Emancipation of New Women in Namita Gokhale’s Paro: Dreams of Passion

The purpose of this research is to study new women in the novel of Namita Gokhale, so taking into account the complexity of life, different histories, cultures, and different structures of values, the woman’s question, despite basic solidarity, needs, to be tackled about the socio-cultural situation. Women under the patriarchal pressure and control are subjected to too much more burns and social ostracism. They are more discriminated against and are biased instead of their sex. The lives women live and struggle under the oppressive mechanism of a closed society are reflected in the writings of Namita Gokhale. We see the budding of new women in Namita Gokhale’s heroines, who do not want to be rubber dolls for others to move as they will? Defying patriarchal notions that enforce women towards domesticity, they assert their individuality and hope self-reliance through education. They nurture the desire to be independent and lead lives of their own. They want to shoulder responsibilities that go beyond a husband and children. They are not silent rebels but are bold, outspoken, determined, and action-oriented.

The purpose of this research is to study new women in the novel of Namita Gokhale, so taking into account the complexity of life, different histories, cultures, and different structures of values, the woman's question, despite basic solidarity, needs, to be tackled about the socio-cultural situation. Women under the patriarchal pressure and control are subjected to too much more burns and social ostracism. They are more discriminated against and are biased instead of their sex. The lives women live and struggle under the oppressive mechanism of a closed society are reflected in the writings of Namita Gokhale. We see the budding of new women in Namita Gokhale's heroines, who do not want to be rubber dolls for others to move as they will? Defying patriarchal notions that enforce women towards domesticity, they assert their individuality and hope self-reliance through education. They nurture the desire to be independent and lead lives of their own. They want to shoulder responsibilities that go beyond a husband and children. They are not silent rebels but are bold, outspoken, determined, and action-oriented. Namita Gokhale is a remarkable name in Indian English fiction. Her novel 'Paro: Dreams of passion' is about Paro's rebellion and her rejection of the culturally imposed sexual repression. All her inhibitions and moral barriers come to an end, and she became a nymphomaniac in search of the sexual variety. In the character of Paro, sex is symbolic of a quest for identity as a free woman -The symbol and prototype of emancipation and individuality. She also very brilliantly pin points the quest of the identity of a woman in her very first novel 'Paro: Dream of Passion.' The novel gives stress on concrete individual existence and, consequently, on subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice. Namita Gokhale has achieved her accomplishments in portraying feminist perspectives. Women strive for emancipation and equality. The new women surfaced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The novel Paro: Dreams of passion, Priya is an educated woman. Her life spins around her husband. Paro is closely observed by the acid Priya. Priya longs for the companionship of her husband, Suresh. She craves for the attachment of her husband. "I am an Indian woman, I told myself, and for me, my husband is my God. So I got down to telephoning him". She hails from Mumbai. Her husband does not yield to her strong desire for doing any job because her husband, Suresh, is an eminent lawyer. His ego is hurt. He is upset. He resists her taking up a job.

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The novelist, Namita through Priya opines that "Suresh was very upset at my taking up a job." Suresh says, "Priya, think of my position in society. Why people will think, doesn't her husband earn enough for her to take up such a job?" Suresh is not willing to permit her to join in a job just because of his higher status in the society as a prominent lawyer. She marginalizes her earnest desire for doing a job. Of course, finance may not be a problem for them to lead a happy life. But his attitude hurts her because her freedom is denied. He has not only marginalized her but quarrels with her just for trivial reasons. He beats his wife, Priya, without any valid reason. Who is responsible for her present condition is an issue to be contemplated over. It can be said that woman is instrumental for her pathetic situation. Namita Gokhale draws attention to the tyranny and torturing of women in upper middle-class families in which the woman is victimized. The woman is subjected to the physical torture in the middle-class families even today. In the novel, Priya is beaten by Suresh, who comes from an upper-middle-class and a welleducated family. Women wish to be equal with man in all fields and attempts to realize her capability for which women needs to outdo their distinctive womanliness to go head to be autonomous. As an advocate, he is aware of all the rules and regulations of law -the beating of a wife is illegal. It is nothing but suppression. He tortures her for one or the other reason to satisfy his male domination and ego. He does not recognize her identity. As a lawyer from a metropolitan city like Delhi, he is of the view that a woman has no identity. Atrocities on women continued in the society for which the relationship between Suresh and Priya is evidence. How long Priya bears such suppression is the question. She broods over her problem. Unless she transforms her attitude, she may not be able to live happily. Thus Priya emerges as a new woman.
Paro, in the novel, rebels against the social and moral codes attributed to a woman. To be autonomous, she does not regard conventions and traditional values. She does not believe in ageold patriarchal norms or irrational traditions and conventions. She opines, "I could never understand rituals, why something had to be one way rather than other… who made these rules?" thus, she bids farewell to all social codes, traditions, conventions, rituals, authority, and all those things which compel a woman to become a vulnerable person. She wishes to assert her individuality. In the male-dominated society, she establishes her place. But she turns to be an adulterous woman who is against established traditions and conventions. Paro fights against the traditional norms due to the suppression of her husband, which is against the traditional norms. She leaves her husband and develops illicit relations with Bucky Bhandpur, Lenin and flirts with Shambhunath Mishra. She has two failures in marriages with B.R and Loukas in pursuing her freedom.
In the case of a woman, it is the external force that dictates her life and her actions. She is not the decision-maker in matters concerning her and, therefore, not liable for the consequences. The world, the masculine society, is hence accountable for her condition, and any amount of complaints and grumbles are not able to reach the other end, and her voices simply go unheard. This male world is embodied in a woman's husband who is in charge of her, and by default, responsible for her miseries. Within marriage, women reconcile in varied ways with the authority structure in the husband's family, invisibilizing the gender inequalities in marriage structure. Domestic violence, the brutality of the husband has kept it behind the doors of their flats and bungalows. Domestic violence was reported by women in all castes and working class, with few also justifying wives beating as a disciplinary measure. Among upper castes, domestic violence was recognized as a valid reason for separation. Freedom from domestic violence was considered a middleclass privilege, and hence their not awareness among the working class was even lower. More often, they sought help from neighbor-hood groups. Namita's novel Paro: Dreams of Passion is about the possibilities of exploring changes within oneself. Her woman protagonist, like Priya, is always willing and receptive to redefining attitudes and relationships shorn of undue romantic embellishments. She wants to free herself from the stultifying traditional concerns and cherish a spontaneous surge towards life. One can trace the struggle of a woman protagonist to seek a meaningful definition of life. She vociferously puts forth the private truth about what women want. Namita's women protagonists feel their emotions strongly, yet retain a constant value judgment, about themselves as well as, about other relationships they have to live through.
Though they belong to a different stratum of society, they do possess inner independence to experiment with their life. In the process, life yields self-knowledge, which imparts them the strength of accepting that a woman's desire to succeed as an individual is not incompatible with her desire for love or small pleasures of domesticity. However, Namita Gokhale is excellent in depicting the inner furies of women and their rising tone for emancipation and empowerment.