The Final Solution by Manik Bandopadhyay (Summary)

The Final Solution

Manik Bandopadhyay

Summary

"The Final Solution" is one of the acclaimed works of Manik Bandopadhyay. The plot of the story revolves around a poor family who migrated to West Bengal after the Partition and turned them into destitute, homeless vagabonds, anonymous strangers into non-scripts.

The story of Partition subsequently brings stories of suffering, indecency, rape and sexual violence. Apparently, the story deals with the helplessness of a young mother, Mallika, who struggles to keep herself and her body in the face of horrific events.

The story reveals the phenomena of insanity, contempt, decaying human values, spiritual purification, and indifference to human existence. The story depicts an astonishing note, 'Chaos, the insanity of a time when we have fallen from the human world of language, customs, rituals into a percentile world of hatred, anger, selfishness and insanity.

Bandyopadhyay writes that, since in reality, displacement and settlement is an important topic of discussion, even a few days ago one saw homeless people, spending their days and nights, herding goats like cattle and being confined together in the shelter of goats.

In contrast, to the popular androcentric male discourse on the history of partition, the story reaches the goal of feminist historiography in the language of Joan Wallach Scott. Because, it "made women the focal point, subject, and narrative agent of women's investigation." It also brings to the fore massive disruptions and crises after the split and projects women as active agents rather than passive recipients of this change.

The story captures the experiences of women in the department that further illustrate and reinterpret the important turning point in history from a women’s perspective, thus providing an alternative history where women are portrayed not only as subjects of study but also as subjects and participants. The facts of sexual abuse, profanity, disrespect, obscenity, violation of dignity, transgression are questions that hit the narrator hard.

According to Suranjan Das, "Riots are a transformative as well as a historical event. It shapes and changes perceptions and desires. People have changed: their attitudes towards each other and their thinking about themselves have changed." In light of the above statement, one can easily capture the change that has taken place in people's lives during and after partition.

Through the story, Manik Bandopadhyay clearly reminds the survivors of the essential impact of the Peace Committee, the rehabilitation program and the inhumane conditions of the refugee camps. The story depicts the struggle of a female protagonist against capitalism, hegemony, and masculinity, the capital of a frustrated society. The story details the economic deprivation and uncertainty for the immediate lower classes of the country. It also contains the nature of ruthlessness, intolerance and manipulation of exploiters-moneylenders or capitalists.

The story also observes the tendency of the oppressed to accept their oppressor as an inevitable evil of nature - a satanic incarnation, in which there is a strong desire to make him all heartless and diabetic. The story makes subtle comments about the hypocrisy and inconsistency of the middle class.

The story is notable for its utterance of female subjectivity and its rejection of male protection / humiliation in the female body. Mallika has compromised her self-esteem and integrity by choosing prostitution to feed her little boy. Mallika’s husband is a short stature, exhausted failure, a feminist of her opponent, disabled and unable to hold her family. Mallika decided to choose prostitution as a way to feed her young son when all the doors to find a suitable job were closed, and she was able to resist her son and family when she saw her family standing on the brink of death.

She aggravates her maternal instincts by denying her constant humiliation by choosing prostitution as a way to save her family from drowning and destruction. She thwarted Pramatha's plan to exploit her and other women in a state of helplessness, and dared to strangle Pramatha to death. Mallika’s courage in adversity wins the minds of the readers as she stays away from the final disaster and reaches the final solution through her strong will and presence of mind.

*****

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