Abstract 104
Dr. Venkatachalam
Peruvalluthi
Pulp
Villainy: Anti-‘Ideal’ and the Cultural
Dissidence; an Essay in Malayalam Janapriya Novel
Abstract
Kitari,
is a Tamil novel by Su. Thamilchelvi, which realistically portrays the life of
a nomadic shepherd tribe of Tamilnadu. The story revolves around the life of
the headman of the shepherd tribe who is addressed as “Keethari”. The Keethari
is a man known for his wisdom in safe guarding his flock and his tribe. This
novel shows how a keethari and his wife ‘Irulaii’ adopt a boy and two girls of
different parents and bring them up as their own children and take all efforts
to help them in need. They do this in spite of having a daughter of their own.
The
novel depicts the turbulent life of the nomadic shepherds and the ordeal faced
by them to safeguard their flock from disease and theft. The efforts taken by
the keethari in shifting the cattle from one place to another and setting up
the enclosure in the lands of willing farmers so as to provide natural sheep
manure is not a mean task. The keethari uses his experience in taking the right
decisions. Moving with his herd and his family in tow the keethari’s endurance
in times of adversity reminds one of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Both
these novels have many things in common where the keethari can be seen as the
counterpart of the old man. Both have the spirit to fight against the adverse
effects of nature. Both of them are professionals one a shepherd and the other
a fisherman. The adverse weather conditions bring out the quality of stoical
endurance in them. More than anything else the attitude of both the central
characters of the novels which sees them through is the sustaining force which
may be the solution to the turbulent modern world.
Though
the stories narrate two different lives and times they are similar in their
rhetorical discourse. This paper aims to bring out the parallels in both these
novels portraying the similarity of two different cultures well removed in time
and space.
Dr. V. Peruvalluthi, Associate Professor, Department
of English, Government Arts College, Tiruvannamalai
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