Female identity crisis in

Ismat Chughtais Tinys granny

Atif Jan
2012A3PS013P







Comparative Indian literature HSS F338
Dr. Somdatta Bhattacharya
11
th
April 2014







ABSTRACT




The paper undertakes the analysis of identity crisis of female gender as delineated
in the story Tinys Granny (Nanhi ki Naani) written by the eminent Urdu short
story writer Ismat Chughtai and translated into English by Ralph Russell. Ismat was
born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh 1915 and died in Bombay in 1991, where she was
cremated according to her wish. The paper discusses the issues of identity crisis,
economic disparity, education and sexual violence as presented in the story and
society. The issue of identity with these parameters is discussed in the light of the
story. The analysis revolves around granny (Naani) and her granddaughter Tiny
(Nanhi) who are pushed to edges by the society. It enumerates the causes and
consequences of their life events as depicted in the story and society simultaneously.
The paper also draws inspiration from the life of the author and tries to co-relate the
events in the story with her life. I argue that female gender has been pushed to the
sidelines by the androcentric authoritative society and that the abstract idea of
identity is indispensable to every human and necessary for a robust society. I also
argue that the story is very potent in disseminating the ideas of equality and rights
for the female gender. The story gives a succinct account of female misery in the
contemporary India, their challenges and the atrocities on them very vehemently.
The paper also presents a brief account of feminism and its evolution. It puts
emphasis on the importance of the movement but also demands scrutiny and self-
introspection of radical feminists. Finally, I also argue that the story is exemplary
and compelling in its objective.



INTRODUCTION
Identity is a diverse and complex creation in our social construct. It is central and
relational attribute of every person. It is born out of relationship, in home or a place
of authority. Identity gives recognition and cognition of self, which makes it
indispensable for everyone. However, reality remains the contrary. Identity over the
growth of civilizations became a monopoly of men. I believe, we live in a flawed
social construct that is biased, bigoted, authoritative, askew, misrepresented and
Chauvinistic. Identity is always hard to realize from a womans perspective, a
conundrum popularly called as identity crisis. Female identity crisis in society has
been since time of Adam himself
1
. According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time
of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself. Identity
is utmost important for a healthy development. It encompasses the evolution of body,
soul and spirit. It is how one sees himself in religion, in family or community and
essentially how people sees themselves on the inside. Women unfortunately, seem
to struggle on all three fronts. The issue of identity crisis and many others led to a
wave of feminism and representation of their concerns in literature presented by men
and women alike. Feminism interrogates patriarchal structure of society and opposes
womens subordination to man in public and private spheres of life
2
. Ismat chughtai
is a very assertive voice on this subject often regarded as the pioneer of feminism in
India. It is only natural to study her literature and discern this dilemma of identity.
Identity crisis and gender bias have drawn women to the edges who find themselves
in strange situations and often as fringe elements that are unacceptable in society.
Ismat chughtai in her short story Tinys granny (Nanhi ki naani) takes up the issue
of identity crisis and insecurities of sorts. The story in a very exclusive manner is
able to humble us as readers and for this reason a very convenient literature to peek
into the issue. Female gender has been victim to the societal and religious hypocrisy
enforced by unjust and androcentric society. In fact, Ismat chughtai began writing at

1
The reference to Adam is intentional to recognize identity crisis that eve faces. An
important question to be realized is what exactly do we know about her?
2
Ismat Chughtai (August 1915 24 October 1991) was an eminent Indian writer in Urdu,
known for her indomitable spirit and a fierce feminist ideology. Considered the grand dame
of Urdu fiction, Chughtai was one of the Muslim writers who stayed on India after the
subcontinent was partitioned.
a time when any attempt on part of women to write poetry or fiction was viewed as
an intellectual vagrancy. Ismat herself had a very deep understanding of female
subjugation and was a path breaker for women writers in the subcontinent. She was
liberal, open to all faiths and wrote very compelling literature especially stories in
support of feminism and authoritative Muslim society
3
. Every soul is born free.
Chugatais woman is not one which is born free but rather shaped by the society.
This is evident throughout Ismats oeuvre. Her female characters, are put to scrutiny
and judged. This is primarily because she herself lived a life on the same lines as
that of her characters. Whether, growing in a family dominated by male writers or
controversies related with Lihaf, all these are testimony, that her work is not just a
piece of literature derived out of literary genius, rather shaped by the society around
her. The story cannot be read in isolation and to understand it better one needs to
know about the stature of women in Indian society who since eternity were treated
as second class citizens and gender. Although throughout history women have
always been in majority, they have often been treated as marginal and men as central.
The story is a third person narrative. In fact, most of literature is, third person
narrative. I think this is deliberate. She like to keep the characters close to what she
primarily wants to convey and restrict the domain of their liberty. The story describes
this notion of identity crisis of women in the society. I argue that identity can be
understood as a makeover of two senses personal and social. The latter is a social
binding, a categorization or an attribute in the social strata. However, the former is
a sensitive issue. It is something that defines us as who we are in terms of ones
characteristic features that a person is proud of. The term identity refers to the
mutually constructed and evolving images of self and other
4
. Identity remains an
unresolved question in the story and this point has been portrayed by Ismat in the
opening of the story. The identity of granny has never been of herself but rather of a
relation, help, a social stigma or a nuisance. The entire philosophy of self and other
seems to be missing in case of describing a female gender in the society. Ismat
intentionally has not named any of the two lead female characters. It is to reassure
the fact that our androcentric society stoops too low even to allow a permanent name
or profession to women.

3
The views in their entirety are those of Ismat.
4
Katzenstein 1996.
ANALYSIS OF THE STORY

IDENTITY
Identity and occupation go hand in hand. Women have been deemed as a recessive
gender in the work function of the society, often plunged into jobs that were looked
down by men. This gender bias creates low self-esteem in a human and endangers
the psyche of female populace who are not able to function in the society with all
cylinders firing. This inequality and loneliness can lead women into a sense of
loneliness and depression. In the story, Ismat has used the word odd jobs for the
work that women did. As in case of Nanhi who in her tender age of innocence is
found in a rich mans asylum pleasing his afternoon rest. Women being treated as
property and commodity of exchange is quite understandable from this story. To be
succinct Ismat wants to convey that women are commodified as sexual creatures to
serve male desire. Simone de Beauvoir
5
used the term subject and other to show the
real place of women in patriarchy. The subject is a man who controls and rules over
woman and other is the woman who is supposed to have no identity of her own. She
is not regarded as an autonomous being and essentially appears to male as a sexual
being.
6

The character of granny is very eccentric. She obviously is senile but in my opinion,
the author is trying to project in her the fate of every other woman in our society
who never found her own identity and would eventually be treated as nut-job. She is
not able to do anything worthwhile possibly because she was never allowed to. Her
life was circumscribed to her burqa and pillow. Ismat is a critique of purdah
7
. She
believes that it is another system to keep a womans physical person hidden. Largely
feminists blatantly abuse this system as a regressive practice. However, it is not
consistent with feminist ideologies of freedom and liberty. The modern feminism

5
Simone de Beauvoir, was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, and
political activist, feminist and social theorist. She did not consider herself a philosopher but
she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. Beauvoir
wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography and monographs on philosophy,
politics and social issues. She is best known for her novels, including She Came to
Stay and The Mandarins, as well as her 1949 treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of
women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism.
6
Katoria, Megha. Woman and Sexuality: Gender-Class Interface in Selected Short Stories
of Ismat Chughtai. The criterion, Dec 2011 : 1-2
7
Purdah (from Persian meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female
seclusion.
imposes an obligation on women not to do purdah. The text of the story and its
support for feminism is inconsistent with evolution of feminism. The patrons of
feminism in east (like Ismat chughtai or Tasleema Nasreen) and west (like Andrea
Dworkin
8
) seems incoherent with the current issues spanning the Muslim and the
third world. Feminism has failed women in east. To resolve the proverbial womens
problem it is crucial that men must help. The story does not address to make men a
part of solution and put an end to this contention. There are no normative conclusions
on the issue in the story but it presents some images of reality in our society.



SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Sexual violence inflicted upon women is a long standing social stigma. Ismat in very
simple words has described one of the most ground-shaking moment of the story.
Tiny who was supposed to be pulling the rope of the ceiling fan, was dozing with
the rope in her hand. The fan stopped moving. The lord and the master woke up, his
animality was aroused and Tinys fate was sealed. Tiny (Nanhi) should not be an
alien character to us. Society is filled with people like deputy sahib who are more
than ready and happy to destroy innocent life to flaunt their misguided male
supremacy. Although granny always stuck to Tiny like a shadow but a pair of old
hands cannot wipe out what is inscribed in a persons fate. Even fate is cruel
towards the poor as Tinys chastity is violated by Deputy Sahib, the grandfather of
three children. Tiny felt victim to his rage and lust for not fanning him properly. This
is how poverty and circumstances can change people and how poor girls are sexually
exploited by upper class men and how it is difficult for lower strata of society to live
a decent life. Ismat has described a very interesting paradox here. Deputy Sahib who
she describes as highly religious, prays five times a day (Namazi), has provided
water vessels to the mosque has no issue molesting a tender soul. He certainly does
not have any identity issues to bother. On the contrary, Tiny had to turn recluse and
leave the place to life of anonymity. The question of identity is what bothers her.

8
Andrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her
criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence
against women.
Her identity is tainted any way. Child abuse, female victimization, prostitution,
sexual assaults, sexual harassment are few of the terms often experienced by women
in the society. An excerpt from the story sums it all When a rag is all dirty and
greasy, no one minds too much if someone wipes his nose on it. The boys would
pinch her playfully in the open street and give her sweets to eat. Tinys eyes began
to dance with evil light. The issue of violence against female gender has been
brought to prominence by the feminists over last century. Ismat Chagatais story
Lingering Fragrance shows how poor village girls are employed in the palaces to
train the young Nawabs and initiate them into the complexities of sex life. She has
presented women in a social setting where is she is totally disposable, dispensable
and discarded. It wont be an overstatement to consider Ismat chughtai as a pioneer
of feminism. She has written volumes on female subjugation and commodification.
In her other stories like Lihaf (the Quilt), Badan ki khusboo (lingering fragrance),
she has depicted the gender class interface with great boldness.
The story also exposes the idea of sisterhood propagated by many feminists. She
does not seem to be a big fan of sisterhood, propagated by feminists
9
. One can
realize that even neighboring the women were callous and unsympathetic towards
Tiny. The idea of sisterhood is thus demolished as a myth by Ismat. This puts a
woman in our story not as a body, but as individual.
In addition to all this however, I am not very convinced with basic description of
this heinous act in the story. The actions of deputy sahib are very brusque and he
unexpectedly abuses Tiny. It almost seems that she is very eager to project deputy
sahib as a demon and in this hustle has done a little injustice to the text. In my opinion
the story does not give a definitive prologue to this unfortunate event.



ECONOMIC CRISIS
Ismat in Tinys granny has shown class disparity based on economy thorough a
womans perspective. Rarely do we see a woman as a protagonist in these subjects.
Granny has lived her whole life in utter poverty and despair. She has tried all trades
in her life but eventually had no choice but to turn into a thief. According to the

9
The use of the word sisterhood implies that women relate to one another in ways that are
distinct from how they relate to men.
story, it is the society, which draws poor people to the edges and corrupts them deep
within themselves that they come in agreement with their conscience to steal and
beg. The consequences of these problems are illustrated in the excerpt from the
story.. Everybody knew about her stealing things but nobody questioned as
she would threaten to take an oath on the Holy Quran. And who would disgrace
himself in the next world by directly inviting her to swear a false oath on the Quran?
This shows that even religion became meaningless to her since her primary concern
is meeting the basic necessities of her life. This brings us back to square one, i.e.,
identity crisis. How does granny see herself in the various images as a thief, beggar,
commodity, poor, old, liar, senile and eccentric. In my opinion, Ismat is not
interested in attributing these traits to granny but the traits that women are seen in
the society which she has seen and understood. In fact, identity crisis are so severe,
that after that even as an alleged prostitute Tiny did not have a name of her own, but
was more known for the male partners, she was associated with. Tinys promiscuity
made her notorious and misfit. Skillfully homogenized within the main plot Tinys
case vividly portrays the plight of many girls in the Indian sub-continent.
Tiny is not able to live with herself after that fateful event. She finds refuge in prayers
and silence. It was her only space where she was not judged. Many girls turn recluse
after such incidents and become non-participative in the social circle. Ismat has
completely removed her character from the story after her granny scolds and abuses
her. It is definitely intentional in my opinion. It a symbolic representation of female
child who is abused and gets lost in hustle and bustle of life. She loses her identity
but deputy sahib does not, a very important point she wants us to understand.

Ismat who was born in Uttar Pradesh, for a fact must have been very well acquainted
with this problem. The culture of Lucknow in earlier times is full of instances where
innocent girls were plunged into this vicious circle of prostitution. Once they had
matured and possessed a sufficient command over dancing and singing, they became
a Tawaif, a high-class courtesans who served the rich and the nobility. Tiny in my
opinion must have become a Tawaif
10
. This issue have also been featured in many
popular Hindi cinema movies like bazar
11
. These girls would also be disowned by

10
Although there is no mention in the story, I take it as logical assumption given the time
this story was written in.
11
Bazaar (English: Market) is a 1982 Indian film directed by Sagar Sarhadi. The film
highlights the tragedy of young girls being sold by needy parents to affluent Indians in the
Gulf.
their own families like in the story But grannys story is that Tiny had a sudden
attack of cholera. They lost property rights and no one would accept them as a
spouse. These girls got stuck in this profession and when their days of glory were
past them, they had no means of income and would usually plunge their children in
the same business or resort to begging. This circle never seemed to end for them.

Grannys pillow in my humble understanding, is her life that she has to seam with
stout stiches every day. It was the secret closet that others were not supposed to see.
The monkeys ripped open her life. All her guilt and wrong doings under compulsion,
constrain, coerce and impel were flashed to the public eye. The story reads she did
all she could to coax him, but his heart would not melt and proceeded with the
greatest enjoyment to peel the manifold coverings off a pillow as though they were
peeling the successive skins off an onion- . This is intentional blame on the
patriarchal structure which fed on the misery of subaltern (women). The case of
deputy Sahib molesting the girl is on obvious prologue that Ismat sketches to make
us understand this cold hearted behavior of upper class men in feeling no shame in
their wrong doings. When a system is enforced for too long people start to accept it.
A Freudian analysis would suggest that deputy sahib would be quite in agreement
with his conscience and possibly have no emotion of guilt for this heinous
transgression. I believe, our actions and conscience go hand in hand. People know
what they are doing and deputy Sahib also knows what he did, but still he did not
restrain himself, precisely because he is in agreement with his conscience. It is
because of this established notion that he (or male supremacist) sees Tinys
(subaltern in the society) as a nothing more than an object for his satisfaction
12
.
After the monkey incident
13
it is pretty clear that granny was a thief. However, Ismat
is not trying to convey primarily that granny was a thief. But, she is painting the
larger picture of what we as a society turned her into. She came out as everyones
culprit. Even in her dying days society was not fair to her. They mocked her and shut
her spirits to an extent that she did not even abuse now
14
. She was killed before she
died.
In the following part of the story Ismat draws an analogy between granny and giant
whose life was in a big black bee. This is not an accidental comparison and are

12
It is a self-derived analysis and not necessarily of the author.
13
where thy rip her pillow open and everyones lost clothes coming flying out
14
Abusing was shown as one of her defining traits.
historically related. Bee is a symbol of empress and feminine energy. Bees are often
considered a symbol of the Goddess or Divine Feminine because they are ruled by
queens. In Greek texts, they are associated with Venus, because they aid in
fertilization of flowers. The bee is also a symbol of wisdom as it collects pollen from
many flowers and turns it in honey. It also symbolizes industry, wealth and hard
work
15
. Ismat wants us to visualize a woman, in our case granny, in this positive
light. But, she instantly draws a separation between the two, when she writes Across
the seven seas in a cave was there a big chest, and in it another chest, and inside this
another box, in which there was a big black bee. This woman in our case study, her
identity has been far shut in this metanarrative. After everything she does for the
male society, she as a woman is not appreciated or applauded. Men saw women as
malicious and dangerous (in the light of the bee analogy).
This neglect of female identity and voice was not only prevalent in public sphere but
also in literary sphere. Ismat chughtai however, was game changer. Feminists have
drawn a lot of inspiration out of her life, like Saadat Hasan Manto once wrote, the
wretch turned out to be a total woman. The way she approached this field is worth
praising. She did not come out as an amateur but her work is literary revolt and
challenge to these established norms in the society. She was a writer when women
were discouraged from involving themselves in intellectual pursuits. This was
something she had personally experienced. At twenty-three, Ismat decided that she
was ready for some serious writing of her own. Her first short story Fasadi (The
Troublemaker) was published in Saqi, a prestigious literary magazine. Its readers
were perplexed after the release as they wondered why Azim Beg Chughtai (Ismats
writer-brother) had changed his name! No one could believe that Ismat could also
write. As such her body of work is very interesting in examining this problem of
identity. There was no established identity of a female writer. She realized this
problem in early age and structured her work in only one direction. She developed
the markings of a feminist in the early forties when the concept of feminism was in
its nascent stage, even in the West. Ismat provides close to an ethnography of
middle-class Muslim womens lives of the time. She could have expanded her area
of writing outside what critics call her myopic view of the world. But, she decided
to the contrary.

15
Stephen R. Kellert, Edward O. Wilson. The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press, Mar 1995:
Nature.
DISPARITY IN EDUCATION
In the story, the character of granny and Tiny are uneducated women. This contrast
represents the discrimination and distribution in power and wealth. In society one
draws power from the office he/she holds. Women held no office, primarily because
they were not educated and specifically a practice that was common in the Muslim
society of the time. As Ismat writes that all work granny did was labor. Domestic
works such as cooking, looking after the children, washing clothes , keeping the
house neat and clean, serving family members like a nurse on all days and especially
when they fall sick, etc., are branded as womens work. This work alone is enough
to dumb any individual. All this intense labor has taken away her beauty and health.
She contracted chicken pox and has marks on her hand. There is always an unsettling
emotion in the readers of Ismats work. Her characters often cant find peace and is
particularly pessimistic about the androcentric society. However, there is an enigma
here. The very absence of men in grannys life, be her husband, son or grandson can
be a possible cause of their misery. Their economic and social standards could have
been different, possibly better. Granny and Tiny were used by the society because
they had no men to take care of them. The other women mocking and teasing Tiny
are possibly those who have a male support in their family. This spells out the
importance of men as understood from the story. These observations are not
consistent with the prime of the text. In its essence the presence of man is not
deterrent but assistant to female growth. It is rather interesting that Ismat seems to
overlook this aspect in the story.

The character of granny is shown one that has had enough. She seems to have
accepted her fate and certainly has no hope for Tiny as well. She is convinced with
herself that Tiny is also bound to same fate as of her. She most certainly has no
ambitions for her and decides to work her as a maid.
The subject Ismat is dealing with is very sensitive and such stories are usually
presented in a dark and emotional manner to escalate the impact on readers. Every
soul has a threshold. Ismat and granny seem to reach that threshold together towards
the end. How long can one dispute? She breaks in her spirits to write as a rebel and
chooses to conform into our everyday woman who is found lamenting her misery
and granny of course decides to let go finally because there nothing to hold to now.
A classic phenomenon that is even portrayed in cinema and literature alike when
woman are drawn to the edges of insanity where they decide to let go.
In her concluding lines in the story Ismat writes her mouth was open and flies were
crawling in the corners of her half-closed eyes. This is a question to the reader
Is this what granny deserved? Further, Ismat writes granny was shrouded just as
she was, squatting on her haunches on the stairs. Poor soul did not even find peace
in death. This is a height of despair, the society find itself stuck in. In reality hope is
worst of all evils, because it prolongs ones torments. Could granny have revolted
against all the wrong doings against her? I dont think so. History is testimony to the
fact that women were no even given a space to protest, let alone live freely. Ismat
too seems to be in agreement with this, otherwise why she decided to vanish Tiny
from the story. There is no hope for Tiny to find space for herself in society. Tinys
childhood was lost forever. She grew into a clay toy which the potter had knelt on
before it had hardened.
In concluding the story Chughtai is at her artistic best. She paints a picture of
hereafter, in a very ingenious manner. In the afterlife Granny gets through the eternal
test into the presences of God where even God bursts out and is speechless to explain
the unequal power equation among genders on His earth. In Muslim texts humans
are called the Ashraful makhluqat, the better of all creations.
Ismat is trying to draw a contrast between theory and practice. The questions lingers
Are we the best of all creations? Does our demeanor befit this crown? The story
certainly does not answer that but I as a reader, rather than commenting on claims
of God, find it wise to search that person inside us and ponder on questions like how
can human beings, the best of all His creations, be so inhuman? Ismat writes and
God, beholding the degradation of humanity, bowed his head in shame and wept
tears of blood. This is very strong emotional expression. She reached to the pinnacle
of listing complaints. In the last lines she writes And those divine tears of blood fell
upon grannys rough grave, and bright red poppies sprang up there and began to
dance in the breeze. This is my understanding signifies that she finally found rest
at her creators home, possibly she was allocated the highest echelons of the paradise.
Even if granny and Tiny enter paradise, does that cut the deal? Do we as readers,
close the book and feel happy that she found peace.



CONCLUSION
The story very meticulously is able to merge reality and literary criticism. I am for
most of the text in agreement with the views of the author. The story is full of silent
rage and subtle nuances that take readers in awe of Ismats literary genius. But it is
black hole of hope. The story completely takes away the character of Tiny that I feel
was rather rude to her and more of her life should have been sketched in the story. I
also find the text written with pessimistic line of thought. Ismat, in fact, in most of
her texts follows the same line of thought. On the contrary, her contemporary writers
like Qurratulain Hyder
16
did create some of the most impressive characters. In my
limited understanding, I draw a similarity between Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat
in their style of writing and the choice of their characters. They are rebellious but do
not pass any normative remarks in their stories and leave the text open for the reader
to interpret. The way Ismat has underlined the issues of female gender and generate
a pace in the hearts of readers is commendable. I am in agreement with her that
female gender has been subjugated for the lager part of human history. However,
there was very less emphasis on the women themselves to rectify this unfortunate
situation. The story seemingly does not put women to scrutiny but she seems to
rather leave it on to the society to resolve this conundrum. I believe a contrasting
strong female character was necessary to encourage the female populace. On the
larger scale the story is very effective in its objective and worth praising.













16
Qurratulain Hyder was an influential Indian Urdu novelist and short story writer, an
academic, and a journalist.



WORKS CITED:

PRIMARY SOURCE:

I. Chughtai, Ismat. Nanhi Ki Naani. Contemporary stories by women writers
of India. Ed. Meena Alexander. New York: The feminist press, 1986.

SECONSDARY SOURCES:

II. Stephen R. Kellert, Edward O. Wilson. The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island
Press, Mar 1995: Nature.
III. Katoria, Megha. Woman and Sexuality: Gender-Class Interface in Selected
Short Stories of Ismat Chughtai. The criterion, Dec 2011 : 1-2
IV. Fearon, James D. what is identity (as we now use the word)? Stanford CA
94305. Nov. 1999.
V. Spar, Debora L. Shedding the Superwoman Myth. The chronicle review.
Sep, 2 2013.Wed 9
th
April 2014. https://chronicle.com/article/Where-
Feminism-Went-Wrong/141293/
VI. Ahmed Naqvi. women in contemporary Indian short stories: a feminist
perspective. Academia. Wed 9
th
April 2014.
http://www.academia.edu/4750306/women_in_contemporary_indian_short_
stories_a_feminist_perspective_a_critique_of_stories_translated_and_publis
hed_by_sahitya_akademy_#