Dhowli vs. The Magic Chalk: A Comparative Analysis

Introduction

The condition of mankind in the world is an inexhaustible source of tales and stories, each more impressive than the last. Even when stories approach the same subject, they differ because their authors address ideas from different angles and their characters feel different emotions.

Such is the case with Dhowli by Mahasweta Devi and The Magic Chalk by Kobo Abe. The two works initially appear to be entirely different stories, yet they reveal meaningful similarities in their ideas and themes. Both are strongly emotional and expose the frustrations arising from the social conditions facing their respective protagonists: Dhowli, a young poor widow, and Argon, a young and impoverished artist.

One story takes place in the East, in a culture structured around castes and the supremacy of specific social hierarchies. The other, The Magic Chalk, takes place in the Western hemisphere, in a culture premised on gender equality and where social status is dictated by money rather than caste. Both stories are powerful despite their short span and leave a lasting imprint on the reader's mind — and it is precisely this impression that makes them worthy of comparative analysis. The comparison is especially intriguing because, while the two stories are markedly different, they also resemble one another in significant ways.

Common Themes in Both Stories

The Magic Chalk, the story of a young painter named Argon, encompasses numerous themes, the most interesting of which include: the poverty of the individual; the desire for a better life; love and its loss; the comparison between the individual and those around him; the dissolution of the known world and the creation of a new one; the equality of genders, with emphasis on the Adam and Eve motif; and the theme of death.

In Dhowli, the themes approached by Mahasweta Devi are equally numerous and complex, and include: the poverty of Dhowli; the social constructions and caste system in India; the inferiority of women; the theme of forbidden love; and the eternal theme of death.

Both Dhowli and Argon are young, live in poverty, and desire a better life for themselves. Each assesses their poverty both at an individual level and in comparison to those around them. Dhowli, for instance, perceives her poverty in the context of the wealth of the people she and her mother work for. Her father had been a land laborer all his life and had to take out a large loan from the Brahman simply to afford his daughter's marriage; he then worked until his death to repay it. When he died, Dhowli and her mother were left to rely on the mercy of the landlords for work and scraps of food. The young woman would pick fruit from the ground that had already been pecked at by birds and show these to the landlady for permission to take them home. Dhowli's poverty, in this sense, is deeply contextual.

Argon's poverty is presented in a less complex manner and does not reach back through the years. His is the poverty of a modern young man who has chosen a career that offers little financial reward. Like Dhowli, he assesses his circumstances in comparison to others — specifically his next-door neighbor and a friend who works at a bank. In both cases, Argon is hungry while the others eat; his neighbor's cooked meals send an appealing smell drifting into his room, and his friend has eaten only half his lunch and sets the rest aside for later.

Another common theme is the desire for love, which drives both characters to decisions and actions they would not otherwise have taken. Argon seeks a companion with whom to create a new world — a partner in the manner of Adam and Eve — while Dhowli searches for love, passion, and affection that have been absent from her life. In pursuing love and the hope of a new beginning, both characters become victims of their own disillusion. They willingly commit to dreams that are ultimately illogical. Dhowli knows that her social condition cannot be overcome, yet she hopes for a fulfilling relationship that transcends caste. Argon's delusion is even more impossible in any real-world sense: he cannot, after all, create a new world by drawing it on the walls of his room. Both disillusions end tragically — Argon is absorbed into the world on his wall, while Dhowli is forced into prostitution and abandons her family.

A fourth recurring theme is gender equality and the role of women. In Devi's story, women are the undisputed inferiors of men, with Dusad widows occupying the absolute lowest position in the social order. In The Magic Chalk, by contrast, women are beginning to claim the same social rights as men, and gender equality, while still contested, is better supported.

Finally, both stories share the theme of death. In Dhowli, death is omnipresent and takes many forms: the death of Dhowli's husband, the death of her father, and the constant threat of starvation hanging over her, her mother, and her child. Death makes its presence felt from the very beginning of the story. In The Magic Chalk, by contrast, death is not mentioned until the story's end, and even then it is not inflicted but merely invoked as a threat. When Miss Nippon produces a pistol, she uses the prospect of death to force Argon into submission:

"Stop it! What are you going to do with that thing? [the pistol]"
"Death. I'm going to make death. We need some divisions. They're very important in making a world." (Abe)

The following table summarizes the key similarities and differences across themes:

Poverty: In Dhowli, poverty is contextual and rooted in social position; in The Magic Chalk, it is the result of individual career choice. Both characters compare themselves to others, but the sources of their poverty differ fundamentally.

Love: Dhowli seeks love and passion; Argon seeks a partner to help him build a new world along the lines of Adam and Eve. Both make unusual decisions in pursuit of love, but their emotional needs differ.

Disillusion: Dhowli hopes to overcome her caste through love; Argon hopes to win love from his self-created Eve, Miss Nippon. Both disillusions end tragically, but they differ in nature.

Gender equality/inequality: Women are entirely subordinate in Dhowli; women assert equal rights in The Magic Chalk. The cause of the protagonists' problems and social attitudes toward women differ sharply between the two texts.

Death: In Dhowli, death is omnipresent from the outset; in The Magic Chalk, it is mentioned only at the end. In both stories, death signals the end of things as the characters have known them, but its actual presence in the narrative differs considerably.

The Idea of Love

Dhowli's expectations of love were diminished from an early age. Her happiest memories were from childhood, when she spent time with her father. As she grew older, she was betrothed to an older man she barely knew and did not love, and who did not love her in return. Life as a married woman was hard; she lived on leftovers and was beaten by her husband.

"About her wedding she could not recall much because she must have been very small at the time. She was sent to live with her husband when her body blossomed. […] She remembered nothing nice about her husband. He used to beat her. He died of a fever." (Devi)

After his death, Dhowli chose not to involve herself with any man in her community:

"After she returned to Tahad, she did not let herself near any Dusad boy. What good could come of it? The same routine of backbreaking work, with kids in your lap, kids following you around, no food, nothing. Dhowli had no desire for that kind of life, the only kind of life for a Dusad girl." (Devi)

As a widow, Dhowli chose to remain alone, keeping her distance from both the boys in her caste and from the young Misra when he first approached her. She eventually gave in, however, and lived a passionate love — though in constant fear of what might follow. She did not believe the relationship could last, often saying that her lover would soon marry a girl of his own social standing.

Nevertheless, Misrilal was genuinely in love with her, despite his mother's view that it was merely a young man's passing infatuation. He tried to secure a better future for her and their unborn child, but was sent away. Their separation was painful for both. The young man hoped his family would look after his lover, while Dhowli feared the worst. Where Misrilal dreamed of opening a store and providing for them all, Dhowli was already reconciling herself to a future as a prostitute — a public outcast, forced to leave her home, her mother, and her baby.

However tragic, the love in Dhowli is true and real, and the affection shared by both lovers is pure and heartfelt. In The Magic Chalk, by contrast, the idea of love is more ambiguous, since the feelings exist only on Argon's side. His attachment began as lust — sparked when he saw Miss Nippon in a newspaper — and then grew into something more practical, if no less deluded: he wanted her to be his Eve, his partner in the creation of a new world.

Miss Nippon does not share his goals or his feelings. She has no interest in being Eve and does not believe he is Adam. She becomes engaged only when she learns that his red chalk can bring drawings to life at night. She then pressures him to share the chalk, and uses her portion to draw a pistol and a hammer — tools with which she immobilizes him and destroys his world. In this respect, the love in The Magic Chalk is transactional rather than mutual. The love in Dhowli, shared and real, is as poignant as a Greek tragedy; the love in Abe's story is more akin to a fable of exploitation.

References

Abe, K. The Magic Chalk. Retrieved July 11, 2012, from http://allaboutjeff.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/the-magic-chalk-by-kobo-abe/

Devi, M. Dhowli. In Kalpana Bardhan (Ed.), Of Women, Outcastes, Peasants and Rebels: A Selection of Bengali Short Stories. University of California Press, 1990.

Dogson-Katiyo, P., & Wisker, G. Rites of Passage in Postcolonial Women's Writing. Rodopi, 2010.

Lamb, S. White Saris and Sweet Mangoes: Aging, Gender and Body in North India. University of California Press, 2000.

Matthew, R. Japanese Science Fiction: A View of a Changing World. Routledge, 1989.

Sokolovsky, J. The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives (3rd ed.). ABC-CLIO, 2009.