ARTICLE

WHITE WOMENS BURDEN A POSTCOLONIAL STUDY OF PAUL SCOTTS MEMSAHIB IN THE TOWER OF SILENCE

  1. HOME
  2. ARTICLE

02 Pages : 11-18

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/glr.2020(V-IV).02      10.31703/glr.2020(V-IV).02      Published : Dec 2020

White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence

Abstract

    The Raj literature is mostly dominated by male characters with few negative stereotype women characters featuring in them. The Tower of Silence (1971/2005) by Paul Scott is one such novel which breaks the rule as it is women-centric, dominated by women characters of all ages. Unlike the common notion that Scott is critical of the Raj machinery, this paper will investigate the white women's burden a special technique used by Scott to displays the irrevocable British superiority of race, culture and moral obligations. The Tower of Silence (1971/2005) has a vast array of Memsahibs, and this novel connects the story of the previous two novels of the Quartet through these female characters, and it is almost devoid of any native female characters. This paper will study the glorification of the white women's burden to display the vital role played by these Memsahib's in the propagation of the Empire.

    Memsahib, White Women, Stereotype, Burden, Post-colonial

    (1) Safia Siddiqui
    Assistant Professor, Department of English, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (2) Muhammad Ayub Jajja
    Professor / Chairman, Department of English, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan.
Fulltext PDF

References

  • Amrita, B. (2016). The White Women's Burden: Sexual Anxieties in British Women's Writings on India,1800 to 1919. Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
  • Anuradha, B. (2004). British Women Characters in Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet .North Eastern Hill University, Shillong
  • Ashcroft, B., Gareth G. & Helen, T. (2007). The Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. Second Edition, London, New York: Routledge
  • Chilton, L. (2003). A New Class of Women for the Colonies: The Imperial Colonist and the Construction of Empire. In C. Bridge and K. Fedorowich (Eds.), The British world: Diaspora, culture and identity (36- 56). London and Portland: Frank Cass
  • Goonetilleke, D.C.R.A. (2007). Paul Scott's Later Novels: The Unknown Indian, Modern Asian Studies, 41(4), 797-847
  • Hanswell, J.E. (2001). Images of Rape and Buggery: Paul Scott's View of the Dual Evils of Empire. Studies in Novel, 33(1), 202-223
  • Jain, J. (2010). From Encounters to Introspection: Negotiating Cultural Pasts. Indian Literature, 54 (6), 134- 141.
  • Katie, H. (2000). Daughters of Britannia:The Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives. London: Flamingo Publisher
  • Keith, A. N. (2010). Land below the wind. K. M. Wong and J. Macartney (Eds.). Kota Kinabalu: Opus Publications (Original work published 1939).
  • Khafaji,AL.M.J.Areej. (2019). The Event, The Archive and Realms that are yet to come in Paul Scptt's The Raj Quartet, Journal of University of Human Development, 5 ( 3), 23-27 Al- Qadisiya University Iraq
  • Khan, Kifayat Ullah. ( 2017). Subaltern Agency in Paul Scott's: The Raj Quartet. The Islamia University of Bahawalpur. http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/handle/123456789//8178
  • Kipling,R.(1899). The White Man's Burden. http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_burden1.htm
  • Macmillian, M. (2018).Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives and Daughters of the British Empire in India. Thames and Hudson, London, UK
  • Mahmood. M. M. (1983). Paul Scott's Guardians. The Yearbook of English Studies ,13. Colonial and Imperial Themes Special Number. 244-258
  • Mezey, H. Jason. (2006). Mourning the Death of the Raj? Melancholia as Historical Engagement in Paul Scott's Raj Quartet, Studies in the Novels, The Johns Hopkins University, 38(3), 327-352
  • Michálková, A. (2007). British and Indian Identities and Clashes in Paul Scott's The Jewel in the Crown, Masaryk University, Brno
  • Onstott, W. Genre. ( 2014). Reconsidering Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet: History,Genre and Criticism. Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee. URI: http://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/handle/mtsu/3699
  • Orwell, G. (1963). Burmese days. New York: Signet. (Original work published 1934).
  • Parry, Benita.(1972). Delusions and Discoveries: Studies on India in the British Imagination 1880-1930. Los Angeles: University of California Press
  • Patil, Vidya. (2016) . The Raj Quratet: A Dramatization of the Raj Experience in India, International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities 4(2 ),547-554
  • Rajeswari.R.(2015). The Critical study on Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet, Acharya Nagarjuna University, India
  • Richard, H.(2006). Sahib : The British Soldiers in India. London: Harper Collins Publisher
  • Said, E. (1978). Orientalism . New York: Random House.
  • Said, E. (1993). Culture and imperialism. London: Vintage Books
  • Scott, P. (2005). The Tower of Silence. London: Arrow Books (Original work published 1971)
  • Sen, Indrani. (2002). Woman and Empire: Representations in the Writings of British India (1858-1900). New Delhi: Orient Longman,
  • Stephen, M. (2003). Gayatri Chakarvorty Spivak, London: Routledge
  • Tyson, L. (2006). Critical Theory Today. New York: Routledge
  • Viswanathan, G. (1987). The Beginnings of English Literary Study in British India. Colonialism and other Essays, 9(1/2) 2-26

Cite this article

APA

    APA : Siddiqui, S., & Jajja, M. A. (2020). White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence. Global Language Review, V(IV), 11-18. https://doi.org/10.31703/glr.2020(V-IV).02

CHICAGO

    CHICAGO : Siddiqui, Safia, and Muhammad Ayub Jajja. 2020. "White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence." Global Language Review, V (IV): 11-18 doi: 10.31703/glr.2020(V-IV).02

HARVARD

    HARVARD : SIDDIQUI, S. & JAJJA, M. A. 2020. White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence. Global Language Review, V, 11-18.

MHRA

    MHRA : Siddiqui, Safia, and Muhammad Ayub Jajja. 2020. "White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence." Global Language Review, V: 11-18

MLA

    MLA : Siddiqui, Safia, and Muhammad Ayub Jajja. "White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence." Global Language Review, V.IV (2020): 11-18 Print.

OXFORD

    OXFORD : Siddiqui, Safia and Jajja, Muhammad Ayub (2020), "White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence", Global Language Review, V (IV), 11-18

TURABIAN

    TURABIAN : Siddiqui, Safia, and Muhammad Ayub Jajja. "White Women's Burden: A Postcolonial Study of Paul Scott’s Memsahib in The Tower of Silence." Global Language Review V, no. IV (2020): 11-18. https://doi.org/10.31703/glr.2020(V-IV).02