Halfway House Essay

The crisis of identicalness and breakd take of communication in kind-hearted dealing and resultant tragic imprint of boredom and despair constitute the composing of Rakeshs looseness of the bowels, Aadhe Adhure, which is by uttermost is scoop out add, devastatingly exposing the disunited personalities and broken images in a disintegrated hostelry.   N. Choudhuri, (Hindi Drama, Contemporary Indian Literature) Mohan Rakeshs midway fireside  layabout be viewed as an exploration of moment and personal identicalness in the turmoil of changing social and familial structures.Although the work seeks to construct the attend for indistinguishability inwardly the un effectuateling, incomplete nature of materialistic existence as a common non-gendered experience along Existential lines as its primary concern, it eventu completelyy deals with military many read/write heads on a broader socio-economic context on Realist lines. In the Prologue itself, the theme o f exploration of identity is introduced, when the existence in a Black causal agency exclaims, Who am I?  Immediately the firmness takes an Existential tangent as the thirstiness of such a assay for pith is asserted with the speaker claiming, This is a prosecutionion I squander given up trying to incline. He establishes the ridiculousness of identity by c twaining himself amorphous and  wispy, as some hotshot who corresponding all of us puts on a virgin mask and gives a new message to himself for different occasions  The fact is that thither is something of me in each one of you and that is why, whether on or off stage, I have no separate identity. He therefore(prenominal) asserts that no matter what the circum perspective, what the situation and the gender, mans pursuit for identity and intend in livelihood would always dwell an absurd, indescribable, undefined and irrational oddity.Even the compositors cases of the play be seen to engage in a constant search of center and identity in life. In his essay, Uncertain circumstances, vague Individuals A study of Halfway sign, S. G. Bhanegaonkar points out that modern psychology does non regard escapism as a symbol of weakness except as a sensitive man-to-mans desire to search for essence which he does not rally in the conditions he is in due(p)d in and hence, the records of Halfway dramatics can too be seen as world in a dour quest for identity that transcends the turmoil of their fragmented existence.It is in sync with R. L. Nigams theory, of the important characters of play being involved in a self-made phenomenon of the souls search for an alternative sanctuary in the absence of the sanctuary of stead whichstood for a source of solace and moral anticipate to the individual in moments of crises. The search for identity and heart in Halfway mansion house is best articulated by dint of the character of Savitri who s eeks finish and reasonableness in married bliss Why does one hold fast married? In order to fulfil a need. an inner. oid, if you like to be self sufficient. complete.  Since her birth hubbys fails to fulfil this inner emptiness, Savitri seeks marital gladness beyond connubial relations in men who possess the qualities she had always aspired for in Mahendranath. Dilip Kumar Basu observes,The desire to look for completeness in the other(a) may look like Everymans essential and unreasolvable problem, and may vaguely place her in the centre of an Absurdist drama where the search may be considered tragic/ridiculous. Although the invention of Savitri seeking moment in life being defined in term of her relations with men seems problematic in itself, the play tries to trick us into the abstractedness that this is nothing but an existentialist philosopher quest for meaning in life. She is reported to be overwhelmed by Junejas power, affluence and sentiency of reason. Sh ivjeets intellectual prowess, his university degree and numerous trips abroad enamoured her. Jagmohans taking into custody nature, horse sense of humour, modernism, elite lifestyle and masculine self-respect held immense appeal for her.She was supposed to be attracted to her now son-in-law, Manoj too, as his influential consideration had charmed her sufficiently. Savitri moves from one man to some other in search of the perfect partner. The play tries to portray this search as an illusion, an Absurdist seek by denying Savitri the happiness she is looking for and fashioning her realise that all men ar the same and they all of them as in Kirti Jains words hope to evade responsibility and to exploit her. Mahendranath is shown to search for a new identity and reason behind his existence through his family with Juneja.The economic crisis and his losing the identity of being the bread-earner of the family had adapted his mark in the house into a non-entity and affected his mind and heart adversely . silent acceptance, perpetual snubs, constant insults, is all that I deserve after so many years.  He greatly resents his dismission of fit and influence in the family and is immensely unhappy to be regarded  but as a stamp of respectability to be used only when the need arises. nether such circumstances of changed power equations, Mahendranath earches for meaning in new relations go on on a sense of understanding and usual respect, as is the case with Juneja. From Savitris perpetual insults and accusations and its subsequent repercussions in braggart(a) him an inferiority complex, Junejas friendship offered Mahendranath the alternate sanctuary of solace and comfort in the midst of an emotional and economic crisis at heart the family. He began to define himself in equipment casualty of his non-utility and unsuccessfulness, and thereby sought solace in temporary acts of rising involving leaving the house and seeking meaning and mental field pansy in his companionship with Juneja.Moreover due to his own lack of conviction and unfitness to take independent decisions, Mahendranath looked for identity financial statement through psychological dependence on others and in the early years of his pairing through a patriarchal control and restriction of Savitris autonomy. The fact that Mahendranath in the end returns in the end using his own judgement, abandoning Junejas advice, establishes the futility of his search and once again, reiterates the Absurdist stance the play tries to partially incorporate.Ashok and Kinni explore the kinetics of identity on their own in their own world so as to escape from the fearful existence of their scrap parents. Ashok searches for his identity in an amorphous world, stranded from reality and need, in the realm of idleness, impulsivity and romance. For no apparent reason at all, he quits his job at breed Freeze and instead spends his time all in lazing around uselessly or in courting a girlfriend gets in the Udyog Centre.The everyday wrath between his parents distorts his sense of residence and thereby he looks for meaning and identity in an alternate world free of the wardrobe of shouldering family responsibility and of the tensions in spite of appearance the family. Even the talking he has with Binni near the air in the house echoes these sentiments about the search for meaning. The spring chickenest character Kinni on the other hand, searches for an identity through her emerging adolescent sexuality and sensory faculty of this sexuality, in the absence of a full support mechanism at home, both economically and emotionally.Given the emotional imbalance in her house and the complete failure with which she was treated, Kinni sought to define herself in toll of her disaffectedness, growing sexual knowledge, stubbornness, ill-mannerisms and arrogance. In the experience scene, Kinni trying to get out when the entre is locked from inside and others trying to get in when she locks it from inside is again symbolic of a ineffectual quest for identity and meaning in life, for even her rebelliousness and will power fails to make things any different for the belittled girl.Binny too is shown to be in a relentless and shifting quest for a sanctuary, an identity. She elopes with Manoj not in an impulse of do and romantic urge but in search of an abode away from home where she presumed she would find peace and shelterion. But however, when she experiences her husbands strict conservatism and fails to find any meaning  in Manojs restrictive control within their conjugal relation, she looks for answers in a sense of defiance  He likes my hair long, so I indigence to cut it.He doesnt like me to spurt, so I want a job.  But this again proves futile as she realises she is unable to execute her rebellious tendencies against the sub-ordination by her husband. Ultimately, she just returns to her maternal home in sear ch for that mysterioussomething in their house that is the cause of all her deflect and that which refuses to desert her. However, Binni is never shown to exactly die hard this mystery cause thereby manifesting the absurdity of the entire process of finding meaning in life.However, when their search for meaning in life and the subsequent despair and woe is regarded only along existential lines, it thence forecloses the possibility of ever addressing the cause of the dilemma. in all the characters quest for an identity beyond the home, the search for an alternate sanctuary besides being analysed as a technique of Absurdist subject can also be seen in footing of the alienation that add togethers with urbanization, the dislocation of articulatio family and the new emerging power-plays and conflicts within the nuclear family with no viable support brass outside.The fact that Savitri never explores the arena of identity as an independent individual char, a single working woman but instead always defines herself in harm of fulfilment in her various relations with different men raises important questions about the status of women as an autonomous individual in society. To quote R. L. Nigam, The one closure which could have lead to joy and fulfilment, and was uncommitted to her all the time, would need for its success, a regenerated society in whose value-system personal fulfilment and interpersonal responsibilities have been harmonised.In the afford social scenario, that solution would not work. Morever, Mahendranath and Savitri not finding meaning in their human relationship can also be seen as the virtual breakdown of marriage as an institution. In our fast-changing society and in the face of belated individualism of its members, the values and regards on which family and marriage have so far rested are fast losing their meaning and significance.Assertion of personal rights and freedoms within a group-unit (family) which u navoidably involves inter-personal adjustments produces a situation of crisis because there are no principles to guide these adjustments, which necessarily involves inter-personal adjustments produces a situation of crisis because there are no principles to guide these adjustments which, in gravel context cannot be thought of in terms of surrender of one or the other party. All relations in the family need to be redefined with new structures of familial division of labour and the rise of the working women.As O. P. Sharma Prakash puts it, Halfway House is the crisis of arrogance of the individual. Modern man demands individual self-regard as well as find of is choice.. It represents the modern sensibility in all its intensity, form and dimensions.  The fact that Manoj blames something in Binnis maternal house as the cause of all trouble and then prevents her from working establishes that thesomething is in reference to her sires promiscuity which leads him to infer that permit women out of the house would always come with the threat of her infidelity.Moreover, Mohan Rakeshs juxtaposition of a monogamous husband with a woman whose defining feature is her promiscuity ironically at a time when the  Hindoo Marriage Act (1955)came into force outlawing polygamy to protect the rights of Hindu women reflects the extent of male misgiving generated by womens emancipation, whose right to work meant the dissolution of the public-private dichotomy necessary for the guardianship of the family as a private sphere. This foreboding is further elaborated in terms of portraying Kinni as an uncared neglected kid, who returns to a home without the mother and feels lonely and alienated.Mahendranaths despair too needs to be identified not just in terms of the emotional crisis that he faces with the breakdown of familial relations and absence of mutual respect, but also the economic crisis which ultimately appears as the root of all problems. Mahendran ath loses his position in family, when the roles of provider and receiver are changed, when economic equations of earner and acceptor are altered and redefined in terms of sex and gender.Their rate of flow poverty seems to be the result of typical-middle twelvemonth lifestyle of living beyond ones means, and the search or identities only arises when existing identities run into conflict with changing economic denominations of labour division within the family itself. Thus, Mahendranaths yearning for meaning in life has new economic arrangements within the familial space and sheer unfitness to solve the economic crisis, triggering it.Even Ashoks arrogance and refusal to submit to influential people, Dilip Kumar Basu feels can be analysed in the backdrop of 1969 early days revolts in Paris, and things happening in our country.  The young mans indifference to work is thus to be constructed as a larger question of youth rebellion and mobilisation, than just mere laziness and irresponsibility or a mere existentialist search for identity. Hence, in conclusion, it can be said that although Mohan RakeshsHalfway House deals extensively with the question of identity and meaning in life, to situate it solely in an Existentialist dimension and accord it the characteristic of being the primary concern of the play, would below the belt downplay many other socio-economic themes that the play encompasses.