SPECTACLE OF VIOLENCE AND CULTURE OF SILENCE IN BAYEN AND LIGHTS OUT: A FEMINIST READING OF WITCH-HUNTING AND URBAN APATHY

Abstract [English]

This paper explores women’s oppression and forced silence in patriarchal societies across different regions and socio-cultural aspects as portrayed in Mahasweta Devi’s Bayen and Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out. Although the two works are set in contrast spaces - Bayen rooted in rural, tradition-bound society and Lights Out in an urban, modern setting, both underscore the patriarchal ideologies and the marginalization of women within the societies. Bayen analyses villagers’ superstitious beliefs of witch-hunting and the suffering of a woman due to that in the male dominated society. On the other hand, Lights Out examines the exploitation of women in an urban context marked by apathy, sexual violence, and passive spectatorship. This paper focuses on the intersection of violence, silence and patriarchal domination through a feminist perspective, examining how women are subjected as victims of violence and silence by the male communities. It also underscores the patriarchal domination from traditional to contemporary spaces, presenting how superstitious believes, social inequality and cultural complicity sustain gendered violence. Furthermore, the study draws attention to the construction of female silence, the erasure of agency, and the complexities of their lived realities. Finally, this analysis argues for the urgent necessity to challenge cultural practices and societal complicity that perpetuate the subjugation of women across time and space.