MY GRAND MOTHER'S HOUSE
KAMALA DAS
Critical Analysis of the Poem:-
Kamala
Das recalls her ancestral house that was filled with the all-pervading presence
of her grandmother and this is why her grandmother’s house is singular: Kamala
Das received ‘love’ there. When the poetess speaks of ‘love’ in particular she
ascertains that it is unconditional and selfless. With the death of the
Grandmother, the house ceased being inhabited. It now became an isolated and
remote entity, echoed by the phrase ‘far away.’ The poetess asserts that with
the death of her grandmother silence began to sink in the house. Kamala Das, at
that juncture, was too small to read books, but emotional enough to comprehend
the true feeling of love.With
the death of the Grandmother, her life that was hitherto filled only with
emotions becomes numb. Her veins thus become cold rather than warm. It is as
cold as the moon, the moon being an emblem of love. The worms on the books seem
like snakes at that moment, in comparison to the size of the little girl; and
in keeping with the eeriness of the situation. The poetess also implies that
the deserted house is like a desert with reptiles crawling over. The poetess
now longs to ‘peer’ at a house that was once her own. She has to peek through
the ‘blind eyes’ of the windows as the windows are permanently closed. The air
is frozen now, as contrasted to when the grandmother was alive-the surroundings
were filled with the warmth of empathy. Kamala Das pleads with us to “listen”
to the “frozen” air; that is an impossibility. Neither is the air a visual
medium, nor can air cause any displacement because it is “frozen”. It is an
example of synesthesia.In wild despair, she longs to
bring in an “armful of darkness.” Note firstly, that it is not a ‘handful’ but
an armful. Secondly, ‘darkness’ that generally has negative shades to it, has
positive connotations here of a protective shadow. It also reflects the
‘coziness’ inside the house. This armful of darkness is her essence of
nostalgia. With this piece of darkness, she can lie down for hours, like a
brooding dog behind the door, lost in contemplation. The
speaker claims that in her quest for love she had now become wayward.
The poetess speaks to her husband that she who is now thirsty for genuine love,
received at one point in her life, absolute love in the form of her
grandmother. Ironically, she addresses her husband as “Darling”, and talks of
the lack of love in her life in the same breath and tone.Her
pursuit of love has driven her to the doors of strangers to receive love at
least in the form of ‘a tip.’ Previously she was ‘proud’, as she did not have
to compromise on her self-respect. Now she has to move in the maze of male
monopolistic chauvinism, and beg for love in the form of change.
No comments:
Post a Comment