10

Madness
C Ayyappan
About the author

 C. Ayyappan is an eminent writer in modern Dalit literature.

 His works express a Dalit sensibility.
 His Narrative techniques are characterised by
i. Fragmentation
ii. black humour
iii. irony
iv. sarcasm and
v. satire made

About the story

 Madness is a satirical and sarcastic remark on the discriminations that exist within the
Dalit community.
 It vividly portrayed the opposition between the fair and the coloured, the rich and the
poor with no regards to the blood relations that ties them.
 Throughout the story the narrator gives a lot of explanations for the questions that
arises in his mind for not accompanying his sister to the mental asylum.
 In The monologue Krishan himself suggests two reasons for not taking his sister to
the hospital.
i. The first is; if he accompanies his sister to the hospital the people around the
quarters might come to know about his low class origin and his family, and
that is a humiliation for him.

Here he himself justifies his reason by telling, “That is enough for the entire
neighbourhood to buzz: Krishnan Maash’s sister has gone mad.” He is not acting according
to his will but he is concerned about what the society might think. His dilemma can be seen
when he put forth another question “Krishnan may have become a teacher by chance, but his
kith and kin are still low -caste, aren’t they?”

ii. The second reason is that his fair skinned wife and daughter hate Krishnan
Kutty’s mother and relative because of their dark complexion. His wife though
Dalit is fair skinned, well employed, good looking and comes from a well to
do family and their daughter is much like her mother in her character and
attitude. The daughter even refuses to meet the grandmother because of her
dark complexion and untidy clothes. Here too Krishnan justifies and defends
his daughter by saying the fault is partially on the side of his mother because
she might have worn a cleaner, whiter mundu blouse to over triumph her
darkness. Daughter associated the dark colour with Tamil coolies near their
quarters and the beggars. Ayyappan here ironically points that his daughter
befriends with those who have same complexion as those angelic mannequins
in front of textile shops.
 He goes on explaining his submissive nature towards his wife when she quarrel with him
about his relatives as uncultured folks. His response is only silence and remain deaf- mute.
Krishnan then assumes what will happen if he takes charge of his sister. He assures a family
quarrel; even though he can put up with that, he is not ready to encounter the jeers of his
associates. So Krishanan himself justifies whatever he has done was good and there is no
wrong in it. Still he asks himself ‘is it not the duty of a brother to visit an ailing sister in the
hospital at least once’ and provide the answer as pointless because she doesn’t even recollect
his face so visiting a brainless creature in turn suggests himself as no-brainer.

Krishnan Kutty is struck in between racial disparities within the community itself. C
Ayappan left a satirical and ironic question, unanswered – whether Krishnan Kutty has gone
mad? And he wants the reader to give an answer to his question.

1. Answer the following questions in a word, a phrase or a sentence

I. Write the synonyms of the following words

a. Grasp : clasp, hold

b. Floodgate : barrage

c. Unshackle : unchain, untie

2. Write the antonyms of the following words

a. Forget x remember, recollect

b. Smart x stupid, dull

c. Unpleasant x pleasant

II. Answer the following questions in a paragraph not exceeding 50 words.

1. Comment on the Title “Madness”

 Krishnan Kutty the Narrator of the story is not ready to admit his mental ill sister to
an asylum because of his social status, racial politics and family issues.
 She was brought in chains to city by his friend and panchayat president to help his
sister to get admitted, but he denied.
 Though Krishnan Kutty belongs to a Dalit community, he was married to an upper
middle class family and so he was struck in between the upper middle class and the
down trodden.
 The racial disparities within the community can be seen in this story when he rejects
his accompaniment to the hospital.
 The racial madness and escapism from the real world is represented here.

2. What Happened to Krishnan’s sister?

 Krishnan Kutty’s sister is seriously mad and her condition had turned to worst so
she had to be admitted to nearby mental hospital immediately.
  So his friend and the panchayat president came with her in a car to see Krishnan
Kutty to help his sister get admitted.
 When the panchayat president points his finger towards the car in which his sister
is trying to unshackle the chains, he refuses to help her by saying he can’t see
anything and closes the door dramatically.

3. Why does Krishnan ignore his family?

 Krishan refuses to take his sister to the mental asylum for two reasons,
i. the first is; if he accompanies his sister to the hospital the people around the
quarters might come to know of his low class origin and his family and that is
a humiliation for him.
ii. The second reason is that his fair skinned wife and daughter hate Krishnan
Kutty’s mother and relative because of their dark complexion.
iii. Krishnan was struck in between racial disparities within the community and
that compelled him to ignore his family.

4. Why does Krishnan’s wife ignore his folks?

 Krishnan’s wife is good looking, well employed and fair skinned lady who hates her
husband’s family.
 She had ill feelings towards his mother and relatives mainly because of their dark
complexion.
 For her, his relatives are untidy and uncultured folks.
 Hence Krishnan’s wife ignored her husband’s folks.

5. What is the underlying theme of the story?

 Madness caused due to racial disparities is the major theme discussed in the story.
 The central character Krishnan Kutty is alienated and lacks identity as he is caught up
in the tide of richness and forgot his filial bond due to his colour consciousness in his
attempt to maintain the status he achieved as an urbanite.
 Thus ‘Madness’ depicts the discrimination that exist within the Dalit community.

III. Answer the following questions in a paragraph not exceeding 100 words.

1. What is Krishnan’s daughter’s attitude to his mother?

 Krishnan Kutty is a dalit teacher enjoying all the privileges experienced by the upper
middle class.
 His daughter is not familiar with the dark complexion of his relatives and so she
associates the colour with that of Tamil sweepers and beggars.
 Once, the protagonist’s mother came to see her granddaughter with a small parcel of
pappadavadas brought from a local tea shop.
 In spite of her repeated calls, the girl refused to meet her grandmother and
immediately escaped to one of her friend’s quarters nearby. She returned home only
after confirming that the old lady had left the home.
  Even though she is a child, her mind is racially discriminated.
 Perhaps this negligence might be because she was seeing her grandmother for the
first time.

2. How does Krishan respond to the illness of his sister?

 The protagonist Krishnan Kutty is separated from his family and is living in city
enjoying the privileges of the upper middle class.
 His sister is seriously insane and so his friend and panchayat president came to him to
seek his help to get his sister admitted to a nearby asylum immediately as her
condition is worsening.
 But Krishnan refuses to help because of his social status and racial disparity. When
the panchayat president points to the car to show his ailing sister trying to break the
chain, he simply says he can’t see anything.
 Here we can see the protagonist is chained by the upper middle class status and
mentality and so he refuses to help his sister.
 He avoids them by shutting the door in a dramatic way thus escaping from the reality.

3. Comment on the title madness.

The story Madness is a satire in the form of monologue, in which the protagonist,
Krishnan Kutty is trapped in between fair and the coloured, the rich and the poor, regardless
of the blood relationship that ties them. Apart from caste, alienation of class is depicted in the
story. Here the protagonist’s sister is suffering from mental illness and she is chained. But the
protagonist Krishnan Kutty too is chained in the shackles of caste, class, privileges of
modernity thus restraining him from helping his own sister from getting admitted to the
hospital. The story ends with an unanswered question “Whether Krishnan Kutty has gone
mad as well?” to be answered by the reader.

IV. Answer the following questions in a paragraph not exceeding 300 words.

1. Madness as an indictment of the predicament of Dalit community.

or

Describe the predicament of Krishnan.

C. Ayyappan is an eminent writer in modern dalit literature. He has created a language

of his own which echoes dilemma of the Dalit and conveys modern Dalit sensibility. His
modern narrative techniques of fragmentation, black humour, irony, sarcasm and satire made
his works interpreted in different ways. Madness is a short story that focuses on the attitude
change and racial disparities of a Dalit person Krishnan Kutty.

Krishnan Kutty, the protagonist is caught up in the high tide of richness and enjoy all
sorts of privileges but still his family is downtrodden and is in the marginalized section of the
society. The story is in the form of a monologue, where the speaker explain an incident that
took place two days back to a silent listener (here panchayat president and his neighbour).
Krishnan’s sister was suffering from mental illness and her condition was getting worse. So
his friends and panchayat president took her in a car in order to get her admitted in an
asylum. They seeked the assistance of her brother, Krishnan and panchayat president pointed
his finger toward the car where his sister is trying to break the chain and escape. But
Krishnan refuses to help them by saying he can’t see anything. He has got his own
justification for not going to the hospital.

He had two reasons for acting like that. The first reason; if he accompanies his sister, the
people around his quarters will come to know about his mad sister and also about his low
class origin that will be a great humiliation for him. The second justification is his fair
skinned wife and daughter, both of them had contempt for Krishnan’s mother and relatives
because of their dark complexion. They associate the colour with Tamil coolies and beggars.
So Krishnan is struck between the racial disparities and the upper class privileges that he
enjoys as an urban teacher.

The story suggest the unjust attitude that Krishnan Kutty had towards his family, it is a
remark on racial prejudices on the ground of the complexion, caste, poverty and injustices. It
also focuses on the struggles and sufferings faced by the marginalized section of the society.

2. How does the narrative style of the short story bring out the satirical nature of
the short story?

C. Ayyappan is an eminent writer in modern dalit literature. He has created a language

of his own which echoes dilemma of the Dalit and conveys modern Dalit sensibility. His
modern Narrative techniques of fragmentation, black humour, irony, sarcasm and satire made
his works interpreted in different ways. Madness, his short story is a satirical and sarcastic
remark on the discriminations that exist within the Dalit community. It vividly portrayed the
opposition between the fair and the coloured, the rich and the poor with no regards to the
blood relations that ties them.

Throughout the story the narrator gives a lot of explanations for the questions that arises
in his mind for not accompanying his sister to the mental asylum. In The monologue Krishan
himself suggest two reasons for not taking his sister to the hospital. The first is; if he
accompanies his sister to the hospital the people around the quarters might get aware of his
low class origin and his family and that is a humiliation for him.

Here he himself justifies his reason by telling that “That is enough for the entire
neighbourhood to buzz: Krishnan Maash’s sister has gone mad.” He is not acting according
to his will but he is concerned about what the society might think. His dilemma can be seen
when he put forth another question “Krishnan may have become a teacher by chance, but his
kith and kin are still low -caste, aren’t they?”

The second reason is that his fair skinned wife and daughter hate Krishnan Kutty’s
mother and relative because of their dark complexion. His wife, though Dalit, is fair skinned,
well employed, good looking and comes from a well to do family and their daughter is much
like her mother in her character and attitude. The daughter even refuses to meet the
grandmother because of her dark complexion and untidy cloth. Here too Krishnan justify and
defend his daughter by saying the fault is partially on the side of his mother because she
might have worn a cleaner, whiter mundu blouse to over triumph her darkness. Daughter
associated the dark colour with Tamil coolies near their quarters and the beggars. Ayyappan
here ironically points that the daughter befriends with those who have same complexion as
those angelic mannequins in front of textile shops.

He goes on explaining his submissive nature towards his wife when she quarrel with him
about his relatives as uncultured folks. His response is only silence and remain deaf- mute.
Krishnan then assumes what will happen if he take charge of his sister. He assures a family
quarrel; even though he can put up with that he is not ready to encounter the jeers of his
associates. So Krishanan himself justifies whatever he has done was good and there is no
wrong in it. Still he asks himself ‘is it not the duty of a brother to visit an ailing sister in the
hospital at least once’ and provide the answer as pointless because she doesn’t even recollect
his face. So visiting a brainless creature in turn suggest himself as no-brainer.

Krishnan Kutty is struck in between racial disparities within the community itself. C
Ayappan left a satirical and ironic question, unanswered – whether Krishnan Kutty has gone
mad? And he wants the reader to give an answer to his question.