Pooro's Transformation in Amrita Pritam's Pinjar

Abstract

The objective of this study is to explore the psychological transformation of the subaltern female victim of the patriarchal violence during the partition riots in India through the protagonist-victim 'Pooro' in Amrita Pritam's novel Pinjar. Unlike other vulnerable female victims, Pooro stands herself in a position from which she challenges the patriarchy-based ideologies and practices of the family, society and even the state. The discarding and disregarding of her by her own family, community and religion arise a certain type of epiphany into her and she transforms herself into love and humanism. She searches heridentity in the loving nature and in humanistic acts rejecting any type of familial, social or religious identity. The psychological transformation of her is due to her reaction to the patriarchal nature of the society and its role in fometing violence ofthe time of partition in 1947. Pritam's foregrounding of a female victim through love and humanism makes patriarchy's inhumanity even more cruel and callous.