Halfway House Essay

The crisis of individuality and breakdown of communication in human traffic and contributeant tragic effect of boredom and despair constitute the infrastructure of Rakeshs play, Aadhe Adhure, which is by far is take up play, devastatingly exposing the fragmented personalities and broken images in a disintegrated society. N. Choudhuri, (Hindi Drama, Con evanescent Indian Literature) Mohan RakeshsHalfway House scum bag be viewed as an exploration of nub and individualism in the tempestuousness of changing social and familial structures.Although the play seeks to construct the hunting for individuality inwardly the unfulfilling, incomplete nature of bourgeois existence as a universal non-gendered experience along Existential lines as its primary c at oncern, it in the end deals with many a(prenominal) followingions on a broader socio- frugal context on Realist lines. In the Prologue it self, the story of exploration of personal identity is introduced, when the Man in a Black admit exclaims,Who am I? Immediately the declaration takes an Existential tangent as the fruitlessness of such a search for meaning is asserted with the loudspeaker claiming,This is a question I have given up toilsome to face.He establishes the absurdity of identity by c totallying himselfamorphousand wispy, as some ace who wish all of us puts on a overbold mask and gives a new meaning to himself for different cause The fact is that there is something of me in each star of you and that is why, whether on or off stage, I have no separate identity. He whence asserts that no matter what the circumstance, what the situation and the gender, mans search for identity and meaning in life would always remain an absurd, indescribable, un positd and mistaken oddity.Even the characters of the play are seen to engage in a regular search of meaning and identity in life. In his essay,Uncertain circumstances, dim Individuals A study of Halfway House, S. G. Bhanegaonkar points out that modern psychology does non regard escapism as a symbol of failing but as a sensitive individuals go for to search for meaning which he does not find in the conditions he is placed in and hence, the characters of Halfway Housecan too be seen as being in a relentless quest for identity that transcends the turmoil of their fragmented existence.It is in sync with R. L. Nigams theory, of the main characters of play being involved in aself-madephenomenon ofthe souls search for an alternate sanctuaryin the absence of the sanctuary of kinfolk whichstood for a source of solace and moral stay to the individual in moments of crises. The search for identity and meaning in Halfway House is best articulated by the character of Savitri who seeks conclusion and reason in matrimonial bliss Why does one approach married? In arrange to fulfil a wish. an inner. oid, if you like to be self sufficient. complete. Since her own husbands fails to fulfil this inner emptiness, Savitri seeks marital happiness beyond conjugal 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 may look like Everymans essential and unreasolvable problem, and may vaguely place her in the content of an Absurdist drama where the search may be considered tragic/ridiculous.Although the concept of Savitri quest meaning in life being defined in cost of her relations with men seems problematic in itself, the play tries to trick us into the generalisation that this is nothing but an experientialist quest for meaning in life. She is reported to be overwhelmed by Junejas power, affluence and mother wit of reason. Shivjeets intellectual prowess, his university degree and numerous trips abroad enamoured her. Jagmohans understanding nature, grit of humour, modernism, elite lifestyle and masculine pride held immense appeal for her.She was suppositional to be attracted to her now son-in-law , Manoj too, as his influential status had charmed her sufficiently. Savitri moves from one man to another in search of the perfect partner. The play tries to render this search as an illusion, an Absurdist attempt by denying Savitri the happiness she is looking for and making her realise that all men are the same and they all of them as in Kirti Jains wordswant to evade certificate of indebtedness and to exploit her. Mahendranath is shown to search for a new identity and reason female genitalia his existence by means of his relationship with Juneja.The economic crisis and his losing the identity of being the bread-earner of the family had change his position in the accommodate into a non-entity and affected his mind and plaza adversely. silent acceptance, perpetual snubs, constant insults, is all that I merit after so many years. He greatly resents his loss of entertain and influence in the family and is immensely unhappy to be regardedonly as a stamp of respectability to be used only when the need arises. Under such circumstances of changed power equations, Mahendranath earches for meaning in new relations build on a sense of understanding and shared respect, as is the case with Juneja. From Savitris perpetual insults and accusations and its subsequent repercussions in gift him an inferiority complex, Junejas friendship offered Mahendranath the alternate sanctuary of solace and nourish in the midst of an emotional and economic crisis within the family. He began to define himself in damage of his non-utility and unsuccessfulness, and thereby sought-after(a) solace in temporary acts of rebellion involving leaving the house and seeking meaning and mental quiet in his companionship with Juneja.Moreover due to his own lack of sentence and inability to take independent decisions, Mahendranath looked for identity assertion through mental dependence on others and in the early years of his marriage through a patriarchal control and restriction of Sav itris autonomy. The fact that Mahendranath eventually 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 dynamics of identity on their own in their own world so as to break from the fearful existence of their wrangling parents. Ashok searches for his identity in an amorphous world, costless from reality and need, in the realm of idleness, impulsivity and romance. For no apparent reason at all, he quits his job at Air Freeze and alternatively spends his time either in lazing around uselessly or in courting a girl counterfeiting(a) in the Udyog Centre.The everyday rage between his parents distorts his sense of internal and thereby he looks for meaning and identity in an alternate world free of the pressure of shouldering family responsibility and of the tensions within the family. Even the talk he has with Binni about theairin the house echoes these sentiments about the search for meaning. The youngest character Kinni on the other hand, searches for an identity through her emerging adolescent sexuality and awareness of this sexuality, in the absence of a secure support mechanism at home, both economically and emotionally. effrontery the emotional instability in her house and the complete negligence with which she was treated, Kinni sought to define herself in terms of her insubordinateness, growing sexual knowledge, stubbornness, ill-mannerisms and arrogance. In the exist scene, Kinni trying to get out when the door is locked from inside and others trying to get in when she locks it from inside is again symbolic of a futile quest for identity and meaning in life, for even her defiance and obstinacy fails to get down things any different for the little 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 zes t of love and romantic urge but in search of an house away from home where she presumed she would find peace and protection. 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 want to golf stroke it.He doesnt like me to work, 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 enatic home in search for that inscrutablesomethingin their house that is thecause of all her troubleand that which refuses to desert her. However, Binni is never shown to exactly unravel this mysterycausethereby manifesting the absurdity of the consummate process of finding meaning in life.However, when their search for meaning in life and the subsequent despair and suffering is regarded o nly along existential lines, it thus forecloses the possibility of ever addressing the cause of the dilemma. All the characters quest for an identity beyond the home, the search for an alternate sanctuary besides being analysed as a technique of Absurdist Theatre can as well as be seen in terms of the alienation that comes with urbanization, the breakdown of joint family and the new emerging power-plays and conflicts within the nuclear family with no viable support system outside.The fact that Savitri never explores the arena of identity as an independent individual woman, a single(a) working woman but instead always defines herself in terms of fulfilment in her various relations with different men raises serious questions about the status of women as an autonomous individual in society. To extract R. L. Nigam,The one solution which could have lead to joy and fulfilment, and was available to her all the time, would need for its success, a regenerated society in whose value-syste m personal fulfilment and interpersonal responsibilities have been harmonised.In the demo social scenario, that solution would not work. Morever, Mahendranath and Savitri not finding meaning in their relationship can also be seen as the virtual breakdown of marriage as an institution. In our immediate-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 necessarily 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 present context cannot be thought of in terms of surrender of one or the other party. All relations in the family need to be red efined 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 dignity as well as honour of is choice.. It represents the modern impressibility in all its intensity, form and dimensions. The fact that Manoj blamessomethingin Binnis maternal house as the cause of all trouble and then prevents her from working establishes that thesomethingis in reference to her mothers 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 lark is her promiscuity ironically at a time when theHindu wedding Act (1955)came into force outlawing polygamy to protect the rights of Hindu women reflects the extent of male apprehension generated by womens emancipation, whose right to work meant the d issolution of the public-private dichotomy needful for the maintenance of the family as a private sphere. This anxiety is further expatiate 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. Mahendranath loses his position in family, when the roles of provider and receiver are changed, when economic equations of earner and acceptor are modify and redefined in terms of sex and gender.Their current poverty seems to be the result of typical-middle class 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 its elf. Thus, Mahendranaths yearning for meaning in life has new economic arrangements within the familial space and turn out inability to solve the economic crisis, triggering it.Even Ashoks arrogance and refusal to look at to influential people, Dilip Kumar Basu feels can be analysed in the backdrop of1969 young person 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 state that although Mohan RakeshsHalfway Housedeals extensively with the question of identity and meaning in life, to situate it solely in an Existentialist dimension and dish out it the distinction of being the primary concern of the play, would unfairly downplay many other socio-economic themes that the play encompasses.