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ISSN 2278-9529
Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research Journal
www.galaxyimrj.com
The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 14, Issue-I, February 2023 ISSN: 0976-8165

Engaging with the Voice of the Twice-Cursed: Self-Reflexive Narrative in


P. Sivakami’s The Grip of Change
Dr. Mukesh Kumar Bairva
Associate Professor,
Department of English,
PGDAV College,
University of Delhi.

Article History: Submitted-05/01/2023, Revised-31/01/2023, Accepted-01/02/2023, Published-28/02/2023.

Abstract:
The Dalit novel represents self-critical and self-reflexive voice of the Dalit movement
and politics. It offers an ethical and moral reflection on the Indian society, especially, on the
Dalit life world. The Dalit novel problematizes the binaries between the dominant and the
oppressed; the literary gaze shifts towards the internal dynamics of the Dalit life world. To use
Paramjit S. Judge’s idea, Dalit novel emblematizes the third disposition of Dalit writing; it
means it moves beyond questions of the existence and identity, and visualizes dalit liberation
in a more inclusive fashion. It complicates Dalit discourse and explores the contours of shifting
Dalit consciousness. This literary form contemplates Dalits and their life-world from the
different points of view; it focusses on the contradictions and paradoxes of Dalit communities.
Engaging with P. Sivakami’s Pazhaiyana Kazithalum (The Grip of Change), this paper
investigates the novelistic representations of the complex Dalit life world, and examines how
the novel perceives this world from the perspective of a Dalit woman who remains a doubly
oppressed and marginalized figure in the casteist and patriarchal world. The self-reflexive
narrative of the novel, apart from charting the trajectory of the protagonist’s mental, intellectual
and spiritual growth, assesses the trajectory of the Dalit movement and also acts as a critique
of caste hegemony. Book Two of the novel titled as “Author’s Notes” remains the focal point
of scrutiny.
Keywords: Dalit Novel, Self-Reflexive, Narrative, Caste, Novelistic, Representation.

Introduction: Self, Society and Dialogic Narrative


Lukacs rightly observes, ‘In the novel the subject, as observer and creator, is compelled
by irony to apply its recognition of the world to itself…for great epic literature.” (Lukacs 75).
Pazhaiyana Kazhithalum (The Grip of Change) is the first novel by a Dalit woman writer; it
was originally produced in Tamil in 1989 and later got translated into English in 2000 by P.

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Engaging with the Voice of the Twice-Cursed: Self-Reflexive Narrative in P. Sivakami’s The Grip of Change

Sivakami herself. Its major intervention is that The Grip of Change focusses on the different
layers of marginalization Dalit women face emerging due to the hegemonic structures of class,
caste and gender. It foregrounds the intersectional nature of Dalit women’s oppression and
marginalization. It unveils how various structures of power like caste, patriarchy and class
operate intersectionally to produce vulnerable and abject subjects. In Dalit novels, Dalit women
are not delineated as passive and suffering individuals nor are they romanticized. The Grip of
Change brings to the fore the internal contradictions plaguing the Dalit castes; it humanizes
Dalit communities and thus underscores that their world is also shot with paradoxes and blind
spots.
There emerges a humanistic treatment of Dalits in The Grip of Change; multiple shades
of human character are revealed in the novel; Dalits come across as morally upright, assertive,
committed, generous and also as opportunistic, individualistic, greedy, licentious. Dalit
writing, philosophically, hinges on the idea of human sociality, to use Emmanuel Levinas’
concept, to indicate our responsibility towards others. In Dalit philosophy, the Other unveils
itself in its alterity not by negating the ‘I’. It has its own ethic of the Other. One understands
the transcendence and heteronomy of the Other. Dalit philosophy conceptualizes subjectivity
as essentially ethical. Our care for others determines our subjective being- in- the world/Da-
sein. Luckacs’ argument is significant in that he perceives reflection as “the deepest
melancholy of every great and genuine novel” (Luckacs 85). Dalit novel conceptualizes life
beyond dichotomies.
Dalit novel problematizes the binaries between the dominant and the oppressed; the
literary gaze shifts towards the internal dynamics of the Dalit life world. To use Paramjit S.
Judge’s idea, Dalit novel emblematizes the third disposition of Dalit writing; it means it moves
beyond questions of the existence and identity, and visualizes dalit liberation in a more
inclusive fashion. It complicates Dalit discourse and explores the contours of shifting Dalit
consciousness. This literary form contemplates Dalits and their life-world from the different
points of view; it focuses on the contradictions and paradoxes of Dalit communities. Engaging
with P. Sivakami’s Pazhaiyana Kazithalum (The Grip of Change), this paper investigates the
novelistic representations of the complex Dalit life world, and examines how the novel
perceives this world from the perspective of a Dalit woman who remains a doubly oppressed
and marginalized figure in the casteist and patriarchal world. The self-reflexive narrative of the
novel, apart from charting the trajectory of the protagonist’s mental, intellectual and spiritual
growth, assesses the trajectory of the Dalit movement and also acts as a critique of caste

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The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 14, Issue-I, February 2023 ISSN: 0976-8165

hegemony. Book Two of the novel titled as “Author’s Notes” remains the focal point of
scrutiny.
Viewing the World from Dalit Feminist Lens
For P. Sivakami, writing “remains a process of understanding and sharing” (vii). For
her, writing is a deeper philosophical, intellectual and ideological engagement with human life.
As an example of self-reflexive narrative, she candidly confesses in “the preface to the novel”
that she penned down The Grip of Change at the age of twenty-six; however, when she browsed
through it a few years later she realized that the narrative had certain limitations. With the
mediations on life by a mature person, she could take a re-look at the author more critically,
and this analytical reflection culminated in the production of the second book of the novel
called Author’s Notes. Sivakami observes, ‘It is natural for me as a Dalit and a woman-factors
decided by birth-to write about those factors. And thereby I firmly place myself within a circle,
influencing the politics surrounding me’ (vii). Her specific location as a doubly marginalized
person in casteized and gendered social order equips her with a broader vision to comprehend
the working of the society and the dynamics of politics.
The novel titled as The Grip of Change {1986 (2009)} was translated by the author
herself. It is divided into two books- Book 1 titled as “Kathamuthu” and Book 2 titled as
“Asiriyar Kurippu” (Author’s Notes). The novel presents a multi-layered narrative; it critiques
caste system and patriarchal order; however, at the same time, the novel offers a scathing
critique of Dalit patriarchy and Dalit politics. Kathamuthu, the protagonist of the novel in Book
One, emerges as a typical patriarch though he is assertive, courageous and well-versed in the
dynamics of grass root power struggle and politics. On the one hand, he whisks helpless Dalits
out of trouble, ironically, on the other hand, he exploits and fleeces them. He is a formidable
Dalit leader; he recuses Thangam, a Dalit woman, from the clutches of the upper-caste
landlord-Paranjothi Udayar who sexually exploited her when she used to work in his fields.
Kathamuthu uses his clout with the state machinery and shakes the village hierarchy to secure
justice for Thangam. Kathamuthu has two wives- Kanagvalli and Nagamani. Gowri and
Sekharan are two kids of Kathamuthu and his first wife-Kanagvalli. Nagamani though hailing
from an upper-caste community settled with him because of his charisma as a leader and more
so because of her being rendered a ‘surplus woman’ (Ambedkar used this term to refer to a
widow in a hierarchical society controlled by caste and gender norms). Their competitive
relationship always helps Kathamuthu to stay in power as they keep vying for his attention and
love. His intervention on behalf of Thangam proves his understanding of local power politics.
He gets Thangam’s complaint drafted by Gowri. He changes the script to suit the immediate

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context and to strengthen her case in the court. Thangam is a poor widow who has no children
because of which her husband’s relatives do not give her share in her husband’s property and
malign her character saying that she had become Paranjothi’s mistress. After her husband’s
death, Thangam began to work as a labourer in Paranhothi Udayar’s fields. Paranjothi is a rich
upper-caste landlord who is highly dominant because of his wealth and power. He rapes
Thangam as he perceives her weak and helpless because she hails from a lower caste
community. Sivakami mentions, “She was his servant. Besides, Thangam was no princess or
minister’s daughter. For that matter, she did not even have a husband. There would not be soul
to rescue her if he imposed himself on her. Moreover, she was only a lower-caste labourer”.
(32). There are so many factors which add to Thangam’s marginality; her caste, class, gender
render her vulnerable in the society dominated by the culture of caste and patriarchy. It is
mentioned in the novel that Thangam resists the sexual violence unleashed on her by
Paranjothi. The hypocrisy of the casteized self is exposed in the fears and anxieties of
Paranjothi. His gnawing worry is about the unravelling of his affair with a Parachi ( a woman
of Parayar community which is an untouchable community in Tamil Nadu). It is pertinent to
recall Arundhati Roy’s statement ‘to rape is pure, to love is impure’ in the context of the sexual
exploitation of Dalit woman’s body. The whole discourse of purity and pollution hinges on
double-standards, deceits and lies of culture controlled by casteism and gendered power
relations. Paranjothi’s words beautifully illustrate it
All the people in the village knew! He cursed Thangam, ‘Ungrateful whore’! Even if
she was hurt, she was hurt by the hand adorned with gold! A Parachi could have never
dreamt of being touched by a man like me! My touch was a boon granted for penance
performed in her earlier births! And then the dirty bitch betrays me! How can I face the
world with my name thus polluted?’ (31).
We can use Gilles Deleuze’s terms to comprehend the justification of sexual violence.
Such rationalization can emanate from a casteized and majoritarian self. The intriguing thing
to note is the sense of superiority enjoyed by the casteized individual who deems sexual use of
a Dalit woman’s body as an act of pity on her. Indeed, the culture of caste and patriarchy is
superman’s salvation and common man’s condemnation. The morality of a society which is
predicated on caste and gender relations is a farce. As a single woman, Thangam becomes more
vulnerable, which strengthens her husband’s brothers’ confidence to make sexual overtures
towards her. In Ambedkar’s words, she is ‘surplus woman’ (Ambedkar 10-11). As a single
woman, she becomes a threat to the endogamous order of caste, which can be addressed into

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two ways- either she is burnt on the funeral pyre of her husband or permanent widowhood is
imposed on her with strict implementation of the system of discipline and punish.

Engaging with Self-Reflexive Narrative


Book Two titled as “Author’s Notes” of The Grip of Change looks back at the narrative
of Book One. The self-critical impulse distinguishes the novelistic tradition from other literary
traditions. The Second Book of The Grip of Change entails a narrative self-reflexivity as the
literary gaze shifts to the narrative of the First Book of the novel. It can be termed as a
metafiction because of its commentary on the narrative of the first book. Metafiction is fiction
about fiction. In the novel, we discern and interpret the world from the prism of Gowri who is
a Dalit woman. We get a glimpse into the mechanics of caste and patriarchy through the
internal musings of a self-conscious narrator. Self-reflexivity refers to self-inquiry through
reflection on lived experience that helps an individual to reach self-realization. Self-reflexivity
indicates not just self-referential process; it is a self-transforming process. To be reflective does
not necessitate the other where as to be reflexive requires the other and a consciousness of the
act of self-scrutiny. (Chiseri-Strater 117). It results in self-change as the self-knowledge arising
from reflection constitutes an important part, and re-structures one’s understanding of the
world. In philosophy of idealism from Plato to Pearson, reflexivity is seen as pivotal to
objective knowledge. It is described as an original act of self-poiesis. (Popoveniuc 210).
Reflection aims to look at things objectively by distancing oneself from one’s experiences.
This can be discerned in Author’s Notes because Sivakami scrutinizes The Grip of Change in
Author’s Notes from a temporal distance. Reflection enables us to locate gaps between theories
and practices, and critical reflection studies incidents as events of the past and draws lessons
for future. (D’cruz et al. 83). While reflexivity engages with the idea of knowledge formation
that structures actions in a specific context.
It is crucial to understand the differences and similarities between reflexivity and
reflectivity in order to decipher how Sivakami’s text engages with both of processes of
reflexivity and reflectivity. Possibly, three are three variations of the meaning of the concept
‘reflexivity’. (D’cruz 74). The first dimension of reflexivity refers to well-thought out response
of an individual to an immediate event or situation and exercising choice for further action. For
instance, in Author’s Notes, the narrator describes an event where Gowri was actively working
with college’s students’ association and was calculating marks allotted by the jury for an
oratorical contest, when a participant walked up to her and insisted to find out her marks before
they were declared. However, Gowri declined to fulfil her demand, which enraged the

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contested

“who had walked way after calling her a Scheduled caste bitch. The contest had nothing
to do with the caste system. She was left wondering why men and women of the upper
castes were governed so strongly by caste and employed it to abuse others at every
possible opportunity. Perhaps the novelist had been affected by such prejudices.
(Author’s Notes 140-141).

One can see that Gowri reflects on the psychological effect of social prejudice. The
novelist ponders over if she has been influenced by caste prejudice as caste is a social relation
and practice as caste roles are practiced and are disseminated by both Dalits and non-Dalits.
Here there is a reflection and examination of the self which could be instrumental in shaping
the future choices. (Simon 216).

The second variation of reflexivity is concerned with “an individual’s self-critical


approach that questions how knowledge is generated and, further, how relations of power
operate in this process”. (D’cruz et al. 75). Gowri’s thinking about the casteist behaviour of the
participant propels the former to dig deep into the historical legacy of caste. This reflection of
Gowri, according to Simon, can be deemed as second dimension of reflexivity. Individual tales
and experiences help in creating knowledge and thus construct the ‘self’. (Simon 216). The
third dimension of reflexivity is related to its second variation with the understanding that
various factors shape knowledge production, however it also takes cognizance of emotions and
how there is strong link between thoughts and feelings and vice-versa. (D’Cruz et al. 75). It
helps us understand the reasons underlying an emotional response to a situation. In Author’s
Notes, the narrator recollects an instance Kathamuthu asks Gowri to wear another blouse which
would not expose her back; Gowri reacts by pulling her sari on her blouse. Her inner thoughts
and the conflicting act of covering her back unveils her emotional nervousness in this context.
(Simon 217). In this interaction with her father, Gowri comprehends the social convention with
regard to the female body, and also understands there is a hierarchical relation between her and
her father.

Sivakami’s Author’s Notes came out in 1997, eight years after the publication of The
Grip of Change. The Author’s Notes is primary a supplementary narrative to The Grip of
Change; It shares a critical relation to the main text. Importantly, this text divides the ‘authorial
persona’ into four personae’: writer- as- Gowri (who is an important character in the novel),

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narrator, writer of The Grip of Change (Sivakami), and the Authorial self of the Author’s Notes
(which is also Sivakami) (Simon 210). The self-reflexive narrative is described as a
kaleidoscopic form of writing in which we see multiple authorial selves and personae. Simon
views translation as another facet of authorial self or function. She further argues that
kaleidoscopic writing and generic experimentation constitute a part of “literary performativity
that celebrates an aesthetic of impurity that aims to provoke deep questions about the kinds of
identities and selves produced by caste, and how to disidentify from them.” (Simon 211). The
purpose of introducing multiple personae is to offer different perspectives on things. The
conscious use of the third person in the Author’s Notes unravels the narratorial persona. The
narrator begins by unveiling another person, ‘she’, who is “at the town mentioned in the novel
the Grip of Change” (131). As the title of the second part of the novel is Book Two Gowri:
Author’s Notes, and the person being mentioned is the first person feminine singular pronoun
as ‘she’ is most probably Gowri. So, we can consider Gowri as the ‘author’ in the Author’s
Notes as the title is also indicative of it. Moreover, the narrator shares that ‘she’ intends to
collect details about the author of the Grip of Change (131), but “her memories faded and she
only remembered in snatches” (131). It hints at the fact that ‘she’ is Gowri who has revisited
her home. Besides, one of Gowri’s uncles mentions about her father, Kathmuthu (Author’s
Notes 134). It clearly indicates that it is Gowri from The Grip of Change, who is addressed as
‘she’. A close reading of Author’s Notes reveals that the text has three narratorial voices- the
narrator, ‘she’ (Gowri), and the writer of the novel (Sivakami). There are many instances in the
text which show that Gowri, narrator and the author are the one and the same person. For
example, how does Gowri’s mother know the author? Moreover, she remembers that one of
Gowri’s relatives asks her why engages in writing “this and that” when her level of education
will allow her to step out of the car onto the carpet”. (142). The relative suggested that Gowri
should abandon writing. The narrator informs us that such comments discomfited the
“novelist”. (142) although the remarks were meant for Gowri. This further signals that Gowri
and the novelist of The Grip of Change are Sivakami.

In addition, Gowri examines the spatial and temporal settings described in the novel
learning that the house and the garden “looked different” (131). Gowri ponders over the fact
that the year The Grip of Change was produced, the author had “twelve brothers and sisters”
and her household “had approximately two dozen children” (131) while only two siblings are
mentioned in the novel. Interestingly, three personae overlap many a time. It appears that
Gowri and Sivakami are same and the narrator is scrutinizing Gowri and the author. The use

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of the third person narrative in the Author’s Notes enables the author to critically reflect on the
events, people and space. Additionally, it accords narrative self-reflexivity to the novel. Linda
Anderson in her book Autobiography mentions Roland Barthes’ claim that “a coherent self is
a fiction, that it must always involve being seen from a distance, through the perspective of the
Other” (Anderson 68). In the Author’s Notes, Gowri studies the author’s past and the narrator
looks at the author’s trajectory of development from Gowri to her present self as a wise,
critically conscious and reflective being. More importantly, Sivakami, is trying to comprehend
her ‘self’ from a critical distance as a different being, from the prims of the narrator and Gowri.
In words of Surya Simon, the use of multiple personae by P. Sivakami may be read as a form
of kaleidoscopic writing. (Simon 214). Helen Groth’s argument is relevant here. She argues
that delineating an event as kaleidoscopic produces “a sense of perpetual transformation” …
kaleidoscope keeps the observer in a visual field that never lets the eye rest and thus, creates
“a visual effect” that tests “the limits of verisimilitude” (Groth 217). Simon opines that
kaleidoscopic writing generates a transformative narrative such as the Author’s Notes, which
keep the reader on their tenterhooks by involving the reader with multiple personae. Such a
transformative narrative style creates a space for constant reflexivity not just reflectivity.
(Simon 214). One can discern the functioning of both the processes-reflexivity and reflectivity
in-Sivakami’s text. However, reflexivity is a more appropriate for self-scrutiny and critical
investigation of text, narrative and characters.

Conclusion: Towards Kaleidoscopic Vision


Dalit novelistic narrative reflects the expanding Dalit imagination as it indicates the
journey of Dalit literary tradition from its overt engagement with the political to its deep
commitment to the ethical. It foregrounds the Dalit authorial figure’s achievement of aesthetic
distance and to critically engage with their literary works. It elevates Dalit literature from its
sociological base to more literary and philosophical plank. Sivakami’s attempt to introduce
multiple personae leads to the complication of truths about Dalit society, because in the
postmodern society, truth is inaccessible as meaning is perennially deferred. Michel Foucault’s
notion of authorial functions can be employed to understand Sivakami’s use of plurality of
personae. Using Simon’s argument, it can be said that a careful study of personae in Author’s
Notes enables us to understand that the author has multiple functions such as ‘author as source’,
‘author as a writer’, author as a ‘critic’, and ‘author as a translator’. The close examination of
the making of the self as protagonist, narrator and author shows the use of self-reflexive
narrative in The Grip of Change.

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Works Cited:
Ambedkar, B.R. Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches. New Delhi: Dr.
Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice, Government of India, 2020.
Anderson, Linda. Autobiography. 2nd ed., London and New York, Routledge: The New Critical
Idiom, 2011.
Chiseri-Strater. “Turning in Upon Ourselves: Positionality, Subjectivity and Reflexivity in
Case Study and Ethnographic Research”. Accessed 03 January 2022.
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/27918036/7-turning-in-upon-ourselves-
positionality-subjectivity-joe-moxley.
Popoveniuc, Bogdan. “Self-Knowledge: The End of Knowledge”. Procedia: Social and
Behavioral Sciences. 163 (2014) 204-2013.
D’Cruz, Heather, et al. “Reflexivity, its Meanings and Relevance for Social Work: A Critical
Review of the Literature”. British Journal of Social Work, vol. 37, Issue 1, Jan. 2007, pp. 73-
90. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bc1001.
Groth, Helen. Kaleidoscopic Vision and Literary Invention in an “Age of Things”: David
Brewster, Don Juan, and “A Lady’s Kaleidoscopic”. ELH, vol. 74, no. 1, Spring, 2007, pp.
217-237. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30029552. Accessed 20 July 2021.

Yadav, Kanak. “Author’s Notes or Revisions? The Politics of Form in P. Sivakami’s two
novels”, Dalit text: Aesthetics and Politics Re-Imagined, edited by Judith Misrahi-Barak, K.
Satyanarayana and Nicole Thiara. London and New York, Routledge, 2020, pp. 77-90.

Simon, Surya. Performativity in Dalit Literature: Identification, Disidentification and Re-


identification in Contemporary Dalit Personal Narratives. Ph.d. Thesis. University of East
Anglia. November 2021.

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