10 Chapter3 PDF

CHAPTER I11
FADING OUT
...I shall go too in s i l e n c e

leaving not
Even a finger print on this crowded

earth,
C a r r y i n g away my bird-in-flight voice and
The hundred misunderstandings that
destroyed
My alliances with you and you
and you ...

"Death Is So ~ediocre''
Kamala Das.
Prepared by BeeHive Digital Concepts Cochin for Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam
CHAPTER I11
FADING OUT
1 want to remember how the light f a d e s

f r o m a room -
and o n e fades with it, is
expunged, sitting still, k n e e s t o g e t h e r ,
hands i n pockets,
-
The Journal
Katherine Mansfield was ever c o n s c i o u s of death as
the ultimate r e a l i t y in life and d e a t h becomes a major

theme of her short fiction. Her own precarious health and
the awareness of death waiting r o u n d t h e corner f o r her

added to this death consciousness. Numerous d e a t h s within
t h e Nalapatt family, causing much sorrow and mental agony,
brought home to Kamala D a s also t h e inexorable n a t u r e of
death. T h e sense of desolation evoked by the d e a t h of d e a r
ones and an awareness of the futility of human aspirations
for worldly glory are poignantly etched in her poem "A
Requiem f o r M y Father." T h e r e is cruelty of necessity that
precedes a n d fallows death in the lines
You were laid out on the drawing room floor,
A dead Nayar gets only the cold floor to lie on1
Since the death of near ones like her Muthassi (great
grandmother) and Ammamma (grandmother) "the long clawed

birds of death" have s t a y e d by hex.
I have seen death
And I s h a l l n o t forget
"I Shall N o t F o r g e t "
Later, her own hospital experiences as a heart

p a t i e n t added to this awareness. B o t h writers seem to be
conscious t h a t t h i s crowded e a r t h does not suffer any loss

by o u r disappearance and that o u r joys and sorrows vanish
along with us from this world. This made Katherine

Mansfield write in her Journal, "I wish to leave a s f e w
traces of my camping ground here when I leave. I' The same
idea is expressed by Kamala D a s in h e r poem, "A Holiday for
Met', where the journey i n t o the other world is visualised

as a holiday jaunt. with the ready sense of detachment
that comes with age, Kamala Das says: "I shall l e a v e all
t h e luggage b e h i n d / S shall t r a v e l a s l i g h t as I can,"
It is significant that most of Katherine Mansfield's
stories dealing with death like "Her First Ball," "The
Voyage," "At t h e Bay," "The Garden Party" and "Honeymoon"

are w r i t t e n towards the fag end of h e r career. The other
stories about d e a t h d i s c u s s e d here are ''The D a u g h t e r s of
t h e L a t e Colonel, " "'The Stranger, " " S i x Years After, " "The
Fly," "Life of Ma Parker, " " M i l l i e , " "The Canary" and " M i s s
Brill. "
"Venalinte O z h i v u ," Summer V a c a t i o n ) "Neypayasam, It
(Sweet Porridge) "Manushyan Pavarnanu," (Man is a Poor

Being) "Malancharivukalil," (On the Mountain Slopes)
"Unni," ( ~ i t t l eBoy) " N a v i k a Vesham D h a r i c h a Kuttytt (Little
Boy in a Sailor's Dress) and "Virunnukaran" ( T h e Visitor)

are t h e stories by Kamala Das taken up f o r comparison.
Before examining the stories, it would be pertinent
to consider both t h e Christian a n d Hindu c o n c e p t s of death.

Christianity visualizes death as the punishment accorded to
sin, Death occurs both on the p h y s i c a l and the mental

plane. If the first man had not sinned, d e a t h would n o t
have entered the earth. The Death and Resurrection of
Christ c h a n g e d t h e whole m e a n i n g of the concept of death.
Death t h e r e a f t e r came to signify a transitory stage and t h e
e n t r a n c e to eternal life. Hence t h e d e a t h of a Christian
h a s always been deemed as h i s real b i r t h i n t o a new world.
It is a change-over from darkness to light, from despair to
hope, fram mortality to immortality, Hence it is the
reality which transcends t h e realm of man's perception and

reaches into e t e r n i t y . It is a l s o t h e bright halo that
denotes t h e friendship b e t w e e n man and God. Man's selfish
desires give way to t h e inevitability of death and he
realises t h e essential difference between himself and God,

a n d his complete d e p e n d e n c e on God. "It is God's free w i l l
that h a s given l i f e to man, Hence his end is also in God's
hands."3 This realisation prepares the Christian to face
death couragcausly. Christ's f i n a l . teachings have given

man t h e confidence to face d e a t h and to a s k to i t s face: "0
death, where is your v i c t o r y ? Where is your vicious bite?"4
Since Christianity sees d e a t h a s the most fearful problem
of life, s o much significance is g i v e n to the outliving of
it. Unfortunately, Katherine Mansfield had hardly any
religion to speak of a n d therefore s h e was not a b l e to gain

s u s t e n a n c e out of this Christian concept.
Unlike Katherine Mansfield, Kamala D a s in her stories

o f t e n alludes to t h e Hindu religion and h e r abiding f a i t h
in Lord Krishna. She a l s o alludes t o her belief in the
Hindu theory of the transmigration of souls or
"Punarjanmam." T h e repetition of many lives and deaths is

the f o u n d a t i o n of t h e Hindu philosophy of life: o:nly the
body undergoes change in these births, the soul remaining
forever. Death is inevitable f o r one w h o is born just a s
birth is inevitable for him after death. -

The -
Gita
describes death and rebirth as the discarding of old

tattered clothes and the d o n n i n g of new ones. ' ~ a n ' s e v i l
deeds taint h i s soul and gives . r i s e to many rebirths full
of s u f f e r i n g . Good d e e d s s p e e d up the f i n a l merging of the
soul with the immortal and thus a v o i d s t h e trauma of many

rebirths.
In pre-modern s o c i e t i e s chronic sickness was part of
people's l i v e s a n d contact with death w a s a more ,or l e s s

common p l a c e f e a t u r e of everyone's experience. Since d e a t h
had n o t become hidden away, people were able to meet t h e i r
end in a serene f a s h i o n , attended to by t h e i r loved ones.
Though death may still have been surrounded by fundamental
fears and anxieties, it was not then a phenomenon to be

concealed. Jannette R a i n w a t e r comments that in contrast,
today death is routinely hidden from viewa8 I n addition, it

h a s became a technical matter, its assessment removed into
t h e hands a5 the medical profession; what death is becomes
a matter of d e c i d i n g at what point a person should be

treated a s h a v i n g died, in respect of the cessation of
various t y p e s of bodily function. Death remains the great
extrinsic f a c t o r of h u m a n existence; it cannot as s u c h be
brought within the internally referential systems of
modernity. However, Anthony Giddens concludes that all
types of events leading upto and involved with the process
of d y i n g can be so incorporated?' Death becomes a p o i n t
zero: it is n o t h i n g more or less than t h e moment at which
human control o v e r human existence, f i n d s an o u t e r limit.
Rainwater says asking p.eople to think about death
typically provokes o n e of t w o attitudes .I1 Either death is
associated with fear, as in the case where individuals

s p e n d much time worrying a b o u t their own d e a t h or that of
loved ones; or death is regarded as unknowable and
therefore a subject to be avoided as far as possible.
Thinking back to the past, to t h e first experience of the

death of another person, allows one to b e g i n to ferret o u t
hidden feelings a b o u t d e a t h . Looking ahead in this case
i n v o l v e s contemplating the y e a r s of life which the person
believes remain, and imagining the setting of one's own
future death. An imaginary confrontation with d e a t h allows
the q u e s t i o n to be posed a l l o v e r a g a i n , "What to do?"
K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's s t o r i e s about d e a t h d e a l with

women's consciousness of mortality and with the probable
exception of Emily Dickinson, no other woman writer seems
to give such close attention to the subject. Her awn

i s o l a t i o n and break with M u r r y , following h e r precarious
health condition made h e r m o r e and more ~ ; o n s c i o u of
s death.
When t h e s e s t o r i e s were w r i t t e n in 1921, she was already in

"the valley of the shadow of death" and was bravely
fighting against time w h i c h was fast running o u t , In these

y e a r s h e r isolation w a s a l s o g r e a t , as s h e s h u t t l e d from
o n e place to another in search of a cure. In her writings

of 1921 ( " H e r F i r s t B a l l , " "The Voyage," "At t h e Bay" and
"The Garden Party") s h e concentrated on the e f f e c t of death
on the living, Kate Fullbrook comments that it adds
a n o t h e r dimension to her consistent portraiture of women's
isolation and exclusion, 12
In her stories about death, there is the
juxtaposition of the young who want to enjoy the garden
parties, lace dresses and cream puffs on one side and o n

the other there is the picture of impending death
represented by a n elderly person, who becomes a kind of
memento - rnori. Thus in " T h e Voyagett, Fenella becomes the
symbol 05 the joy of life, expectantly waiting on the
threshold of life, eager to take the plunge whereas her
grandmother who accompanies h e r , and who has experienced
life in a l l its complexities, represents d e a t h . The story
haunts us with the atmosphere of death and sorrow;
Fenella's mother has died prematurely leaving her husband

with the little girl. Her grandmother arrives to take t h e
child away. A t first the bewildered child does not
understand the change that death has caused in their
household. The moment of p a r t i n g between F e n e l l a and h e r
father shows great pathos; the young man t r i e s to conceal

his f e e l i n g s from t h e c h i l d . B u t at t h e last moment the
child understands the full significance of the death b e f o r e

setting o f f on t h e voyage
. . . Fenella c a u g h t h o l d of t h e lapel of
his coat. "How l o n g am I g o i n g to stay?"
She whispered anxiously. He wouldn't look
at her, He shook her o f f g e n t l y , and
gently said, "We'll see a b o u t that. Here!
where's your hand?" He pressed something
i n t o her p a l m . "Here's a s h i l l i n g i n case
you should need it." A Shilling! She
m u s t be going away f o r e v e r ! "Father!"
cried Fenella. B u t he was gone. (p.323)
Earlier in the story, Fenella uneasily turns away as

t h e grandmother takes leave of her widowed son. The child
observes the m u t e sorrow that is h e l d under check by both

the aged mother and t h e y o u n g man:
To her surprise Fenella saw her father

take off his hat. He clasped grandma in
his arms and pressed her to him, It God
bless you, mother!" She heard him say.
And grandma p u t her hand against h i s ...
cheek a n d she sobbed, "God bless you, m y
own brave soul." (p.323)
And at the end of the voyage we leave Fenella at her

grandmother's house, reconciled to her new world with t h e
white-haired g r a n d p a r e n t s .
Kamala Das's story "Summer V a c a t i o n " has t h i s very
situation for i t s theme. After her mother's death, the
child Ammu comes to s p e n d t h e summer at h e r late mother's

"tharavad". The grandmother suffers the pain of her
daughter's demise all the more when she contemplates the
child's future. At t h e .end of the holiday the grandmother
bids farewell to Ammu at t h e railway station. When the
train arrives, the child's father, the young widower is
already in the c a r r i a g e and t h e child is entrusted in his
care by t h e o l d woman. She remarks that h e s h o u l d visit
the "tharavad" although " s h e 1 ' is no more. The young man

confesses that a s y e t he h a s not gained enough confidence
to enter that world once a g a i n , where together t h e y had
shared such happiness. Both stories p r e s e n t , t h r o u g h the
consciousness of a little girl, the p i c t u r e of a young man,

bravely reconciling himself to his loss and resolutely
picking up the thread of l i f q ' , w h i l e the grandmother m u t e l y
partakes i n h i s sorrow. Fenella's father does not trust

h i m s e l f to t e l l the c h i l d that s h e is going away for good
and that t h e i r household cannot f u n c t i o n without her mother
who i s n o more. Similarly, Ammu's father feels uneasy t o
visit his late wife's "tharavad"; s o he arranges for the

c h i l d to be p i c k e d up at t h e railway station. Both writers
succeed in showing the effect of death on the family
t h r o u g h the consciousness of the bewildered child.
"Her First Ball" (1921) and "Honeymoon" (1921) a r e

two other stories in which death looms large in the
background, although t h e atmosphere is f u l l of laughter and
gaiety. Leila, t h e c o u n t r y cousin of t h e S h e r i d a n s g o e s to
her first ball with t h e m . She is excited beyond words at

t h e preparations of t h e girls - the r i b b o n s , lace dresses,
dainty programme cards and finally the polished parquet
floor and t h e line of handsome y o u n g men a l l waiting f o r
t h e i r turn to dance with t h e b e a u t i f u l g i r l s . Amidst all
this splendour, a shabby, fat, bald old man manages to g e t

a d a n c e with Leila and he brings her down to e a r t h by
reminding her that "this f i r s t b a l l was o n l y the beginning
of h e r last ball, after a l l . " T h e f a t o l d man confides

that he h a s seen it all since he had been g o i n g to balls
for the last thirty y e a r s and he visualizes a picture of

Leila's future for h e r :
". . . you'll be sitting up t h e r e on t h e

stage, looking on, in your nice black
velvet. And t h e s e p r e t t y arms will have
turned into little short fat ones,"
"And you'll smile away like t h e poor old
dears up there, and point to your
daughter, and tell t h e e l d e r l y l a d y next
to you how some dreadful man tried to
kiss her at t h e club hall. A n d your heart
will ache, ache .. . because no o n e wants
to kiss you now." (p.342)
F o r a minute Leils f e e l s as if it is t h e e n d of the
world. The f a t o l d man appears to h e r the symbol of o l d

age a n d death w h i c h will draw t h e final curtain on a l l t h e
parquet floors, the pink a z a l e a s and t h e dancing. But when
the music s t r i k e s again, Leila is back on the f l o o r with

her partner and "her f e e t glided, glided, " "The lights,
the azaleas, the dresses, the pink faces, the velvet
chairs, a l l became one beautiful flying w h e e l " ( p . 3 4 3 ) and
s h e h a r d l y t h o u g h t of the fat, old man or h i s homilie.
This b r e a k i n g of illusion by a f i g u r e who becomes the
memento mori (reminder of death) is seen again in
"Honeymoon". ( 19 21 ) George and Fanny, a young English
couple a r e on the Riviera for t h e i r honeymoon. George is
t h e man of the world who conducts himself perfectly. They
have a fine time abroad b u t all t h e time F a n n y wonders

whether this happiness can l a s t forever. It is something
that s h e c a n n o t communicate to George. When they e n t e r a
restaurant by the s e a , Fanny's uneasiness i n c r e a s e s , for
out of the perfect evening by t h e sea, s u d d e n l y a mournful

song is heard. The singer is a shabby old man who
represents decrepit old age and death. George, who is

u s u a l l y shallow and b u s t l i n g , a l s o catches s o m e t h i n g i n t h e
old man's voice,
The poor o l d boy's voice was f u n n y in a

way, b u t God, how it made you realise what
a terrific t h i n g it was to be at t h e
beginning of e v e r y t h i n g , as they were, he
a n d Fanny! (p.397)
T h e theme, as realized by the couple a s by Leila is
that they are now fortunately "at the beginning of
everything." B u t t h e e n d is n o t very f a r away, represented
by t h e shabby o l d s i n g e r and i t i s n o t a pleasant reminder

to the honeymoon couple. Hence George's warning to F a n n y ,
"Let's go home before the old codger begins squawking

again."
And a moment later they were gone. (p.397)
But f o r the author, it was a reminder that had always

been pursuing her as seen by her pre-occupation with this
very theme again in "Life of Ma Parker," "The Garden Party"
a n d "At t , h e Bay." I n t h e f i r s t s t o r y , Ma Parker, a poor

old charwoman who had too much to bear in l i f e questions
t h e premature death of hex favourite grandchild, " B u t now
Lenny gone - what had s h e ? She had nothing, He was a l l
she'd g o t from life and now he was took t o o , " (p.307) and
about the child's s u f f e r i n g at t h e e n d , she feels, "Why

s h o u l d a little a n g e l child have to a s k for his breath and
Eight f o r it? There was no sense in making a child suffer
like that." ( p . 307)
T h e c o n t r a s t between the old woman's extra-ordinary
stoicism and the t e n d e r n e s s of h e r love for the fragile
child reaches its peak at Lennie's d e a t h .
In "The Garden Party", the Sheridans host a grand

party on their lawns, complete with a band to provide
music. As t h e preparations for t h e p a r t y are almost over
news is brought that a c a r t e r living nearby has just passed
away i n an a c c i d e n t . Laura, " t h e artistic one" and the
most sensitive in the family reveals her instinctive
loyalties when s h e s a y s to her unsympathetic sister Jose,
"But we can't possibly h a v e a garden p a r t y with a man dead
just outside the front-gate." (p. 254) Laura's family

will not g i v e in to the i d e a of calling o f f t h e party. On
the other hand, after t h e party has r u n i t s full course,

her mother, Mrs. Sheridan, practising the charity which
suffereth not and is kind, s e n d s Laura to t h e dead man's
house with a b a s k e t f u l l of party leftovers.
Laura departs f o r t h e house, b u t s h e cannot shake o f f

the dream ". . . it seemed to her that kisses, voices,
tinkling spoons, laughter, the smell of crushed grass w.ere
somehow i n s i d e h e r . She had no room f o r anything else."
(p.258) A t t h e cottage, she is brought almost against her
will to t h e d e a t h bed. T h e r e she realizes t h e truth - that
d e a t h is t h e realdream and she understands that "He was

g i v e n upto h i s dream. What did garden-parties a n d baskets
and lace frocks matter to him. . . He w a s wonderful,
beautiful." (p.261)
D o n a l d S. T a y l o r and Daniel A , Weiss r e m a r k that s h e

had, earlier, let h e r s e l f be bribed from this ttuth.13 When
she sobs, "forgive my hat," she rejects at last the
meaningless dream of the garden party and s t a n d s now on the
threshold of the r e a l world, sinister at f i r s t , but now
transmitted into beauty by t h e dream of d e a t h . "And for
h e r the dream world of t h e garden party f l i e s b e f o r e d e a t h ,
14
the r e a l life on earth," Warren. S. Walker p o i n t s out
that throughout the story there is a groping toward
maturity and at t h e end Laura is i n d e e d more mature than
she i s at the opening.15 T h e visit to the cotter1s brings
Laura her first r e a l consciousness of t h e phenomenon of
death- Shocked at first, s h e comes eventually to see life
and d e a t h in a new perspective in which death i s n o t as

unlovely as she had imagined. Thus one aspect of the
conflict i n t h e s t o r y , i s t h e struggle b e t w e e n fear of and

acceptance of death.
Laura's growing u p in the story is a bitter sweet

experience, Death, she learns, is ordinary, concurrent
with life and parties and final, a reality beneath and
beyond class, money and dreams. She discovers what s h e had
instinctively f e l t earlier; a s she goes on a mission of
c h a r i t y to the proleterian regions of death, she realizes
that money and advantages, parties, clothes and cream

puffs, are not life, nor w h a t i s more important a b o u t it.
She reacts ecstatically to t h i s knowledge, as a liberating
experience. Adam J, S o r k i n c:oncludes that "in her d r i v e to
accept and assirllilate life, including lif e f s struggles and
doubts, she apprehends d e a t h a s something that is consoling

and beautiful and moving rather than abstractly mournful. ,116
Katherine M a n s f i e l d herself commented a b o u t t h e s t o r y :
T h e d i v e r s i t y of life and
how we try to
fit i n everything, Death included. That
is bewildering f o r a person of Laura's
age, She feels things ought to happen
differently , First o n e and' then another,
But life isn't like that. We h a v e n l ' t t h e
ordering of it. Laura says, "But all
t h e s e t h i n g s must not happen at once." And
Life answers, "Why n o t ? How are they
d i v i d e d from each o t h e r ? " And they do a l l
h a p p e n , it is inevitable. And it seems to
17
me there is beauty in that inevitability.
In the story we are aware of the fuss of the
preparations, the noise of the hired band, the little
flutterings of nearly grown-up daughters and the man dead
just outside the front gate - How shall life fit all these
things in it? This very question is raised by Kamala D a s
in her story "Neypayasam" (Sweet P o r r i d g e ) , where "the
diversity of life, Death included" is brought home to the

husband who r e t u r n s from o f f i c e to find his young wife dead
within the walls of t h e kitchen, The p l a n s that together
they had made about t h e future, t h e dreams woven a r o u n d t h e
three l i t t l e boys, the children's casual remarks about the
wonderful "payasam" made by t h e i r mother and the husband
trying to delude t h e children about their mother's a b s e n c e ,

a l l point to "the diversity of life, including death. ,118It
b e w i l d e r s t h e husband who visualizes t h e l e a v e application
that he will hand in the next day, showing h i s wife's death
as the reason fur leave. Indeed, life has caught him
unawares and he wonders at the inherent paradox of life

like Laura.
The mystery of life and d e a t h was a question that
absorbed K a t h e r i n e Mansfield a s s h e approached the peak of
her achievement. In "At the Bay", the haunting light
t h r o w n on the kingdom of childhood is the l i g h t thrown on
life by death, the light in which Katherine Mansfield
living daily in the shadow of her own death, now saw

everything a b o u t and within her,
"At t h e Bay" depicts a single summer's day in t h e
l i v e s of a l l t h e members of the Burnell family and in t h e

course of i t f reveals t h e secret thoughts of six of the
characters as they r e f l e c t , in t h e i r different ways on t h e
mysteries of life and death,
During the morning, Linda is shown dreaming in t h e

garden a b o u t her girlhood, her marriage and her inability
to l o v e her c h i l d r e n . Death casts its passing shadow aver

Linda's romantic youth. F r ~ m Linda, the s t o r y moves to
Kezia and her grandma settling down to siesta. Grandma,
who is thinking a b o u t the past and her own son who died
long ago when Kezia breaks into her thoughts, p a r r i e s t h e
child's questions about death. When told t h a t t h e r e is no
escape from death, Kezia is d e f i a n t . No, s h e just would
n o t d i e a n d further she makes grandma promise that grandma
would not d i e and leave h e r grandchild a l o n e in t h e world:
t'Grandma," she said in a startled voice.

"What, m y pet!" "You' re not to d i e . "
Kezia was very decided. "Ah, Kezia" -
"don't let's talk a b o u t it." "But you're
n o t to. You couldn't leave me. You
couldn't n o t be there." This was awful.
"Promise me you won't ever do it, grandma,"
pleaded Kezia. The old woman went on
knitting. "Promise me! Say n e v e r ! " "Say
never , . , Say never .. .If (p.227)
Cries Kezia between kisses and she tickles grandma till

they both laugh so much that they forget what the "never"
was a b o u t . Kezia's r e f u s a l to accept death in respect of
the loved grandparent is common to the little girl in

Karnala Das's "Summer V a c a t i o n t f too.
As "Muthassi" (grandmother) is reminiscing about the

e a r l y deaths of h e r own mother and uncle, Ammu who has
already lost her mother a n d w h o now fears the death of her

grandmother s a y s :
"Say you will not d i e , s a y Muthassi will

n e v e r die. Promise m e that you will not
die." Muthassi's eyes filled with t e a r s .
But smiling "Allright Ammu,
she said,
allright, Muthassi won't die. Isn't it
enough?" (p.95)
In t h e earnest cajoling of t h e little girl and t h e
playful reconciliation of the grandmother to it, the

passage comes very close to Kezia wrenching the same
promise from h e r grandma in " A t t h e B a y " .
In this story, even as Ammu boards the train for

Calcutta w i t h her father, she wants assurance that ~ u t h a s s i
will be at the "tharavad" summer a f t e r summer.
"Father?"
"Yes, dear. "
"Will Muthassi d i e by this time next year?"

''NO. "
"She won't, will she? Are y o u sure?"
"Yes, I a m s u r e Muthassi will n e v e r die."

"Is that the truth?"
". . .I promise. Your Muthassi, w i l l
never die. She'll never d i e . " (p.103)
~ i k Kezia,
e Ammu creates a world of her own a r o u n d ~ u t h a s s i
and hence fears t h e shadow of d e a t h on it.
In the next episode in "At the Bay" d e a t h appears in
i t s comic m o d e , "Alice the maid" p a y s a s o c i a l call on
the widow, M r s . Stubbs. Mrs. S t u b b s entertains Alice by
showing h e r p i c t u r e s of t h e family including that of her
late husi97nd, The widow finds sturdy comfort in
bereavement. Still, when Alice comments on the late
husband's photograph that " i t ' s ever such a fine f a c e " , p a t
comes t h e widow's con£idential whisper, " A l l the same, my
dear, freedom's best!" Death comes into the story in its
comic mode in t h e widow's confession that it has freed her
from h e r tyrant husband.
Death casts its passing shadow over Jonathan's little
talk with Linda in t h e garden a b o u t h i s wasted life and

Linda's thoughts of her romantic y o u t h . For uncle J o n a t h a n
his humdrum existence as a n office clerk is like that of a
caged bird whom only death can free. Death casts its
passing shadow on h i s musings on life, "to take things

e a s y , not to f i g h t against t h e ebb and flow of life, but to
give way to it." But most of all h e was pre-occupied with
the " s h o r t n e s s of life!" "I've only o n e night or one day,

and there's this vast dangerous garden, waiting out there,
undiscovered, unexplored," (p.237) He is appalled at his

own failure in it and concludes that "I must go seek those
h e i r s to my fame and f o r t u n e . "
For the children, at their card game in the
washhouse, d e a t h is r e d u c e d to the fear of spider or uncle

Jonathan's s u d d e n appearance in the darkening window. In
the inner most thoughts of Beryl airfield a l s o , w e n o t i c e
that she i s very much c o n s c : i o u s of the shortness of life
and of d e a t h waiting at t h e other end. Hence s h e is tired
of her s i n g l e s t a t u s and desperately seeks a l o v e r .
It is lonely living by oneself , .. she

wants someone find the Beryl
who will
they n o n e of t h e m know, who will expect
her to be t h a t Beryl always, She wants a
lover. (p.242)
"At the Bay" presents vastly differing characters and
through the episodes, Katherine Mansfield succeeds in

portraying each character's reflections upon life and
death,
"The Daughters of the Late Colonel1' is another
thought-provoking story in which Katherine Mansfield

presents the awesome e f f e c t of d e a t h upon t w o young ladies.
The story begins with the week following the Colonel's

funeral, B u t death lingers on even a f t e r the Colonel's
d e p a r t u r e ; it takes its toll on t h e two d a u g h t e r s who f i n d

life overwhelming, once their domineering father is no
more. The fate of the daughters becomes pathetic. In

father's life time, their lives had a regular pattern.
heir entire life had been spent in arranging father's

trays a n d t r y i n g not to annoy father. Everything in t h e
h o u s e h o l d was r u n a c c o r d i n g to father's whim and now even

t h e colourless of
I T ~ ~ ~ S Severyday existence becomes a problem
to them without father's a p p r o v a l , T h i n g s come to such a
pass that existence is impossible for the daughters a f t e r
their father's d e a t h . with the Colonel, they also pass

into a k i n d of death-in-life.
The d e a t h , the predetermined fate of t h e daughters is
suggested t h r o u g h the symbol of t h e s u n at the end of t h e
story, In t h e f i n a l scene t h e s u n intrudes its light on
t h e i r consideration of the new p a t t e r n offered them by l i f e
now that the Colonel i s dead.'' B u t they cannot face t h e
outflow of energy that would mean their release from

confinement. T h e rest of t h e i r lives is p r e d e t e r m i n e d . As
Clare Hanson and Andrew Gurr put it, "the sun, weirdly
foreshadowed by the one eye glaring from the dying
Colonel's p u r p l e face has followed t h e ogre to his grave.
T h e s u n expires forever i n their lives with t h e Colonel's
d e a t h . 11 20 They a r e t h e Colonel's too late daughters and

they r e t u r n to their death-in-life future.
T h e effect of death on t h e living becomes the theme
of the story a g a i n in " T h e S t r a n g e r " (1921). John Hammond,
wealthy and self-important, and yet terribly insecure,

waits impatiently for his wife's ship to dock. He is
desperately e a g e r to regain a n d possess h e r and childishly
jealous of her f r i e n d s aboard the ship. When he finally

discovers the reason for t h e ship's d e l a y a n d h i s wife's
preoccupation - t h a t a man h a s d i e d in h i s wife's arms - he
immediately understands that his wife has achieved an
emotional c o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h e stranger far s t r o n g e r than he
has ever achieved with her. He is destroyed by the
recognition that "They would never be alone together

again." Hammond's jealousy of the dead stranger, whose
emotional h o l d on h i s w i f e c a n never be broken, is s t r o n g e r
21
than anything he c o u l d feel f o r a l i v i n g man.
K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's " S i x Years A f t e r t t is t h e sudden
rernemberance of her dead son by a m o t h e r , as s h e makes a
voyage six y e a r s a f t e r h i s d e a t h , T h e steamer pressed on
o v e r the gently moving water. Looking o u t from t h e deck,

she saw the gulls flying above and the pale sky and
wondered how lonely t h e place must be once they had moved
on. Suddenly, it seemed to h e r that there was a presence
far o u t t h e r e ; someone very d e s o l a t e and l o n g i n g w a t c h e d
them pass and c r i e d as if to stop them - but cried to h e r
alone.
"Mother !"
"Don't sounded in the c r y .
leave me",
"Don't forget me! You are forgetting me,
you know you are! 'I And it was as t h o u g h
from h e r own breast t h e r e came the s o u n d
of childish weeping. (p.459)
She was sitting there beside her husband on the
steamer b u t at the same time felt that s h e was hushing and
holding a little slender boy who had just waked o u t of a
d r e a d f u l dream.
When the little boy complained of the terrible

nightmare t h a t he had h a d , she remembered that h e r dead s o n
had always had terrible d r e a m s . O f t e n , when he was small,
s h e had excused herself from friends in t h e drawing room to
visit him in the nursery and to make sure that he w a s

sleeping peacefully.
Years a f t e r h i s death, as of now for instance, s h e
had never s e t t l e d down, was never off h e r guard, but s h e
h e a r d him. As he had cried o u t to her in childhood, he was
crying o u t now, but t h e dark stairs that she is g r o p i n g , to

reach h i m , have no ending a n d the warst dream of all goes
forever uncomforted.
Still, it i s not t h e idea of her s u f f e r i n g

which is unbearable - it is h i s . C a n one
do n o t h i n g for t h e dead? And for a long
time the answer had been - Nothing! (p.459)
The mother w i s h e s to recollect more of her son who is
gone forever. In h e r memories, there is more of wishful

thinking - "When t h e war was o v e r , did h e come home for
good? Surely, he will m a r r y - later on - not f o r several
years. Surely o n e d a y I s h a l l remember h i s wedding and my
first grand child - a beautiful dark h a i r e d boy . . ."
Suddenly the son's protesting voice breaks into the
reverie:
"Oh, Mother, it's not fair to me to p u t

t h e s e i d e a s into m y head! Stop, Mother,
Stop! When 1 think of a l l J have missed,
1 c a n ' t bear it." (p.460)
The m o t h e r awakes from her dream with t h e words "I
can't bear it. I' Indeed, even a f t e r many y e a r s , she cannot
g e t reconciled to her loss, H i s p r e c i o u s childhood comes
back to her in sudden f l a s h e s and t h e son's " u n b o r n future"

is still t h e cause for wishful t h i n k i n g , The story becomes
more poignant as it has a relevance to Katherine
Mansfield's own brother Leslie Beauchamp who died in a
f i r i n g accident irk the First World War. Leslie, the o n l y

son in the Beauchamp family d i e d at e i g h t e e n , depriving t h e
Beauchamps of their sole heir in the male line. The

question, "Can o n e do nothing f o r the dead?" was taken up
seriously by t h e author a n d in memory of her brother s h e

wrote her b e a u t i f u l stories of New Zealand.
In emotional intensity and in t h e sense of pathos,

Kamala Das's short poem "Requiem for a Son" comes c l o s e to
Katherine Mansf ield' s "Six Years After. I' Katherine
Mansfield's story and t h i s poem are thematically on the
same ground for ~ a r n a l a D a s bemoans how d e a t h shatters a
world w h i c h t h e mother had been s h a p i n g a r o u n d this symbol
of a son. It takes a w a y a part of her own world too,
leaving only widow's weeds, w e t g r a v e s a n d wreaths. The
son is dead b u t a mother's l o v e fashions a k i n d of e t e r n i t y

around his memories. Both writers thus unlock t h e mystery
of d e a t h a n d realizing the folly of human aspirations stirs
up a momentary disenchantment with mortal endeavours. The
foreboding presence of fate and Death hovering over man's

destiny is seen in Kamala Das's poem as in Katherine
Mansfield's story.
The theme of bereavement is repeated in "The Fly"

which depicts t h e father's r e a c t i o n to the d e a t h of his s o n
in t h e war. T h e successful businessman who is referred to

as "the boss" revels in drawing the attention of his
visitors to a l l the e x t e r n a l siyns of comfort and wealth in
his office. But t h e r e i s o n e t h i n g to w h i c h he does not
l i k e to t u r n h i s attention-the p i c t u r e of a " g r a v e looking
body in uniform." In contrast with t h e self complacent

attitude of the boss, the boy's look suggests depth and
i n s i g h t into things.
When acquaintances who visit the boy's grave in

Belgium speak about. it, the boss is shocked to admit t h e
a c t i o n of time o n h i s own grief: "My s o n ! " groaned t h e
boss. But no tears came ' . .. He wasn't feeling a s he

wanted to f e e l . " (p.415)
For the boss, t h e boy did n o t e x i s t outside t h e p l a n s
h e made for him; the s o n was cherished b y t h e boss a s t h e
continuation of' himself. Never in the father's

reminiscences does the boy appear as a free individual
l o v e d f o r what h e actually is. Therefore it is scarcely
surprising that h i s grief should have come to a n e n d and
his tears d r i e d u p . The s t o r y is a striking c o n t r a s t to
" S i x Years A f t e r " w h e r e the m o t h e r "was never o f f her guard
for a moment, but she heard him." The s o n in the army

uniform, buried in Brussels can be identified again as
Leslie Beauchamp.
If death i.s the silent spectator lurking in the
background forever for Katherine Mansfield, for Kamala Das

d e a t h is associated with h o s p i t a l s , the I.C.C.U., doctors
and t h e smell of medicine. T h i s could be attributed to h e r
own hair-breadth escapes from death more than once in

different hospitals. Her experiences following a n e r v o u s
breakdown and severe heart disease has made her w r i t e
I have always regarded the h o s p i t a l as a

planet situated like a sandwich f i l l i n g
between the familiar e a r t h and the
s t r a n g e domain of d e a t h . Each time I
have been admitted into a hospital room I
have been seized with an a c u t e desire to
be left alone. ( M Y Story, p. 217)
The feeling of death being very close at hand is
described by the writer in her poem "I,C.C,U.," w h e r e the
I.C.C,U, is described as a temporary refuge before the
f i n a l e n c o u n t e r with d e a t h .
.. , Where t h e weary t r a v e l l e r s pause

to pitch a tent, t h e oasis
For a night's rest before the long crossing
On camelback through h o t sand.
Having spent three weeks in a Calicut nursing home
following a h e a r t attack, Kamala Das r e t u r n s home. She has
few illusions a b o u t t h e f u t u r e now and on t h e way a s s h e

passes a herd of cattle being 1-ed away to be slaughtered,
she reflects on t h e human condition which is similar to the

old cattle; o n l y
Human beings are never branded

W i t h a hot iron. They are merely sent
home w i t h t h e i r electrocardiographs and
sedatives.
"Old Cattle"
Her own p r e c a r i o u s physical c o n d i t i o n h a s led to a

p r e o c c u p a t i o n with the theme of d e a t h and in "Manushyan
Pavamanu" and "Malancharivukalil" Kamala D a s successfully
p o r t r a y s the random flow of impressions that o c c u r in the
mind of a woman following a critical health condition,

subsequently leading co death. In both these stories,
Kamala D a s cleverly makes use of t h e popular belief that i n
t h e f i n a l h o u r one sees h i s e n t i r e life f l e e t i n g by in the
consciousness through a sequence of incidents in the p a s t .
"Manushyan Pavamanu" is the stream of consciousness

of a woman who is terminally ill and who is constantly p u t
on sedation to ward o f f t h e killing p a i n . B u t the p a t i e n t
does not want to sleep. She is desperately trying to keep
awake and to remember her past, As in a stream of
consciousness, her thoughts t a k e wings to the p a s t - first
to t h e scene after her marriage - her h u s b a n d p a c k i n g t h e i r

luggage into the car and taking her far away from her
widower father, Thinking back, s h e wonders, "Did father
cry that day? She c o u l d not look at his face while taking
leave." (p-170) She remembered her little brother, the
lean boy with c l o s e c u t hair. However much father b e a t
him, he n e v e r cried. After taking it he would go and s t a n d
below a c o c o n u t tree. When she c a l l e d o u t to him, he would
say, " ~ i v eme some peace." Memories came back to her one
by o n e , of her father, l i t t l e brother, h e r mother and her
l i t t l e s o n ; only she couldn't recollect his name.
Now somebody h e l d her h a n d and she f e l t : the warmth
e n t e r i n g her. S u d d e n l y she hoped, p e r h a p s , a l i v i n g being
can i n s t i l life into a dying creature. B u t no. However

much she tried, she could not revive her pet cat. Memory
was like t w o e m p t y c o c o n u t s tied t o g e t h e r to enable o n e to
f l o a t on w a t e r . As long as s h e held on to her memory, she
felt as if she w e r e f l o a t i n g o n water w i t h o u t s i n k i n g down.
In her trance like condition memory becomes m u d d l e d .

S h e asks for her father and t h e n wonders whether he is a l s o
dead l i k e her black cat. But how nice if only she could
remember her son's name. Then surely s h e could ask for
him.
"I w a n t to see my child."

"Which c h i l d ? "
" S h , Sh!"
Why was it she couldn't remember h i s name? Were her

eyes c l o s i n g or was it mother kissing her? I t c o u l d n ' t be
"amma" because "amrna" w a s no more. S h e remembered amma's
Ramayanam lying upstairs, its black cover all eaten by

moths. H e r dead cat was also black, but h e r son w a s fair.
S h e would wake up sometime later and remember h i s name.
She w a s lowering herself now; she was surrounded by red
bees. Now she was running about. The green of trees

became greener and flowers took a golden hue. I t w a s good
t h a t she h a d r u n out t h r o u g h t h e window, or they would p u t
her back to sleep thltough sedation. Suddenly she
remembered h e r l i t t l e boy's name - Unni.
Fighting a b a t t . l e with sleep she had won. Who was it
coming to h e r t h r o u g h the straight p a t h ? Wasn't it U n n i ?
B u t there was some mistake. Unni had died long ago in her
own arms. So then what was s h e seeing?
Kamala D a s presents d e a t h here a s t h e narrow straight

path i n t o w h i c h t h e p a t i e n t e n t e r s a n d from where her dead
son is hailing her to reach him quickly. Once she has
reached that path t h e leaves become greener, flowers take a

g o l d e n h u e a n d mountains melt l i k e snow b l o c k s in the blue
of t h e sky. Into this beautiful valley she enters and

gives up her human consciousness and is free from a l l pain
and sedation.
"Malancharivukalil" is another story presented

through the consciousness of a housewife who is
convalescing in the hospital a f t e r a major surgery. The
entire story takes the shape of a nightmare as the h e r o i n e ,

a housewife, is relentlessly pursued by Death, Death is
personified as a pale figure, always prespiring at the
temples. T h e s t o r y can also be interpreted a s the gradual
deterioration of h e r mind following t h e surgery.
Death is constantly reminding her that only dreams

survive in this world. Even when all other things d i e o u t ,
our dreams remain with us. T h e dreams t h a t she saw from
childhood were little pieces of d e a t h , S h e tries to f l e e
from him, But he pursues her like a lover; reminding her
that he had visited her even in t h e past when she had

suffered from jaundice as a child. On all those occasions
she had declined to g o with him; but this time he was

determined to take her, Gently, he asks her, "What is it
that holds you back from me?" (p, 5)
At once, a number of pictures pass before her - a

beutiful little home in the valley, those evenings when
they told each other meaningless jokes, a child beating his
legs on the bed, a heavy hand that rested on h e r at n i g h t ,

happiness ... She consoles herself that the pale figure
of D e a t h must be a dream.
When she drives home with her husband in the car, she
tells him that they should have more children. It is her

belief that even d e a t h cannot take her away from a house
full of children; from so much love, laughter and tickling
kisses.
When she closes h e r eyes for a moment, s h e goes back

in time to t h e ~ u d d h i s t temple that she had visited with
her parents, to the ambience of that happy day which she
could not relate to her h u s b a n d , to past d a y s which had
died forever, b u t of which the colour, voices and smell
s t i l l filled her consciousness, But then again she h e a r d
t h e figure of D e a t h say, " D e a t h is n e i t h e r a beginning n o r
an end. It s t r e t c h e s out before and after life." (p.7)
Again the writer holds on to the belief that o n e sees
past life in a brief glance before approaching death.
Thus, s h e remembers h e r husband s t a n d i n g before the r o a r i n g
waves during their honeymoon and b o t h of them flying kites

like little children on a "maidan" one holiday. Amidst
this kaleidoscope of memories, she feels provoked to make a

confession to her h u s b a n d , "I have always l o v e d y o u , " (p.7)
T h e next moment s h e sees a l o r r y coming towards them.
As it draws near she recognizes the d r i v e r . It is Death
himself with pale face and blazing eyes, She lets o u t a
frenzied c r y a s an a c c i d e n t takes place.
She wakes u p joyfully in a world where silver clouds
move in t h e sky. She realizes that after all, worldly
happiness was a meaningless word. V. Rajakrishnan points
out that the s t o r y begins with the heroine waking up from a

nightmare and ends w i t h t h e woman falling i n t o t h e long
forgetfullness of death. Between these two points, her
mind gradually deteriorates and s h e becomes conscious about
the transience of worldly happiness. Besides, the high

mountains turn o u t to be strangely a t t r a c t i v e to women like
her who have a great s e n s e of imagination. T h e unconscious
death - instinct i n her visualizes d e a t h as falling o f f a
,high c l i f f in the blue mountains, The f i n a l car ride lends

s p e e d to her d y i n g dreams of home and children and she sees
death as a long path lying before and after life. In

" M a l a n c h a r i ~ u k a l i lKamala
~~ Das depicts h o w d e a t h wooes away
the reluctant housewife from her dreams of worldly
happiness, shows her the limitations of such happiness and
liberates her into a world w h e r e she realizes t h a t happiness was
after all a meaningless word." (p-8)
The theme of "Pakshiyude Manam" (The Odour of the
B i r d ) is almost akin to "~alancharivukalil" s i n c e here t o o
a young housewife aged t w e n t y seven, mother of school going

children is wooed away by Death against hex will. The
story is p r e s e n t e d in the form of a fantasy. A young
housewife, seeing an advertisement of a textile firm for a

responsible young candidate to take charge of their
whole-sale business, turns up at the address mentioned.
She is unable to find the textile firm in the huge
commercial building. Accidentally, s h e s p o t s a sign board

"Dyingr'. Mistaking it to be "Dyeing" she e n t e r s the room
hoping that t h e y would know t h e textile firm. On entering
she finds an empty room w i t h a t a b l e a n d a few chairs.

Exhausted from t h e morning's expedition, she unwittingly
f a l l s asleep in her c h a i r .
S h e w a k e s up h e a r i n g t h e s o u n d of b o t t l e s o p e n i n g up,
She realizes that she had fallen asleep in a totally
strange p l a c e . Opposite h e r she saw a stranger pouring

soda into whisky. His strong fingers w i t h t h i c k hair over
them frightened her. H i s face was long like that of a
horse. In a l e i s u r e l y m a n n e r he answers h e r that he knows
n o t h i n g about the t e x t i l e company s h e seeks; he w a s i n d e e d
concerned only with "dying". He would arrange f o r people
to d i e in the m o s t comfortable m a n n e r ,
When s h e t r i e d her best to open t h e door and get o u t ,
s h e saw that it was not possible. T h e man d i d nothing b u t
f i n i s h his d r i n k a n d smile at h e r . Softly he told h e r that
years ago, in winter a little yellow bird got into h i s

bedroom. It t r i e d its best to get out through the window
and pecked at the g l a s s . It t r i e d so hard that eventually

it fell down at h i s f e e t and he crushed it under h i s shoes.
T h e man asked her if s h e knew t h e smell of d e a t h .

She knew it better than a n y o n e , B u t s h e c o u l d n o t express
a n y t h i n g at that time. It was the smell of old wounds. ..

t h e sweet smell of f r u i t orchards or t h e smell of lighted
sandal s t i c k s . T h e man informed h e r that d e a t h smelt like
the Odour of bird feathers and he reminds h e r of t h e death

wish in her comparing her to a r i v e r w h i c h a r d e n t l y wishes
to fall silently into the sea.
She realized that his fingers had a strange
attraction and she asked him who he was. To this he
replies that he was t h e stranger who had s t o o d among the
yellow flowers that s h e saw around h e r when s h e suffered

from jaundice at the age of eleven. From t h a t time h e had
been wooing her to go w i t h him b u t only this day she had
come seeking h i m of h e r own accord.
He claimed to be her eternal l o v e r who directed the

course of h e r life as he did those of others and that
She would surrender her r e d l i p s , h e r

tantalizing eyes, her b e a u t i f u l body. . .
e v e r y t h i n g to h i m , . .
she would become
t h e wind, the r a i n d r o p s , t h e p a r t i c l e of
dust ... t h e beauty of t h i s world. (p.24)
S h e understands h i s words and realizes that he is Death
himself b u t once a g a i n she rejects h i s advances saying:
All this may be true. B u t you have

mistaken t h e person. It is n o t y e t time
for me to die. I a m o n l y twenty s e v e n ,
married and a mother too. It is n o t time
f o r me to d i e ... L e t me return home, (ibid)
He does not s t o p her; b u t allows her to go o u t , But
little does s h e realize t h a t she will meet h e r disastrous
end in t h e damaged lift outside,
As in "Malancharivukalil", Kamala Das presents

another picture of Death embracing the housewife who
d e s p e r a t e l y c l i n g s on to h e r home and family with the hope
that d e a t h will delay his claim f o r some more time. But

no, he cannot be appeased and l o v e r like, he sweeps her
away in his wilful embrace. The housewife w h o enters the
desolate office m a r k e d "Dying" enters an unreal w o r l d . It

is significant that nobody in the block knows the
p a r t i c u l a r firm that s h e is t r y i n g to locate, a n d that s h e
locates it through h e r own efforts, T h e sleepy a f t e r n o o n
atmosphere and her own short "siesta" provide a conducive
atmosphere f o r the m i . n d to slip into i t s own unreal w o r l d .
The man who fills this other worldly atmosphere is a f i g u r e
from her own unconscious mind. The symbol of death that
has been dormant in her unconscious mind from childhood
j o i n s with the c o n c e p t of t h e lover who can p r o v i d e the

greatest love and surfaces above the barriers of the
unconscious to t h e conscious,
This man who enters her mind through a dream is a
personification of d e a t h and is capable of showing h e r the
perfection of love. The freedom attained by offering
herself to h i m is the state of love's p e r f e c t i o n . He says,

"Yes, only I c a n show you t h e perfection of l o v e . You will
surrender yourself l i t t l e by little to me .. , You w i l l
become the beauty of this world." (p.24)
M. Rajeev Kurnar rightly comments that ~ a m a l a Das
raises the death consciousness in the human unconscious to
aesthetic levels a n d t h u s overcomes it.23 A t t h e end of h e r
dream t h e housewife reaches o u t into t h e real world and

protests that it is not y e t time for h e r to die. She is
reminded of h e r role as wife and mother. The s o c i a l norms
that enforce her to f i n d happiness within her family also
crowd into the conscious mind and s h e tries to c o n t r o l t h e

death instinct t h r o u g h sheer will power. B u t f i n a l l y it is
the unconscious that wins as manifested in the lift

accident t h a t ensues when s h e makes a desperate attempt to
reach home.
Death broods over Kamala Das ' s "Venalinte O z h i v u "

(Summer Vacation) as well and it is p e r c e i v e d through the
eyes of the child Ammu. The small, emaciated "njaval"
tree, somewhat bent and w i t h s h r i v e l l e d up b r a n c h e s becomes

a memento mori like Muthassi herself.
That tree was the only one of its kind,

in a field full of coconut p a l m s p l a n t e d
in memory of family ancestors who had
been c r e m a t e d on t h e southern s i d e of t h e
house, I wondered if it was telling us,
" I know I should n o t be here. B u t please
take p i t y on me. Don't destroy m e . " (p.93)
Muthassi reflects w i t h a wistful smile that s h e is the only

o n e left among a l l her companions. T h e childhood friends
were a l l d e a d and gone, leaving h e r alone like the l o n e
njaval. She complains, "No o n e from t h i s 'tharavad' has
l i v e d upto t h i s age .. . I am a s i n n e r , that is why I
stay a l i v e . " ( p . 95) To Ammu's question whether ~ u t h a s s i

will have grown bigger like her next summer, she replies,
"I will grow smaller and smaller, until I am all shrivelled
up." Ammu fondly hopes that n e x t year t h e "Njaval" will
bear f r u i t a n d she c a n s h a r e the f r u i t with Muthassi. But
Muthassi knows better, She r e m i n d s Ammu that even if the

"Njaval" bears fruit, it will not grow b i g . Muthassi in
her wisdom identifies the bent, shrivelled tree with
decrepit old age and is assured of its b a r r e n nature.
Lakshmi Holmstrom p o i n t s o u t that in this s t o r y , Ammu

perceives death and p r o f o u n d loss 0 5 a whole way of life, a
particular order; b u t a l s o sees change and regeneration. 2 4
"Muthassi will u n d o u b t e d l y die; Muthassi will never die. 1125

This is affirmed once again by Ammu's father in his
reassurance to the c h i l d at the end of t h e sotry.
Kamala Das ' s stories "Unni, I' "NaviKa Vesham Dharicha
K u t t y " and " V i r u n n u k a r a n " reflect her belief in the Hindu
theory of the transmigration of souls or "punarjanmam"

(Rebirth). She does not o v e r t l y make references to this
theme, but leads the reader to such a conclusion t h r o u g h
the manipulation of plot .and atmosphere.
It was d u r i n g t h e afternoon that t h e ten year old boy
came to the middle aged woman's house. To her i n c e s s a n t

q u e s t i o n s he answers that he is not a beggar a n d t h a t he is
Unni, When he nonchalantly remains there, she takes p i t y
on h i m a n d o f f e r s h i m food, Secretly, she n o t i c e s that his
finger nails are clean and t h a t he exudes good b r e e d i n g .

Noticing his looks, s h e confesses that if she ever had
children they would resemble him, f o r her husband had t h e

same complexion, dimples and curly hair as t h e boy. After
he has f i n i s h e d his food, she tells h i m that it is time f o r
him to leave for h e r husband i s d u e home any time now from
h i s o f f i c i a l tour. Returning home t i r e d , he will n o t like
to s e e a strange boy. B u t her words make no impression on
the boy w h o coolly walks into t h e bedroom.
When she repeats that he s h o u l d l e a v e immediately, he
s t a n d s looking at t h e m i r r o r a n d laughs indifferently a s if
s h e w e r e lying. At her wit's end, she questions him again
as to who he is, when the news of h e r husband's plane
crash is b r o u g h t to her. T h e secretary h a s h a r d l y spoken
when she interrupts him asking whether her husband has
died.
Strangely enough, she has already anticipated his
death and hence she is confident enough to console the
secretary who b r i n g s the message. She does not c r y ; on the
o t h e r hand she now feels she has understood what she was
seeking.
I n a blind f u r y , s h e drives t h e boy o u t of t h e house,
saying that he is the cause of the accident, But much
later, she still s e e s the strange boy smiling at h e r and
saying t h a t he would marry none o t h e r than her. It was
reminiscent of her husband U n n i f s words when he was a ten
year o l d like this strange boy.
The p o t e n t i a l of many readings adds to the mysterious
nature of t h e story. T h e l i t t l e boy is not a beggar as he
repeats, he is not a c a s u a l visitor e i t h e r , f o r when he

comes in t h e watchman does not wake u p nor does t h e dog
stir in its deep s l u m b e r . T h e b l u e insect h o v e r i n g o v e r
the sleeping dog lends a n e e r i e nature to the atmosphere.

All this can lead to the view that the child is the
r e b i r t h of t h e middle-aged man who has just died - the soul
refusing to forsake its beloved partner. The wife's remark
that t h e c h i l d looks very much like her husband strengthens
this view,
Or the s t r a n g e boy's v i s i t c a n be attributed to t h e
i m a g i n a t i o n of t h e high strung housewife who comes to feel
the barren nature of her marriage more a n d more in the

absence of the husband. If so, he is a fancy of the
imagination, a dream child, "the child of what might have

been" as r e f l e c t e d i n her words, "If I ever had children,
they would have resembled y o u , because my husband has your
complexion . . . two dimples and c u r l y hair like you." Ip.17)
T h e fact t h a t s h e lays t h e cause of her husband's death on
t h e child and sees h i m laughing mockingly at her, points to
this reading that the c h i l d is a p r o d u c t of h e r own mind,
playing tricks on her in h e r high strung emotional state
caused by h e r husband's demise.
Like Unni, Muthassi's visitor ( " ~ i r u n n u k a r a n " ) also
comes to see her in the a f t e r n o o n . Nobody else in t h e

household is present at the time. The visitor is a
stranger to Muthassi and he has called expressly to meet

her s o n . But Muthassi feels that she has known h i m f o r a
long time, The feeling is reciprocal a s he t o o feels the
same a b o u t Muthassi. But that c a n n o t be, as he is from
Tripunithura, a place that Muthassi has never been to.

Muthassi h e r s e l f muses that what s h e f e e l s f o r the stranger
may be the acquaintance of a previous birth. From the
description of the stranger, it appears that Muthassi's

visitor is the suitor who had asked for her hand in
marriage when s h e was twelve y e a r s old. 'At t h e beginning
of t h e story it is made c l e a r t h a t the visitor is a dream
personification of Muthassi's loneliness. As M. Rajeev
Kumar rightly concludes, dream symbols that fuse the
ecstasies of life with death is a distinctive feature of

this writer's compositions. 26
The same type of emotional rapport that exists
b e t w e e n the visitor and Muthassi is repeated in t h e strange
attraction that the minister experiences for his
secretary's country bride in "Navika Vesham Dharicha
Kutty." The minister had not m e a n t anything b u t courtesy
when he invited his n e w l y married secretary a n d wife to
dinner at h i s p l a c e . While going through t h e minister's
family album, the bride shows a great attraction towards

the photograph of the minister as a little boy in a
sailor's suit, On his part, the elderly minister

experiences a great intimacy towards t h i s girl from a rural
background and t a k e s pains to please her in every way.
When she declares that she abhors men d r i n k i n g , he declines
his own customary evening measure and replaces it with

fruit juice. He adds that he had n e v e r used a l c o h o l a s
long as his own mother was alive as she had a great

objection to t h e habit of drinking.
Suddenly t h e b r i d e surprises e v e y o n e by saying that
s h e wished to have t h e photograph. With characteristic ego

the minister offers h e r many of h i s l a t e s t photographs, b u t
she has eyes only for that of the little sailor boy.
Caressing the l i t t l e boy in the photograph s h e says,
"I need only t h i s " and her e y e s appeared
wet. The minister looked at her and f e l l
into d e e p thought.
with a s o b in her voice, s h e said a g a i n ,
"1 want this photograph." (p.48)
The story ends with the minister's visit to his
secretary's residence the next day, where he finds t h e

b r i d e l i k e a rag d o l l upon the sofa. On seeing him s h e
does n o t bother to g e t u p . Putting t h e p h o t o g r a p h into her
hand, t h e minister knelt before her on t h e floor and told

her that he had not recognized her t h e previous evening.
What the w r i t e r implies i n the s t o r y is that t h e minister
is involuntarily attracted towards this s t r a n g e young woman
because h e sees h i s l a t e mother in h e r a n d t h i s f e e l i n g is

reciprocal for s h e consoles t h e e l d e r l y man i n a motherly
manner. It is also significant that even when s h e meets
h i m f o r the f i r s t time s h e d o e s not share the r e s p e c t f u l
demeanour of her husband towards h i s boss. Her b e h a v i o u r
from t h e very beginning is maternal - o p e n l y reprimanding

h i m f o r his round of w h i s k y before dinner, a n d insisting
that s h e s h o u l d have t h e little boy's photograph inspite of
the minister's wife saying that it should not go out of
t h e i r family ,
In these three stories, the a u t h o r p l a y s with the
t h e m e of r e b i r t h and the transmigration of t h e s o u l , which
is a tenet 0 5 t h e Hindu religion. There are references to
rebirth in % S t o r y also, where s h e s a y s that before h e r
o p e r a t i o n "1 was n a i v e enough to promise m y husband that I
would return in all t h e coming births as his wife." (p.186)
H e r poem "Gino" encompasses t h e terrestrial delusions
of l o v e and lust as well as the ethereal v i s i o n s of life,
death and rebirth. The poet visualizes the different

stages of her woman-body's gradual decay;' first as a
"fat-kneed hg," then "a p a t i e n t on the h o s p i t a l bed" and
finally a grandmother with one foot in the grave, In the

last lines, t h e p o e t i n v o k e s t h e religious myth of r e b i r t h
e c h o i n g S r i . Sankaracharya's d e l i n e a t i o n of the progress of
the human soul through the cycle of birth, death and
rebirth.
. . . Perhaps some womb in that Darker world shall

convulse, when 1 finally enter,
A legitimate entrant, marked by discontent.
From death, to rebirth and after many births, the

promise of immortality is something that s u s t a i n s Kamala
Das while it is noteworthy that Katherine Mansfield who
hardly subscribed to a n y religious f a i t h is silent a b o u t

questions of the "hereafter" in her fiction.
Katherine Mansfield's stories, written in the impressionist
m a n n e r , r a d i a t e an atmosphere of light and l i g h t n e s s . Yet
beneath this aerial world the inexorable sweep of the

s i c k l e of death can be p e r c e i v e d , Death is p r e s e n t in many
stories a s a memento - mori: as the unseen g u e s t who is

always hovering in the b a c k g r o u n d . Francoise Defroment
says t h a t t h e theme of death presented is n o t as simple a s
that; at the moment of loss, something retreats and
retracts, l e a v i n g the reader with an annihilating sense of
impossibility. 27 She feels that the "unbearable
confrontation w i t h death" leads to a kind of "impossible

28
mourning" in the stories.
In Katherine Mansfield's "Life of Ma Parker,"
"Millie," "The Canary" and "Miss Brill1', striking
similarities c a n be found based on the dual relationship

b e t w e e n a woman a n d a love-object, whether a child, a young
man or even a b i r d . Indeed it hardly matters whether
what is loved is a child, a canary or a fur; what is
highlighted i s the relationship to an object, and
consequently t h e relationship to the o t h e r a s object. The
disappearance of the object threatens w i t h d e s t r u c t i o n the

very i d e n t i t y of the subject - thus Ma Parker's life long
stoicism breaks down after the death of her favourite
grandchild Lennie and mourning becomes impossible as s h e

has no p l a c e to g o to where she can have a good cry. Being
a charwoman in the literary gentlemans she cannot cry in
his house nor can she cry in the street outside. In
l l R e v e l a t i o n s " t h e young hairdresser George h a s to be his
usual courteous self to the regular clients at the

hairdresser's shortly after his daughter's funeral.
"Madame" at t h e hairdresser's who is the child's mother
bears the stigmata of sorrow i n h e r red and swollen eyes,
whereas t h e father is like a wooden man w i t h a p r o p e r face,

as if removed from his body by unexpressed grief.
Similarly, M i s s Brill's ultimate gesture when burying h e r
last c r y in a box r e f e r s to her p s y c h i c death, f o r nothing

more of her sorrow will ever be expressed afterwards. She
is i n a way buried alive just a s Ma Parker is in her
desperate q u e s t for a p l a c e where she could let her tears
flow out. Disruptions in t h e t e x t of K a t h e r i n e Mansfield's
stories thus point to the vacant space of impossible
m o u r n i n g , t o t h e s i l e n t words of unexpressed g r i e f ,
Antony Alpers notices that by the time Katherine

Mansfield was legally married to Murry in 1918, h e r health
condition w a s already deteriorating. 29 Katherine had seen
Murry put his handkerchief to his l i p s and turn away from
h e r when s h e coughed; a n d he had asked h e r if she "still
believed in t h e Heron," their dream h o u s e of t h e future, 3 0
When Murry suggested h e r ' c j o i n g to Cornwall for a warmer
climate, she s u s p e c t e d that h e was " t r y i n g to get r i d of

her. "31 A s Katherine Mansf i e l d ts health condition
became more dangerous, s h e realized that she had only a
shell of a marriage which could not give h e r emotional

security.
Failing h e a l t h and impending d e a t h became clearer to

her in t h e years t h a t followed. S h e could f i n d no succour
in her marriage, nor did she have the consolation of a

religious faith to fall back u p o n in this critical stage.
Her encounter with the Roman Catholic Church ended in h e r
wholesale rejection of it and she wrote to M u r r y about
Catholics - "Their world is not o u r world - my duty is to
mankind - theirs is to a personal deity - a really living
King with a flashing face w h o gives you rewards," There
was to be no converting to formal religion the K a t h e r i n e
who had written in her Journal, "I don't want a God to
praise or to entreat, but to share my vision with . . ."

In t h e valley of d e a t h , s h e was a l r e a d y reconciled to
a loveless marriage. When s h e prepared to leave f o r London
in April 1918, s h e wrote to Murry:
"Darling, don't make m y home coming a n

effort, It is v e r y dreadful to,know that
even Love is a n effort to you at times
and I don't want you to make that
e f f o r t , ,, 32
And without t h e succour of a strong religious f a i t h to fall
back upon, K a t h e r i n e Mansfield bravely tried to rebuild her
emotional d e f e n c e s t h a t had fallen down:
Once the d e f e n c e s are fallen between you

and death they a r e not built up again.
It needs such a little p u s h , hardly that,
just a false step, just not looking, and
y o u a r e over. M o t h e r , ofcourse lived in
this state for years, Ah, b u t s h e lived
surrounded. She had her husband, her
children, her home, her friends, physical
presences, darling treasures to be
cherished -
and I've not one of t h e s e
things, I have only m y work. 3 3
And a g a i n in her Journal e n t r y of November 2 4 , 1921, when
t h e f e a r o f d e a t h b e s e t her, s h e wrote,
I sat there thinking of d e a t h , Of all

there w a s to d o -
of Life, which is s o
lovely ...
It is o n l y by acknowledging
that I, being what I am had to suffer
this in order to do t h e w o r k I am here to
perform. It is only by acknowledging it,
by being thankful that work was not taken
away from me, t h a t I shall recover.
I n the absence of a s u s t a i n i n g emotional relationship or

religious f a i t h , Katherine Mansfield put her heart and s o u l
into her work. She was in love w i t h life and tried to ward
off d e a t h by c l i n g i n g o n to t h e most hopeless remedies as
that of t h e G u r d j i e f f plan - t h e attainment of such p s y c h i c
control as would e n a b l e her to ignore her bodily c o n d i t i o n .
Yet the artist in her " t r a n s c e n d s t h e despair i n the
life/death dialectic t h r o u g h her artistic creation, by

interweaving the t w o strands a n d thus giving l i f e to what
has a l r e a d y disappeared." As Katherine Mansfield wrote,
"we c a n s e e death in life a s we can see death in a flower

that is fresh unfolded - our hymn is to the flower's
beauty. "34 So the canary's "joyful1 little singing"
remains alive beyond nothingness, or in "The Voyage" while
the "textt' inscribes in i t s big b l a c k frame the vanishing
of a blissful world "GONE FOREVER!'' (p.330), the process of

writing simultaneously creates that world of marvel. As
Francoise Defromont r i g h t l y condludes K a t h e r i n e Mansfield
drowns death into oblivion with her ink, but she also
writes out its abyss of yawning nothingness and sublimates

it by conjuring her readers elsewhere, b y taking us, our
b a c k s turned to gloom and sadness, i n t o the magic world of
35
childhood,
Unlike Katherine Mansfield, Kamala D a s shows a calm
acceptance and reconciliation in her a t t i t u d e to death. A

d e a t h consciousness preuades her hospital poems, Far the
poet, death appears as something elusive and as serene and

silent as t h e closing of the lotus at dusk, Death is a
temporary cessation, for t h e soul is immortal.
The ultimate discovery will be that we are
immortal.
"Composition"
In death one does not lose anything. à his is not a
romantic concept of d e a t h , b u t a more profound apprehension
of i t s significance to life. At the confluence of life and

death t h e past experiences appear hazy with dim o u t l i n e s .
Our responses t o life's demands become i n e f f e c t i v e a n d poor
as death slowly moves in. Even adherence to wealth and
lust, the common ruling passions of human life, become a

f a i n t memory.
T h e last j o u r n e y i n t o the ' ' s u r e but i n v i s i b l e sea" i s

performed in silence and not even a finger print is left
behind for others to identify. The crowded earth
registers no loss in our disappearance and the several
misunderstandings that we had w i t h this world vanish along
with us. So the poet thinks of death as a serene
consummation of life, a slow transformation into another,

even b e t t e r stage.
Kamala Das's equanimity in the face of death can be
attributed to two sources of strength - her family and h e r

s t r o n g religious faith. Unlike Katherine Mansfield, her
marriage survived ruptures and disillusionments with the

husband because of h e r firm roots i n the soil of family
affection. S h e grumbled a b o u t h e r husband's u n c o n c e r n for
her, h i s lack of sympathy with h e r aspirations and above

all about his spider-like lust. I n s p i t e of t h i s , she had
been imrnensly a t t a c h e d to h i m and was able to feel hurt
when he was hurt. There are moments, as revealed in MJ
-
st or^, when she w a s even exhilarated in h i s company and
uneasy and crestfallen in his absence. Indeed,Kamala Das
never resented her role as a wife and mother; she only
resented her role as a slave, as a sex object. She

considered sex, unaccompanied by love as l u s t a n d s a y s :
. . . in f o r g i v i n g silence I c o n c e i v e d my b r i g h t sons
"A Faded Epaulet on His Shoulder"
Motherhood has been a g l o r i o u s experience to Kamala
D a s a n d i n her bright sons she forgot many of the past

hurts. "After the Illness1' presents a much mellowed
husband p u r i f i e d by anguish a n d capable of delicacy:
. . . he said, his soft, suffering face
a g a i n s t my knee
I knew you would survive, darling, I willed it so.
In t h e Nair ethos, a son to light t h e funeral pyre is
a great blessing given by the gods and Kamala Das has
expressed this sentiment in no uncertain terms i n 9 Story:
Out of my pyre my grieving sons s h a l l p i c k
u p little souvenirs of b o n e s and some ash.
And y e t the world shall go on. Tears
s h a l l dry on my sons' c h e e k s . Their wives
shall bring forth b r i l l i a n t children. My
descendants shall populate this e a r t h . It
is enough for me. It is more than
enough ... (p.219)
Kamala Das has one great consolation against the
threat of mortality - that her p r o g e n y will populate this

earth and this is a consolation which is cherished by
I n d i a n women in general, as Elizabeth Bumiller points out
in her book on I n d i a n womanhood, May You Be the Mother -

of-a ---
36
Hundred Sons. 7
Although s h e h a s a great attachment to her c h i l d r e n ,
Kamala D a s with her traditional upbringing and religious

faith imbibed through the years, understands the transience
of these earthly relationships. As she poignantly
questions in J
M Story:
In actuality who is he? Who a m I? who

are these three boys who call themselves
my children? We arc burdened with
perishable bodies which strike up bonds
which are also .unreal, and perishable.
T h e o n l y relationship t h a t is permanent is
the one which we form w i t h God. My mate
is He. He c o m e to m e i n m y r i a d
shall
shapes. In many shapes shall I s u r r e n d e r
to His desire. I shall be fondled by Him.
I shall pass t h r o u g h a l l the pathways of
this world. Condemning none,
understanding a l l and then become p a r t of
Him. Then Ear me t h e r e s h a l l be no return
journey. (p. 186)
K.R.R. N a i r c o n c l u d e s that Kamala as's progress as a
poet may be visualized t h r o u g h s e v e r a l stages - struggle

for love and s e c u r i t y i n t h e face of neglect, a g o n y and
frustration, emotional refuge in o t h e r s and return to h e r
pastr search for the ideal lover, realization of the
futility of such a search in the world of sense
perceptions, discovery of the possibility of spiritual
peace in Lord Krishna, philosophical detachment and l o v e

37
f o r a l l , meditation on death and readiness to face it,
It is significant here that Lord Krishna is the
ultimate lover to most Nair women as per l e g e n d . The poet

was, in fact, nurtured in a family environment fragrant
with devotion to Lord Krishna* especially at Guruvayoor.
In J
M S t o r y s h e wr.ites, "In t h e mornings I w e n t into t h e
prayer room with my grandmother and sat for an hour
-
listening to her read t h e Bhagavatham and the Gita (p.92) --
Ramala Das was so obsessed with this devotion that she was
almost ,sure h e r f i . r s t c h i l d would be a son and he would
look like Krishna. Whenever subjected to the bondage of
sin, suffering and ill-health, she could discover h e r peace
in Krishna.
1 turned to Krishna. I felt t h a t t h e show

had ended and auditorium was empty.
the
Then He came, n o t wearing a crown, not
wearing make-up, b u t making a quiet e n t r y .
(MY story - p. 184)
T h u s t h e perils of t h i s w o r l d pushed her to the gates
of eternity, She hoped for redemption and to return to her
children in a l l the c o m i n g births,
In her poem "Ganashyam" , Kamala Das identifies

herself with Radha and seeks union with the Lord. In an
a r t i c l e " I Studied A l l Men", she wrote, "I looked for the

beauteous Krishna in every man. Every Hindu girl is in
reality wedded to Lord Krishna. 1138 Her surrender to the

Lord is also the end of a search for deeper and more
permanent c o n t a c t between h e r s e l f and t h e husband f o r she
identifies the Lord with t h e husband.
I s h a l l love you I told him, not speaking

aloud but willing Him to hear me, only you
will be my h u s b a n d , only your horoscope
will m a t c h with mine. (MY Story p . 9 2 )
The poet's sensibility bristles with echoes from -

the
Bhagavad -
Gita and -
the Narayaneeyam. She craves for
wisdom through silence and devotion because that is t h e
pathway to ultimate peace (Shanti). The Gita s a y s
He who h a s faith, who is absorbed i n it
and who has subdued his senses gains
wisdom and having gained wisdom he a t t a i n s
40
q u i c k l y t h e supreme peace.
Her u n d y i n g faith in K r i s h n a , h e l p s her to see death
as the inevitable curtain fall to our earthly existence,

after which we p a s s into a better world where "earthly
happiness becomes a meaningless word," (ttMalancharivukalil,"
p.8) Death is t h e only reality. It is endless, stretching

before and beyond o u r h u m a n e x i s t e n c e and to slide into it
will be to p i c k up a new significance. Life, Kamala Das

concludes h a s been, despite a l l emotional involvements, a s
ineffectual. as writing on moving water and we have been
merely participants in someone else's dream. Hence, her
r e l i g i o u s f a i t h and the unique relationship with her Lord
Krishna and h e r beLief that a part of her will survive i n
her progeny have a l , l contributed to a mature acceptance of

death.
1. Quoted from t h e Journal by Rosemary Dinnage in " F a d i n g with
the Light", Times Literary Supplement, 21 Oct, 1977, p . 1 2 3 4 .
2, -
The - - -
Journal of Katherine Mansfield (ed) J. Middleton Murry,
Definitive E d i t i o n , London: Constable, 1962,
3. --
Bosco P u t h o o r ( e d ) Death and L i f e A f t e r Death, 1981, 51.
4, -
The Bible, "Coranthos" , 1 5 / 5 5 .
5. -
The -
Gita - 2/30 (tr) Jayadayal Goyundaka
(1969) Gorakhpur:
Gita Press, 1 9 9 2 . Arjuna, this s o u l dwelling i n the body
can never be slain; therefore you should not mourn f o r
anyone.
6. The Gita -
-- 2/27: F o r in that case d e a t h is certain f o r the
born, and rebirth is inevitable for t h e dead, You should
n o t , therefore, grieve o v e r t h e inevitable,
7, T h e Gita -
-- 2/22 As a man shedding worn-out garments, takes
other new o n e s , likewise t h e embodied s o u l , c a s t i n g o f f
worn-out bodies, e n t e r s into others which are new.
8. J a n e t t e Rainwater, Self Therapy - London: Crucible, 1989,
p.194.
9, Ibid, p.195
10. Anthony G i d d o n s , Modernity --

a n d Self Identity Oxford: Polity
Press, 1991,
11, Rainwater, Self Therapy, p . 1 9 5 .
12. Kate Fullbrook, K a t h e r i n e Mansfield, Sussex: T h e Harvester
Press, 1986, p . 1 1 7 .
13, Donald S , T a y l o r a n d D a n i e l . A. ~ e i s s , "Crashing t h e ~ a r d e n

Partyt', Modern F i c t i o n Series, Vol. 4 , 1958-59, p . 3 6 2 .
14. Ibid.
15, Warren. S , Walker, ''The U n r e s o l v e d Conflict in The Garden

Partyn, Modern Fiction series, Vol. 3-1957, p.354.
16. Adam. J. Sorkin, "Katherine Mansfield's 'The Garden Party':

Style and Social Occasion", Modern F i c t i o n S e r i e s , Vol ,
24 - 1978-79, p,448,
17. Letters -
and Journals -
of Katherine Mansfield (ed) C.K. Stead,
London: Allen Lane, 1977. Letter d a t e d November 11, 1921.
18. Ibid.
19. Clare Hanson a n d Andrew Gurr, Katherine ~ a n s f i e l d London:

Macmillan, 1981, p.120,
20. Ibid.
21. Jeffrey Meyers, ~ a r r i e d-

t o Genius London: London ~ a g a z i n e
Editions, 1977, p.136.
22. V. Rajakrishnan, "Malancharivukalil," Kala Kaumudi. -

23. M. Rajeev K u m a r , Introduction to Ente Cherukathakal by
M a d h a v i k u t t y , ~ a t h r u b h u m i~ublications, 1 9 8 5 , p. xvii.
24, Lakshmi Holmstrom ( e d ) P r e f a c e to -

T h e Inner Courtyard, N e w
Delhi: Rupa Co.
25. Ibid.
26. M, Rajeev K u m a r , ~ntroduction to Ente ~ h e r u k a t h a k a l .
27. Francoise Defromont, "Impossible Mourning" in - The - ~ine

Instrument (ed) Paulette ~ i c h e land Michel ~ u p u i s , Sydney:
Dangaroo Press, 1989, p.157.
28. Ibid.
29. Antony A l p e r s , Katherine Mansfield, London: J o n a t h a n Cape,

1954, p . 2 5 1 .
30, Ibid. p.252
31. Ibid. p . 2 9 3 .
32. fbid.
33. Ibid, 2 7 7 .
34. -
K a t h e r i n e M a n s f i e l d , L e t t e r s and Journals (ed) C.K. Stead,
Penguin, 1977, p . 1 3 5 .
35. Francoise Defromont, p.164,
36. Elisabeth Bumiller, M a y You Be t h e Mother -

of-a H u n d r e d Sons,
N e w Y o r k : 1990,
37. K.R.R. Nair, The P o e t r y -

of Kamala Das - (TO be published in
1993).
38. Kamala Das, "I s t u d i e d All Men" in - Love-and F r i e n d s h i p ( e d )

Kushwant Singh, New D e l h i : , Sterling Publishers, 1973.
39. Narayaneeyam -
A devotional work in Sanskrit praising Lord
Krishna at G u r u v a y o o r by Melpathur Narayana B h a t t a t h i r i .
40. The -
Bhagavad Gita - IVth Discourse verse 3 9 , t r a n s l a t e d by
S. Radhakrishnan, New Delhi: B l a c k i e & Sons, 198l, p . 1 7 1 .

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CHAPTER I11

...I shall go too in s i l e n c e

Even a finger print on this crowded

C a r r y i n g away my bird-in-flight voice and

The hundred misunderstandings that

My alliances with you and you

and you ...

1 want to remember how the light f a d e s

Katherine Mansfield was ever c o n s c i o u s of death as

the ultimate r e a l i t y in life and d e a t h becomes a major

the awareness of death waiting r o u n d t h e corner f o r her

t h e Nalapatt family, causing much sorrow and mental agony,

brought home to Kamala D a s also t h e inexorable n a t u r e of

death. T h e sense of desolation evoked by the d e a t h of d e a r

ones and an awareness of the futility of human aspirations

for worldly glory are poignantly etched in her poem "A

Requiem f o r M y Father." T h e r e is cruelty of necessity that

precedes a n d fallows death in the lines

You were laid out on the drawing room floor,

A dead Nayar gets only the cold floor to lie on1

Since the death of near ones like her Muthassi (great

grandmother) and Ammamma (grandmother) "the long clawed

Later, her own hospital experiences as a heart

conscious t h a t t h i s crowded e a r t h does not suffer any loss

along with us from this world. This made Katherine

traces of my camping ground here when I leave. I' The same

idea is expressed by Kamala D a s in h e r poem, "A Holiday for

Met', where the journey i n t o the other world is visualised

It is significant that most of Katherine Mansfield's

stories dealing with death like "Her First Ball," "The

Voyage," "At t h e Bay," "The Garden Party" and "Honeymoon"

stories about d e a t h d i s c u s s e d here are ''The D a u g h t e r s of

(Sweet Porridge) "Manushyan Pavarnanu," (Man is a Poor

"Unni," ( ~ i t t l eBoy) " N a v i k a Vesham D h a r i c h a Kuttytt (Little

Boy in a Sailor's Dress) and "Virunnukaran" ( T h e Visitor)

Before examining the stories, it would be pertinent

to consider both t h e Christian a n d Hindu c o n c e p t s of death.

sin, Death occurs both on the p h y s i c a l and the mental

Death t h e r e a f t e r came to signify a transitory stage and t h e

e n t r a n c e to eternal life. Hence t h e d e a t h of a Christian

h a s always been deemed as h i s real b i r t h i n t o a new world.

It is a change-over from darkness to light, from despair to

hope, fram mortality to immortality, Hence it is the

reality which transcends t h e realm of man's perception and

denotes t h e friendship b e t w e e n man and God. Man's selfish

desires give way to t h e inevitability of death and he

realises t h e essential difference between himself and God,

that h a s given l i f e to man, Hence his end is also in God's

death couragcausly. Christ's f i n a l . teachings have given

death, where is your v i c t o r y ? Where is your vicious bite?"4

Since Christianity sees d e a t h a s the most fearful problem

of life, s o much significance is g i v e n to the outliving of

it. Unfortunately, Katherine Mansfield had hardly any

religion to speak of a n d therefore s h e was not a b l e to gain

Unlike Katherine Mansfield, Kamala D a s in her stories

in Lord Krishna. She a l s o alludes t o her belief in the

Hindu theory of the transmigration of souls or

"Punarjanmam." T h e repetition of many lives and deaths is

body undergoes change in these births, the soul remaining

forever. Death is inevitable f o r one w h o is born just a s

birth is inevitable for him after death. -

describes death and rebirth as the discarding of old

deeds taint h i s soul and gives . r i s e to many rebirths full