Revolutionary Echoes: Marxist Insights into The Social Class and Economic Conditions in Rabindranath Tagore’s Subha
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24113/ijohmn.v10i3.282Abstract
Rabindranath Tagore, a renowned literary figure and a futuristic, has written the short story Subha, a work that transcends its romantic narrative to offer a broader critique of power structures and societal ideologies. If someone is a woman, her situation is going to be worse; if she is physically challenged, her situation is going to take a nightmare - this is how the late nineteenth-century society used to treat women, painted by Tagore. The protagonist Subha is a woman who is physically challenged and her relationship with Amal, who belongs to the upper class, changes their relationship quo and causes one of the reasons for the plot’s trajectory. Applying Althusserian lenses to this exploration, the research scrutinizes the manifestations of the Ideological State Apparatuses within the narrative. The central research questions guide the inquiry, emphasizing an in-depth analysis of the operationalization of the Ideological State Apparatus in delineating social class distinctions. This paper maintained in a qualitative methodology involves a meticulous examination of the text and discerns the nuanced portrayal of social class within Subha. Drawing on Althusser’s Marxism theory, the study, moreover, investigates how the Ideological State Apparatus influences characters’ relationships, exploring the intersections of personal desires and societal expectations. However, the research findings aim to contribute to the understanding of how ideology shapes literary narratives, shedding light on the intricate dynamics between characters, social class, and plot trajectories. In a broader context, this study underscores the enduring relevance of Marxist theory in literary analysis, offering insights into the mechanisms through which ideological forces operate in shaping the sociocultural landscape depicted in Tagore’s Subha.
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Althusser, Louis. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press, 1971, pp. 127-86.
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press, ed. 4, 2017.
Goldstein, Philip. The Politics of Literary Theory: An Introduction to Marxist Criticism. University Press of Florida, 1990.
Gupta, Sobhanlal Datta. “Tagore’s View of Politics and the Contemporary World”. The Cambridge Companion to Rabindranath Tagore. Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Cambridge University Press, ed. 1, 2020, pp 279-93.
Nair, Ninu. “Subha: Short Story by Rabindranath Tagore”. Bookishloom, 2018. www.bookishloom.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/subha-by-rabindranath-tagore-my-read/ Accessed on 27 January 2024.
Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Short Stories. Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 2000.
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