Novels, Society and History........ Part I

Summary of the Topics 

The Rise of the Novel
The Novel Comes to India
Novels in the Colonial World
Women and the Novel
The Nation and its History


Q 1.Explain the following:

(a) Social changes in Britain which led to an increase in women readers.

• In the 18th century, the middle classes became more prosperous—women were sent to schools to receive education. 
• Women got more leisure time to read as well as write novels. Novels began to explore the world of women, their emotions and identities, their experiences and problems. 
• These had great appeal for women readers.

(b) What actions of Robinson Crusoe make us see him as a typical colonizer?

• Robinson Crusoe, as depicted in the novel, gives an impression of superiority.
• He trades in slaves, treats coloured people not as equal human beings but as inferior people.
• He rescues a native and makes him his slave. He does not ask his name but casually calls him‘Friday’. 
• The natives were seen as primitive and barbaric people by him.
• This attitude was typical of a colonial master and represents the period to which Crusoe belonged.

(c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people.

• After 1740 poor people also joined the readers group of novels.
• A large number of circulating libraries were introduced which enabled the poor people an easier access to books.
• Technological innovations in marketing led to expanded sales, and brought down the prices of books. 
• In France, books were lent to poor people on hourly payment.
• This helped Poor People to read a well known book without actually paying for it.

(d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause.

• Under colonial rule, the Indian novelists began writing novels with a Political cause that was to arouse national feelings against colonial rule.
• The Indian authors were aware about how Indians were treated by the British. 
• The Indian novelists used their novels to expose the nature of the British rule and wished to create  a pan- Indian identity and a sense of belonging to the nation. 
• Novels like Ananda math inspired Indians with nationalism.
• Authors like Premchand or Sarat Chandra discussed social issues and exposed exploitation of Indian people by the colonial rulers.

Q 2. Outline the changes in technology and society which led to an increase in readers of the novel in eighteenth century Europe.

Technological Changes in 18th century Europe.

• Use of print technology increased readership and availability of novels.
• Further innovations in print and marketing techniques expanded readership.
• Means of communication increased connectivity and thereby availability and readership.
• Serialization of novels filled the reader with suspense and desire for reading more.

Social changes in 18th century Europe

• Print focused on problems of workers, peasants and other classes. Eg Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
• Reading materials were based on love, catered to the dreams and needs of young girls.
• Historical and adventurous novels aroused excitement among boys and loaded them with courage.
• Novels began to explore women’s world, their feelings, issues, etc.
• Spread of new ideas about faith aroused interest among masses to read more material.

Q 3. Write a note on:
       (a) The Oriya novel
       (b) Jane Austen’s portrayal of women.
       (c) The picture of the new middle class which the novel         
            Pariksha-Guru portrays.

(a) In 1877-78 Ramashankar Roy started serializing the Oriya novel ‘Saudamani’, but could not complete it. In 1902 Fakir Mohan Senapati wrote Chha Mana At/ia Guntha, a new kind of novel which dealt with the possession of land. The Oriya novel is an example of breaking old rules an rural issues like land and its possession. It also directed how rural issues can be made a part of urban preoccupations. They revealed reality of life and abandoning of Indian values to that of western culture.

(b) The novels of Jane Austen give us a glimpse of the world of women in genteel rural society in mid-nineteenth century Britain.
Women, at that time, were encouraged to look for good marriage and find wealthy and propertied husbands. Her famous novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ depicts this well. It writes “it is the truth, universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a good wife”. The main characters are shown to be preoccupied with marriage and money.

(c) Srinivas Das’ novel Pariksha-Guru reflects the inner and outer world of the newly emerging middle class in India.It shows how the characters of this novel are caught in the difficulty of adapting themselves to colonised society and at the same time preserving their own cultural identity Modernity appeared to be frightening but at the same time irresistible. The novel tries to teach the readers to be rooted to their own traditions and culture and to live in dignity and honour. It also teaches one to be worldly wise and practical to survive in this materialistic world.


Q 4. Discuss some of the social changes in Britain which Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens wrote about.

Social changes mentioned by Thomas Hardy

• Traditional rural communities of England disappeared because of mechanization and commercialization of agriculture.
• Farms were the business centres to produce more and more crops.
• Landless laboures faced cruelty and oppression.
• Huge migration of rural population to urban areas in search of opportunities.
• Unemployment mounted.

Social changes mentioned by Charles Dickens

• Unregulated city expansion with over worked and under paid workers.
• Society guided by profits and under valuing hard work of workers.
• Rapid migration increased unemployed homeless poor rooming on the streets.
• Child labour increased.
• Workers were treated as mere hands and instruments of productions.

Q 5. In what ways was the novel in colonial India useful for both the colonizers as well as the nationalists?

• Novel for colonizers was useful as:—
• It provided varied information about native life and their customs.
• It reflected the social set up of India and helped colonizers to frame policies accordingly.
• It made governance easy keeping in mind the caste and class differences and aspirations.
• The colonizers got in depth knowledge of a new society which was further used by Christian missionaries in spreading their religious beliefs.
• Indian nationalists used the novels to encourage pan India belonging, nationalism and unity.
• Democratic values were preached through novels.
• Novels developed scientific and national approach and doing away with evil social practices.
• Nationalists advocated women emancipation and sense of belonging to a common nation.
• Through novels, nationalists infused heroism, reforms, self-worth and tolerance.
• People were made to see the reality of colonial rule through short stories.

Q 6. Summaries the concern in both nineteenth-century Europe and India about women reading novels. What does this suggest about how women were viewed?

• Both in Europe and India, print focused on women and their issues.
• Many felt that women may now work to change their destinies. They would become independent and take decisions in public life. Some felt that women may become immoral and live in imaginary world. 
• Family values, traditions and systems may break as women may neglect their domestic duties as mothers and wives. 
• In India, some Tamil writings even proclaimed that women may ruin their lives and suffer disease and be despised by their near and dear family members.

Q 7. Describe the ways in which the novel in India attempted to create a sense of pan- Indian belonging.

• Novels in India tried to create a sense of pan-Indlan belonging.
• The historical novels highlighted the qualities of the Marathas and the Rajputs and imagined the country to be fill of adventure, heroism, romance and sacrifice. 
• These qualities could not be found in the world of the 20th century. For example in the novel Anguriya Binimoy. Shivaji fights a number of battles with the cunning and treacherous Aurangzeb because he believed that he was a nationalist fighting for the freedom of the Hindus.

Q 8. Describe how the issue of caste was included in novels in India. By referring to any two novels, discuss the ways in which they tried to make readers think about existing social issues.

By the turn of 19th century the novel began to act vehicles of social change.

• Many novelists dealt with real life situations and problems of caste, religion, discrimination against women etc.
• For example, in the novel Indulekha the author Chandu Menon had depicted Indulekha as a woman of breathtaking beauty, high intellectual ability, education and with great artistic talent. She married Madhavan a highly educated intellegent person belonging to a lower caste, rejecting a high class Sun Nambuthiri, a foolish landlord who came to marry Indulekha.
• The novel thus stresses on the woman’s freedom of choice in marriage as well as about the uselessness of caste against qualities of character.
• Similarly, in Premchand novel the author had depicted the exploitation, that goes on in society. 
• But at the same time, the protagonists, Hon and Dhania, retain their dignity till the end. 
• These novels thus mirror the important social issues and the desire of common people to have the right to live in their own way.

Q 9. State the significance of the novels of Premchand.

• Munshi Premchand’s novels are unique and significant in many ways.
• These are filled with all types of powerful characters drawn from all levels of society including middle peasants, landless labours, middleman professionals and people from marginal section.
• Unlike many of his contemporaries, Premchand rejected the nostalgic obsession with ancient history. 
• Instead, his novels look towards the future without forgetting the importance of the past.
• The woman characters of his novels are strong individuals especially those who come from lower classes and are not modernized.

Q 10.Explain any three features of the early Bengali novels. 

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Three Features of early Bengali novel are:

• Early Bengali novels dealt in two worlds. Many of these novels narrated past events and their characters, events and love stories were based on historical events.Another group of novels depicted the inner world of domestic life in contemporary settings. Domestic novels frequently dealt with the social problems and romantic relationship between men and Women.
• The group, of literary people often collected at a convenient place to read, discuss and judge literary works. Some well known Bengali novelists were Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sarat Chandra, Bhudev Mukhopadhyay Rabindranath Tagore etc.
• Novels were also relished for its language. Prose written by Bankim was sanskrjfised but novels were also written in colloquial language in Meyeli in women’s language.

Q 11.Explain, how did novels become a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class during the late nineteenth century in India? 

• In all parts of the world, as well as in India, novels became a popular source of entertainment among the people of middle class. People now could amuse themselves in a new way.
• Picture book translation from other languages popular song composed on contemporary events, stories in newspaper and magazines etc. offers new forms of entertainment. 
• In different form of printed material, novels became immensely popular. 
• Detective and mystery novels had to be printed again and again to meet the demand of the reading public. 
• In general, novels encouraged reading in alone and in silence. Sitting at home or while travelling a reader can have enjoyable time reading a novel. 
• Novels also help in creating a world of imagination where readers can identify themselves with protagonists.

Q 12. Explain the teachings given by Srinivas Das in his novel ‘Pariksha-Guru’. 

• The novel ‘Pariksha-Guru’ cautioned young men of well to do families against the dangerous influence of bad company and consequent loose morals.
• The novel also teaches the reader the ‘right way’ to live and teaches the ‘sensible men’ to be worldly- wise and practical and to remain rooted in the values of their own tradition and culture and to live with dignity and honour.

Q 13. Mention the significance of using vernacular in novels.

• Vernacular is the language spoken by common people. 
• Naturally novels written in vernacular had great appeal to common people and were widely read.
• By coming closer to different spoken languages of the people, these novels produce a sense of a shared world between diverse people in a nation and inculcate a sense of belonging to the nation.

Q 14. In what way was ‘woman’ depicted in Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre?

• In 18th and early 19th century, women were shown to play a domestic role who adjusted themselves to accepted social norms.
• But in Charlotte Bronte’s novel, the protagonist Jane Eyre is shown as an assertive and independent woman. 
• At the age of only ten, Jane protests against the hypocrisy of her elders and aunt bluntly. This novel depicts woman in new role.

Q 15. What is meant by ‘Kabirlarai’ in Bengal ? Why were these organised?

• Kabirlarai were poetry contests. 
• These were a form of popular entertainment. 
• These were usually patronised and encouraged by the merchant elite of Calcutta.
• Besides entertaining common people, these contests encouraged poets to display their talents in extempore poetry composition.

Q 16. What is meant by Epistolary novel ? Give the example of an Epistolary novel.

• Epistolary novel is a type of novel in which the story is narrated with the help of a series of private and personal letters
• Samuel Richardson's ‘Pamela’ is an example of epistolary novel which tells its Story by exchange of letters between two lovers.

Q 17.Why is ‘Titash Ekti Nadir Naam’ considered a special novel?

• ‘Titash Ekti Nadir Naam’ is written by Advaita Malla Burman.
• In many ways this book is special. 
• This novel depicts the life of the Mallas, a community of the fishermen who live off fishing in a river called ‘Titash.’
• The novel is about three generations of the Mallas, about the recurring tragedies and the story of Ananta, a child born of parents, who were tragically separated after their wedding night. 
• The novel depicts the life of the fishermen’s community in great detail. 
• It showed that the life of the community and the life of the river were closely tied. 
• Their end comes when the river dries up.
• This novel is also special because the author himself is from the low caste fishermen’s malla community, and the depiction is from his first hand experience.