Strengthening of Self through Language: Breast Stories by Mahasweta Devi

Abstract

Language is a man made approach. It is a device to establish rapport and communication at all levels in man’s life. It is very difficult to put the saddle on to the horse of life without language. As Shakespeare also said that empty or hollow words without significant thoughts “never to heaven go”. Language is essential to connect as well as to remain within the limited circle of fringes of humanity also, language is mandatory. So it precisely becomes a tool for strengthening and empowerment of one’s own social arena. Mahasweta Devi, although writes in Bengali, yet when her works were translated by Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak , we are exposed to a new world where women stand not only as an emblem of success but true to themselves. Breast Stories is a collection of three short stories. It talks about the abuse of women in the most violent ways possible. Women, who have not attended any school, are considered only as a chattel to be used and who are bodies but not souls. They are used in multiple ways and when the muddled image of a woman is provided, we feel that it is more catastrophically wounded than ever. Here, language has a power to inform us but on the second hand, the emotions have been translated by Gayatri Spivak so aptly, that it unwinds the mysteries and the secrets of the heart. It is a sense of achieving “power over” and “power to be”.