In All Her Stories, Ambai Questions Roles, Rules and Identities of Women. Justify With Reference To The Short Story "Forest"

In all her stories, Ambai questions roles, rules and identities
of women. Justify with reference to the short story "Forest".

- Pranavi A.V.S
Ambai: A Short Introduction
C.S.Lakshmi, known by her pen name Ambai, is an eminent

feminist writer in the Indian canon of literature. Ambai hails from
Tamil Nadu and wrote most of her stories in Tamil which were later
translated into English by Lakshmi Holström. One of her short story
collection titled “A Kitchen in the Corner of the House” is taken into
perspective with specific references to the short story “Forest”.
The idea of alienation or estrangement is seen in many of

Ambai’s stories. It is through these impressions that Ambai proceeds
to question various roles or rules set for women in the society. Yet, it
is not through detachment from the social constraint that Ambai
challenges the notions. Instead, she chooses to place her characters
right in the midst of the complication and through a whirlwind of
their emotions, seeks answers for the various questions she poses.
The reader also finds that she breaks stereotypes by making bold
moves that were hitherto considered as a taboo. For instance, in the
short story simply titled “Journey 4”, one can find an intensely
unthinkable action of a father-in-law impregnating his own daughter-
in-law, Kamalam, to make up for his son’s infertility and the more
shocking realization that she was in acceptance with it. After reading
her stories, one finds that she not just redefines the roles, rules and
identities of a woman in her own terms but also courageously makes
them legitimate through the minds or thoughts of her characters.
The ‘role’ of a woman has been traditionally described to be
that of a home-maker where women spend their entire lives looking
after their husband, in-laws and children. This role has been
beautifully examined in her eponymous short story where Dularibai
‘Jiji’ spent all of her life in the kitchen, to the extent that she could
not imagine herself without it. She asks, “But if I free
myself…then…what is left?” In the story “Once Again” the life
of Sabari as pertaining to the expectations of the society had been
given in short, crisp lines. Yet, in all these stories, by depicting what
the patriarchal ideology of the ‘ideal’ woman is, she searches for the
role which a woman could fulfil without having to answer any
external authority.
When talking about women’s’ freedom, it is imperative to talk

about the various rules that the social institution sets to keep them
under its control. This has been dealt by Ambai not by detaching the
woman questioner from the situation but by placing them right in
the center of it and making the readers feel their emotions. This
technique can be clearly seen in her story “Wrestling” where
Shenbegam was suppressed from flourishing her music career by her
husband Shanmugam just because he was jealous that she was
better than him. Because she was a woman, she was easily
oppressed by the male figure by reasons of family and marriage.
The crisis of the female identity is one unique approach in

Ambai’s stories. In the story “Wheelchair” this dilemma is clearly
seen. Hitha gets involved with some pseudo-revolutionaries and
questions her own self in the midst of their hypocrisy. Though her
female characters form the story’s emotional crux, by the end, some
sort of justice, solution or closure is provided to enforce the idea that
a woman can solve her own problems without any external help.
“Forest”: In Perspective
In the short story “Forest” too, Ambai questions, in her own

way, the role of a woman, the rules that govern her and the search
for her identity amidst the societal chaos. Chenthiru embarks on a
quest to discover her identity and was the tool to ponder on these
topics. Initially, one finds that Ambai discusses the role of women
when she mentions that Chenthiru was actually an entrepreneur
who helps expand Thirumalai’s business but is later asked not to get
involved in it with the excuse that “his other business partners
couldn’t quite see it”; a statement which puts down a woman’s
ability and confines them to household matters.
Ambai also questions various rules laid down by the society for
a woman through the lines, “a woman only went to the forest
meekly accompanying her husband”, “It was most
appropriate for a woman to be… journeying along with her
husband.” When Chenthiru embarks to the forest alone, when she
decides to write Sita’s ayanam and when she writes it in a completely
new light showing Rama’s failings as a husband, Ambai was
questioning through her character and her retelling why a woman
must pertain to a set of guidelines laid down by the patriarchy.
The uncertainty of a woman’s identity was explored through

the parallel stories of Chenthiru and Sita when both had to come to
the forest. Chenthiru contemplates “What do I seek? And how?
Do I even seek?” - The dilemma of a woman’s purpose after she is
no longer needed by the family. In the end, when Sita accepts
Ravana as her music guru, she asks him not to give her the vinai but
to lay it on the ground as a metaphor that she had had enough of
being tossed about; “It is my life, isn’t it? Now, let me take
hold of it; take it into my hands.” giving identity its freedom.
WORKS CITED
Ambai. (2019). A Kitchen in the Corner of the House. (L. Holmstrom, Trans.)
Madras, India: Penguin Random House.

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In all her stories, Ambai questions roles, rules and identities

of women. Justify with reference to the short story "Forest".

Ambai: A Short Introduction

C.S.Lakshmi, known by her pen name Ambai, is an eminent

The idea of alienation or estrangement is seen in many of

When talking about women’s’ freedom, it is imperative to talk

The crisis of the female identity is one unique approach in

In the short story “Forest” too, Ambai questions, in her own

The uncertainty of a woman’s identity was explored through

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