DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L315.24
Authors: Dr. G.Ruby Davaseeli
Abstract:
Family is a small world in itself. How many whirlpools, how many types, what emotions, shades of emotions, confrontations and reunions, what forces and compulsions … the whole of my life time is not enough for this analysis of human life. Ramamirtham This comment of L.S. Ramamirtham, a tamil novelist on family life brings out how difficult it is to give a comprehensive view of what family means. To the Indian society, family is not merely a group of people genetically related, living together under the same roof, pursuing different personal goals. It is an anchor to which one can hold on to, a refuge from all dangers. Family relationship is a theme on which epic after epic can be written. It is the most mystifying thing. It is tremendously intriguing and fascinating. Family is considered to have restricted the expression of the individual freedom through imposition of a code of conduct and ethics. This familial interference in the life of an individual is resisted strongly by younger people in the community and this resentment has considerably impacted the efficacy of the institution of family. Today many individuals feel alone, unrelated to others, unable to communicate with those around them, unable to feel at one with them. This problem of an individual who feels spiritually and emotionally alone forms the backbone of many contemporary fiction. This estrangement from which they suffer is in fact the consequence of the absence of desired relationships rather than the absence of contacts, the lack is not of company but of companionship. Modernization has transformed Indian life in many ways but obviously it has not altered the Indian perceptions of family and family values radically.This paper attempts to examine the repressive forces that weaken the family unit. It also examines how women, the central nerve of each family are subjugated and marginalised. It traces the various reasons for disintegration in families and the possibilities of realignment. It aims to examine if women can strike a balance between familial ties and individual autonomy.
Keywords: Repressive forces, Disintegration and Individual autonomy
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