LITTLE WOMEN IN THE LITERATURE OF RABINDRANAT TAGORE
RABİNDRANATH TAGORE’UN ESERLERİNDE KÜÇÜK KADINLAR

Author : Nuray ÖZENÇ -- Nuray ÖZTÜRK ŞEN
Number of pages : 472-484

Abstract

Peoples of Europe and Indian sub-continent obtained an opportunity to get to know each other during the colonial period and this acquaintance revealed the differences in intercontinental attitudes and approaches. Certain customs such as the killing of babies on the basis of gender, polygamy, marriage when a baby, purdah (sitting of men and women separately), living in extended families and the caste system caused the British to despise this society. Indians who received their education in the West and were introduced into European Liberalism, began to assume a critical approach towards their system of values. They perceived the inequalities, injustices and oppression, which existed in their culture but which they chose to ignore, and started to express them in their works. Internalization of the existing structure evolved into a social reform movement intended to eradicate practices and customs which turned almost into a torture of women. Rabindranath Tagore, who was raised in Brahmo Samaj movement, which involved values such as fraternity, morality, humanism, rejection of castes and glorification of womanhood, wrote works in a narrative style that was based on love. This study aims to demonstrate Tagore’s point of view of women, the way women are perceived in India and the role played by women in society in Tagore’s novel “Gora” and his stories.

Keywords

Rabindranath Tagore, Gora, Tagor’s stories, Indian society

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