Mahasweta Devi Giribala

Mahasweta Devi Giribala

Introduction

Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activists and author of various short stories, drama, and essays. Her writings reflect the cultural and social issues and the problems faced by the Indian women. Her writings not only present the miseries and troubles of these women but it also provides the strong and courageous side of the women due to which she is also known as a feminist writer. She began her career with the teaching at the college; she also worked as journalist and writer. She was born in India but later she moved to Bengal. She not only worked for the women but as a socialist she also served various tribal people and other minor communities of both India and Bengal. This is the reason she has very close observation about the problem of these people and which she portrayed in her stories. Her Stories present different aspects of social concerns like poverty, marriage, education and various other concerns.

One of her stories 'Giribala' is an example of the sufferings and issues that an Indian girl encountered after her arrange marriage. This story also reflects the financial problems and the problems of class differences where a poor girl married for money. This Story also reflects the general behavior of people and the attitudes of man towards the woman the criteria for likeness and dislikes. The most important aspect is how in eastern culture these men treat their wives. This story also reflects the behavior of men in this society, and considering their wives as a useless house keeper. This story clearly portraits the sufferings and neglect a women receive in an arrange marriage as there is no right provided to them to choose their life partner. This story clearly states the problems associated with the early marriages and its negative impact.

Thesis Statement

Giribala is one of the finest short stories by Mahasweta Devi which reflects various social, cultural and financial aspects associated with the women.

Discussion

Giribala is one of the best stories by Mahasweta Devi which provides a clear view of the arrange marriage at early stage. This is the story of a fourteen year old girl who suffers hard times with her husband who tricked her father as an innocent person and later she came to know his real face. She was married to a man for amount of money arranged by her father. She did not have any right to say any thins against him and later she had to bear the consequences of the arrange marriage. Her husband left her, but her father arranged for her remarriage. Whole story reveals the treatment with the women and the negative impact of these aspects in lives of these women. This is the main reason that these women always suffer the negative and inferior response in their families. Sethi (2010) in her review wrote, “It is here that issues of gender become important to the female writer, culminating in Mahasweta Devi's powerful story about flesh ...