Mapping Cultural Representations and Practices in Tagore's Chokher Bali
Author : Saumya Verma and Dr. Manjari Johri
Abstract :
The following paper entails a socio-political study of Rabindranath Tagore’s Choker Bali (1903). The text is analysed through the lens of ‘Cultural Studies’, to examine the impact of culture, society, and politics on interpersonal relationships, moral fabric of the society and on the position of women in the society. A key inquisition within this paper is how culture is ‘formed’, how values are ‘created’, and how both are regulated by elements such as power, gender, and social institutions. It is also analysed how the author throws light on the socio-cultural mise-en-scène rather poignantly in the novel and how culture without the text (societal) regulates the culture within (textual). The research also seeks to establish how these socio-cultural factors direct and influence the author’s representation of the characters, their moral choices, and demeanour. A cultural analysis of the novel will be attempted as a medium to understand key ideas pertaining to representation, gender roles and social institutions within the text, which in turn also showcase the colonial period in the history of India.
Keywords :
Cultural studies, power, representation, gender, patriarchy, moral choices
