Volume-XII, Issue-III, May 2026 |
বিমল করের ‘বরফসাহেবের মেয়ে’: মধ্যবিত্তের নৈতিক স্খলন বনাম এক নারীর অস্তিত্বের লড়াই পূজা বর্মন, গবেষক, আসাম বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, শিলচর, অসম, ভারত |
Received: 15.05.2026 | Accepted: 19.05.2026 | Published Online: 31.05.2026 | Page No: 14-20 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.03W.318 | |||||||
Bimal Kar’s “Baraf Saheber Meye”: Middle-Class Moral Degeneration versus a Woman’s Struggle for Existence Puja Barman, Research Scholar, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India | ||
ABSTRACT | ||
Rejecting the perceptions and expectations of the three friends—Biru, Tinu, and Pachu—little Jini undergoes a profound transformation through her identity as Baraf Saheb’s daughter. The three friends fail to accept this transformation as they are trapped in a decaying middle-class morality characterized by cowardice, possessiveness, and a lack of accountability. The golden days of childhood and adolescence, which once found harmony and fulfillment in Jini’s presence, gradually lose their melodious rhythm. Experiencing the harsh realities of society, suffering, frustration, and failure, Jini emerges as a resilient seeker of self-identity, engaging in an intense existential struggle for survival. While she eventually attains a mature sense of womanhood through her labor and life choices, the three friends remain unwilling to acknowledge her journey towards selfhood. Their "moral responsibility" is revealed as a facade for patriarchal dominance and moral bankruptcy, failing to provide Jini with any real security during her crisis. The contrast between the innocent “little Jini” of the past and the self-aware woman she becomes creates a deep emotional and psychological divide that these men cannot bridge. Caught within the struggle for dominance and the moral decay of her companions, Jini ultimately gains recognition not as an independent individual in their eyes, but primarily through the imposed identity of “Baraf Saheb’s daughter”. This narrative reflects the patriarchal tendency to confine women within socially constructed identities, while Jini’s ultimate triumph lies in her ability to establish her own existence and agency beyond these restrictive and hypocritical middle-class norms. | ||
Keywords: Middle-Class Moral Decadence, Patriarchal Hypocrisy, Feminine Resilience, Psychoanalysis, Marginalized Agency, Socially Constructed Identity |