Sexual Exploitation of Womenin Parijat’s Blue Mimosaas A Perpetuation of Colonial Attitude

Abstract

This research on Parijat’s Blue Mimosa examines the cases of socio-sexual exploitations upon females, and argues that they are manifestations of colonial attitude on the part of the perpetrators–Suyogbir, and his associates.Suyogbir, the male protagonist of the novel,is a war veteran who has experience of fighting Japanese soldier in Burma during the World WarII. He uses his money and physical force to make girls surrender before him.Suyogbircalls the female protagonist of the novel Bari,a handkerchief inside his pocket, an old tree, a pimple near the nose of an old man, widow, insane, virgin, rock, picture like, childlike, etc. as if she is his own colonial object. This research explainsSuyogbir’s behavior as an outcome of colonial attitude he has imbibed from his long friendship with Stephen, a British soldier, who was his friend. Like majority of the colonizers who intend to rule and exploit and only rarely think about settling down permanently in the colonies,Suyogbiralways possessgirls but he has nointentions of settling down with them. The research also finds that exploitation of the women is twofold–structural and sexual. Provision for structural exploitation is provided by power structure: the strong rule the weak, while sexual exploitation, as is true for many other cases, meted out upon females by males. Both these exploitations, in the novel, reach their peak during wartime, though they perpetuateevenafter the war is over.