Depiction of man- women relationship in the Halfway House by Mohan Rakesh PDF

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Depiction of man- women relationship in the Halfway House by Mohan Rakesh. It gives a detailed analysis on the same with all the necessary points covered....

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Q. Discuss the portrayal of man-women relationship in Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House. Halfway House (in Hindi, Aadhe Adhoore) is a play written by Mohan Rakesh in 1969. The play is divided into three parts, a Prologue followed by two acts. Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House deals with difficulties that a family, a middle class family to be specific, goes through and raises a number of issues relevant to the socio-cultural ethos of the time. One can find various portrayals of man- women relationship in the play. Failed marriage of Mahendranath and Savitri, Savitri’s relationship with Jagmohan, her former lover and current friend, her boss Singhania and Manoj, her son-in-law. As mentioned, the relationships are not presented in a pleasant manner by the playwright with a little exception of the relation between Jagmohan and Savitri. On deep inspection, one can notice middle- class issues affecting the relation of men- women, either positively or negatively. There is some incomprehensible force governing the ‘air’ of the house which can be felt (but not seen), and also it governs the lives of the people living in the house. Two instances of failed marriages are presented to us in the play; one of Mahendranath and Savitri and, the other of Binni (daughter of Mahendranath and Savitri) and Manoj. The atmosphere of the house is that of gloom. This gloominess adds to the existing tensions between Mahendranath and Savitri. We are told that Mahendranath in the past borrowed money from his friend Juneja which he has not yet paid back. On his side, Mahendranath hopes that some help can come by associating with Juneja. Savitri, however, does not find Juneja trustworthy nor does she think he would ever be genuinely friendly towards her husband. We can see a clear lack of trust between the husband and wife. One can truly call it a kind of disconnect between Mahendranath and Savitri. It is essential to note that currently it is a matriarchal family running on Savitri’s earnings. Mahendranath, an unemployed man initially generates self-pity and comments that he is nothing more than a burden. This image of Mahendranath is bashed when we come to know that earlier he used to beat his wife brutally. The scene was so fearful that Binni had hard time remembering the brutality. Our perception of Mahendranath also undergoes a change as the figure of a meek husband transforms into a ferocious animal. When Juneja engages in a conversation with Savitri towards the end of the play, he defends Mahendranath for his actions, first for being his friend and secondly the general patriarchal mindset of the society of those times and rather blames Savitri for their failed marriage. One is forced into thinking about the amount of detailing Juneja knows about Savitri’s personal life which of course he got from Mahendranath himself. From this Savitri concludes that Mahendranath has always looked for a support throughout his life except for his wife Savitri. Mahendranath’s views of Savitri and her associates have influenced Juneja’s assessment for the same. Savitri, also, is not portrayed as a perfect woman. According to the norms of the society she has some faults of her own. When Singhania visits their home on a request from Savitri, we can find

Savitri arranging her house and asking everyone to be respectful towards him. Singhania appears as offensive in the play. He has no respect for the lower class people and is boastful and pompous about his style. We also note a sexual innuendo in Singhania’s comment when he asks Savitri to ‘visit’ his home someday. In the second act of the play we find Savitri getting ready to go out for tea with her longstanding friend and former lover Jagmohan. The broken necklace symbolizes the breaking of the family. The broken necklace leaves her upset but she goes to the cupboard to wear another one- which in turn suggests that Savitri has chosen another life for herself. The two, Jagmohan and Savitri share a kind of compatibility one expects Mahendranath and Savitri to share in matrimony. Her feeling of losing something important before going out with Jagmohan and her constant hesitation at finally leaving the house creates a specific version of events. Juneja sums up her entire life in his comment with an air of authority. He is presumptuous to the extent that he claims to know what happened between Savitri and Jagmohan when they were out for tea. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Binni the older girl in the family who eloped with and married Manoj. Binni regularly visits her parent's home in a state of tension and unease. Unhappy in marriage Binni helplessly tells her mother that she thought she knew Manoj before marriage but now she feels that she no longer lives with the same person. She feels estranged. Later we find that Savitri was the one who developed attraction towards her son-in-law, Manoj, but the latter chose the daughter. We have two concrete instances of marriage---one that of Mahendranath and Savitri, and the other of Binni and Manoj-both of which point towards the failure of the institution itself. In which individuals find themselves becoming more and more alienated from their spouse but find it difficult to move out of the arrangement. It is for the reason that marriage comes along with a whole baggage of customs and laws ordained by society....