The Feminine Anguish in Cry, The Peacock

In the patriarchal society, women have not been seen as the equal partners. They have been treated as the second-rate members in the family and the society. Simone de Beauvoir’s observation is very illuminating and cited in Feminism; Theory. Criticism, Analysis:“The situation of woman is that she-a free and autonomous being like all creatures-nevertheless finds herself living in a world where men compel her to assume the status of the other.” (33) She has been given away to a new master in a new house where she is not allowed to show her preferences. Her new master handles her in the way he likes. It does not occur to him that she is a living being and as such she has her own desires, aspirations and dreams. Her cries go unheard and her pain goes unfelt. But enough is enough. Time comes when her anguish becomes too pronounced to submit to repression. It manifests itself in trauma, suicide and death. This symptom generally remains unnoticed by male writers, but female writers x-ray the genuine feminine anguish. It is an integral part of their lives. Anita Desai’s two novels Cry, The Peacock and Voices in the City depict the inner climate, the climate of sensibility that rumbles like thunder and suddenly blazes forth like lightning. It is more compelling than the outer weather, the physical geography or the visible action. Since her preoccupation is with the inner world of sensibility rather than the outer world of action, she has tried to forge the style, supple and suggestive enough to convey the fever and fretfulness of the stream of consciousness of her principal characters.