TITLE

Project submitted to the Research Department of English, The American College in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Arts in English

by

SUGIRTHA S

(18PSE29)

Under the guidance & supervision of

Ms. L. Hemalatha MA., M.Phil

Associate Professor/Assistant Professor

Research Department of English

The American college

RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

THE AMERICAN COLLEGE

(AN AUTONOMOUS INSTITUTION AFFILIATED TO MADURAI KAMARAJ

UNIVERSITY)

(Re-accredited (2nd Cycle) by NAAC with Grade “A” CGPA – 3.46 on a 4 – point scale)

MADURAI, TN, INDIA

MAY/JUNE 2020

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work titled xxxx is a record of research work carried out by
Ms. SUGIRTHA S (18PSE29) in the Research Department of English, The American
College, Madurai, under my guidance and supervision.

Dr. J. PAUL JAYAKAR Ms. L. HEMALATHA

Assistant Professor & Associate/Assistant Professor

Coordinator, (SF) Research Department of

English

Research Department of English The American College

The American College Madurai – 625 002

Madurai – 625 002, TN

INDIA

Declaration by the Candidate

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 I, SUGIRTHA S (18PSE29), hereby state that the project titled Vicissitudes In Marital
Life is my original work under the guidance and supervision of Ms L. HEMALATHA. M.A.,
M.Phil. Assistant Professor, Research Department of English, The American College,
Madurai for the award of the Degree of Master of Arts in English by Madurai Kamaraj
University, and that it has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree,
diploma, associateship, fellowship or other similar title. I presented ... paper/s in the
International/National Conference/s and published ---- articles in the journals with ISSN or
books with ISBN. (remove the last one if you do not have any).

Place: Madurai

Date

SUGIRTHA S

18PSEPSE29

Research Department of English

The American College

Madurai – 625 002

Contents

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Chapter Title Page No

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 VICISSITUDES IN MARITAL LIFE 11

3 SUMMATION 34

WORKS CITED/REFERENCES 36

Appendix

Questionnaire

Acknowledgement

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 I thank Lord Almighty for hia abundant grace, knowledge and wisdom which guided me

throughout the course of this project.

With immense respect, I express my gratitude to Dr. J. Paul Jayakar Associate professor
and Head of the Department of English, The American college, Madurai for providing me
moral support.

I express my deep gratitude to my guide M.s. L. Hemalatha Assistant professor, Department

of English, The American College, for his guidance, encouragement and support throughout
the work. She took keen interest on my project work and guided me all along, till the
completion of my project work.

I thank my Principal Dr. M. Davamani Christober, and the management of my esteemed

institution for providing the opportunity to carry out this project.

I express my profound gratitude to my parents and friends for providing us with unfalling
support and continous encouragement throughout my study and through the process of
researching and writing this thesis.

Introduction

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 Literature, most generically, is the main part of any writings. More

restrictively, literature refers to writing considered to be an art form or any

single writing deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to

deploying language in ways that differ from its usage.Latin root

literatura/litteratura (derived itself from littera: letter or handwriting) was used

to refer to all writings. The concept has changed meaning over time to

include texts that are spoken or sung (oral literature), and non-written verbal art

forms. Developments in print technology have allowed an ever-growing

distribution and proliferation of written works, culminating in electronic

literature.

Literature is classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction, and

whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major

forms such as the novel, short story or drama; and works are often categorized

according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or

expectations (genre). Definitions of literature have varied over time: it is a

"culturally relative definition". In Western Europe prior to the 18th century,

literature denoted all books and writing. A more restricted sensef the term

emerged during the Romantic period, in which it began to demarcate

"imaginative" writing. Contemporary debates over what constitutes literature

can be seen as returning to older, more inclusive notions; cultural studies, for instance, takes
as its subject of analysis both popular and minority genres, in addition to canonical works.

The value judgment definition of literature considers it to cover exclusively

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those writings that possess high quality or distinction, forming part of the so-

called belles-lettres ('fine writing') tradition. This sort of definition is that used

in the Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–11) when it classifies

literature as "the best expression of the best thought reduced to writing."

Problematic in this view is that there is no objective definition of what

constitutes "literature": anything can be literature, and anything which is

universally regarded as literature has the potential to be excluded, since value

judgments can change over time.

The formalist definition is that "literature" foregrounds poetic effects; it is the

"literariness" or "poetic" of literature that distinguishes it from ordinary speech

or other kinds of writing (e.g., journalism). Jim Meyer considers this a useful

characteristic in explaining the use of the term to mean published material in a

particular field (e.g., "scientific literature"), as such writing must use language

according to particular standards. The problem with the formalist definition is

that in order to say that literature deviates from ordinary uses of language, those

uses must first be identified; this is difficult because "ordinary language" is an

unstable category, differing according to social categories and across history.

Indian English literature refers to the body of work by writers in India who

write in English language and whose native or co-native language could be one

of the languages in India. It is frequently referred as Indo Anglian literature.

Indo-anglian is a specific term . As a category this production comes under the

broader realm of postcolonial literature the production from reviously colonized

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countries such as India. Indian English literature has a relatively recent history.

It is only one and a half centuries old.

Indian literature refers to the literature produced in the Indian subcontinent

until 1947 and in the Republic of Indian which has twenty two officially

recognized languages. All dates about the ancient Indian literature are not

uncertain, but are contested European scholars from the 18th century onwards

estiatedtes of various texts based on methods that Indian scholars consider

arbitrary.

Development of Indian English Literature in India gathered momentum with

the consolidation of British imperialism in India. There is a wide variety of

opinion about the first definitive Indian text in English although critics agree

that Indian Literature in English dates back to atleast the early nineteeth

century. Fiction being the most important characters and powerful form of

literary expression has gained a prestigious position in the Indo-English

literature. Commencing from Rabindranath Tagore, RajaRam Mohan Roy,

Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Sarojini Naidu, Toru

Dutt, Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Chitra Banerjee, Sudha Murty, Arundhathi

Roy Bharathi Mukerjee- the panache of fine Indian writers is long and much

augmented.

Indian writing in English Today has come to occupy the respectable position

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and the credit for it goes to a good number of women writers whose pens have

spilt much ink in bringing to light the various aspects left untouched and

ignored by their counterparts. Literature has always been a handy tool in

exploring the gender relation and sexual differences. Women writers

particularly novlists have dedicated their writings as a media for the uplift of

women. Irrespective of their race, culture, nationality and language, all women

novelists have given a clarion call to the empowerment of women, that is to

purge of their inhibitions and to assert their position equal to men and superior

to men. They feel the pulse of the society, know its sickness and suggest cures

as are in consonance with its culture.

From the very beginning of the rise of Indian novel in English, the writers

concentrated on social and domestic problems. The creative writers both

men and women gave special attention to the problems of women. Several

women writers like Raja lakshumidebi, Smt. Swarana Kumari Ghosaland

Cornelia Sorabji wrote novels in India in English. Sudha Murthy maintains a

unique position among the contemporary up-coming writers in English

Sudha Murty was born in Savalagi, Jamakhandi ,Karnataka, India, is an

award winning Indian Novelist. Murthy initiated a bold move to introduce

computer and library facilities in all schools in Karnataka and taught computer

science. She got the "Best Teacher Award" in 1995 from Rotary Club at

Bengaluru (erstwhile Bangalore). Murthy is best known for her social work and

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her contribution to literature in Kannada and English. Dollar Sose (English:

Dollar Daughter-in-Law), a novel originally authored by her in Kannada and

later translated into English as Dollar Bahu, was adapted as a televised dramatic

series by Zee TV in 2001.

Sudha Murty has also acted in the Marathi film Pitruroon and the Kannada

film ‘Prarthana’. She has also appeared in the television game showKaun

Banega Crorepati season 11 in its Karamveer episode of finale week. She won

various awards like 2018: Murthy received the Life Time Achievement Award

at the Crossword-Raymond Book Awards in 2019: andreceived "Hemmeya-

Kannadiga" award from television.2019: IIT Kanpur awarded her Honorary

Degree (Honoris Causa) of Doctor of Science. She also won India's fourth

Highest civilian award "Padma Shri".

Reviews from the Good Reads about Sudha Murty'sHouse of cards by Priya

Kulkarni rated it really liked it about 4 years ago. House of cards is very

ordinary and thought provoking reading. Mridula is calm and center character of

this novel. Sudha Murthy has made it a point for all the men in this book

through Mridula that man is incomplete without woman.

The saying "THERE IS A WOMAN BEHIND EVERY MAN'S SUCCESS"

comes very true. The only thing I went on searching for in this book was,

literary way of narrating the story. It could have been more artistic also.

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 Over all I liked the book and give it a four stars. Sudha Murthy is always

simple and real. I like her small topics which influence the society in long run.

Sudha Murty's House of cards published by penguin Books India in 2013.

Major theme she handled in the novel is that the main thread which ran through

this novel is that financial riches help to build physical infrastructure but cause

the destruction of the close human relations. In this novel Murty expresses her

feelings about the society and its various aspects and this was the perfect

platform to make the reader aware of any burning issue. Her novels are deeply

related in India and this is specially of her writings.

Coming to the story of the 'House of Cards', it's the story of Mridula who

stays in the village of Aladhalli. Mridula even though born to a well to do

family, is brought up in the most simple lifestyle and beliefs. Mridula's traits of

austerity and frugality is interesting and a pleasant change in this material world

where joys are associated with material things. She doesn't have love for

anything material, yet loves and lives life to the fullest. A line oft repeated in

the book is how it seemed the sun rose for her only and the rainbow colors were

meant for her only. Mridula enjoys life in her village, teaching, cooking and

sketching. 

Mridula finds a husband like herself, who has less demands and needs from

life. They move to the city and from there life begins to change for them.

Mridula's husband, a doctor, who serves patients considering it as his duty

eventually succumbs to the cruel ways, demands and pressures of the rat race. If

we can't race ahead, We will be left far behind is what he experiences, hence he

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too leaps in race and eventually succeeds. New found success and wealth brings

many changes in her life. To read more about that and how she deals with them

read the "House of Cards"

The research methodology adopted to analyze this novel is Feminism.

Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the

sexes. This approach would help shed light on the shackles that bind these

female characters and how the rickety nature of human relations in the modern

world. Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical or

philosophical fields. It encompasses work in a variety of disciplines, including

anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticise, art

history, psychoanalysis and philosophy. Feminist theory aims to understand

gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality.

While providing a critique of these social and political relations, much of

feminist theory also focuses on the promotion of women's rights and interests.

The novel house of cards by Sudha Murty book , a story set in North

Karnataka somewhere near Hubli is how the book, House of Cards, starts.

Mridula is the daughter of Bheemanna and Rukuma Bai. They live in

Aladahalli in North Karnataka. She is a kind hearted and simple girl and has

enormous enthusiasm for life and unlimited energy for reading, cooking and

sketching and wants to spend every moment of the day fruitfully. Even though

she scores a rank in the tenth class, she wants to be a teacher and joins the local

government school. When asked whose favourite, she says, “I am Amma’s girl

and Appa’s world”. She has an older brother, Krishna.

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 Sanjay, a doctor, is the son of Ratnamma, a money lender in T Narasipura,

works in KEM Hospital Bombay under Dr Chandra. He is a very sincere doctor

like his father who was a medical practitioner. He wants to be a gynaecologist.

He has a sister Lakshmi who’s married to Shankar, a bank clerk. For

Ratnamma, money has more value than thing and for Lakshmi and Shankar,

spending is more important than saving.

Sanjay meets Mridula at a marriage in Hubli, then again in Bombay and

proposes marriage to her. They get married and move to Bangalore: he joins as

a resident in a college to do his post-graduation and Mridula gets transferred to

a government school in Bangalore. After getting frustrated in a Government job,

Sanjay moves into private practice. Though, Sanjay and Mridula move up in

their socioeconomic status in the twenty five years of married life, they drift

away from each other. Their house collapsed like a house of cards. The novel

also showed Indian people's inability to cope with riches.

Sudha Murty's narrative style in this novel resembled the simple and

Straightforward narrative style of 'There was a king' kind of the narrative

technique of the past. She described physical features of characters, various

events and incidents in their life, their locations in such a simple language that

readers are reminded of grandchildren at the bedtime. She has also used notable

narrative techniques to weave the story and plot of this novel.

Chapter two will be analytical in nature, which will attempt to answer the

research question by textual analysis with primary and secondary texts.

1) How does the title of the novel relates the problems faced by the women

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 in her marital life?

Vicissitudes In The Marital Life in Sudha Murty’s House Of Cards

Sudha Murthy a disciplined writer, a technocrat with the most innovative

and skilful mind has been highly esteemed with awards for her philanthropic

and literary acquisition. Her writing is based on truth, and presents a wonderful

mood, touches the heart of the readers and gives immense pleasure to focus on

the text. Her writing is clear and simple communicates her ideas clearly. She is

a prolific writer in English and Kannada and her novels focuses on Karnataka

villages and the people. She advocates feminism and gives power to her females

to strike the adverse situations of their lives. She demands the women to give

credit to them and liberate the stupendous power of them to accomplish their

discernments. She is full of humility and modesty and uses her wealth for the

less fortunate people. She acknowledges to the cry and requirement of the

impoverished, the destitute and the marginalized portion of the society. She

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writes in the backdrop of Indian English Literature. The last quarter of the

twentieth century witnessed a creative surge in Indian English Writing in

general and in fiction in particular. The forte House of cards concerns the home,

the family relationships and the essential equilibrium needed to keep them

healthy. The novel focuses on the shaky foundation of marriage of

Mridula and Sanjay and the breach of trust made by Sanjay.

Sudha Murthy draws one‘s attention to the contemplation of Indian

consciousness that bestowed through legendary episode, characters, their saga

and the relation situations. She dives deep into the heart of the characters and

focus on the absurdity going on in them. She writes instinctively as one seems

as their own story. She focuses on the atmosphere of native grace in her

writings and the readers become well acquainted with the Karnataka places and

ascertain the glimpses of villages. The names of the characters are also from

Karnataka. Sudha Murthy‘s art and mind is reflected in the creation of her

novels. Sudha Murthy in House of cards focuses on the disposition of the people

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when they have more money. She also describes the pretentiousness,

insensibility greediness of the characters mostly males. The novel House of

Cards presents the problems faced in the marital life of Mridula and Sanjay. In

this novel the protagonist Mridula is from Aladahalli a top student,

unobjectionable, pure at heart.

Mridula is a protagonist of House of Cards. The entire novel revolves around

her actions, reactions, feelings and emotions. When we came across her for the

first time, we were impressed by her wisdom and maturity in her early twenties.

Writer described her as “Mridula was not like everybody, she was different. She

had enormous enthusiasm for life and unlimited energy for reading, cooking and

sketching. She wanted to spend every minute of the day fruitfully. It seemed

that the sun rose for her and the rainbow colours were meant only for her. Every

day was to be lived its fullest and every beautiful minute to be enjoyed.”(02) 

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 Mridula had been a studious girl in her school days. Her teachers wanted her

to join courses either in medicine or in engineering in order to do justice to her

talent and industriousness. They wished her to go abroad to earn dollars there.

She however had been bent on becoming a teacher because teaching was her

hobby. It was her vocation. This proved that she had a mature head on her

young shoulders. Teacher in her could face difficulties in her married life with

Sanjay later. Teaching had groomed her into a wise, considerate and selfless

woman who thought about other’s comforts and convenience first. 

In her adolescence, Mridula was impressed not so much by Sanjay’s

academic degrees as by his utter simplicity and child like honesty. She

worshiped his virtues and was not drawn towards his masculinity. She accepted

Sanjay as her husband along with his deformity. When her father informed her

about his short hand, she replied “If Sanjay met with an accident that left

him handicapped after we got married, then you would not hold that

against him. So I don’t have any objection to the alliance if both of you are

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ok with it”(42).This affirmed her conviction that she was not after looks and

riches of the boy she wanted to get married with. She wanted a boy with plain

heart and clear head as her husband. “Every person is an island. You need a

bridge to connect two islands. That bridge is called a relationship. In life, real

affection comes not through hiding but through expressing your true

feelings.”(38).

We came across two faces of Mridula in the story. One the innocent,

sensitive and considerate human being and the other one is that of a firm,

decisive and hard hearted person. Mridula opted for Sanjay in spite of the fact

that one of his arms was short. She 166 voluntarily sent a part of her salary to

Sanjay’s mother regularly. Mridula earned more than Sanjay. He gave his

salary to Mridula and told her to manage the money. His only request was

that she should send some money to his mother. So Mridula kept

accounts and insisted that Sanjay kept some money in his wallet.(P 64 )She did

not mind Sanjay’s monetary help to his sister. In fact money was never a part of

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her relations with Sanjay. Human relations mattered to her more than financial

dealings. 

Mridula carried a social sense right from her adolescence to her

womanhood. Her village did not have medical facilities. She completed a

special training in first aid treatment and gave tetvac injections to the injured

people and pregnant ladies there. She worked as a volunteer in maternity home

for the safe delivery of village women. When Sanjay started his own hospital,

she advised Sanjay to render free services to slum dwellers and treatment at

concessional rates to needy poor patients. Her roots in the soil were so deeply

maintained that financial success in the later part of their life did not blind her. 

She had a conscience which guided Sanjay to keep his cool in his difficult

times. She helped him proactively to overcome the feeling of utter frustration

when the Government hospital politics victimized him. She used the entire

amount of her salary to repay the house loan. “I don’t mind. As long as you

earn money legally and ethically, I’m with you. I’ll help you in your struggle.

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You can earn money illegally too, but I’ll never approve of that.”

She never bothered Sanjay for daily house hold expenses. She wanted her

Sanjay to be successful both as a human being and also as a medical

practitioner. Mridula had a mature head on her young shoulders. Whenever

Sanjay was disturbed by the hospital politics, she helped him overcome the

feeling of uneasiness in him. Mridula worked as an antidote to Sanjay’s

ailments. She knew that Sanjay would be lost without her moral support. She

was therefore proactive in domestic affairs. When Sanjay was unjustly

transferred from Bangalore to Belur, she courageously looked after her

son, herself and also her husband and built much needed confidence in him. 

Mridula maintained considerable respect for herself and her Sanjay in the

first phase of their married life. She did not want to endanger Sanjay’s

reputation by borrowing money from friends and relatives. She told Sanjay,

“Sanjay, I have gold jewelery that my parents gave me during our

wedding. I don’t wear much gold anyway. I can sell it. I’ll ask Appa for

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some money too. We can borrow the remaining amount from bank. But

we will not take any money from Alex”(128).This gesture showed her spirit

of sacrifice for Sanjay.

Generally Indian women hesitate to do away with golden jewellery given to

them by their parents. But Mridula did the supreme sacrifice. Her parents were

not very rich, yet she managed to borrow three lakh rupees from her father for

the construction of a hospital. 

The same Mridula was completely broken when her trust in Sanjay was

thwarted by her own Sanjay, who followed unethical practices in his personal

and professional life. He hiked consultation fee from fifty to hundred rupees just

to gain pseudo satisfaction of being regarded expert. He performed c-section

operations even when they were not required. His shady deals with medicine

companies and medical representatives disturbed her to the core. 

Mridula stood for honesty, sincerity, sacrifice and dedication. Her

unflinching loyalty to Sanjay and Sanjay’s calculative apathy towards her dried

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her enthusiasm to continue her association with Sanjay. Her own son looked

down upon her as a middle class house wife who was incapable of grasping the

spirit of new world. He did not consider it fit to talk to her about his education

and marriage. He did not care for his mother’s words when she told him

that he should go to bed early and wake up early too. Instead, he got

irritated and said, “Amma, stop it. You and I have different opinions “(156 ). 

Sudha Murty portrays the destructive effects of money on close domestic

relations Continuous flow of unlawful money in house broke her tender heart.

The house that they had built with strong foundations of mutual trust suddenly

collapsed like a house of  cards. “Money is a useful tool. It‘s like a knife—you

can either kill a person with it or you can cut an apple. It‘s up to you to decide

how to use it.”(109).

Mridula was sensitive. She did not like to keep secrets from her husband

and son. At the same time she did not want them to hide things from her. The

sensible Mridula was deeply hurt when she learned about her husband’s black

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practices. She could not understand the logic behind secretly sending ten lakh

rupees to his mother when she herself had not objected to it. He helped his sister

without informing Mridula, who had never objected a help to her. She quickly

realized that though she trusted him, he did not reciprocate it. Suspicion had

entered the relations. It was all going against her principles.

On beyond this he was also going to give Lakshmi ten thousand rupees on

Gowri festival. Her husband had manipulated her completely due to her

ignorance and foolishness. Sanjay‘s cunning nature had encouraged all these

activities. After knowing his husband‘s dubiousness, she even did not felt to

close the cupboard of the nursing home and ran back into the car. According to

Mridula, Sanjay was a dishonest, untrustworthy and dubious person he had

stabbed in the back of his own wife. He was something that appeared one way

but was truly another.

She had lost all her confidence, aggrieved, and shocked and also became

annoyed. She didn‘t believe that her faithful husband Sanjay had cheated her.

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He had inculcated restlessness in her. She had lived with complete belief and

trusted him from the first day of the marriage and condemning her belief he had

maintained parallel financial elsewhere. He acted like an honest husband but he

had stabbed her in the back. In a marriage she had trusted a stranger, married

him with his short arm, and respected him. There was excitement and

exhilaration that entered her soul. It was the most joyous kind of bond with him,

but the bond the trust had been ruptured by him and the crack followed. At the

moment she realized the selfishness and the materialistic qualities of him. Not

only this he has upraised his family‘s socioeconomic dignity but also eventually

indulged himself in the wrong way of budgetary. When Sanjay came to know

the real fact of Mridula‘s sadness he was not bothered he thought that he earns

money and possess the full power on money he can give it to anyone as

it depends on his own mind .He thought why he had to ask others to whom to

give money and whom to not, after all they are his mother and sister. The

cardinal principal of life was thrashed by Sanjay. Leigh K. Cunningham a

24
lawyer and author of Australia illustrate:“Trust is something that is difficult to

establish. It is very fragile that needs to be taken care of. Once trust breaks or

shatters into pieces, it is very difficult to rebuild it.‖5” (K. Cunningham).

Sanjay amassed tremendous wealth through unlawful medical practices. He

created fake bank accounts to manipulate wealth. He filled his cupboards with

currency notes. Mridula was broken completely by Sanjay’s behavior. She felt

cheated. Sanjay had spoiled not only himself but also her son.“Yes money is

important in life. It‘s a change triggering catalyst. Money brings power, status

and confidence. Money brings out the best and the worst in the people. It‘s a

magnifying glass. When a person becomes rich, his inner desires are free to

come to the forefront. If a selfish man becomes rich, he spends money on

himself, but if a generous person becomes wealthy, he shares it with others. It‘s

difficult to find people who aren‘t touched by money.” (213).

She felt uneasy after listening the decision of her husband. She remained

quiet. She and her husband were living in the four bedroom house of JP Nagar

25
(residential area in south Bangalore). They possess three cars. Mridula had

become the principal of the School in Jayanagar (residential neighbourhood of

Bangalore).Their Son Shishir was stubborn, and pampered by his father. The

three servants were honest. She did not want to leave her job because that job

had held her to start a hospital in difficult times and it was a oxygen for her.

Repeated success had made Sanjay confident. Sanjay became successful due to

Mridula‘s efforts, her hard work and determination and her full support. He also

embraced the challenges coming in the way of life. Alex and Sanjay split the

profits and they have no problems. He had learnt a lot about money

management. He did not figure to declare all his earnings to the Income Tax

department. He possessed black money as well as white. All bribes were paid

by using black money. Sanjay did not tell anything to Mridula she was kept

incognizant of it. It was because Mridula thinks it immorally .The other male

character Anita’s husband Alex also cheated Anita, deceived her by keeping an

affair with anyone else and had used two condoms in her absence in her own

26
bedroom. This shocked Anita and also to Mridula when she came to know about

it. The hypocrisy and the dubiousness of males are well apparent when they

have more money and it exposes the chicanery in the marital relationships.

Sanjay‘s nursing Sanjay‘s nursing home had been aggrandized to a

hundred- bed institution and he use to always check the accounts .He doesn‘t

trust anybody with money matters even also Rosemary her receptionist. He had

accelerated himself into the corrupt practices and earned more money. Mridula

also give lessons to his son to save money for the tough times. Sanjay always

took side of his son even if he is wrong .Sanjay teaches his Son how to earn

money and further tells that how money is the weakness of most people. This

attitude of Sanjay was also a mislead to Mridula. Mridula argued with her

husband not to teach the wrong things to her son because her upbringing was

different than her husband and tells him that her son would go astray. She

became restless and extremely sensitive due to the provocative talk of her son

and her husband. If her son Shishir didn‘t like the homemade food, he didn‘t

27
use to eat at home and his father also adjures him to eat outside. Sanjay was

completely spoiling his son by inculcating him the wrong values of life. Shishir

had started to rebel against his mother but not with his father. Mridula had

instilled honesty and hard work to her son and he used to share and acclimatize

those things with her.

  The trust between the Mridula and Sanjay was shattered and dismayingly

Mridula shifted her bag and baggage to the guest room and had locked the door

from inside. She burst into tears all the time and did not want closeness of

anyone. She stopped feeling hungry as well. She wanted to converse with

anyone to lower her encumbrance but there was nobody to talk to her. When her

friend Anita came to know about the situation she gently told that Anil

(Sanjay‘s nephew) had also deceived her. Mridula elucidates Anita:“Anita , it is

not about money. Money can be earned and lost. It is about faith that a wife has

in her husband. That‘s more valuable than money and gold. Faith sustains a

marriage and brings joy to the family. Without it we have nothing. How can

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Sanjay destroy the faith and trust I had in him?”(186).

She further told that Sanjay might have told to her about his intentions but

must not have cheated her. To get somewhat relief from the burden she met

Kantamma, she advised her that good and bad times are a partof life and

women must have calmness in all situations. She was trapped in her marriage,

defrauded by her own companion. In one‘s life money has the dexterity to

actualize, ameliorate, glue people‘s lives and relationships, but it can also

annihilate people‘s life and relationships, as that happened with Mridula. She

confederated the relaxation technique classes, in which she was instructed that

the main reason of unhappiness is disappointment. She became acquainted

about disappointment that it disappears with detachment. Detachment prevails

knowledge and knowledge is enhanced by dhyana. So it is important for one to

learn the technique of dhyana. Mridula was more emotionable and she needed

more time to be conscious of the real world. If she was brought up in a tough

atmosphere by her parents, she might have adjusted fast. Her student named

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Vani requested her to visit a psychriast Dr. Rao thrice a week. He tried to

explain and understand her problem. She also shared all things with him. When

she asked about the importance of money in life, He elucidated: “Yes money is

important in life. It‘s a change triggering catalyst. Money brings power, status

and confidence. Money brings out the best and the worst in the people. It‘s a

magnifying glass. When a person becomes rich, his inner desires are free to

come to the forefront. If a selfish man becomes rich, he spends money on

himself, but if a generous person becomes wealthy, he shares it with others. It‘s

difficult to find people who aren‘t touched by money.”(213).

Times came when her wisdom and sacrifice were challenged and considered

obsolete. Her virtues were regarded as barricades to speedy personal growth.

She became a laughing stock in the company of her son’s friends. Shishir told

his father and friends,“My mother is like a broken record. She keeps repeating

the same things over and over again” (156) 

Sudha Murty here depicts the male domination as how the man treats the

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woman .The plight of the women in male chauvinistic society has been

portrayed. Sanjay sometimes joked about it and said, “Well, then think

About how I’m living with her.”(156).Naturally, she thought she had failed in

her duties to her family. She was attacked by a terrible feat of loneliness later. 

Sanjay was callous towards Mridula he appreciated everyone except her. The

discrimination of Mridula began at home. Sanjay had more faith in his sister

than his wife. She thought money had taken her happiness. Sanjay thought that

Mridula must apprehend to live life from Lakshmi. He acted polished in front of

others but in front of his wife he seems too much brutal. He criticizes her and

finds fault of her. He was adictator in formulating his opinions. Mridula didn‘t

know that the real life consisted of selfish people. In any relationship

compassion binds people together.

She read the situation carefully. She believed that Sanjay was incorrigible.

She knew that Sanjay had sold his medical knowledge, surgical skills,

professional ethics and humanitarian values to the best bidder in the commercial

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market. She was in a dilemma, She told neither change him nor could she bear

him. There was only one way open to her and that was to leave everything

Sanjay stood for. Sanjay was her precious property for a long time. When it was

damaged, nothing in his life meant anything to her. That is why she disappeared

from his life.

  Their development of life was completely different depending on the

attitudes of their parents. All human beings are not pure in heart, some are liars

and some are selfish. Mridula loved fully in all circumstances to him and

walked with him on the thorny path of success. But her husband Sanjay stood a

noxious invader who had provided hurt to her emotionally. Sanjay had never

bridged with Mridula with true feelings. He was the boss, he has the big ego of

success and he had never established a good communication with her which

shows her destructive nature of infidelity, on the other hand she had backed

personally to him on the tour de force of life.

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 It shows an emotional infidelity of cheating the wife on the financial matter.

No doubt’ he was intelligent and had kept his secret well and felt prone to his

sister‘s and mother‘s selfishness. Due to his dubious attitude she felt that it is

better to be alone and happy than to be with someone who makes her feel

inferior, undesirable and not good enough.

Without informing his wife Sanjay had given money to his mother and a car

to his nephew Anil and opened a joint account with his sister Lakshmi. On

gaining more success with the help of his wife, he had cheated and dominated

her through his dubious nature and Mridula wondered that she had not got a

good reward of saving for the future. Afterwards he came to know his mistake

and was maddened and resentfully ran after her with a ray of hope to bring her

back.

Mridula struggled with reason and emotion. It happened due to the

difference in genes, upbringings and the environment in which they had grown

up. The inculcated values, the different cultures and different economic status of

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their families made her to suffer at her husband‘s hand. More the money people

get more selfish they would become and the result provides a destructive harm

and the infidelity of their close ones. Heartless judiciousness, manipulation and

power destroy a marital relationship and the house built in substantially gets

dreadfully collapsed

Mridula was a person with promising attributes and unflinching principles

Throughout their life. She had been able to erect a house with dedication. When

times to leave it arrived, she did not look back repentantly. She was set for a

new beginning in life once more. 

Mridula bore all odds and fought against them all without shivering and

shaking as long as she was sure of the unflinching support of Sanjay. Once she

realized that her voice was not adhered to she left the house. Chandra Nisha

Singh writes, “Woman is no longer a mere sign in the writing of men, nor is

she merely the muse, the idealized inspiration of the masculine artist and

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thinker. Instead, woman is a creator herself and an imaginative being

whose discourse is subversion of her silence and whose speech is a challenge

to her peripheral status”. Mridula’s silence proved to be more audible than

her words in Sanjay’s case. He came cringing with apologies to come back to

his life. If he had listened to her pleas even once in his life, house would not

have fallen. 

Through this Sudha Murty suggest that women should be gained equal rights

and they should not be dominated, subordinated or cheated by patriarchy or

their husbands. They should have equal rights as their husbands have. Females

must also raise their consciousness and must not get fool by anyone. It‘s better

to be honest with the partner or spouse about the financial state from the get go.

One must not break the trust of one‘s partner; if the trust is broken one cannot

have the same again if you live together again. The house build of cards get

demolish easily. Owed to the dubiousness in behavioural attitude of Sanjay,

marriage a social sacred institution has castaway its holiness and pertinence in

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the novel.

Conclusion

Our woman writers have succeeded in writing about the real problems of

Indian women and their lives inside the four walls of their house. The life of

Indians women is different when compared to the women of other nations. Our

country is famous for educated and successful people but there is an old stock of

traditional norms, which pulls back the social betterment of Indian female

community such as the identity of women being incomplete, if lacking the name

of their husbands or fathers along with their names. And it is also believed that

woman has no independent existence even if she is educated or employed. Our

women writers have graphically depicted this narrow-mindedness in many

novels and other literary forms.

Sudha Murty ended this novel on a suspense note. Mridula was completed

disillusioned in her life with Sanjay who had changed to the diametrically

opposite direction during the twenty five years of their togetherness. Mridula

had preserved her innate qualities like simplicity, innocence and honesty for a

considerable time. She expected the same from her Sanjay. But he had belied

her hopes and devastated her life. He earned money at the cost of hard earned

social prestige which forced Mridula to leave him.

The same Mridula however was showed in mood to reconcile with Sanjay.

She fantasized that Sanjay had held her swing on which she was sitting with one

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„good‟ hand. The end showed the divided mind of Mridula. She thought of a

help from Sanjay on the one hand and on the other hand she had left that hand

behind. Whether she repented her previous decision and hoped to rectify it is

not clear from the end. Thus the novel remained the open ended piece of writing

finally.

Mridula had built the house through incessant hard work and careful

planning. Sanjay had accorded her some help in the initial period. Hospital

building and palatial flat both had turned into house of cards due to Sanjay‟s

dereliction of Mridula. Indian writer like Sudha Murty could hardly dare show

the final break in husband wife relations. Mridula left the house but it may not

be the end of everything that stood for her husband. The end left some space for

Mridula and Sanjay to reunite. The end thus created some questions with

implied answers in it.

Murty’s novels are deeply embedded in the Indian culture of twentieth

century. She showed the necessity of keeping pace with the competitive world

of today without doing serious damage to the social and domestic fabric of the

past. Her Mridula supported her husband like many other Indian girls. The same

Mridula revolted against her husband’s debauchery and recklessness to her.

Sudha Murthy also pen out the real experiences of her life and exposes

female characters to manifest their pain, yearnings and sufferings in this

hypocritical world, where there is gender discrimination and subordinate

consideration of women in pecuniary phenomenon of life and also she has

juxtaposed the pretentiousness, insensibility, greediness of the patriarchal world

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by means of this novel.

WORK CITED

Singh, Chandra Nisha. Radical Feminism and Women’s Writing.

New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers, 2007. P.1 books.google.co.in

Myers, C. K. Human Relationships. Quotes. 15/5/2012.

thinkexist.com/quotations.

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39
40
 1)
2)
3) Idbi. P. 128
4) Idbi. P. 156
5) Singh, Chandra Nisha. Radical Feminism and women’s writing. New

Delhi, Atlantic Publishers, 2007. P.1.

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