The chosen short stories are “Ratnamuni”
and “The Dream of Vasantha”, both written by the literary artist, K.S. Maniam.
Maniam has explored and revealed a range of Malaysian landscapes for the people
who live there. Landscape can be defined as the “living process” of the
authentic Malaysian mosaic. From the aspects of landscape, social is described
as the relations of human beings in a community whilst the culture of a
community is an additional aspect to be examined. By means of culture, it is
the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social or ethnic. Like
Maniam, whose birthplace was Bedong in Kedah, both stories take place there and
in terms of social and culture, the stories are heavily linked to each other.
“Ratnamuni” highlights the plight of
Indian immigrants in an unknown land. The line ‘the people going from one darkness to another darkness’ pointed
out that the future of Indians during that period are bleaking. Indians are
treated only as mere slaves and shall be in the low class social status.
Education seems to be the way out from the oppression of low class society.
Maniam himself affirms that the English education has given him a center to
life. The character, Muthiah, had proven so after hours of having his nose in a
book, he is placed in a comfortable spot in the society by being a clerk. But
for the illiterate people like Muniandy, he had to perform odd jobs such as
boat rower, a medium and cart pusher. During that era, Indians are placed to
live in the rubber estates, separated from other races as well. It is a part of
the reason why Indians are looked down because they are not given the
opportunity to improve themselves in other areas of life.
There is a change from the story “Ratnamuni”
in “The Dream of Vasantha”. Vasantha is a single mother who wants nothing else
but to achieve her dream, which is bringing up her child as an honorable
person. Vasantha will go through the hardship she faced without fail just to
earn some money for her son’s education. Vasantha clearly sees education as the
light to escape from the grasp of society that classify Indians as the low
class community. Vasantha also has to work numerous job to gain more income
such as dhobi and ironing clothes service. In this story, the community in the
village is also the same as the community in the story “Ratnamuni”. The people
obviously like look out for other family’s affair and it had become an unhealthy
norm. The news of Ganesh travel quickly among the villagers while Ratnam’s
misdoings are known by everyone in the village.
The Indian immigrants in “Ratnamuni”
also face conflicts as they undergo the attempt to transplant an uprooted
culture in the new land. As Muniandy says, “When
my wife bent over me in the mornings.. I was too happy to see the customs from
the Big Country still used in my house”. The challenge Muniandy faces, the
culture shock and the difficulty to fit in are his endeavor to retain his
culture in Malaya. Women are also the subjects of their husbands, as they are
very submissive to their men. It is substantial for them to show obeisance by
knocking their hand on their husbands’ feet in the morning, an act to show
their loyalty and obedience. Malini actually took her own life because she
could not bear the shame of being raped and giving birth to a “bastard”, the
child of her rapist, as she feels unworthy of her husband.
Vasantha is also quite particular to
the Indian culture even though she is a widow. She told herself that she would
remain true to her dead husband. The relationship between men and women are
mentioned in both stories to show the importance of women being submissive to
their men during that period. Vasantha vowed that she will never be with
another man as she is tied to one man in her lifetime, dead or alive. In the
Indian culture as well, the boys in the family seem to be more pampered and
loved. Ganesh is so well treated by his mother until he starts to climb the ladder
to suppress his mother. “Ratnamuni” reflects the same predicament as Ratnam
became ungrateful and selfish to Muniandy after being cared and brought up by
his only father. Ratnam only goes to his father for money.
Maniam had gone to depth to tell
about his experience in Bedong from his early years. These social and cultural
aspects that he experienced during the pre-independence era, the plight of
Indians are written clearly in both of the stories. It is understandable that
their lifestyle is different from ours because of the different practices and
cultures from the locals here. The inferiority among the community is caused by
the division of race, that made them being looked down. Maniam stresses on these
topics to make us realize the importance of peace among races and also
maintaining our traditions and customs for future generations. In conclusion, these
aspects help us to understand more about our country’s history and the Indian
culture.
6/9/2012
