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Whispering
Generations
It is usually believed that it is women who safeguard and pass on the customs, culture and traditions. And so it is with the women of the Big House. They are the ones who keep the household running with adroit skill and deftness unparalleled by the men of the family. The lords of the household are ignorant of the day-to-day problems of the house. It is left to the women of the family to keep the household running. They are the ones who replenish the ever-finishing stock of food and it is they who get work done out of the servants. They stayed at home, yet had control over the scores of servants working in their fields. The women married and came to the Big House only to identify and merge with its traditions. They learned with time that the pain, the heartbreaks of every individual were subservient to the honour of the Big House. It is impossible not to think about the traditions and customs while going through Whispering Generations. One is forced to think about the irrelevance of the caste system. The reader is confronted with this problem when the family of the Big House wants an alliance with an, "upstart nouveau rich (family)." Though they are in dire need of money, the residents of the Big House feel that: "they (the upstart nouveau rich family) will jump at the chance of an alliance with our family." This is what caste system does to us—makes us hollow within. It is the matriarch of the family who wants to stop the ruin of her family’s name by having the alliance for her grandson with the new entrants in town who were once servants in the former’s house. Her approach is baffling, as she was, in the past, a vehement critic of the lower castes. But as she believed in the importance of the, "good name" of the Big House, she has to compromise her personal prejudices. The undercurrents of Communism can be felt as the novel zigzags through time. And rightly so, for the novel is written at a time when communism was fast sprouting in the southern state. Thus, the novel demands a rethinking on the set notions of society. Besides talking about the changing scenario of society, the author does not lose the thread which binds the characters together. So it is Elishuba, granddaughter of the maidservant, who narrates the story. She is a link between the old and the new as the daughter of a mother who traces her roots to the servant girl who once served the people of the Big House. Her father traces his legacy to the Lords of the Big House. Thus, Elishuba is the one who is able to tell the story impartially without any bitterness. What is refreshing about the novel is that the author does not blame or rebuke anybody. She quietly asserts that the circumstances were such that the characters were puppets in the hands of destiny. The women are caught in a vortex of emotions from which there is no escape. They face life with all its ups and downs, learning from each experience. The novel is divided in time, so you step from the future into the past. Thus, the first part confuses. So you read the first few pages without grasping the characters and their role. It is only after reading through the story that the characters fall into places. This idea may be refreshing but this confusion could be avoided in this otherwise interesting reading. It is the dynamic bond between the women which one remembers long after one puts down the book. |
"THAT'S how it is,
I suppose; things go on, life goes on. Maybe that is our chance of
forgiveness in the life that goes on." These words of Kuri, one of
the characters in Mathai’s novel, sum up the story of Whispering
Generations. The author has set her novel in the picturesque state
of Kerala. It is the story of the people residing in a rambling old Big
House, which has sheltered generations.