A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

a common woman and her aspiration to
liberation, it also portrays her courage
to take the risk of twisting her neck to
carve her Utopia.
One reason to examine this poem titled
‘Dream’ is that the common battered woman
that this poems talks of as its subject
does not aspire to be free having deliberated
upon the tenets of feminism, it is instead
born out of the reality of her life and
world. It is important to clarify here that
it is not intended that something is wrong
with a woman moving towards her
emancipation, having been influenced by
feminism and its associated ideologies, it
is in fact appreciable. It is also a victory
for emancipatory beliefs. This has to be
said especially keeping in mind those who
disapprove of feminism and associated
ideologies the belief that it has little to
do with common women. This poem reveals
that the patriarchal framework affects this
woman too. It is plausible, her being born
and conditioned within this framework.
Of specific note, however, are her ‘dream’
and her ‘endeavour’ to realize it from within
that very framework. This dream and this
endeavour are going to take her to
emancipation too.
In any case, all communities, societies,
religions and nations of the world recognize
their imminent patriarchy. As a result,
it is normative to consider women as inferior
to men, even though some may be free
of this belief, albeit they exist as an
exception. It is visible that all these
manifestations of patriarchy are not uniform
or singular. They persist with their
specificities. Over time, it has collaborated
with several forces to shape-shift and
transform. So, it doesn’t appear the same
over time and regions.
Some intellectuals are of the opinion
that patriarchy is born out of feudalism
and exists only within this social framework.
Therefore, they also believe that it dies
out by itself with capitalism. This includes
both, those who are saddened by
patriarchy’s decline and those who wish
patriarchy’s oppressive and inhumane face
fade away. Those who wish to strengthen
patriarchy lament the old days, and critique
capitalism and the changes it has brought.
Clever supporters of it, however, align
themselves with the new structure to keep
the patriarchal tenets alive therein too.
On the other hand, the above-mentioned
intellectuals critical of patriarchy tend to
expect a lot from the new framework from
capitalism. It is for certain that patriarchy
doesn’t exist only in a feudal setup. If
it were so, it would have been vanquished
from developed capitalist nations. Facts
demonstrate that even in this structure,
patriarchy exists, albeit in different forms.
This is not to say that feudalism and
capitalism are the same with respect to
treatment of women within patriarchy.
capitalism is definitely several steps ahead
in this regard. It has subdued patriarchy
136 :: January-March 2012