Q.

Discuss The Why Why Girl (2003) and Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne(1969) as fiction for young
readers that address some serious subjects, and do not infantalise the readers.

Ans - Between 1997 and 2007, children's fiction gained popularity among adult readers, addressing
issues of transitions, identity crises, and epiphanies. Young adult fiction came to known as the Crossover
Phenomenon, encompassing a wide range of themes, genres, and styles, aiming to appeal to adults
while raising important macrocosmic themes. Both "The Why Why Girl" by Mahashweta Devi and
Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne by Satyajit Ray examine two diverse worlds of young adults, although
they comply on various same bases.

Fore mostly, the fragility of women in larger macrocosmic institutions forms the idea
that the whole model of child development is phallic , all the structures of development
and growth are seen to be male traits , a complex issue that links to the bond between a
mother and her child—especially a girl child—against the phallic institutions associated
with imperialism. This argument has been put forth by Erica Burman , in her critique ,
“Development Phallacies: Psychology, Gender and Childhood ,where she significantly
conforms that through the residual gendered assumptions in European theories that are
globalised in international child development programs, this imperialist and patriarchal
ideology awkwardly combines, but is mutually perpetuated. Both programs for girls and
initiatives supporting women's responsibilities in economic development are
incongruent with these presumptions. There is thus a double 'phallacy,' in the sense of
masculine-defined standards and assumptions, linking psychological and economic
theories of development: The genderlessness or default male orientation of the
category "child" is maintained while addressing gender concerns by attaching a gender
category to the phrase "child;." Gender, more especially girl-ness, is made secondary.
Going a step further, we might pertinently wonder if girls are really viewed as proper
children at all since childhood models perpetuate masculinity. In context with the Why
Why Girl , the girl child protagonist , Moyna , her representation is surfaced in the
margins but the presence of domineering phallic power is well portrayed , like the post-
master or the presence of the old Babu , the whole logistic questioning as to “why” in
turn forms a significant part of male trait. The whole model of child development in all
the institutions have considered that masculine attributes are equated with development,
such that we commonly refer to greater maturity or competence by means of the gendered
term 'mastery' (Walkerdine, 1988). In its privileging of logical thinking, psychological
development is portrayed as a movement from emotional attachment to detachment. Women's
roles and positions are profoundly affected by (and, it can be argued, are defined in relation to)
prevailing ideas about what children are like and what is best for them. The qualities of
vulnerability, innocence and dependence at its core are primarily those associated with girls and
women. Since feminine qualities are devalued and regarded as developmentally inferior, we are
threatened with the familiar collapse of the categories of women and children into each other,
with women infantilised and children feminized. In this regard , the relationship of Moyna and
her mother forms the base for this critique. While women are excluded from the realm of
economic or psychological development, this fragility is there in Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne
although functioning in a slightly different manner. As part of the "exchange economy" and
marriage market, the two princesses offered as prizes to the two plebeian adventurers are the
only members of the female sex in Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. The girls don't behave or speak;
they don't seem to have any free will or agency, and they don't actually look at anyone since
they are following the rigid rules for women.

Furthermore, the concept of nationalistic fervor encompasses both the imperial genre of travel
narrative and how postcolonial natives use it to represent themselves and subvert the
Eurocentric view of the Orient. T
his is known as "autoethnographic expression" (Pratt, 2008, p. 9) or "countertravel writing," as
described by Holland and Huggan (2000) .According to Pratt (2008), "Autoethnographic texts are
texts that others construct in response to or in dialogue with those metropolitan
representations, they are a means by which Europeans represent to themselves their (usually
subjugated) others." This conflict is essentially one of colonial modernity vs indigenous
modernity.Even while the Goopi-Bagha narrative doesn't strictly fall within the travel genre, it
does employ a travel motif to challenge the Eurocentric interpretation of the genre and its
association with power and knowledge. Ray attempted to change the Eurocentric notion that
underpinned the travel theme by using musical fantasy and traveling to many regions of the
nation for his adventures. The subject of travel and adventure was created only for males and
not for women, as we can clearly see in Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, from the perspective of
Eurocentrism and with the idea of modernity. Gayatri Spivak says , “Between patriarchy and
imperialism...the figure of the woman disappears... into a violent shuttling which is the displaced
figuration of the 'third-world woman' caught between tradition and modernization.” Lower
caste women who performed caste-based occupations, which involved intensive manual labour
were potters, sweepers, washerwomen and so on. Many of them engaged in subsistence crafts
such as the making of poultry, milk, and food products. All these jobs used local material, crude
tools and were unspecialized, and with the introduction of modern trans port system, capital
and mechanization, these were transferred to men. many lower-caste women were confined to
the sectors of domestic service and agriculture or were even driven to prostitution because this
transitional stage did not uproot caste totally to permit occupational mobility to the lower
castes. Moreover it was men for most part who moved to the urban areas in search of jobs,
leaving behind their spouses in the village to look after home and children under very insecure
family conditions. As is well evident in “Why Why Girl”. For gender, as we shall see, was far from
being marginal to the new world. It had a major role to play in the structuring of a whole range
of social institutions and practices. The fact that the representation of indeginous tribe Shabar
in the story and its depiction of typically natural and rural spaces took prominence in the
 nationalistic literature. Since women were given the responsibility of upholding indigenous
spirituality restricting themselves within the boundaries of home ,the films chiefly concentrated
on the public sphere, women were consciously kept out of this. The miniscule representation of
women is also very normative. Ray’s nationalist anxiety might have propelled him to construct
the characters of women thus within the private sphere of domesticity. Additionally, these
discourses were intimately worked into the tropes of race, nation , war and gender that the
modern state deployed to craft a more homogeneous citizenry.

Moreover, both texts vividly demonstrate how the idea of a childhood on the margins and children
belonging to a subaltern group aligns with the idea of literary landscape as nature within the
framework of landscape literature. Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne, as well as Why Why Girl, all
address the issue of marginalized childhoods in their works. While Moyna is portrayed in Why Why
Girl as a young woman who represents "individual hope and social transformation" from her tribe
Shabar," Goopy and Bagha, on the other hand, two allegedly uneducated men from lower castes,
posed as travelers. Ray also casts doubt on the idea of the intelligent, courageous, and heroic
English gentleman traveler who ventures into unknown territories and cultures. The revelation of
Goopy and Bagha's parents' happiness at last seems to give people in their own class hope that, with
skill and artistic endeavors, they too may rise up the social scale and find themselves mentioned in
mainstream culture. The texts consistently depict nature, as shown in Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne,
where the characters' propensity for the forest is vividly shown, their escape into nature is skillfully
portrayed, and even in Why Why Girl, where Moyna appears to be spending more and more time in
nature. Therefore, Landscape encompasses more than just physical characteristics; it also refers to
everything that aids in an individual's development. Characters' living conditions are actually
conveyed through descriptions of the location and surrounding scenery. One of the authors'
strategies for creating a work that is memorable is the conscious use of landscape. The talent in
writing landscape is to capture it in brief, stunning references, ideally placed inside story, that
combine to produce a pervasive presence, according to Hannah Kent, author of "Burial Rites."
Studying the landscape of a work entails analyzing the social, political, cultural, and economic
scenarios. This is why the narratology of landscape is the author's way of deeply conveying his
views. To identify these texts as purely a part of landscape literature , there are some characterstics
to be considered,, these are , evoke a mood or time period, convey historical information , give clues
about the ecology, topography or geology of a place , tells stories of communities, culture and
personalities create a sense of place and community, and explain the inter-workings of a place.
Aesthetic parameters of the contact zone where mankind and nature meets . idea of nature is
always about scenic engagement. By the end of the nineteenth century, the first accounts of
pollution have appeared. Around the middle of the nineteenth century, language begins to convey
the idea that literature conveys that nature is extremely vulnerable and is no more a distinct place
unaffected by humans.
explanations of the pollutants. The adult authors writing within the children's literature canon have
made extensive use of this motif of marginalized childhood and landscape literature. Since
imagination and exploration play a major role in a child's development.

Unlike popular depictions of dominant, middle-class, and upper-caste childhood, the

constructions of childhood in these books offer a glimpse into the real lives of these children and
methods to connect with their lives and concerns. "Anything that is at odds with the normal, the
legitimate, and the dominant" is how David Halperin (1997) defines queer. It doesn't necessarily
refer to something specific. It is merely an identity devoid of substance (p. 62). Therefore, it is
clear that queer politics concern about the underprivileged, the invisible, and the marginalized.

As a result, we observe how children's literature adopts a stance of ambiguity, making it difficult
to pinpoint both its readership and substance. By stressing different macrocosmic themes
coming from the microcosm of the world of children, young adults in the modern world
construct an advanced study and analysis of the canon of children's literature.