Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Bimala: Married for 9 Years And Still Not a Mother?
Hey everyone, I know it feels like we have read the Home and the World a very long time ago, but I have personally been grappling with this question in my head for most of the semester, and would love to hear others opinions on it. Bimala is married to Nikhil for nine years, and although she begins to view Amulya as her son, they do not have any children of their own in the novel. I found that very strange considering the time period that it was written in. I feel that Tagore deliberately did not include children in these characters lives for a reason, and there is a particular significance to this but I have not been able to pinpoint why. Does anyone have any thoughts?
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I feel like if Bimala had a kid with Nikhil, there wouldn't have been much ground for the affair she almost had. The lack of sex is what fuels the romantic part of the novel in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nick and also children would have interfered with the dynamic between Sandip and he would have felt different about stealing Bimila away if she had kids.
ReplyDeleteIn a marriage which already seemed devoid of passion, I feel like kids just didn't equate with Nikhil being such an intellectual and Bimala being so subservient. Nikhil doesn't seem like someone who would enjoy or have the patience for children.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the reason for Bimila not having children is to indicate how westernized her husband and his family were. In most cases, barren women are removed from household or husbands were forced to remarry in order to provide a heir. But his family does not such and thing and she is even able to have an affair
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