women’s contribution towards green fuse and Ecofeminist persona.
This study focuses on the new women’s contribution towards green fuse and Ecofeminist persona. Modern authors are depicting new environmental issues and contemporary women’s participation in protecting the environment deliberately. The concept of new women, the new earth is taken from the first ecofeminist text written by Rosemary Radford Ruether. It is the collection of ecofeminist essays deals with the ideology of modern women and the current ecological condition of the earth. According to the change of time, everything changes. It is also applicable to the ecofeminist approach used by the modernist writers.
New women are close to the new earth and they often develop bondage between their life and nature. Apart from this, they have a close relationship with nature and their childhood. Their memories regarding this have close significance to nature. New women blend their response which is positive to that with the environment, which is always accessible. All the problems faced by humans, are to be overcome only when they go back to nature and surrender themselves in the hands of nature. New women has jointly mediated life with nature which gives an interference into that field, through which they seek happiness in between the new earth.
The newly set term “New Woman” was framed by the Irish writer Sarah Grand who talks about the radical change of independent women. A British-American writer named Henry James, further popularizes the term by women’s education and choosing the career of their choice. The new women’s independence was not merely expressing their change of mind according to the trend but also show their active contribution to save the earth by their ecological concern. Ella Hepworth Dixon, who wrote The Story of a Modern Woman was a pen named “New Woman”. Ruth Bordin, the historian, remarks new woman, who has the power to control their lives in all aspects of life, uniquely personal, social or economic concern.
During olden days women are restricted to undergo specified jobs like a baby sitter, stewardess, governess in particular family-related jobs. Women are not allowed to do social-related works. Now a day’s women entered into the vast world as per their merits and requirements. The new women evolve themselves as independent artists support nature and the environment through their proficient works. Henry James, the British American writer, popularized the term new women. Some of the famous new women novelists across the globe are Kate Chopin, Olive Schreiner, Sarah Grand,Annie Sophie Cory, Ella Hepworth Dixon and Mona Caird. Iconic new women artists emerged in the early twentieth century to support nature and the environment by their artistic contribution. Winnifred Harper Cooley says
The new woman, in the sense of the best woman, the flower of all the womanhood of past ages, has come to stay – if civilization is to endure. The sufferings of the past have but strengthened her, maternity has deepened her, education is broadening her – and she now knows that she must perfect herself if she would perfect the race, and leave her imprint upon immortality, through her offspring or her works. (The New Womanhood). (31)
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose is the work by Eckhart Tolle, a German spiritual teacher in the year 2005. It sold around five million copies and was selected for Oprah’s Book Club. The evolutionary transformation of current earth condition is portrayed in the book. NASA develops a record to interconnect the natural system with earth science. Earth originated before 4.6 billion years ago and currently, the planet earth has eight billion earthlings, around 8.7 billion species and animals. The significant threat faced by the new earth is climate change. The joining hands of new women could resolve it. New women and new earth are always inter-connecting with each other.
Some of the new women writers in India are Ismat Chughtai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amrita Pritam and Anita Desai. Among those writers, Anita Desai has the most exquisite language in depicting nature with new women on the new earth concept in her select novels. Through her intense imagination, she exemplifies her characters connecting it with practicality and makes the readers enjoy and adore the beauty of nature which is always precious. The hectic schedule of human being hints for him to move away from nature, so they struggle from neurotic and psychic disorders. Blending with nature and enjoying its magnificence will lead humans to a path away from compression, which will trigger the new eco-friendly universe. The protagonists Nanda Kaul and Sita depicted in the novels, prove themselves as New Women who are triggered with the viewpoints of new mother earth from the view of nature.
According to the twentieth-century playwright, Desai is not rebuffing the prominence of the peripheral dynamics and also distillates on the centre of nature through the genuineness as the era which depicts various psyches. She tracks the utter blow, which had a trend from the conformist technique. Her novels transmit all the qualities of Naturalism, camera eye technique, ecofeminism, internal monologue, poetic style, suppression of plot and the stream of conscious and character descriptions which is objective. Desai as the sagacious raconteur meddles with the recognized trend and her chief styles drift on by the attentions of the different aspects. She depicts the incredible and significant impact on the typical experience of life. She presents the moments which are chained through memories in the lives of protagonists.
This study concentrates mainly on two works Fire on the Mountain and Where Shall We Go This Summer. Desai divides Fire on the Mountain into three parts. The first part describes Nanda Kaul, who resides at Carignano and her solitary life at the place. The letter from her daughter intimates the arrival of her great-granddaughter Raka. She thinks that her appearance will disturb her lonesomeness. The second part deals with Raka’s happiest moments spending time in the forest and explores about Nanda Kaul’s father’s private zoo and how Nanda becomes closes with Raka. In the third part, Ila Das leaves Carignano. The readers are also informed about the tragic death of Ila Das and the fire on the mountain. It later describes the broken heart of the protagonist. In all these different parts, Carignano plays the central role. It helps the readers to understand human’s close contact with nature. Desai manifestly portrays three new women protagonists Nanda Kaul, Ila Das and Raka’s connotation with nature and their life structure.
In Fire on the Mountain, Nanda Kaul wishes to spend her whole life as a new woman in solitude in the middle of nature, the new earth. She never accepts any intruder to disturb her loneliness. She piled up and threw the pine branches to give shade as soon as she stepped her garden, to spend some time peacefully. But the peace is never fulfilled for a long time because the letter from the mailman disturbs her. It informs that her great-granddaughter Raka is arriving soon going to stay with her. She is irritated by the thought that Raka is an unwelcomed disturbance and will cause a distraction to her at the starting of the novel itself.
At her young age, Nanda Kaul was a wife of Vice-Chancellor and had seven children. They were acquainted with requests, promises, queries, and numerous wants. Now she was fed with up all those things and urged to spend her time with nature. She liked to be alone with cicadas and pines. She devoted her time peacefully in the mountain ridge at Carignano. After she settles down, there enjoys the great coolness and senses the flowering of relief. Nanda is a grey, tall and thin old lady who wears traditional silk sari. She fancied herself to merge her with the pine tree and even she wants her to be considered as a tree. She thought that the apparent barrenness is the chief asset of the place. The vision from her home is incredible, where the northern side of Kasauli was filled with mountains and the south plains were filled with rocks, pines and with its wide-spreading view. Sporadically eagle was attracted by the bright light and fresh air and swam above this place.
Her home is situated on the ridge where the sun always shines on the wall. When she opened her windows facing north, she can visualize the blue waves of the Himalayan range and the flowing of snow and a thin line of ice sketched upon the sky. The plain cliff looked flat and serene towards the blurred horizon from her home. Many iris flowers bloomed around her place and there were apricot trees nearby her home. Her kitchen was filled with smoke which came out from the chimneys. There was also a stack of the outside which was lying near the kitchen door. These things never attracted her and she never observed it with interest but she stooped and picked bright apricot from the dry grass. The bright hoopoe appears like a flash when it flies to fetch something with its beak. She knows that this bird had its nest in her roof, top above her bedroom. It often feeds its nestlings with motherly care and Nanda Kaul’s room was filled with the noise of the shrilling and screaming birds. As a new woman, Nanda Kaul triggered by the natural scenery of the new earth.
The globe was explained magnificently by the writer Anita Desai. The pair of bulbuls fought for the ripening apricots and they quarrelled to consume it entirely and their flurry feathers touch the ground and they wanted to fetch the dusty apricot which fell from the tree. The sweet music of Cicadas is pleasing and heart throbbing. The earth emerged with nature’s plenty which occurs in the respected season. The spinning sunlight brings everything visible to the eyes of readers. Nature’s beauty is abundant but many humans fail to notice it and never try to enjoy it.
The minute descriptions of natural scenery boost the reader’s emotion but Nanda Kaul never showed any pleasure over them. Raka is a patient who has thin legs, sloping shoulders and bulging eyes. She at first looks at her great grandmother as if she is cricket or a mosquito. Initially, Raka had no emotional attachment towards her great-grandmother. They both feel embarrassed when they thought that they are intruders in each other’s life. Raka is also a lonely being like Nanda Kaul and she hates human company expect her cook, Ram Lal.
Raka likes to live in isolation and seeks pleasure wandering in nature. She tries to merge herself among the hills. She examines, explores and feels self-contained in the forest. Since Nanda Kaul feels that Raka is like her, by observing her attitude, she decides to have a mutual connection with her. As new women together, they think one in the core of nature. Nanda begins to tell stories about her to bring a close bond with Raka. Nanda weaves a tale about the fanciful stories of past Kashmir. Nanda’s father maintained a private zoo with a lot of exotic animals which he bought from an outlandish stuff form, Tibet. For little Raka who wanted to escape from the human clutches was interested in those stories.
Ila Das, an old friend of Nanda Kaul, leaves Carignano to add swivels to retreat. Ila has a horrible shrieking voice. The awful exasperated voice makes every bird run away. She lives in the Upper Mall road with a diminutive and tragic life. She got prior consent from her friend to visit Nanda Kaul and her great-granddaughter Raka through the phone. Nanda watches her from the severe perch on the ridge. Ila is portrayed as a pathetic woman. She brings painful memories from her past.
After the entry of Raka, Nanda Kaul’s life changes and she has shown little delight and re-engagement in life. Her second associate came from Ila Das, who is her old friend. She was a Government social worker who lived in a nearby village. After her visit, Nanda Kaul insists her friend spend that night with her instead of returning alone to her home at night. But she thought that her kindness would cause a great disturb to her solitude and allow her unfortunate friend to go back in the darkness. In the end, Nanda receives the heartbreaking news that Ila was raped and murdered by some brutal monster.
Anita Desai never attempts to encourage history in her novel. She is mainly concerned about the fight of the human soul. Indian’s enthusiasm, contradictions, attractions, thrillingness and some inexperience would quickly bring interest to the non-Indian readers. The universal reader willingly follows her novels. She stabbed into the solitude of regal, honourable elderly new woman Nanda Kaul who triggered an in-depth look into her heart by the acquaintance of new earth.
The mailman, while entering, remembers the history of the house. It was built in the year 1843 by Colonel MacDougall. He made this house for his wife Alice and their pale children, who want to escape from the plains of Military containment from the hot sun. Alice wears Cashmere shawl in the evening and Colonel was with his tobacco pipe. Alice and Colonel buried their seven children one by one. Due to the thunderstorm, the green painted roof sheets of corrugated iron turned into natural rusty grey. Then the Colonel planted three apricots trees that would prevent the house from worst gales, damp soil, and fruit. The bulbuls and hoopoes would visit their home often to feast the apricots. It flutters down its wings and plunge green and scatters the water as spring. Birds merrily had their bath, which would steal the heart of the readers.
Then, the house was occupied by maiden lady Miss. Appleby. She has worked as a governess in Lady Stuart’s household. Postman also recalls the arrival of Miss Lawrence from the Thar Desert in Sahara. She planted a yellow rose creeper rolling over the cliff in a furry grey mass. In April, the splendid of yellow roses blown with the full bloom of extravagance, flamboyance and enormous roses with damp tea leaves a scent. Miss. Jane Shrewsbury, the most notorious maiden, dug out the garden and the poor villager stung by the scorpion and died. Miss. Jane also died after two years in 1935. Each year Nanda Kaul relishes the privilege with a pretty frilly garden with gale blown odour.
The new earth’s yellow rose came out in April like a sleeping beauty reborn from her sighing, which has been sleeping for eleven months. The sweet innocent frilling newborn flounces its beautiful flowers all over Kasauli. After independence, Maiden ladies felt Kasauli is not apt for them and they fled to England. The place left the clutches of the English to the hands of Indians. The little town turned to native who is to be occupied by the villagers. Nanda Kaul Came to Carignano in Kasauli to lead a peaceful life instead of a busy humdrum existence. Nanda Kaul is still queen in an empty domain. She observed all with a dispassionate eye. The only living soul beside her is the cook, Ram Lal. She merges herself in the cold mountain air and amid the forest. The most vital and alive thing in this novel is Nanda Kaul’s compassionate eye to the new earth. She feels alive in the abode of nature. Desai creates an atmosphere in the novel to make the readers present in Kasauli and live with the protagonists and feel the pain and gladness with them.