See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/343814278

The Pakistani Bride and An American Brat: An Exploration of the

Conventionalism and Subordination of Women

Chapter · August 2020

CITATIONS READS

0 156

1 author:

Sudhir Mathpati
Adarsh Mahavidyalaya Omerga
42 PUBLICATIONS   0 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Sudhir Mathpati on 22 August 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 BAPSI SIDHWA’S THE PAKISTANI BRIDE AND AN AMERICAN BRAT: AN
EXPLORATION OF THE CONVENTIONALISM AND SUBORDINATION OF WOMEN

Dr. Mathpati Sudhir P.

Assistant Professor
Department of English
Adarsh Mahavidyalaya, Omerga
Maharashta, India

Abstract:
Today’s the generation has been dwelling in the stream of postmodernism where the writers
belonging to the modern and post modern periods have been dealing with various threads of the
society. The place of women in the society and their various problems has always been the great
concerns of the writers. As far as the women writers are concerned, their approach of looking
towards these threads is quite different rather than the attitude of the male writers. It seems more or
less but almost in all the societies the women have always been the object to be utilised in the lights
of harassment, exploitation, gender discrimination and many more. If conventionally it has been
taken into account then one can easily point it out that the women have always been treated as the
secondary, especially in the patriarchal structure, and they do not have any existence before the
male domination. Bapsi Sidhwa is one of the writers who rightly dare to challenge this conventional
attitude of looking towards women through her writings and highlights different threads of the
society related to women in her works like The Crow Eaters (1980), The Pakistani Bride (1983), Ice-
Candy-Man (1988), An American Brat (1993), etc. Being a Pakistani writer she has great concerns
with the countries like India and the United States. Her writing and perception towards the women
have always been taken into account in the social context and she rightly talks about the women’s
issues and tries to unveil the conventional shades. She depicts the pictures of different women
belonging to Parsi, Punjabi, Pakistani and American family and she explores the perception of
looking towards life of these women. These women characters are mere representatives of Bapsi
Sidhwa as she inculcates her own perception of looking towards life and tries to express the same
through these characters. The present attempt of writing is going to explore the two novels written
Bapsi Sidhwa. They are: The Pakistani Bride (1983) and An American Brat (1993). The first one,
The Pakistani Bride, deals with the tribulations, pain and affliction of women in Pakistan and the
way women become the victim of honour and pride of the stereotype society whereas another one,
An American Brat, talks about the suffocation of women while living in the society with different
streams. It is an attempt to unveil the different threads of subordination of women depicted under the
roof of conventionalism in these two select novels and to analyse the same from feminine and
feminist perspectives in one hand and conventionalism in other.

Keywords: Feminism, Feminine, Feminist, Convention, Subordination, Patriarchy, Culture, Tribal,

Diaspora, etc.

In this era of postmodernism it has become quite difficult to stress out the different threads of
the writers that have been dealing with numerous issues of the society in their writings. If one thinks
from feminism’s perspective then it can easily be pointed out that there are various issues of post

1
independent women which have been dealt nicely by various writers, especially women writers.
When one talks about these issues and its existence in the novels written by certain authors then it
becomes quite hard to place these authors in the chain of authors who have highlighted and
discussed the issues of women in their writings. There are many women novelists who have
challenged the stereotype images of women and their harassment in the society. They have tried to
depict the picture of the liberated, unconventional, individual and independent women under the
shades of multicultural society. These writers have been dealing with these threads with different
perceptions and approaches of looking towards women. They just make an attempt to ensure that in
any circumstances women should not be the victim of conventionalism or tradition or patriarchy.
They must have an equal status in all the arenas of society and they should be traded accordingly.
After all, a French philosopher, Simone de Beauvoir in one of her famous quotes says, “One is not
born, but rather becomes, a woman” (Gammel: 177). Anita Desai, Shahi Deshpande, Bharti
Mukharjee, Nayantara Sahgal, Namita Gokhale, Ruth Jgabvala, Tasleema Nasreen, Bapsi Sidhwa,
etc. indian and sub-continent women writers have underlined the issues of women and come forward
to challenge the conventional approach and their subordination under the names of patriarchy,
convention, tradition, culture, etc. Last three and half decades have rightly witnessed the
unparalleled changes in the writings of feminism. Many writers have been coming forward to
highlight the anti social threads of women and their suffocation in the society. To attempt this
endeavour not only Indian women novelists come forward but the writers, like Bapsi Sidhwa, from
the neighboring countries like Pakistan have also come in stream to point our these issues. Hence,
the place of Bapsi Sidhwa in this context is very significant.
She was born in Karachi, (then India) Pakistan in Parsi family on 11th August 1938. She
completed her graduation from Kinnaird College. She grew up in the Parsi community surrounding
religious and ethnic circles around her. She shifted to the United States of America in 1983 and
became the American citizen in 1993. She worked actively in the USA also and indulged herself in
the academic activities like teaching, delivering lectures, creative writings, etc. it would not be
exaggeration if one states that she belongs to India, Pakistan and the USA. She likes herself to call
as, “Punjabi-Pakistani - Parsi Woman” (Singh: 368). Her overall writing also shows the influence of
her own life where her approach and perception of looking towards life can be easily pointed out in
her novels. Hence, her overall writing contains more or less autobiographical elements of her life.
She has tried her best to depict the incidents from her life and acquainted scenarios and treated the
same in larger scale to create its appropriate impression over the psyche of readers. She touched
certain postcolonial threads in her writing which also created great impression among the readers
and critics as well. Therefore, some critics rightly call her as, “Feminist Postcolonial Asian Author”
(http://www.enotes.com_retrieved on 2016-10-09).
Bapsi Sidhwas’s writing has always been quite informative and sensational for the readers. If
a comprehensive picture of her overall novels is taken into account then one can realise that her
novels explore the political, social, cultural and historical elements of both the countries, India and
Pakistan. Her skill of depicting the characters in the novels creates a typical picture before the eyes
of readers. Her major characters never come up without obligations, restrictions, religious limitations
and any crisis. Her characters also express the aforesaid threads boldly up to certain extent. Mostly,
her content of discussion in her novels has always been the relationships, disloyalty, religious
disputes, disillusionment, political ups and down, honour killing, poor social status and its craze,
subordination and exploitation of women, much importance to the conventional approaches and
tradition. In short, Bapsi Sidhwa is one of the novelists who tries to talk about all these threads in her
novels. All these threads have also been dealt widely under the umbrella of feminism and its
branches.
The term feminism can rightly be used to describe the political, cultural or economic
movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism incorporates
different theories based on the society. However, in retrospect it is found that it is the struggle of two

2
centuries for the recognition of women’s cultural roles, identity, individuality, equality and rights
and the same has been recognized by the titles like Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the
Rights of Women (1792), John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women (1869), etc. But still it seems
ridiculous to deal with the same issues in this postmodern arena where everything has become quite
advanced except people’s psychology about the women and their status. People have not developed
their psyche comprehensively and they seem reluctant to accommodate them in the equal stream of
society. Many women writers have explored these threads and wide range of research has also been
taken place to deal and highlight these issues. Bapsi Sidhwa is one who succeeds in challenging
these issues in an appropriate way through her novels.
Bapsi Sidhwa’s The Bride or The Pakistani Bride is the result of her personal visit to
Karakoram mountain Range in Pakistan when she was below thirty. This novel is based on a true
story as she experiences the same during her visit. This novel deals with the theme of honour killing
along with some other themes and highlights the dazzling plight of women between conventionalism
and subordination. Sidhwa comes to know about the true story of a newly married bride who is
killed later on by the so called defenders of the society and Sidhwas becomes restless after having
listened it. The agony and pain experienced by that bride was continuously chasing her and this
restlessness gave a birth to this touching story of a Pakistani bride. In her own words, “When I came
[back] to Lahor, the story haunted me….” “The girl’s story, the poor tribals, the way they lived, all
[of] that I wanted to write about” (http://kazbar.org/jazbah/bapsis.php_ retrieved on 2016-10-07).
Sidhwa rightly attacks on the patriarchal structure and its branches. She defends the existence and
rights of women through her writings. It is the story of Zaitoon who is the victim of the partition.
Her parents become the victim of massacre and unknowingly she moves with Quasim considering
him as her father. She grows up in a Kohistani tribal atmosphere with the support of Quasim.
Zaitoon was hardly fifteen year old when Qasim assures his friend Misri that Zaitoon will get marry
with his son Sakhi and she’ll be his daughter-in-law in coming days. Zaitoon grows up with different
talent and she had her own way of living life. She makes many compromises and does not show her
quest for identity or her inner soul to anybody up to certain span of time. The same main plot can
rightly be compared with another plot in with Sidhwa incorporates Carol and Farrukh. By dealing
with these two plots with the same theme of not fulfilling the wishes of women and suffocation;
Sidhwa tries to bring into light the cultural dissimilarities also. Overall speaking, The Bride or The
Pakistani Bride is all about the plight of Pakistani and Indian women and more specifically it talks
about the ground realities of the women who live their lives in tribal communities with many
obligations and conventional limitations.
After her marriage, the definition of life and its beauty has been changed for Zaitoon. Life
becomes totally dreadful for her and she does not find any alternative to overcome the same. She
faces quite bad and terrible experiences in such harsh atmosphere of the Karakoram mountain Range
in Pakistan. She comes to know that marriage and life is nothing for her husband and only honour
and fake status matter a lot for him. She does not receive any thread of affection and kindness from
her life partner about whom she has dreamt a lot. Her torture begins immediately after her marriage.
Her husband beats him badly “on the slightest pretext” (Sidhwa, PB: 174). She herself was gradually
becoming the witness of her own meaningless life. She was dwelling in the world dominated by the
convention and male patriarchy. Women have no existence and identity to express their wish and
desires. She was at a place where women have always been treated as an object to be utilised and
subject to be subordinated in every structure of life. All the anti-social threads which have been
imposed upon them are like the pride and honour for their men. Women are there to follow the same
and they are good as much as they follow the same and become redundant once they stop to follow it
or express their wishes which are not listed in the convention prescribed by the contemporary ones
and their ancestral. They have no words they are totally speechless with a sound tongue and plenty
of words and wishes in the heart. In short, the concept of wife can rightly be defined in Sidhwa’s
words as, “A wife was a symbol of status, the embodiment of a man’s honour and the focus of his

3
role as provider. A valuable commodity indeed and dearly bought” (Sidhwa, PB:138). Zaitoon was
being badly suffocated in such atmosphere and she decides to leave it and run somewhere far away
where she can enjoy the life in her own way. But that innocent being might not be familiar with the
convention and its pride which may take revenge in its own way. Her decision of leaving the
patriarchal domination and conventional structures of the society shows her switching stream from
feminine to feminist being. She feels suffocated due to the subordination done by the patriarchal
threads which paves the way to make her realise her own identity and she comes to the conclusion
that she is not going to be happy in such a conventional atmosphere where women are being treated
as an object to be utilised, exploited and manipulated in many ways.
Beside the character of Zaitoon, Sidhwa deals with two more women characters called
Afshan and Carol. Afshan is the wife of Qasim and was has also misguided to convince her for her
marriage. Her hopes and desires have also come to an end at the first night of her wedding itself. She
becomes quite nervous and feels uneasy when she sees her husband. She tries to accept all the norms
and customs of the patriarchal society without fighting against it. It means, she prefers to be
feminine being and accept everything comes from the patriarchal set up of the society. She was quite
familiar with the circumstance and scenario of the society from which she grew up and strongly
believes that the destiny of the women in her period is supposed to be written by the male figures
and they have to live their lives as per their wishes and obligations. They do not have any scope to
think and act. They have to act according to the convention only where their wishes, expectations
and desires have no importance at all. She simply withdrawals her psyche and individuality before
the domination of patriarchal set up. Her expressions when she sees her husband at first is quite
appealing. Sidhwa writes, “The girl did not know whether to laugh or cry. She had been told that her
groom was very young but she had thought that he would be, like herself, at least fifteen. She began
to laugh, while tears of disappointment slid down her cheeks. She laughed uncontrollably and Qasim
stung to the quick, rushed for the door” (Sidhwa, PB: 10).
The other woman figure is Carol who has been put in a different way before the readers. She
is the wife of Farrukh. She had a different perception in her mind about the ideal society and status
of women and importance of womanhood in the society. She has been put in between the clutches of
ideal life and practical life. Carol’s different perceptions and attitudes have also been neatly treated
by Sidhwa. She rightly differentiates Carol’s initial phase and her later attitude. Her approache of
looking towards her husband has also been changed later on. She starts to hate some features of his
personality like his suspicious and dominating nature. Gradually, it becomes unbearable for her and
she starts to find out some substitute to her problems. Her affair with Major Mushtaq Khan and
insistence to get marry with her is also a kind of revenge that she might be trying to take against her
husband. In fact, Carol was quite outspoken from the initial phase itself but when she feels that she is
somewhere being treated in a wrong way by her husband, her voice becomes louder and she uses
some other ways to make him feel jealous. The way she speaks her wish to leave her husband shows
her courage and it takes her away from the characters like Zaitoon and Afshan. She says, “Your
civilization is too ancient…too different…and it has ways that can hurt me…really hurt me…”
(Sidhwa, PB: 229).
If one sets up a comparison among Zaitoon, Afshan and Carol, then one can easily point it
out their different ways of expressions and accepting the patriarchy. Zaitoon journey from feminine
to feminist being is quite thrilling and a sense and feeling of rebel was being developed in her while
dealing with certain anti-women norms in tribal arenas of Pakistan. She was also quite familiar with
the overall set up of the society but still she dares to take such rebellious step to challenge the same
and live some peaceful moments in tranquility. She was completely fed up with all these conventions
and self prescribed rules of the society where women have no importance at all. Her accident with
Ashiq Hussain does not leave her and on the night of her marriage itself Sakhi recalls the same and
misbehaves with her die to his jealousy for Ashiq Hussain. She was totally being suffocated in such
tyrannical atmosphere. She tries to seek certain ways for here relief and enjoyment but her husband

4
does not allow her to enjoy the moments in her own ways. She has a great attachment with Hamida,
Sakhi’s mother, and therefore she used to spend certain moments with her in a great comfort and
satisfaction. Whatever ways she tries to adopt for her satisfaction and to console her inner soul
which was asking for rebel, she could not stop herself from her bold step of leaving this patriarchal
circle.
One day she dares and goes away from this dense and stereotype world of subordination and
suffocation. Immediately after her absence in the family chaos started to generate and it has become
a great challenge before the fake and bluffing society of the patriarchy. In Sidhwas words, “They
identified with the man’s disgrace, taking the burden on themselves. Collectively, they meant to
salvage the honour of the clan.... It would poison their existence unless they found the girl. There
was only one punishment for a runaway wife” (Sidhwa, PB: 190). Her family members come put to
in her search and she was in the search of life. She just wanted to reach at Dubair Bridge at any cost.
She could not complete this journey easily. In her journey she was raped by two tribesmen but her
quest for identity and spirit of fighting with this dominated world do not vanish. She still continues
her walk and finally with the help of Major Mushtaq Khan reaches at Dubair Bridge. Dubair Bridge
also has been nicely used as a symbol which splits two streams called life and death. Sidhwa’s The
Bride or The Pakistani Bride is a comprehensive attempt of highlighting various threads
simultaneously in a one piece of novel. She talks about tradition, culture, feminism, patriarchy, quest
for identity, subordination of women, individuality, etc.
Her An American Brat is also about the cultural conflicts between the two countries like
Pakistan and America. In fact, women have always been the symbol of love, sympathy, kindness,
affection and support. If conventionally it has been taken into account then one can easily find that
nobody can imagine the world without them. But still people do not want to give proper respect and
responsibility upon their shoulders. Many years have been passed but still people are not ready to
leave the convention and adopt a new way of thinking and taking them, women, in a different way.
As far as patriarchal set up or structure is concerned, the masters of the family also have different
approaches for the male and female figures. The different norms have been settled for male and
female. Male set up does not want to enter the women in the realm of their authority and they should
not violate the threshold of conventionally well structured society. If unfortunately it happens then
they have to be ready to face the consequences without uttering a single word from their mouth.
There are many people in the society who feel proud and want others to call them as educated and
well cultured ones. Their behavior is quite different in social domain and they represent themselves
with a typical fashion in a domestic life. They strongly believe in feminism and feminist approaches
but when the question of their own wives comes they forget everything and adopt the norms and
conventions of patriarchy and dominate them.
Sidhwa depicts the picture of a Parsi sixteen year old girl called Feroza Ginwalla and her
ventures in the United States of America. It is an attempt to explore the problems of women in such
a society which is totally different from her expectations and she has to deal with different cultures,
customs, traditions, conventions, religions, etc. in the society. As far as An American Brat is
concerned, it could be considered as a squeal of her earlier attempt entitled The Crow Eaters. Sidhwa
rightly tries to highlight the influence of Islamic fundamentalism on the other figures of the society
and they way such affected people come in trouble due to the different cultures and
multidimensional streams of the society. In order to extend the wider scope to receive some different
experiences of the world Feroza, the central character of this novel, has been sent to meet her uncle
Manek in the United States of America. It is a kind of the Americanisation of a young Parsi woman
and an endeavour of the novelist to explore the Parsi and Pakistani diaspoa in the various places of
the United States of America. Feroza is a quite shy but well determined figure. Zareen’s curiosity
and care for her daughter shows a great concern and simply does not like the involvement of her
daughter in such political ups and down. Feroza’s approach of looking towards these changes is also

5
quite strange and interesting. While being in the USA also she was in touch with all these political
changes in Pakistan.
Feroza’s earlier life was different. As she sifts from one home to another, it seems little bit
panic to replace the home with other country. She wanted to be bold and learn many things of the
world. The way she interacts with her roommate and she is instructed by Joe shows her excitement
and understanding. These instructions help her a lot in adopting American way of life. She starts to
feel that now she does not require any figure to support her or protect her. Her earlier perception and
body language was bit different where she was having the feeling of hesitation but now she feels that
she is matured enough to face any issue in any form. She was gradually adopting the American
lifestyle and that type of boldness was bossing in her personality. The problems start when she falls
in love with an American Jew, David Press. It was like a blow for her family as they never have been
thought about the marriage with outside religion. It’s a convention and it has to be followed by all
the family members. In fact, her decision to get marry with a Jew person is a kind of expression of
her feminist approach which was influenced by the American culture. Her earlier state of mind and
some sort of feminine expressions were always appreciated by all. It means, in other words it can be
explained as her subordination and respect towards the convention were welcomed by her family
members and she was sent to the USA by her family in order to get familiar with the world. It seems
a kind of puzzle in which she has been trapped. This novel also contains some autobiographical
element of Sidhwa’s life and she has experienced the threads of different cultures and the same has
been represented in it. It could be mentioned as in Dhawan and Novy Kapadia’s words, “It is
Sidhwa’s sexual and excretory candour and depiction of enforced sexual innocence in a touching and
humorous manner which also makes her novels unique. The strain of extrovert ribaldry in her work
has given a new dimension to sub-continental English fiction…” (http://littcritt.blogspot.in_
Retrieved on_2016-10-06).
When Feroza is being convinced by her mother about the marriage with outside person,
Feroza boldly interacts with her mother and criticizes the Parsi male figures for not having any such
restrictions. She thinks that why only women have to suffer and make compromises at every phase
of life. Her mother tries to convince her that she should concentrate on her studies and not any other
things she states, “Why can’t she be like the two women who share her apartment? Busy with their
studies, says Zareen, they are not bothered with men. No, says Feroza, because they are lesbians.
Zareen does not understand. She has come across the word in magazines, but has never heard it used.
Feroza explains that the two are lovers. Zareen is surprised. Why? They are pretty, and there is no
dearth of men around. (Sidhwas, AAB: 29). Finally, she breaks up her relation with David and
leaves for her home but the pondering of these issues of cross culture and cross religion never let her
feel free and enjoy the life.
Sidhwa’s earlier attempts of writing the novels had different shades. She portrayed the home
territory in a conventional and traditional manner with proper emphasis on the modern and
postmodern threads. As far as An American Brat is concerned, it talks about the both the territories
Pakistan and the United States of America. It could also be described as a journey of the immigrants
from the third world to the first world through various phases like feminine life, feminist life,
subordination, conventional structures, etc. Although Feroza goes back to her home but that time the
sense of being changes has been developed within her psyche. the same can be pointed out in
Sidhwa’s words:

From her visit to Lahore, Feroza knew she had changed, and the life of her
friends there had also changed, taken a different direction from hers. Their
preoccupation with children and servants and their concern with clothes
and furnishings did not interest her. Neither did the endless round of
parties that followed their parents’ mode of hospitality. Although the sense
of dislocation, of not belonging, was more acute in America, she felt it

6
 would be more tolerable because it was shared by thousands of
newcomers like herself. (Sidhwa, AAB: 312).

Bapsi Sidhwa might be trying to convey the message to the society that every individual has his or
her personal life and personal psyche which should be disturbed by others. There are some personal
issues which are supposed to be treated by the personal psychology and existence. There should not
be the different norms and structures for men and women in the society. Women do not have any
freedom to choose their life partner whereas men can enjoy the freedom with their own decisions
and psyche. In the same way in this novel also Feroza tries to expose herself before the world in the
form of taking certain decisions by her own. But she fails to execute it due to the pressure group in
disguise.
To conclude, in almost all the societies women have been using as a secondary figure in the
society. At surface level, it may look like a comprehensive portrait of the equality but it has different
shades when one looks inside. women have been put in a typical structure of the society in which
they have been allotted typical roles with typical psychology. in today’s society also the image of
woman has not been changed and still they have been performing the same roles as they used to
perform in the past. It does not make any sense that how much the society is advanced in which you
are dwelling and what role you are performing in your life. when they are taking to account with
men repeatedly they have to be at secondary level. the same can be justified in Rowbotham’s words
as, “Feminism is sometimes confined to women’s struggles against oppressive gender relationships.
In practice, however, women’s actions, both now and in the past, often have been against
interconnecting relations of inequality and...resistance around daily life and culture that are not
simply about gender” (Kaur: 13). Therefore, it is an excellent attempt of Bapsi Sidhwa to deal with
these conventional issues and reinvestigate the anti-women threads with more emphasis on the their
suppression under the name of conventionalism and subordination at every phase of life.

References
 Gammel, Irene, Ed. Confessional Politics: Women’s Sexual Self- Representation in Life Writing
and Popular Media, USA: SIU Press, 1999. Print.
 http://www.enotes.com/topics/bapsi-sidhwa/critical-essays/ retrieved on 2016-10-09.Web.
 Kaur, Paramjit. “Dismantling Stereotypes: A Feminist Reading of Bapsi Sidhwa’s Novels.” Diss.
International Islamic University, Malaysia. 2013. Print.
 Sidhwa, Bapsi. An American Brat. 1993. New Delhi: Penguin, 1994. Print.
 Sidhwa, Bapsi. The Pakistani Bride. 1983. New Delhi: Penguin, 1990. Print.
 Singh, Barjinder. “Articulating the Female Voice: A Gynocentric Critique of the Novels of Bapsi
Sidhwas.” IJELLH: International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities, Vol.-
III, Issue-X, December 2015. Print.
 Guerin, Wilfred L. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005. Print.
 Singh, Randhir Partap. Bapsi Sidhwa. Delhi: Ivy Publishing House, 2005. Print.
 http://neoenglishsystem.blogspot.in/2010/08/short-critical-summary-of-american-brat.html_
retrieved on 2016-10-09.Web
 http://littcritt.blogspot.in/2012/10/bapsi-sidhwas-american-brat-themes.html_ retrieved on 2016-
10-06.Web.
 http://kazbar.org/jazbah/bapsis.php_ retrieved on 2016-10-07.Web.

View publication stats