hauser (2012) claim that elements affecting listening comprehension can be classified into five aspects including cognitive factors (e.g., curiosity, intelligence, concentration), linguistic factors (e.g., sound discrimination ability, recognition of correct grammatical usage, size of vocabulary), speaker-related factors (e.g., speaker effectiveness, speech delivery ability), contextual factors (e.g., interest of the topic, listener’s exhaustion), and demographic factors (e.g., listener’s gender or age). Asriati (2017) categorizes the dominant factors engaging in listening comprehension into four major aspects including linguistic competence, concentration, listener characteristics (e.g., experience or intelligence), and speaker characteristics (e.g., pronunciation or speed of delivery), and his result reveals only a small proportion of linguistic competence compared to other factors which can be supported by the result of Ghapanchi and Taheryan (2012) as well as Oh and Lee (2014) who investigate the linguistic competence in L2 listening exhibiting that linguistic competence can predict L2 listening with the covariance around 20 per cent. Nevertheless, linguistic competence in those studies consisted of receptive and productive vocabulary as well as grammar which can be one of the possible reasons why they generate a higher percentage than the current study. Linguistic competence in the current study is operationalized as four variables including phonological competence, morphological competence, syntactic competence and semantic competence.

It can be expected that EFL learners weigh more on some competence to comprehend incoming audio input. In listening, the cognitive system which basically relates to the competence of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics is triggered to deal with different types of audio input (Bullmore & Sporn, 2012). When sequences of audio input are heard, learners’ mind systematically and unconsciously activates competence to decode them and there is repeated retry-step processing until competence can decode or capture the idea (Brownell, 1996). However, unequal and restricted development of linguistic competence components in EFL learners consequently makes their competence activation for comprehending the audio input limited (Krashen, Long, & Scarcella, 1982; Avivi-Reich, Daneman, & Schneider, 2014; Karimi, 2016; Schneider, Avivi-Reich, Leung, & Heinrich, 2016; Joyce, 2019).

In the current study, most EFL learners are in the A1 level which corresponds to low mean scores for their listening comprehension. Although the highest mean scores were obtained for phonological awareness followed by semantic awareness, then morphological awareness and syntactic awareness respectively, learners’ listening comprehension seemed to rely more on semantic competence than on other components. This suggests that EFL learners employ semantic competence the most when interpreting audio input. Previous studies suggest a similar conclusion. Fung and Macaro (2019) studied the relationship between linguistic competence and listening comprehension strategies used by secondary school learners. The findings revealed that the learners weigh more on translation strategies which implied that learners’ semantic competence was more accessed than other competence to comprehend what they are listening to. Moreover, Herrero (2017) claims that most learners tend to mentally translate individual words uttered to understand the meaning conveyed. It is also supported by Watthajarukiat, Chatupote and Sukseemuang (2012) as well as Namaziandost, Neisi, Mahdavirad and Nasri (2020) that EFL learners most frequently use translating or transferring the audio into their L1 for listening achievement.

The lack of correlation between syntactic competence and listening comprehension is in accordance with a previous study whose finding showed that the syntactic competence in EFL learners is inversed with listening comprehension (Mecartty, 2000). However, the finding of a differential effect of syntactic competence cannot completely lead to the conclusion that it has no relationship to listening comprehension. The fact that there is no significant correlation may be a result of the discrepancy between tests, the stream of continuity and coarticulation of the audio input or other possible factors. Thus, it should be noted that our interpretation of this result is preliminary and open to further discussion.

CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS

The current study has contributed to the field of psycholinguistics and other related fields by investigating the predictors for listening comprehension for providing further information on how components of linguistic competence relate to listening comprehension. In previous studies, the relationship between one component of linguistic competence and listening comprehension was clearly accounted for; however, the comparison of all components of linguistic competence in the identical context of listening comprehension remained ignored. Thus, the present study aimed to fill this gap.

Furthermore, the present study has provided pedagogical implications for the teaching and learning of listening comprehension. The finding of this study can contribute to listening education by showing that knowing the sorts of linguistic foundations promoting listening comprehension can be applied in developing pedagogy. The identification of specific types of competence that significantly trigger listening comprehension makes it possible to develop a comprehensive curriculum to help learners succeed more in listening comprehension. Emphasizing semantic competence which is a stronger predictor of listening comprehension presented in the current study may affect the contributions that updating and shifting made to learners’ L2 listening performance. Furthermore, the finding also benefits solving EFL learners’ listening comprehension difficulties caused by a deficiency in learners’ linguistic competence. A linguistic competence test can provide useful data for recognizing deficiencies in different aspects of subordinate competence (e.g., lexical and phrasal semantics in semantic competence) in order to be able to improve learners’ knowledge precisely.

Some limitations in conducting the online tests can be noticed in the current study, and these should be addressed in future investigations. Firstly, the selected software for linguistic competence assessment has hidden some anxiety for participants since online testing was new to them. Thus, providing a clear explanation and understanding of the test construct and process as well as the software used is important. The selected software contains a lack of time limit and inconvenient accessibility. Although it was easy to manage, the time-limit function was not available when the test in the current study was developed which entails the inability to control the time of the test. Moreover, in piloting, using the software sometimes obstructs test submission of participants who use IOS operation system which can solve by informing participants to use a web browser to open the link of the test instead of directly opening the software. Secondly, the use of online testing also confronts difficulties related to testing administration. Participants may be allowed virtually a limitless amount of time to complete tests provided outside of class which makes it difficult to proctor test performance that may lead to cheating. Hence, further studies should carefully consider this online testing drawback. Besides, the non-linguistic predictor missing in this study is a good candidate for further investigation, and the findings of the current study need to be replicated with different samples and testing methods.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My completion of the research paper could not have been accomplished without the support and encouragement of my advisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Chomraj Patanasorn, as well as other teachers in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Khon Kaen University including Asst. Prof. Kornwipa Poonpon, Asst. Prof. Sutida Ngonkum and Asst. Prof. Chongrak Liangpait. I also offer my sincere appreciation for my supportive friends who help me in the data collection process.

REFERENCES 

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APPENDIX

Appendix 1: Specification of Linguistic Competence and Listening Comprehension Test

Linguistic Competence Test consists of four subordinate tests including phonological awareness test, morphological awareness test, syntactic awareness test and semantic awareness test. The test specifications of each test are as below.

The phonological awareness test adapted from Venkatagiri and Levis (2007)

Tasks No. of items Time Scoring (point)
1.    Phonological blending 5 5 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
2.    Phonological manipulation 9 9 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
3.    Phonological segmentation 5 5 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
4.    Phonological sequencing 6 6 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
5.    Rhyming and alliteration 5 5 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
6.    Non-word reading 5 5 minutes 1 = correct no. of syllables and correct placement of stress; 0 point for incorrect
7.    Phonological memory 5 5 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
Total 40 40   minutes 40 points

 The morphological awareness test adapted from Bian (2017)

Tasks No. of items Time Scoring (point)
1.    Morphological form 10 10 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
2.    Morphological formation 15 15 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
3.    Reading vocabulary 7 7 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
4.    Listening vocabulary 8 8 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
Total 40 40 minutes 100 points

The syntactic awareness test adapted from Cain (2007)

Tasks No. of items Time Scoring (point)
1.    Language elements 10 10 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
2.    Situational responses 10 10 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
3.    Grammatical construction 20 20 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
Total 40 40  minutes         40 points

 The semantic awareness test adapted from Lehmann (2007)

Tasks No. of items Time Scoring (point)
1.    Lexical semantics 20 20 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
2.    Phrasal Semantics 20 20 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
Total 40 40 minutes 40 points

 The listening comprehension test adopted from dialangweb.lancaster.ac.uk

Tasks No. of items Time Scoring (point)
1.    Listening for detail 2 3 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
2.    Inferencing 8 17 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
3.    Identifying main idea 20 20 minutes 1 = correct; 0 = incorrect
Total 30 40 minutes 30 points

 

LGBT Themes in Children’s Media and Literature: Mirroring the Contemporary Culture and Society

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2.1K views

Komal Yadav1 & Dr. Nipun Kalia
Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab. ORCID: 0000-0002-9712-8670
1Corresponding author: Email: komal.surender@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.08

First published: June 19, 2022 | Area: Gender Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number2, 2022)
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LGBT Themes in Children’s Media and Literature: Mirroring the Contemporary Culture and Society

Abstract

Queer theory in the context of cultural studies looks at a variety of cultural structures of the gay or lesbian as divergent, and prompts us to question the traditions in which an entire variety of sexuality has been omitted by the ‘politics of identity’, a politics that informs and polices popular cultural representations of the Queer. Moreover, it focuses on the limiting nature of identity and has primarily functioned as denaturalizing discourses. Culture is related to questions of collective social connotations, i.e., the many ways we make meaning of the ways of the world. However, meanings are not merely floating, rather they are produced. While watching cartoons might seem an innocent pastime, it has a lot more to do with the child’s psychology. Compared with other genres, cartoons can potentially trivialize and bring humor to adult themes and contribute to an atmosphere in which children view these depictions as normative and acceptable. Television shows, books, and movies with sexually-confusing messages introduce children to falsehoods and immorality and create insecurity among them. A general belief exists in the conventional heterosexual society that children are not equipped to handle these adult themes. The present paper tries to unfold the LGBT representation in children’s media, its impact on the child’s psychology and how it mirrors the contemporary culture & society.  This study will also investigate the need and appropriateness of the LGBT themes in children’s media along with their role in depicting the culture and society. The texts and media under study in the paper are Steven Universe, Danger & Eggs, Incredibles 2, The Legend of Korra and In A Heartbeat, Heather Has Two Mommies, Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, Mommy, Mama, and Me, and Daddy, Papa, and Me, King & King and Daddy’s Roommate.

Keywords: LGBT, queer, culture, society, cartoons, anime, children’s literature, transnormativity, homosexual, bisexuality, heterosexual, dequeer, heteronormative discourse

Queer theory is largely concerned with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons and societal concerns derived from LGBT and Feminist perspectives. However, it is a slippery slope since the inclusion of all identities that conflict with normative constructs is advocated. Classifying everything as Queer certainly fails to create meaningful understandings of individuals who, in their daily lives, are prejudiced against assuming positions of authority. Traditionally, in the heterosexual society, the existence of a kid who is openly LGBTQ is denied. It has been a long tradition in the study of children’s literature to examine the relationship between the real child reader and the imagined or inferred child reader, and adults present from the text’s invention through its reception. Just because we mirror and absorb our surroundings, external influences may have an impact on our personalities (Gecas and Schwalbe, 1983). This applies to children as well as adults. Symbolic representations and characters in children’s books serve as points of identification and sources of motivation for good deeds (Tetenbaum and Pearson, 1989). Children’s books provide a window into the cultural norms via the words and imagery they use (Fox, 1993). It’s crucial to know what messages and pictures children’s books with ‘gay’ or ‘same-sex’ oriented characters convey since they reveal an early understanding of their sexual orientation. Children’s literature is an important part of socialization. The children’s literature market is now flourishing (Brugeilles et al., 2002). When it comes to a child’s psychology, viewing cartoons may appear like an innocent pleasure. Children’s cartoons can trivialize and bring comedy to adult subjects, creating an environment where these representations are seen as normal and appropriate.

In recent times, young-adult works have endeavoured to fiercely handle subjects that bother youngsters. Consequently, the necessity to keep queer characters behind the curtains hidden from the interfering gazes of adults has dissipated to some extent.  Media role models supposedly affect personality traits as well as the values of an individual by the way of identification. There are two kinds of identification. Similarity identification is defined as finding similarities with or idealizing a media figure and living vicariously through his or her activities. Wishful identification, on the other hand, occurs when an individual desires to resemble a media figure due to the media figure’s appealing qualities (Matthews, 2018).

Television and books communicate and mirror culture in a variety of ways. The imageries of childhood T.V. programs persist within children as dominant parts of their memories (Anderson et al., 2001). In this manner, T.V. outlines generational subcategories in the culture. The characters and the way they are portrayed in picture books or other children’s books have an everlasting impact on children’s psychology. Whether considering animated series or animated films, the more the young ones are exposed to a mediated message, the more they are expected to observe that message as reflecting reality.

“Childhood has been recognized as a crucial emblematic function in neoliberal sexual politics, and it has been duly regularized as a central queer concern: an arguable crucible or ground zero of all sexual politics. This especially pertains to the child’s implication in regimes of categorization that are to govern complex coordinations of subjectivity across class, race, gender, maturational, and sexual fault lines (coordinations often related to what anthropologists used to call the incest taboo). At the same time, the child may be considered to harbour potential for resilience in the face of these overarching forms of containment.” (Janssen, 2020)

Impressions of media models made on child audiences affect their beliefs of the culture. Cartoons are more expected to sustain cultural norms despite challenging them. The same can be analysed in cartoons like Steven Universe, Danger and Eggs, Incredibles 2, and The Legend of Korra.

Steven Universe is one of the progressive shows which displays a range of diverse gender creative and queer characters. The series destabilizes gender by deconstructing the pre-established binaries. Love is handled inclusively, and is not restricted to romances which are heterosexual.

“The show is radically revolutionizing trans representation in media by being willing to give voice to less often represented gender identities. It provides us with a framework with which to investigate how agender and genderqueer identities and experiences can not only function but thrive within the genre boundaries of the fantasy cartoon. This genre, and here Steven Universe serves as an exemplar, tends to embrace a particular reliance on “magic” to define its set of narrative rules, images, and possibilities.” (Dunn, 2016)

Steven Universe, although not flawless, is an agreeable illustration of how cartoons can teach future generations what it is to go ahead of labels and defy expectations. One way in which Steven Universe depicts LGBT relations is by “fusion,” i.e. when two “gems” fall in love with each other and merge into one. For example, in the episode named: “Alone Together,” we see Steven and Connie “fuse” into Stevonnie who is a non-binary character and employs gender-neutral pronouns: they/them. In the episode: “Jail Break,” we discovered that Garnet, who is Steven’s guardian, is the creation formed out of a fusion between Ruby and Sapphire. Garnet is the living embodiment of a normalized lesbian romance, as her song goes, “I’m made of love.”

The idea of a chosen family is introduced in the show. For example:  “Connie Maheswaran is not related biologically to anyone in the rest of the family, and lives with her own (biological, nuclear) family, but has been accepted by the Gems, Greg, and Steven into their extended, chosen family unit, and has been taught aspects of Gem ways.” (Ondricka, 2017)

A chosen family is a set of people who intentionally ‘choose’ each other to assume important roles. One description of ‘chosen family’ is a set of people with whom you are not biologically connected yet emotionally attached and account for as ‘family’. There are several explanations why such a concept holds significance in various queer communities. Many queers simply fail to secure a way into the traditional ways of family building. Chosen families also frequently come into existence due to need. Several queer people do not depend upon their biologically determined families just like other (so-called normal) persons would probably be able to. In this cartoon, the concept of ‘chosen family’, ‘lesbianism’ and ‘gender-neutral pronouns’ are introduced. It communicates to the young viewers the ever-prevalent concept of the social institution called family along with introducing new dimensions to the same conventional concept. This new aspect is functioning to teach the children about the viability of less imagined/ never thought of options. The prevalent cultural norms are not hindered, but new possibilities are introduced.

Danger and Eggs, aired on Amazon Prime, has won Daytime Emmy Award, with its intriguing, colourful, unusual style of animation and assemblage of appealingly unconventional characters fits into the similar sort of “alternate universe” as related animated series Steven Universe and Adventure Time. Moreover, it is filled with queer and trans characters, whose voices are given by queer and trans actors. Its episodes contain central leitmotifs such as Pride celebrations and chosen families. Moreover, because it is a series having young children as its target audience, all themes are tackled in a pleasingly entertaining and unobjectionable manner. Danger & Eggs is a pleasant dive into LGBT family entertainment. There are also a lot of inordinate themes and messages that are significant for all children, those who belong to LGBT families and even those who don’t. But may have a distinct connotation for queer children, like discovering their identity, interrogating rulebooks and being keen to change their minds. In one of the episodes, two characters Phillip and DD Danger form a band along with a child called Milo who makes use of they/them pronouns. Rest of the characters on no occasion question that, there is no awkward discussion elucidating non-binary pronouns, rather all simply call them either by using “they” or “them” pronouns or by their name. This highlights transnormativity in children’s media. (transnormativity is the normalizing of transgender people’s existence and their experiences.)

Its first season clocks in at a respectable 13 half-hour episodes mostly comprised of two stories each. It’s a joy to watch, but the real power and importance of this show are hidden behind the laughs. The sunny side-up brilliance of Danger and Eggs can be highlighted through its theme song which goes like this: “It’s about a kid, an egg, a park, they do stuff. There’s more to it than that. It’s kind of hard to explain.” Danger and Eggs stars DD Danger and Phillip. DD Danger is the turquoise-haired girl who is the last in the line of the Daring Dangers – a family of stunt performers. Given her family history, she too dedicates her life to sweet stunts and dangerous action. Her best friend Phillip, an anthropomorphic egg, still lives inside his mother – a giant chicken that has taken roost in the centre of the aptly named Chickenpaw Park. In the show, neither of the main characters discredits the other, which promotes the culture of acceptance and assimilation. Both the characters are open to change, they seek to be the best they can be as they grow along the way. They face their fears, adapt to change, find forgiveness, fight injustice, and question rules, all while having fun and being genuinely happy. Danger and Eggs deftly dances between the perilous path of teaching complex morals and lessons without coming across as preachy, cloying, or pandering. There are many progressive ideas that the show advocates, as in the episode named Pennies, they explain the complicated concept of ‘confirmation bias’. Confirmation bias is the propensity to understand new evidence as validation of one’s prevailing biases, opinions or concepts. When Phillip donates the pennies from the wishing fountain to buy cat wheelchairs, the locals freak out fearing their wishes have been stolen and undone. This forces Phillip and DD to explain why that’s wrong as they face mob persecution. This is pretty heavy stuff for a children’s show. The show also tackles lessons like the importance of breaking traditions that make anyone unhappy, learning not to discredit people based on their appearance, the importance of political activism in the face of apathy, and the knowledge that family doesn’t begin and end with those you are directly related to. The show proudly and confidently pushes a message of progressive LGBTQ inclusiveness in every episode. And that comes from the DNA of the creative team heading the project.

While mainstream shows like Steven Universe, Loud House, and Star vs The Forces of Evil have dipped their toes into exploring queer subtext, Danger and Eggs simply makes it text and does so in a way that makes it look effortless. The show does not stereotype the LGBTQ community. It never takes the time to hold the audience by the hand or create othering qualifiers that allow its LGBTQ characters to be pushed into subtext. It never calls attention to any of its inclusive elements. It simply shows these things as normal. And that’s really the greatest lesson Danger and Eggs subversively teaches its young audience that this is normal, that there’s nothing strange or awkward or wrong about using they/ them pronouns, or having two fathers, or celebrating pride day, or cheering on a young trans girl who recently transitioned. By presenting these elements as normal, it eliminates the shame and stigma LGBTQ people face.

Other such cartoons like Bugs Bunny and The Simpsons also have trans and homosexual characters that just like the formerly discussed series make children aware of the LGBT culture that runs parallel to the mainstream culture. Consequently, the children are able to identify, accept and assimilate LGBTQ individuals and their culture from beginning, which prevents them from facing a cultural shock later in life.  “…the scenes of trickstering in Rabbit Fire require that Bugs Bunny’s agency be located somewhere outside conventional economies of desire: indeed, his persistent ability to queer the pitch of signification suggests that the rabbit is always already queer.” (Savoy, 1995)

In Incredibles 2, the characters Elastigirl and Evelyn though did not explicitly unveil their sexuality but are interpreted as queer by the audience. It makes a subversive social commentary and allegory. The new character Voyd, a queer stan, acts as ‘lesbian metaphor’. She worships Elastigirl for smoothening the road for other females as she makes women more visible by being the example of a successful breadwinner of the family. Voyd mentions that she is “out and proud” of herself despite the preconceptions of society. These subtle clues hint at the probability of Voyd being a homosexual.

The concluding section in the final episode of The Legend of Korra aired on Nickelodeon explored the likelihood of a romantic relationship between two female characters, Korra and Asami. The two eventually choose to go on a private vacation together and enter a new magical realm, with fingers interlocked and beholding lovingly into each other’s eyes. The scene is a ‘sequence of actions’ that ‘change the perceptions of its viewers. This is a rhetorical scene and is eventually up to the viewers to infer signs such as holding hands as indicating romantic tension between both the women.

“When it came to the final scenes of the episode in which Korra and Asami’s relationship moves from platonic to romantic, creator Bryan Konietzko asked himself, ‘How do I know we can’t openly depict that?’” (Banks, 2021)

Though inclusivity of the LGBTQ people is occasional but upgraded in media now, visibility of bisexuality precisely is very low. Shows like The Legend of Korra could serve as an encouraging depiction of bisexuality as it is effortlessly incorporated instead of using it as a device or joke in the plot. The graphic novel series creatively demonstrated the friendship evolved into a relationship between the two female lead characters. Initially, the readers showed surprise at the shift in the love interests but the overall response was positive and enthusiastic implying a certain degree of acceptance of the concept of bisexuality. The intention that the author tried to portray through the series included smoothening the ride of the LGBTQ in their constant battle with the world. The duo went through challenges, a love triangle but found romance in the most unexcepted of places. The series ended with the two protagonists intimately holding each other while fading away into the beautiful sunset. The diverse approach towards representing the queers through the undeniable power of media has had a great impact on our culture as the viewers were emotionally forced to lay down their traditional views and sympathize with the repressed community and their struggles. A similar message is conveyed through the short anime-based film created by students- In A Heartbeat (2017), which showcased a love story of two boys. This stands uniquely as a queer representation of sharing something rare and genuine is not often seen. The creators of this short four-minute six-second film, shed light on the fact that the aim of the film is to decrease the confusion amongst kids as they grow up.

Heather Has Two Mommies, written by Leslea Newman helps in making children more culturally competent. It is an iconic children’s picture book that tells a tale of a little girl who happens to be a child of a lesbian couple, Mama Kate, a doctor, and Mama Jane, a carpenter. Life was normal until the first day of school when she comes face to face with the reality that she doesn’t have a daddy. A classmate of hers, David, enquires about the occupation of her daddy, a question that leaves her in confusion and she wonders if she is the only one who doesn’t have a daddy. It was her teacher who helped everyone understand and accept that each family is unique and special in their own way:

“It doesn’t matter how many mommies or how many daddies your family has. It doesn’t matter if your family has sisters or brothers or cousins or grandmas or grandpas or uncles or aunts. Each family is special. The most important thing about a family is that all the people in love each other.” (Newman, 2009, p. 14-15)

The piece of literature faced a lot of criticism, and judgements and was put under the ban. As long as the literature is portrayed accurately and appropriately, it has all rights to be published and placed in libraries. Heather has two mommies ‘dequeers’ lesbian families by holding them equivalent to heterosexual or so-called normal families. The book takes a step ahead in an endeavour to inform the people that LGBT households are just like other or normal households while at the same time handling the unique problems they encounter. Concludingly, we can say that Leslea Newman’s book didn’t contain any superficial romance and the story presented life as it truly is- plain and simple. On similar grounds, Leslea Newman has penned the books Mommy, Mama and Me and Daddy, Papa and Me. These rhythmic illustrations/books similarly reinforce the notion of a happy and normal family of a homosexual couple. The couple in Mommy, Mama and Me tucks the kid in bed and kisses the child goodnight in a way a heterosexual couple would do: “Now I am tucked in nice and tight. Mommy and Mama kiss me goodnight.”  The child in Daddy, Papa and Me kisses his father goodnight: “Now Daddy and Papa are tucked in tight. I kiss them both and say night-night!”. There are believable families in both the books, with nothing extravagant or abnormal.  These brightly illustrated books introduce the concept of LGBT culture in a light-hearted and lyrical manner. It shows that it shouldn’t matter if the families are straight or not, what truly matters is the love they share.

In the book written by Sarah S. Brannen named Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, an anthropomorphic young guinea pig Chloe is bothered by the idea of her uncle’s marriage to his boyfriend Jamie, as she thinks he will not have fun with her anymore. Chloe can be seen as the personification of the conventional society that we have been living in and an embodiment of the apprehensions that the traditional society and culture hold for the idea of homosexual marriages. Just as Chloe is afraid of family relations and change, the society is also a way unaccepting of changes and alterations in the prevailing cultures. Unlike the other LGBT-themed children’s books, this book doesn’t depict a child’s struggle against the negative views, it suggests that same-sex relationships can normally exist and there is not any need to defend them. The final scene features Bobby and Jamie with Chloe between them and the light of the full moon shining upon them suggests that even the homosexual couples are complete in themselves and do not need the opposite gender to complete them.

King & King authored by Stern Nijland, presents Bertie, a prince of marriageable age for whom a princess is being searched. The book disrupts the conventional formula of a boy falling in love with a girl. The queen invites princesses from all over the world to meet her son but none could interest the prince. Princess Madeleine accompanied by her brother Prince Lee also visits. Both Bertie and Lee fall in love at first sight and they get married. The entire ceremony concludes smoothly and the kingdom gets another king as the two princes are declared ‘King and King’. The ending scene of the story shows the kings kissing and embracing each other. This story was claimed to be inappropriate by many parents and a lawsuit was filed against it. There exist multiple orientations based on culture, sex and gender all around us. It is unfair to exclude them within the walls of a classroom therefore such books play an important role.

Another incredible example of the contemporary LGBT culture is the book Daddy’s Roommate written by Willhoite, M. (1990) which presents the homosexuality concept to be normal and acceptable. The book is reinforcing the idea of a gay couple being as happy, responsible and functional as a straight couple. Moreover, the book is informative rather than persuasive. The main character is a boy whose parents are divorced so he lives alternatively with both his parents. The boy’s father has a roommate who is his love interest. The boy is taught that “being gay is just another type of love. And love is the best kind of happiness”. The book is one of the first to provide a positive portrayal of the homosexual community and is aimed at amending the discrimination that they face. The book endeavours to present the idea of gender roles and sexuality in a new way.

As highlighted in the books: Heather Has Two Mommies and Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, Mommy, Mama, and me, and Daddy, Papa, and me, King & King and Daddy’s Roommate, in children’s literature, the theme of homonormativity is clearly evident.

“…because this sub-genre of children’s literature is still developing, evidence suggests that there is also a small but important number of contemporary texts that have the potential to expand the ways in which LGBTIQ?+?families are depicted.” (Hedberg, 2020)

Effective social justice movements, including those at the level of children’s literature, address the ways different forms of oppression intersect and affect the experiences of diverse queer identities. Children’s literature can help combat heteronormative discourse by instilling at a young age the inherent value of all people. Inclusive children’s literature can help combat socialized aspects of heteronormativity and other forms of oppression.

Children’s books reinforce heteronormativity through the nearly exclusive celebration of homonormative and nonthreatening LGBT characters. A subgenre of children’s literature is referred to as new queer children’s literature. The authors represent queer youth as they negotiate various social institutions, especially the family and society. It is suggested that an ambivalent reading of these images—one neither committed to anti-normativity nor assimilation—can help us understand the queer present at its most affirmative and, by extension, aid us in beginning to theorize possible queer futures. As stated by Dr. Gayle E. Pitman, a professor of psychology at Sacramento City College in California and author of several LGBT -themed books designed for kids:

“There’s a concept called symbolic annihilation in psychology and sociology, which is the idea that if you don’t see yourself represented or reflected in society or in media (television, movies, books), you essentially don’t exist. That’s why it’s so important to have L.G.B.T. representations in children’s books.” (Pitman, 2018)

Considering the formerly discussed cartoons and books addressing LGBT themes, children’s media/books shouldn’t simply be asexual, just as children aren’t asexual. This points to the fact that gender identity and sexual orientation do not in any way point at children being sexual in the same way as adults but rather signify the perceptibility of such concepts at an early stage of life. This can clearly be seen in a girl child marrying her doll to the prince charming, a little boy racing his car. So, it can be noticed in queer children when they couple their dolls differently or play roles in child games according to where they think they fit perfectly, irrespective of the sex that they were born with.

References

Anderson, Daniel & Huston, Aletha & Schmitt, Kelly & Nichols, Deborah & Wright, John. (2001). Early Childhood Television Viewing and Adolescent Behavior: The Recontact Study. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 66. I-VIII, DOI: 10.1111/1540-5834.00120.

Banks, Emma. (2021). ‘The Hero Does Always Get the Girl’ An Exploration of Queer Representation in Child Centric American Animated Cartoons and Popular Culture with A Case Study on The Legend of Korra. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17263.56484.

Barry, P. (2009). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.

Beasley, C. (2005). Gender & sexuality: Critical theories, critical thinkers. London: SAGE.

Bird, B. (Director). (2018). Incredibles 2 [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures.

Brannen, S. S., & G.P. Putnam’s Sons. (2008). Uncle Bobby’s wedding. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

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Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. New York: Routledge.

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DiMartino, M., Santos, J., & Konietzko, B. (Executive Producers). (2012-2014). The Legend of Korra. Nickelodeon Animation Studio.

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Haan, L. ., & Nijland, S. (2002). King & King.

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Hedberg, L., Venzo, P., & Young, H. (2020). Mums, dads and the kids: Representations of rainbow families in children’s picture books. Journal of LGBT Youth, 19, 198 – 216. DOI:  10.1080/19361653.2020.1779164.

Hoffner, C. A., Levine, K. J., Sullivan, Q. E., Crowell, D., Pedrick, L., & Berndt, P. (2006). TV Characters at Work: Television’s Role in the Occupational Aspirations of Economically Disadvantaged Youths. Journal of Career Development, 33(1), 3–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845305282768

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Lester, J.Z. (2014). Homonormativity in Children’s Literature: An Intersectional Analysis of Queer- Themed Picture Books. Journal of LGBT Youth, 11, 244 – 275. DOI:  10.1080/19361653.2013.879465.

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Willhoite, M. (1990). Daddy’s roommate.

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Komal Yadav is a Research Scholar in the Department of English at Chandigarh University. Her research concentrates on queerness in children’s literature and media.

Dr. Nipun Kalia is an Associate Professor of English at the University Institute of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Chandigarh University, where he teaches Literary Theory and Criticism, Gender Studies, Film Studies/Theory and other courses. He earned a doctorate from the Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh where he specialized in investigating the ways in which gender politics and conventional cinematic representations of sexuality are depicted and explored in selected films. He occasionally conducts workshops on Gender Sensitization and Equality.

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The Concept of Self-Sacrifice in the Philosophy of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Work

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Natalia Borisovna Kirillova
B.N. Yeltsin Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Email: urfo@bk.ru

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n2.07

First published: June 19, 2022 | Area: Film Studies | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number2, 2022)
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The Concept of Self-Sacrifice in the Philosophy of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Work

Abstract

The article analyzes the fundamentals of the moral philosophy of Andrei Tarkovsky, a unique Russian film director, thinker, and art theorist whose films are recognized as masterpieces of screen culture along with the works of M. Antonioni, I. Bergman, L. Buñuel, L. Visconti, A. Kurosawa, F. Truffaut, F. Fellini, S. Eisenstein, and others. The subject under study is the concept of self-sacrifice in the works of Tarkovsky as a distinctive “code” of his spiritual heritage. Creating his own original artistic world, Tarkovsky dwelled upon such vital philosophical categories as “life and death”, “faith and faithlessness”, “man’s spiritual existence”, “problems of conscience”, “self-sacrifice”, etc. This is evidenced not only by his screen works, but also by archives, diaries, and theoretical works, based on which the author provides an interpretation of the philosophy of Andrei Tarkovsky’s work focusing on the concept of self-sacrifice and the specifics of its artistic interpretation.

Keywords: Tarkovsky, screen culture, philosophy of creativity, human spiritual existence, archetypal image, the concept of self-sacrifice.

Introduction

The relevance of the present study is due to the fact that the globalization era at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries posed several social and philosophical problems to the humanities, many of which are in one way or another linked to the crisis of modern civilization and human spiritual existence – the very issues that had always been the focus of “the stalker of world cinema” Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) (Iaropolov, 2012). The controversy around his work does not subside to this day and not only in the film industry. In a compelling study analyzing the poetics and hermeneutics of Tarkovsky’s creativity, Cerwyn Moore (2009, p. 60) states that his works (both screen and theoretical) “can be used to develop the interpretive canon in global politics”.

Identifying and analyzing the concept of self-sacrifice in the moral philosophy of Andrei Tarkovsky, we raise the relevant issues of modern science and theology. The methodical foundation for the study is the interdisciplinary approach incorporating the theoretical aspects of philosophy and aesthetics, cultural history, and linguocultural studies, which allows for a comprehensive study of the examined problem. The material for theoretical analysis comprises the texts of not only Tarkovsky’s screen works but also the scientific works disclosing the foundations of his moral philosophy allowing him to reproduce his imaginative picture of the world: “Archives, Documents, Memoirs” (Volkova, 2002), the essay “Sculpting in Time” (Tarkovskij, 1985), “Martyrology. Diaries (1970-1986)” (Tarkovskii, 2008), and others.

Tarkovsky belongs to the class of creators for whom “figurativeness” is the most adequate means of embodying the deep intuition regarding the existence and human fate in our imperfect world. This view is close to the idea of D. Salynskii (2010) who, determining the ontological status of Tarkovsky’s films, notes that “his works are both text and reality and yet, at the same time, are neither of those” (p. 513).

The researcher proceeds from the fact that Tarkovsky denied the possibility of a semiotic approach to his works, “considering them to be phenomena of immediate reality”, that is, “the world emerging in the frame of the screen” was more real to him than the world outside of it (Salynskii, 2010, p. 513-514).

S. Freilikh notes that Tarkovsky’s becoming as an artist coincided with the period when literature and art, essentially creative thinking itself, were tremendously influenced by philosophy and natural sciences, and science seemingly sidelined art. Tarkovsky “turned out to be sensitive to the new reality, when the impact of technological progress severed human connections not only with the present but also with history, not only with society but also with nature itself” (Freilikh, 2002, p. 276).

The problem field of this study is the artistic methods behind the creation of Tarkovsky’s authorial world. As a man of faith, he sought answers to the question “how to live?” in art, as well as in the Bible. L. Aleksander (1989), a Swedish translator who worked with Tarkovsky on his last film, later published his answer:

“Creating art is like living. You can’t teach someone how to live well, but you can tell them how not to live badly. And it’s beautifully described in the Bible. Read the Bible” (p. 32).

This possibly explains why in Tarkovsky’s lifetime, his work was more deeply appreciated by the Western community compared to the Soviet Union where religion was forbidden. Tarkovsky was described as a unique artist by such famous world’s cultural figures as J.P. Sartre, I. Bergman, A. Moravia, T. Guerra, A. Kurosawa, S. Nykvist, and others. A well-known publicist Deepro Roy (2015) even published an essay in which 16 famous world art-house directors including Andrei Tarkovsky evaluate one another. Carmen Gray (2015), German critic and journalist, considering Tarkovsky one of the “true masters of cinema”, emphasizes that according to the 2012 Sight & Sound survey “on the best films of all time”, “Andrei Rublev”, “The Mirror”, and “Stalker” were among the world’s top 30 critics and directors, thus proving “the reverence Tarkovsky still inspires”.

As noted above, the key concept of Tarkovsky’s philosophy is “self-sacrifice”, which is evidenced not only by the appearance of the sacrifice motif in all his films, but also the frequent references to this theme in his diaries, articles, and interviews. The archetype of self-sacrifice is known to date back to ancient times. Many of the world’s peoples had cults of sacrifice serving as a basis for numerous myths about heroes sacrificing themselves for peace, to maintain the harmony of existence. Christianity exalted the divine significance of self-sacrifice, making it the goal of human salvation.

This idea, same as the striving for perfection, was among the most vital for Tarkovsky (1985):

“I am an advocate of art that carries within it a yearning for the ideal, that expresses a longing for it. I am for an art that gives a person Hope and Faith. And the more hopeless is the world described by an artist, the more, perhaps, one must feel the ideal opposed to it – otherwise, it would simply be impossible to live…” (p. 218-220).

The beginning of Andrei Tarkovsky’s creative path came at a time when the era of Stalinist totalitarianism began to crumble and a “new wave” of Soviet cinema emerged. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, the whole world learned the names of such directors as S. Bondarchuk (“Fate of a Man”, “War and Peace”), M. Kalatozov and S. M. Kalatozov (“The Cranes Are Flying”), G. Chukhrai (“Ballad of a Soldier”), M. Romm (“Ordinary Fascism”), and others. This cohort of filmmakers was soon to be joined by a young graduate of the VGIK with his own vision of the drama of war.

“An innocent victim of war”

In “Ivan’s Childhood” (1962), the protagonist cannot wrap his mind around the peripeteia of war and peace. Based on V. Bogomolov’s novel “Ivan”, the film shifts the action from the external to the internal sphere: its theme is not the boy soldier’s feat but the analysis of the complex metamorphosis of the teenager’s soul. Combining the techniques of poetic cinema with a brutal, almost documentary depiction of the realities of war, Tarkovsky achieves a strong effect (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Film “Ivan’s Childhood” (1962). Starring Nikolai Burlyaev. (Tarkovsky, 1962).

Through the prism of a split world, through the differences between the hero’s past and present, the director derives his formula for the theme of “man and war” with its unnaturalness and anti-humanism. Tarkovsky’s tragedy of Ivan is found in that he is displaced from his human axis by an unchildish feeling of hatred burning inside him, a thirst for revenge. Hence the “black tree by the river” is the “tree of death” (Zorkaia, 2012, p. 27) – not a speculative image but an archetypal symbol.

In the mythology of the ancient Slavs, a tree was a symbol of Life. A withered tree was associated with woe and doom. It is no coincidence that myths often used such trends as “the tree of life”, “the tree of knowledge”, “the tree of ascent”, “the tree of the soul”, “the tree of death”, etc. (Afanasiev, 2014).

For this reason, in “Ivan’s Childhood”, the director repeatedly shows the shot of a black, charred tree with children playing beside it. This image has many meanings: it is both the “shot childhood” of Ivan (Zorkaia, 2012, p. 27), the souls of the children who died in the war, and the souls of the children who were not born because of the terrible war. The view of Jean-Paul Sartre on this film in his open letter to the editors of the Italian newspaper Unita is interesting. He emphasized its universal human meaning:

“…Who is Ivan? A madman, a monster, a little hero? In reality, he is the most innocent victim of war, a boy who is impossible not to love, who was nurtured by violence and absorbed it. The Nazis killed Ivan the moment they killed his mother and wiped out the villagers. However, he continues to live. But to live in the past… Credit must be given to Tarkovsky for showing so convincingly that for this suicidal child, there is no distinction between day and night… The little victim knows that what he needs is the war that spawned him, the blood, the vengeance. The road of love is closed here forever…” (Freilikh, 2002, p. 452-453).

The film “Ivan’s Childhood” which won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival – the Golden Lion of St. Mark – and collected fifteen more prestigious awards at various international festivals became the “calling card” of the young Tarkovsky.

The artist and the era

The film “Andrei Rublev” (1966), the script for which was co-written by Tarkovsky and Andrei Konchalovsky, unravels the philosophy of Russian history in the first half of the 15th century – one of the most contradictory periods of medieval Russia at the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke and the internecine strife of the Russian princes. Tarkovsky (1985) wrote:

“…The goal of our work lies in reconstructing the real world of the 15th century for the modern viewer, i.e. present this world in a way that would not make the viewer feel the “monumental” and museum exoticism neither in costumes, nor in the language, or the everyday life, or the architecture. To reach the truthfulness of direct observation, the “physiological” truth, so to speak, we had to deviate from the archaeological and ethnographic truth” (p. 228).

This proves that “Andrei Rublev” was not filmed in the tradition of the historical and biographical genre; is a philosophical parable about the meaning of creativity, the artist’s responsibility to society, and the triumph of the human spirit (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Film “Andrei Rublev” (1966). Starring Anatoly Solonitsyn. (Tarkovsky, 1966).

The film is constructed as a sequence of spiritual trials for the hero (the script was initially titled “The Passion According to Andrei”) disintegrating into a series of novellas. It concentrates the moral and philosophical problems closest to Tarkovsky – personality and history, the artist and power, freedom and moral choice, faith, betrayal, and conscience, which makes this film “a true key to understanding the entire work of Tarkovsky” (Evlampiev, n.d.).

The main theme of “Andrei Rublev”, similar to other Tarkovsky’s films, is the exploration of the unbreakable bond between a person and the outside world and spiritual existence, which brings Tarkovsky’s moral quest closer to the philosophical ideas of I. Kant, G. Hegel, F. Nietzsche, N. Berdiaev, I. Ilyin, S. Frank, E. Fromm, P. Sorokin, and others.

The iconic image for Tarkovsky is the archetype of Jesus Christ as the Ideal Man. In “Andrei Rublev”, the Christ on Calvary becomes a symbol of the Russian man who bears his cross on the sacrificial path for the sake of the spiritual perfection of people. Tarkovsky’s Christ is a symbol of his moral and philosophical idea. It is for that reason that the director shows him not in biblical clothes but in a Russian cotton shirt and sandals and in the realities of medieval Russia. This biblical-mythological motif in the film not only indicates the “collective unconscious” (C.G. Jung) but also reflects the very philosophical concept of sacrifice as the basis of a spiritual feat in the name of people.

The archetype of the Cross in Tarkovsky’s work embodies the idea of the structure of the world. As argued by C.G. Jung (2014) who studied the religions of different peoples of the world,

“The cross signifies order as opposed to the unsettled chaos of the formless multitude… The cross is indeed one of the oldest symbols of structure and order” (p. 176).

In the Christian religion, the cross becomes a universal symbol of the unity of life and death. In “Andrei Rublev”, same as in his other films, the director resorts to the symbolism of the cross emphasizing that many of the characters “bear their own cross” (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Film “Andrei Rublev” (1966). Path to Golgotha. (Tarkovsky, 1966).

Another archetypal symbol used by Tarkovsky is the image of a temple. By showing a ruined temple in “Andrei Rublev”, the director creates an image/symbol of the destruction of the world’s spirituality. A similar symbolic meaning of the ruined temple in “Ivan’s Childhood” is an image of the nation’s misery.

Of an ambiguous nature is Tarkovsky’s image of the protagonist, the Old Russian icon painter being an “alter ego” of the director himself. Rublev is not only the central protagonist of the film but also a sort of moral essence with which the other characters are compared. The “passions” of his existence are the state of the artist’s soul, the anguish of his conscience unwilling to put up with the injustice and cruelty of life (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Film “Andrei Rublev” (1966). Scene at the temple (Tarkovsky, 1966).

The main humanistic problem of the film is the attitude to a person and the human community. The bearers of two opposing ideas on this issue are two brilliant artists, two opposites, Andrei Rublev and Theophanes the Greek, and the dispute between them – about the meaning of life, the purpose of art, good and evil, faith and faithlessness – is the climax of the film. Theophanes believes that people need fear and only the thought of God’s inescapable retribution for their sins can halt their innate wickedness and ignorance. The role of art is to bring people to their senses and shows them all the terrors awaiting them. As indicated by L. Anninskii (2012), the issue here lies in “how pernicious the truth is, for you cannot add light to dark. The tragedy in the film is internal; it is rooted in the nature of things, not in a forceful external influence” (p. 141). Tarkovsky, defending the position of Andrei Rublev, argues that despite all the contradictions of life,

“we must see the rational grain that is only emerging and will certainly win… Rublev as an artist, expressing the thought of the people, reflected the moral ideal to which he called. That is why he is great” (Kosinova & Fomin, 2016, p. 231).

A powerful chord of this life-affirming theme sounds in the last novella of the film – a young master Boriska, ragged and dirty, casting a giant bell, the ringing of which acquires an allegorical meaning: talent, as a gift of God, should not be silent, it must serve the people, the future generations. The self-sacrifice of the artist serves to harmonize existence, developing the spirit of man and society as a whole (Kirillova, 2016) (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Film “Andrei Rublev” (1966). Scene “Bell”. Nikolai Burlyaev as master Boriska. (Tarkovsky, 1966).

Already beyond the film’s storyline, as its conclusion, we see on the screen the fragments of Andrei Rublev’s icons including his famous “Trinity” as a symbol of Faith, Hope, and Love. The problem of the meaning of creativity is continued in the film “The Mirror” (1974) structured as a confession of the artist about himself, the life of his family, and his mother. The metaphor “of time and self” became the philosophical basis of this monologue film. C. Gray (2015) notes that

““The Mirror” is the greatest masterpiece of Tarkovsky. It is also of the most unconventional form. Autobiographical and personal to the greatest extend, it unfolds with the associative logic of a dream allowing the memories to be reflected in the tumultuous national history of Russia”.

“The Mirror” merges the past and the present, documentary footage and personal memories, the private life of the family and the fate of the whole “crazy 20th century”, and the feeling of Tarkovsky’s own guilt toward his loved ones and the sorrow of human civilization. It is a film about Time and the transformation of reality, the transition from existence to existence, from a particular era to Eternity. The mirror in the film is a metaphor for the human soul, the spirit. Art, according to Tarkovsky, is also a mirror that helps one not only to comprehend the world, to comprehend the truth but also to understand themselves.

“The Mirror” that has become “an act of social and human self-knowledge and self-identification” (Turivskaia, 1991, p. 247) lacks specific examples of self-sacrifice, however, it is implied by the entire life of the hero’s mother who gave her love and life away for her children and sacrificed everything for their future. The themes of Motherland and Mother merge in the author’s mind as something whole and indivisible. The dominant theme of the film is the idea of the difficult fate of kindness which is not something abstract but lies in the real deeds and actions of a person (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Film “ The Mirror” (1975). Margarita Terekhova as the Mother. (Tarkovsky, 1975).

Fantastique as a metaphor for comprehending personal spirituality

The theme of self-sacrifice is also at the core of Tarkovsky’s films belonging to the science fiction genre – “Solaris” (based on S. Lem’s novel) and “Stalker” (based on the novel “Roadside Picnic” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky). In both cases, the literary concept has undergone a fundamental change: on the screen, fiction has become a means of comprehending reality. The main plot of “Solaris” (1972) is removed from earthly reality: the events take place in Space, at the scientific station of Solaris – the mysterious Ocean, the planet of the brain. However, in its own way, Tarkovsky’s science fiction plot reflects the time when the comprehension of the Unknown was already associated with real human spaceflight (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Film “ Solaris” (1972). Scene at the space station (Tarkovsky, 1972).

Tarkovsky sees the main goal of his screenplay in revealing the spiritual competence of an individual proving that the problem of moral firmness and responsibility pervades our entire existence manifesting itself not only on Earth but also in the mysterious Cosmos. Preserving the composition and storyline of Lem, the director created a film-reflection on the essence of the moral. Tarkovsky’s Solaris is a kind of universal mind, an alienated intellect, an alienated morality. In the encounter with the “alien”, in the comprehension of the “alien”, an individual is tested for their spiritual strength. The fantasy in the film comes into its own at the moment when the “solarist” heroes, scientists Gibarian, Sartorius, and Snaut, try to fight against the “guests” – the revived images from their past. The materialization of conscience in the guise of a person or event becomes the main moral line of the film. The “moment of truth” also comes for psychologist Kris Kelvin after his arrival on the space station where he encounters his past.

Hari, a woman he used to love and to whom he was guilty, appears in the flesh: a loving and suffering woman turns out to be a reanimated memory, a visitor from the world of the dead. But it is she who becomes a “flash” of light, illumination for the hero, and love is the main measure of the relationship between man and the Ocean. The hero is ready to sacrifice himself, his earthly life, his future for this “ghost”, a “phantom” of his ex-wife. But Kris is a researcher who is there to study human contact with “alien” intelligence, with the Cosmos. And Hari decides to leave him forever, voluntarily sacrificing herself to give creative freedom to the man she loves (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Film “ Solaris” (1972). Donatas Banionis as Chris Kelvin, Natalia Bondarchuk as Hari (Tarkovsky, 1972).

By taking his characters through the test of the ?osmos, the “alien” intelligence, Tarkovsky creates a nostalgic image of the Earth as a paternal home, as the epicenter of culture and civilization, proving that a human needs only a human.

In “Stalker” (1980) the author observes three people caught in an extreme situation. The characters and the situation are not merely connected by the plot but are allegorical, just like the characters in Tarkovsky’s previous films. In this “trinity”, the Stalker is the moral core of the film, and it is he who embodies spirituality, anti-pragmatism, he is the bearer of the very truth for the comprehension of which the Writer and the Scientist want to cross the “threshold of the room” where the cherished wish comes true (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Film “Stalker” (1980) (Tarkovsky, 1980).

The philosophical context of the film is evident in the landscape of “The Zone” which is dominated by biblical meanings. This can be seen both in the line of coastal bushes and in the fluidity of the waters, one moment cascading with the stream and the other mirroring the islands, on which people somehow fit. The heroes themselves, in accordance with the director’s philosophical allegories, embody the “eternal”: the Stalker reflects spirituality, faith, uncompromising devotion to an idea, the Writer represents skepticism and faithlessness, and the Scientist personifies worry for the fate of science and humanity. No miracle happens in the film: no one ever crosses the cherished “threshold” (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Film “Stalker” (1980). Starring Alexander Kaidanovsky (Tarkovsky, 1980).

Only in the finale do the heroes discover the same eternal truth. This revelation is a simple human feeling – the love of the tired, long-suffering Stalker’s wife who performs her imperceptible, sacrificial feat; the love of the Stalker himself, who has sacrificed a normal human life, his tenderness for his crippled daughter. Love, according to Tarkovsky, is the miracle that can combat cynicism, faithlessness, and empty theorizing about the hopelessness of the world (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Film “Stalker” (1980). Alisa Freindlich as the protagonist’s wife (Tarkovsky, 1980).

“Stalker” that became the last film of A. Tarkovsky filmed in his Motherland “captures a moment of some apocalyptic despair (“the time is out of joint”) of the artist himself…” (Turivskaia, 1991, p. 248) and ended up introducing him to the global issue of the “end of the world”. This is what Tarkovsky’s foreign films also tell about.

From confession to sacrifice

“Nostalgia” (1983) filmed in Italy based on a screenplay by Andrei Tarkovsky and Tonino Guerra was mainly pictured by the Italian press as a drama of a man longing for his home in a foreign land. However, the essence of the film goes deeper than that. The main character, writer Andrei Gorchakov, arrives in Tuscany in search of traces of a Russian serf musician who had once studied music there. This trip will be for Tarkovsky’s hero as much of a journey to himself as the flight to the planet Solaris or the journey to the Zone. Emphasizing that “the film is a sort of discussion about the nature of nostalgia that is much greater than simple longing” (Bachmann, n.d.). Tarkovsky raises the question of not only the drama of a creative individual but also of the drama of human civilization due to the spiritual separation of worlds and cultures.

“Nostalgia” is also a philosophical parable about humanity’s path to finding its spiritual wholeness, to harmony. The sentiments of Gorchakov trying to overcome his spiritual crisis are shared by a former mathematics teacher, Domenico, who the Tuscany villagers believe to be insane as he is constantly talking about the coming Apocalypse. Domenico travels to Rome to publicly burn himself at the statue of Marcus Aurelius… His sacrifice is a form of protest against the cynicism and soullessness of modern society (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Film “Nostalgia” (1983). Scene of Domenico’s self-immolation (Tarkovsky, 1983).

The final scene of the film is metaphorical: the hero with a burning candle is trying to walk across an ancient pool filled with water to understand where and when humanity stumbled and civilization ended up at a standstill. During his sacred act, the hero dies: his heart cannot withstand the strain (Figure 13). Not only the last shot but also the entire film is polysemous as new integrity emerges within it – the shots that unite the Russian countryside and the hills of Tuscany into something native and relative.

Figure 13: Film “Nostalgia” (1983). Oleg Yankovsky as Gorchakov (Tarkovsky, 1983).

His last film, “Sacrifice” (1986), set in Sweden, Andrei Tarkovsky devoted entirely to the problem that constitutes the “credo” of his work. “Sacrifice” is 24 hours in the life of Alexander, a former actor, now a teacher of aesthetics, his wife, daughter, and young son, two maids, the doctor who treats this mentally devastated family, and the letter carrier who recites Nietzsche and convinces Alexander to play a leading role in a tragifarce about a worldwide disaster. The protagonist is tormented by the agony of tragic loneliness intensified not so much by the rift with his wife as by the silence, the dumbness of the Little Man (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Film “Sacrifice” (1986). Erland Jozefson as Alexander (Tarkovsky, 1986).

A significant part of the film’s prologue is a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Adoration of the Magi” in Alexander’s office. The camera zooms in on a fragment (mainly on the infant accepting his predicted future from the sorcerer) and then gives a general overview of the Gospel story. The baby Jesus, who is worshipped as a future martyr and redeemer, becomes a kind of “code” for the film “Sacrifice”. The growth of the messianic motif is a pattern in the evolution of Tarkovsky’s moral philosophy. In this film, which became his testament, the influence of personal circumstances – a terminal illness and worry for the fate of his son Andrei, to whom the director dedicated his last work “with hope and faith” – is evident.

“Sacrifice” begins with a scene in which Alexander and the Little Man are trying to revive a withered tree. The father tells his son the parable of the Japanese monk who watered the same dry tree for years until it blossomed. This parable is known to go back to the vow of penance. The very act of sacrifice runs through three story layers in the film. And three archetypes accompany it. The first one is the archetype of the Tree that reappears in the finale as the father’s will to his son. Here the Little Man finally speaks: “In the beginning was the Word. Why is it so, Daddy?” (Figure 15)

Figure 15: Film “Sacrifice” (1986). Parable of the tree (Tarkovsky, 1986).

While the Tree ties life and death together, what separates them is Water and Fire. Virtually in all of Tarkovsky’s films Water is an environment hostile to mankind; it is oblivion, the all-destroying time. In turn, Fire signifies a higher spiritual life. Fire is purification, it is memory, and it is immortality. The tree will not turn green and the son will not speak unless the father makes a sacrifice breaking the vicious circle of existence even at the cost of his own sanity. Alexander’s self-sacrifice is burning his own house and parting with his past. The hero’s spiritual awakening is in the realization of guilt both for his life and for the chaos of the collapse of the world (Figure 16).

Figure 16: Film “Sacrifice” (1986). Scene of Alexander’s self-sacrifice (Tarkovsky, 1986).

Andrei Tarkovsky contributed to the spiritual salvation of humanity and the world, which has become much more open to dialogue in the 35 years since the great artist’s passing thanks to globalization and digitalization. But has it become morally better?

Conclusion

Summarizing the study, we can note that the most significant element in the philosophy of A. Tarkovsky’s work is the concept of self-sacrifice closely connected with other concepts of the spiritual sphere, such as Love, Truth, and All-forgiveness. At the core of Tarkovsky’s philosophy lies the idea of self-sacrifice in the name of love as particularly valuable and contrary to the cynicism, pragmatism, and soullessness of modern society. The paramount mission of an artist is to influence the spiritual development of a person and to improve the world as a whole. The creative heritage of Andrei Tarkovsky will continue to assist in the comprehension of these processes for a long time.

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