Vulnerable Patriarchal Women and Convoluted Men: A Comparative Analysis of Amrita Pritam’s “Stench of Kerosene” and Maitreyi Pushpa’s “Binni: Whom do you Belong to?

Vulnerable Patriarchal Women and Convoluted Men: A Comparative Analysis of Amrita Pritam’s “Stench of Kerosene” and Maitreyi Pushpa’s “Binni: Whom do you Belong to?”
Deepa Kumawat and B. K. Anjana

Abstract

Women have always been described as vulnerable beings in various literary writings, yet men, the so-called first wheel of society, are no exception to the concept of being vulnerable at times. Despite knowing the truth and situations, the patriarchal settings and social nurturing control men and curb their feelings and emotions. Using comparative analysis as its tool, the present paper is centred on both these aspects. It attempts to compare the short stories of prominent authors Amrita Pritam and Maitreyi Pushpa. With the same implications, the present paper aims at a comparative study of Amrita Pritam’s “Stench of Kerosene” and Maitreyi Pushpa’s “Binni: Whom do you belong?” The grounds of comparison will remain some problematic socio-cultural biases and the role of women in procreation. The paper, in turn, analyses how all the characters perpetuate patriarchy as well as become the victims of it in the course of the narratives. The second part of the paper delineates men as the silent sufferers in the patriarchal system. Suppressing their emotions to show their manliness, men’s silence in the cultural milieu and their undue frustration under patriarchy are analysed as revealed in the stories.