Forced marriage in India has been steadily decreasing in India, but is still a huge part of the culture and heritage. It is seen as a tremendously negative part of the Indian culture by the western media and population. This way of marriage is exactly what is shown in Shama Futehally’s short story “The Meeting”, in which we get an inside view from the unmarried Sakina’s perspective.
Sakina is the main character in the story, and the plot is mainly told from her point of view. She is described as being 29 years old, gluttonous, unappealing and she could easily be confused with a nanny. Sakina is unmarried at the age of 29, which is very rare in the Indian culture, and means that she is not a very attract marriage target. She still acts like a child, because she never got married and was therefore never forced to become an adult. Sakina appears to be living a very lonely life, she never has any friends over, and seems to be shy away from social interactions. This assumption can be supported by the way she interacts with her father, Abba: “She went in looking only at the tea-tray” and “He smiled at her… and she turned back to the tea.” It is clear that she is either afraid of her father, or is having a hard time making social contact in general. Despite this, she still has a dream of a handsome man ringing the doorbell and asking for her hand in marriage, but it always ends up being someone else. The father, Abba, lost his wife and now lives alone with his daughter. He is an educated man, whom previously used to teach at a local university. The father constantly speaks to his daughter in a humiliating tone, and Sakina feels especially unconformable when he speaks in English to diminish her and make her feel stupid. It is obvious that Sakina does not feel that she lives up to her father’s standards, and is very humiliated over this fact.
Det er gratis at oprette en konto