Gender Exploitation in Daniyal Mueenuddin short story “Saleema”

Critical Discourse Analysis of Gender Exploitation in Daniyal Mueenuddin short story “Saleema” on Account of Van Dijk's Model

Saleema comes from a family of murderers and addicts so she offers her body as a sexual object to obtain opportunities. A wealthy Suitor comes into her village and takes her to Lahore. There she becomes a maid of a wealthy man K.K. Harouni, while her husband becomes a victim of a fetal disease. Right after this Saleema begins a sexual relationship with the staff cook, Hassan in return for special treats from the kitchen. After some time  Hassan tires off Saleema and because of it she feels hopeless until she makes relationship with the senior driver Rafik, who is married and has two sons. He is many years older than Saleema, "they made love" (Mueenuddin 39) and she births the son whom they name Allah Bakhs, which means the God gifted one. Then one day Rafik's wife and his two sons arrive Lahore to live with him. On the other hand Harouni, the owner of the estate dies and his daughter decide to sell the estate and provide new jobs for only the most senior staff. Saleema requests Rafik to look after her and their son, but he denies her. Saleema moves away and turns to heroin to ease her hardships. She dies and her son is left to roam the streets. This story is a best example for critical discourse analysis of gender exploitation through Van Dijk's Socio Cognitive Model.

            Van Dijk proposed a triangular model to explain his views on critical discourse analysis. According to him an analyst must not take his model as definite and complete. He gave full permission to analysts that they can add or erase any thing related to his model as they feel. He explains that cognition, discourse and society are interrelated to each other and one thing cannot stand alone. He explains Macro structures and Micro structures in his model. Application of Van Dijk's model is as follows.

Power

Power is our ability to control the minds of the people and through discourse we make people believe in certain restrains. For example in the very first line of the story  the use of these two words, “blackmailers” and “bootleggers” (19) gives us a negative identity about Muslim refugees who “drove” Hindu resident away and “occupied their houses”(19) . It presents the social power of Muslim refugees who are performing the role of us and asserting their power on minority class as them. Muslims being powerful performs the role of exploiter because they treat lower class unfairly. Then there is another word Suitor which contains the implication of power. He takes Saleema to Lahore without even asking from her. He takes her by force and it is because he is powerful as compare to Saleema whom he used just as a commodity. Being subservient and submissive gender she is exploited. She is powerless and has no right to ask even a single question. Same is the case happens with Lenny in Ice Candy Man  that She is forced to get western education because she is oppressed by powerful male dominated society. She is denied to learn Indian education because Col. Bharucha do not allow her to go for Local education. This is the way she is exploited because firstly she is woman and secondly she is oppressed by powerful male dominant society with respect to her education that being a girl she is not allowed to learn education of her own choice. Same happens in Our Lady of Alice Bhatti where Alice is exploited because of two reasons; firstly she is a woman and secondly she belongs to a minority group of society. She thinks that she is as inferior as the Lizard(3) is. She compares herself with Lizard that she resembles it in her insignificance. The people who are sitting there in interview board are quite superior to her. They were looking at her as she is inferior to them. The interview panel symbolizes power because they are at very high position as compared to Alice, who symbolizes minority class and is subordinate to them.  It is her position at a particular situation. She has no importance because she belongs to a minority group. She is a Christian and not in a position to demand for anything she liked. This is the way she is exploited because she is a woman and she is forced to think herself as a lizard because of patriarchal society which is disgusting.

“Don’t talk that way; I come from a respectable family. Well, whatever kind of family…today” (21). This is a conversation between Hassan and Saleema where Hassan is taunting her that I know you and your respectable family. After using her he is not interested in her at all and throw her out as if she is an untouchable . Now she is useless for him. It shows his dominance over her and his authoritative behavior as well. Here she is shown as an oppressed and powerless character who is being exploited because of her weak and suppressed gender. “For days on end the servant’s food would be inedible. Keeping with Hassan's policy of collective punishment……..backed down.” (21)

Here gender exploitation is evident that Hassan has power and he makes policies for both masters and slaves especially for those servants who go against him. Through kitchen he rules over them. He is dominant over them. “She asked if she could open her window not so much because she wanted to as to register her presence” then at another point Saleema asked again, “can I open the window please.”(28). It shows gender exploitation in terms of power. Firstly she needs permission to even open a window of a car. The underlying meaning is she is weak and subservient as compare to men. Secondly no one is listening to her as she is not sitting with them. She asked again just to notice them that she is also present between them. It shows that she has no value and importance just because she is a woman. She has a suppressed voice and every one exploits her as the way they like.

Same happens with  the character of Lenny's mother and her relation with her husband which also defines power and gender exploitation of woman. She is a typical South Asian wife who is extremely loyal to her husband irrespective of his coldness and artificiality. Throughout the novel, she appears to be a mood setter in front of her husband just as an object whose job is to please a man. She is treated here as an object. She does these things to please her husband.

            "Father has a twenty minute nap after lunch. Not nineteen, not twenty one, precisely twenty. He knots a Kerchief tightly round his eyes and lies down flat on the bed with his sandals on. Mother removes his sandals, his socks if he is wearing socks, blows tenderly between his toes, and with cooing noises caresses his feet. With a stern finger on her lips she hushes the household, until Father's internal alarm clock causes him to jump out of bed, and within four minutes on to his bicycle."(Sidhwa 70)

            Here we have shown gender exploitation of Lenny's mother in a sense that she is submissive and subservient as compared to her husband. She is not a weak women at all and she proves it through an act of extreme bravery. She puts her own life in danger at the time of partition but helps others by rescuing them and then sending them to their homes. However when it comes to her relation with her husband , she is not only weak but also helpless. She tries her level best to keep his mood good by calling her "janu" (10)  and by acting as a puppet in front of him. Lenny makes it clear that how much important her father's mood is to her mother by saying "father is in a good mood. So mother too is in a good mood."(64) So this is the best example of gender exploitation through power that women are always being exploited because of their weak gender and men use them just to fulfill their carnal desires.

Presupposition

It is when we suppose something without having any evidence, something that has already happened and the reader is supposed to be aware of it.

 “You’re making fun of me. Well go ahead, I’m an old man. It’s time for me to be a fool.” She replied “I don’t think foolishness wears a watch.” (26). Its presupposition in a sense that according to Saleema, Rafik is foolish from his early age but not now in his old age.

“There more than you can see, if you like, I’ll show you later” (29).

This story reveals that how a woman is considered as an object of pleasure and less intelligent in this male dominant society. The ideology which is dominant in these lines is that woman is less intelligent as compare to man and here in text Rafik will show her whatever is necessary for her knowledge. It is presupposition in a way that woman is not less intelligent as compare to man but she is trained in such a way that she could not do anything by her own. It shows gender exploitation in a way that a woman is not less determined as compare to man but it is our assumption so in this context it is presupposition as well.

Emotive Language

            Our feelings of disgust are aroused when we read this type of negative language used for Saleema such as “plucked her off.” (19). She is dehumanized because a human being cannot be plucked as we can only pluck flowers. Here the identity of objectification is created deliberately. She is presented as an object of pleasure and the identity of plaything is evident here.  It can be associated with the cognition and society  in a way that it reflects the mind setup and thinking of our male dominated society. It happens everywhere in our society that man do whatever they wants to do and society has no check on them because society is accomplished by their rules and regulations.

Another example of emotive language is “Ask for it my duckling” (21).  Here the word “duckling” refers to Saleema where she is dehumanized. It’s a negative use of language because she is a human being but not an animal. So it makes us emotional that she is a girl, a human being but not a duck.

Adjectives

            There is a list of adjectives which are used to enhance the meaning of objectification. Such as “long slim toe, taller, deep set eyes, grace, bright easy temperament and younger.” (20). These adjectives are not used to shed on light at the beauty of Saleema but present her as an object of admiration.

Lexical Choices

            “She lay on the bed of the cramped servants’ quarters in Lahore where she……around the street.” (20). Here with the help of lexical choices and emotive language negative identity is created. Saleema lives in the quarters of cramped servants who gets everything from her and in returns gives nothing to her. The word “cramped servant’s quarter” explains the very notion of gender exploitation that she hasn’t even a single room where she could stay but she has to stay with male servants and they molested her without having any fear or problem because they consider her just a sexual object.

“Sensual, Unscrupulous and Romantic” (19) are those words through which gender exploitation of Saleema has been shown to us in a way that every one includes her father, her drug addicted husband, Hassan, and Rafik gets physical pleasures from her. She is prepared to act in a dishonest and immoral way in order to get what they want. They get pleasure from the “unscrupulous” use of her. Similarly the word romantic also connotes that how she is exploited sexually. “He exploded” (21) Here Intense language is used to demonstrate the  status of men in our society. Men usually explodes like atomic bomb because they posses power and their use of power ends in exploiting females.  

“He pinched Saleema under her arm as she stood flattening the chapattis between her hands…….He laughed without mirth, a drawn out wheez.” (32). Saleema is being exploited by Hassan at a higher level because he considers her his property. With the help of such word choices the ideology of women as an object is presented here such as “pinched”, “laughed” and “wheeze”. (32)

Implication

             “Her father became a heroin addict, and died of it, her mother slept around for money and favors', and she herself at fourteen became the play thing of a small landowner’s son.”(19) Here the writer is telling us about Saleema’s family background which creates negative Identity. It is implication in a sense that they have to struggle for money and we have shown their lower class status. Mostly in our society those females are exploited who belong to lower class like Saleema and her mother. Gender exploitation is evident here because Saleema’s mother presents her self as a play thing to others for money and our male dominated society exploits her with a great pleasure.

            This phrase “maidservant in three houses”(20) implies that she is a poor girl and does not have any source of income for herself. It also shows her lower class status. Similarly this phrase “her husband lost his job as peon” also includes implication in terms of inequality that she works as a maidservant in three houses and the money she gets in return is taken by her husband  because her husband is jobless so he gets it forcefully from her. It also shows gender exploitation that how she is being trapped by her husband when she gets her money. She works hard but she did not get any thing in return.

            “Sit here and tell me a story .Tell me about when you were a girl.”(38). Its implication because according to Rafik Saleema was already molested by her father and Hassan so now it’s not a bad thing to exploit her again. “She didn’t tell him the worst, much worse things. Her father came into her room at night and………clothes.” (38). So this is the way Saleema is exploited even by her father. “Poor girl, little girl, how could he do it.” (38) These are the dialogues of Rafik who himself is a religious man , prays five times a day and recite ninety nine names of Allah but he exploits Saleema to fulfill his carnal desires by consoling her. Same happens with Ayah who is reduced to an object by the men, a mere thing to play and to fulfill their carnal desires. Her very same admires who guarantee to protect her, rape her and then Ice-Candy man marries her and forces her to become a dancer without her choice. Ironically ice candy man claims to love her and thinks that he has done a great deed by marrying her and covering her with gold and silk. This is the attitude of a man in a patriarchal society who reduces a woman to the level of an object. As Ice-candy man says: "I have been a good husband... ask her . I have covered her with gold and silks". (Sidhwa 241). He has reduced Ayah to the level of product who is useless. When Lenny meets Ayah after a long time and it is difficult for her to recognize her. As she has" blazing lipstick" ,"chalky powder", "a huge pink hibiscus in her hair",(243) and her eyes are enlarged with kohl and eye lashes are mascara. This appearance does not show that she is a house wife rather it convinces a reader that she is an object used to please  men. So in this case both Saleema and Ayah are exploited because of male dominated society and being females.

             “I might as well tell you, see how I’m bigger?.................I’m married. I have a son your age.”(41) These lines also imply that when Saleema told him about her pregnancy, he gets angry. It shows that he was not sincere with her he just wants to enjoy with her. After knowing this news he pushes her head away and said that it’s not good. Get rid of it as soon as it is possible so it is clear from this example that he just exploits her. At the end of the story she asks him to help her but he denies. And at last she died and her son begged in the streets of Lahore.

            “There more than you can see, if you like, I’ll show you later” (29).This story reveals that how a woman is considered as an object of pleasure and less intelligent in this male dominant society. The ideology which is dominant in these lines is that woman is less intelligent as compare to man and here in text Rafik will show her whatever is necessary for her knowledge. It is implication because she cannot see each and every thing present in estate of K.K Harouni because she is emotional, weak, subservient, and less intelligent as compare to men. It shows gender exploitation in a way that a woman is not less intelligent and less determined but it is our assumption so in this context it is presupposition as well.

Ideology

            “Mr Harouni had called her into the dining room at lunch one day and said he'd never in seventy years eaten better ones………..bare feet”(20).

These lines clearly predict the ideology of male dominance. It’s clear from these lines that work is done by woman and judged by man. She cooks Chapattis and Mr Harouni judged it and gives approval of “better ones.” The underlying ideology is that woman is made for work and is subservient to man while man is superior as compare to her and the final verdict is always given by man. Gender exploitation is evident here in a way that it is woman who performs all house hold chores but she did not get even a single word of appreciation from her male counterpart and man is practicing gender exploitation by giving ultimate decisions related to woman. “Rafik sat in the servant’s courtyard ………..almost at his knees”(23). Here ideology of male dominance is created through word choices. The ideology of male dominance is evident through these words that Rafik sits on “white metal chair, smoking a hookah, not looking at her” while Saleema sits on “low wooden stool, almost at his knees.” The ideology which is presented here is that man is superior to woman. Here Saleema is giving chance to Rafik to exploit her by giving him respect and presenting himself as a low being than him because he is the master and power holder while woman is quite subservient. Ideology of male dominance is evident here. Another point where ideology of male dominance is created through language is “She took both her cup and his into the kitchen and washed them carefully.” (26). It is clearly shown to us that work is always done by woman although both have enjoyed the tea but cups are washed by Saleema in the kitchen because its an ideology that woman is made for performing house hold chores. The ideology which is evident here is basically that man is superior to woman so he cannot do work. It’s a duty of woman to do a work and she has no objection to it.

Intonation Pattern

            “I know what you all think, she began. You think I'm a slut, You think I poison my husband. Because of him I'm alone, and you all do with me as you like. I'm trying to live here too, you know I'm not a fool. I also come from somewhere. " Her words poured out clearly, evenly , angrily, entirely unplanned.” (24)

            Saleema shouts very angrily because she knows that no one listen her as she has suppressed voice. She is exploited by everyone including her father, her drug addicted husband, Hassan and Rafik. So it shows intonation pattern of the character Saleema.

 “She put her arms around him……face on his shoulder.” It’s gender exploitation in a sense that Saleema herself wants Rafik to come close to her. She wants it because at one point she needs protection and secondly she wants to create her identity in the society with reference to a male gender. She needs protection and identity so therefore she presents herself as an object of pleasure to him.

In the end it is concluded that the society, cognition and discourse are interrelated to each other. They altogether develop and affect the society. Society indicates the surroundings where Saleema lives and the lower middle class that she belongs to. Secondly Cognition reveals both her personal and societal thinking and personal thinking is she has to present herself as an object of pleasure because she needs it for her survival in this male dominated society and societal thinking is that society thinks negatively about her that she is a characterless girl. Here with the use of language or discourse negative identity is created for Saleema. So it can be said that she is exploited and used by everyone who has power especially male genders of the society. The story clearly depicts that in a patriarchal society, men are the rulers and the exploiters who think that women are only made for the fulfillment of their ravished desires and their function is nothing else. For example Hamida in Ice Candy Man who has been kidnapped by Sikhs, cannot unite with her family because her husband does not want to. Though it's not her fault but still she is forced to live away from her family because she has been a victim of rape. The writer carefully chooses the words which have negative connotation so that he may achieve the goal of presenting the gender exploitation of  weak gender in our male dominant society like Saleema, Ayah, Hamida, Alice, Lenny and her mother .

Work Cited

• Mueenuddin, Daniyal. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. India Random Publisher House, 2010. Print.
• Hanif, Mohammed. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. United Kingdom: Random House Group Limited, 2011. Print.
• Sidhwa, Bapsi. Ice Candy Man. United Kingdom: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd Glasgow, 1978. Print.