Social Realism in Meena Kandasamy’s Novel The Gypsy Goddess

Abstract

Social realism, as derived from the Marxist ideology, is something which adheres to reality, avoids romantic embellishments, and creates truthful portraits of life that expose human flaws. In it, we find characters with genuine jobs and problems. It records the life of an average farmer or labourer. The novel the Gypsy Goddess by Meena Kandasamy is an indictment of Communism and atrocities inflicted upon untouchable coolies and paddy workers. Mena Kandasamy presents the fictionalized version of the tragedy, portrayed on the documents taken from history and interviews of people who faced that actual incident. The landlords murder a communist leader. After that, the Dalit labourers go on strike, Dalit workers are forced to work back on farms, and those who refuse are assaulted and punished by the police. The democratic demand for justice by the untouchables farmers of Kilenmani, Tamil Nadu, are faced with a terrible series of actions which prove ‘might is right’, and the poor, helpless farmers are only left to suffer and die due to hostile conditions. The novel is a fine narrative of their plight and the traumatic conditions caused by the violence inflicted upon them.   In brief, it is a fictionalized work on social realism. The present paper is a brief study of events that occur in the lives of Dalit, unprivileged paddy workers and their exploitation by so-called Upper Caste or Landlords and their realistic representation.