Abstract: The paper discusses beauty as a social construct, a means of domination and subjugation as employed by the dominant class/gender over the less privileged/ marginalised. It briefly surveys, with instances from the literary world, the panorama of societies from east to west where this parameter has been seen to wreak havoc in the lives of men and women, exemplified even in children’s literature as in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Snow White’. Texts under discussion include: Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’, Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’, Alice Munro’s short story “Something I’ve been Meaning to Tell You” and Anita Nair’s ‘Lessons in Forgetting’.
Keywords: beauty, judgment, perspective, oppression, body images
The paper examines how Beauty is a social and cultural construct. The notions about beauty are deployed to subjugate and marginalise. The idea of beauty can often turn into a tool of oppression used by the architects of social values from time immemorial for their vested purposes. A broad perspective will shed light on how the modalities of spreading and sustaining the beauty myth work. I attempt to highlight these instances through a cultural and literary perspective.
Rumination on Beauty brings to mind a poem by William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”: “So much depends/upon/a red wheelbarrow/glazed with rain/ water/beside the white/chickens.” As the red wheelbarrow is the medium of fulfillment of the desires and demands of a farmer’s family, beauty is the medium of desire fulfillment. It is no surprise then to find such wish fulfilling and ameliorating power of beauty in fairy tales such as “Cinderella” and “Snow White” where the beautiful but suffering protagonists are rescued by their prince charming smitten by their beauty. Where beauty brings the ultimate happiness and satisfaction to its owners, its lack also brings about suffering and isolation. In “Jack and the Beanstalk” the giant is the villain primarily because of his hugeness and ugliness. The ugly duckling never found peace and happiness till it became a beautiful swan.
Samyukta: A Journal of Women’s Studies (January 2014) Vol. XIV. No. 1
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster who is considered ugly is shunned and isolated. Its mistreatment begins with the creator and all those who come across him follow suit. Shelley’s description of Victor’s horror at the sight of the monster he had created is particularly valid here as it demonstrates the rejection of the patriarchal creator of his creation purely on the grounds of appearance: “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains I had endeavored to form? Beautiful! – Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries underneath; his hair was lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion, and straight black lips” (39). It will not be a hasty judgment to say that even in our fantasies, it is a difficult world for those who are not beautiful or who are considered ugly.
Through the centuries, philosophers have grappled with the arduous task of defining beauty. The eighteenth century philosopher Hume wrote of beauty as no inherent quality in the thing itself but existing in the mind of the contemplator. Perceptions of beauty vary depending on the beholder; Plotinus stressed on the harmonious unity of the diverse parts of an object. Nineteenth century philosopher Santayana defined beauty as “an emotion, an affection of our volitional and appreciative nature,” taking also into account the value of pleasure associated with it. According to the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, beauty comprised order, proportion and symmetry. Order for him was the “balanced judgment of all details”; proportion “a graceful semblance: the suitable display of details in their right context” and symmetry “the appropriate harmony arising out of the details of the work itself” (Vitruvius 26-27). The definition of beauty, however, continues to change according to individual culture and age. Ancient China practiced the custom of binding its women’s feet to keep them dainty and as per fashion; “lily feet” symbolised high class. Such a custom had a brutal effect on the women whose feet were tied with narrow strips of cloth. They “were wrapped in a figure eight over the instep, around the heel, under the sole of the foot. These bandages were tightened daily until the foot measured less than four inches.”1 The effect of the bandages was that though women met the then followed criterion of beauty, they were unable to walk and had to hobble on their knees. The use of corsets was another such culturally induced fashionable practice for the European women. A corset was an article of clothing worn for shaping or constricting the waist and supporting the bosom, hence moulding the women’s upper bodies. Even young children were not spared as there was felt a strong need for straight spines and “pleasing body shapes later in life.”2
In the twenty first century, the demands of beauty made on women are no less stringent. In her article “The Enigma of Beauty” Cathy Newman describes the search of Sheli Jaffrey, who represents one of the world’s top model agencies, for beauty. By scanning almost two hundred women every fixed day of the week and looking in the age group of 13-19 for the “right height” and the “right body type,” Jaffrey actually brought in a rigid standardisation of beauty. On being asked to define the phrase, “right body type” Jaffrey replies, “Thin” (Newman 2014). The impact of such demanding parameters of beauty lead to the condition of anorexia nervosa3 in both men and women. The National Health Service U.K reports that anorexia in men is also getting extremely common due to body building, being engaged in specific occupations like athletics, dancing or horse racing. One male out of every ten persons exhibit the eating disorder. (‘Anorexia Nervosa –Causes’). The eating disorders are chronic psychiatric conditions and though some patients of anorexia nervosa do improve over a period of time, a good proportion continues to suffer from disturbed body images, disordered images and other psychiatric difficulties. Though it is observed that a large number of patients of Anorexia Nervosa who were hospitalised and who received tertiary- level care showed good results, approximately 5% of the patients died (Chakraborty and Basu 2014). Alice Munro, Canadian Writer and Nobel Laureate, describes the plight of a character suffering from the same condition. The character Char in “Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You” is so conscious about her looks and figure that she eats very sparingly but goes on food binges which are again followed by body purges during which she is most unwell and unable to perform her routine activities. Munro writes that Char fought hard all those years to keep her body in shape. Nobody but Et knew it all. Char did exercise and drank a glass of warm water before every meal. Et had known Char to eat a dozen cream puffs one after the other, a pound of peanut brittle, or a whole lemon meringue pie. Then pale and horrified, she took down Epsom salts, three or four or five times the prescribed amount. For two or three days she would be sick, dehydrated, purging her sins. During these periods she could not look at food. Et would have to come and cook Arthur’s suppers (Et is Char’s sister) (19-20).
The judgment of beauty is not only on this particular parameter but more: fair complexion. A fair skin is often projected as a universally desired attribute. Fairness or the lack of it often becomes a basis for discrimination and low self esteem. In her novel The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison describes the inferiority complex harboured by a little Afro- American black girl, Pecola. Pecola desires a pair of blue eyes in order to be loved and pampered like Shirley Temple, the blonde haired, blue eyed girl, loved and admired by all. Pecola’s complex is a result of the prejudice that she encounters in her everyday life. Addressing this question of prejudice Morrison writes from the perspective of the whites: “You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly. Then you realised that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious, all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question” (28). Pecola Breedlove, ignored by all, has little self worth for she considers her unfortunate condition to be a result of her ugliness. Thus, she aspires for the blue eyes of a white girl that will make her loved by all irrespective of the colour of her skin or her unattractive features. She goes to the self proclaimed “spiritualist” and “psychic Leader,” Soaphead Church and asks him for a pair of blue eyes. Even Soaphead Church despite being a con man feels love and understanding for Pecola, “ a little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes”(138). William Blake’s “The Little Black Boy”4is again a touching instance of such incompleteness arising out of discrimination.
In the Indian context the issue of oppression and subjugation has been addressed by Anita Nair in her novel Lessons in Forgetting. But Nair’s protagonist is a little different from others for after years of servility and obedience there comes a point in her life when all her efforts to please those around her go in vain. She is deprived of marital bliss, viewed as the dream of every traditional Indian woman’s life. It is at this point that Kala cuts her hair and does what she has wanted to do all her life. She finally manages to feel free of the bondage by getting rid of the heavy burden of her long hair. For Kala, her hair symbolises subjugated, objectified femininity.
Kala once had hair that almost reached her knees, she describes to her bedridden niece as “that fell like a cascade when I unpinned it. Straight as rainwater hair, with not even a kink or even a wave. “She could” run a comb in one swift motion from the root to the tip. She continuous “and every morning I would comb it through and braid it and pin it up. The weight of it made my head ache, my neck droop. The hair made me a demure girl first and then a demure woman. I was the daughter who pleased my father and later a wife who pleased my husband” (193). As a girl Kala wanted to get rid of her long hair, but it was not so easy. Her father became so worried when she expressed the wish for cutting her hair that his blood pressure shot up. She was advised by her family friend cum doctor not to trouble the already upset father any further. The same night Kala was whimpering with pain when her mother came to counsel her. Even the mother could not be sympathetic toward her as she advised Kala to bear the pain.
The young Kala felt imprisoned by her hair and considered her mother to be her jailor. Little did she know that it was this very physical feature of hers which would attract her husband to her. Usually, the boy has the privilege of going to the prospective bride’s home/selected venue to decide the girl’s fate and his own. He takes this decision over a period of time, generally, after having met many girls at various pre- planned venues and then finally taking his pick in conference with the elders of the family. It goes in the girl’s favor if she is conventionally beautiful (read tall, fair, long hair, chiseled features, with a good body structure). Kala had to give in. On the wedding night she was renamed by her husband’s family as “Vaidehi.” Her loving husband remarked in awe, seeing her loose tresses: “Such beautiful hair. Vaidehi, promise me that you won’t ever touch a hair on your head without my permission” (197). Kala had exchanged one cage for another with her marriage. And if the woman tries to assert herself then she is punished as Kala was when she cut her hair one day, out of sheer frustration at the heaviness she felt in her neck due to its weight. Her husband punished her by not speaking to her for six months and when finally her trimmed hair grew back to its original length Ambi was back to being his normal self again, but it had taken a toll on Kala.
After seven years of their ‘childless’ marriage, when Ambi decides to marry again, Kala finally breaks her bondage. She finds her path to emancipation; she has her freedom and her revenge. Before leaving her husband, she cuts her hair, braided and decked with jasmine and Kanakambaram5 and gifts it to him with the words, “This is all you ever wanted of me. Keep it. And let me go “(206). Kala had broken her fetters; the fetters of a culturally constructed beauty which is symbolic subjugation. She was free.
Discussing the plight of the Roman women which is quite similar to the shared ethos of arranged marriages, Simone de Beauvoir writes, in her celebrated feminist treatise, The Second Sex that a woman’s first guardian is her father. The place is taken over by her paternal relatives in his absence and when she marries she passes into the hands of her husband and then onwards he has complete right over her person and her property. American Feminist writer Kate Millett captures succinctly the narrow limits of female existence when she comments, “the oppression of women is not only economic; that’s just a part of it. The oppression of women is total and therefore it exists in the mind, it is psychological oppression…From earliest childhood every female child is carefully taught that she is to be a life-long incompetent at every sphere of significant human activity therefore she must convert herself into a sex object – a Thing. She must be pretty and assessed by the world: weighed, judged and measured by her looks alone. If she’s pretty, she can marry; then she can concentrate her energies on pregnancy and diapers. That’s life – that’s female life. That’s what it is to reduce and limit expectations and potentialities of one half of the human race to the level animal behavior [sic]” (“Sexual Politics” as accessed on 7/7/ 13).
Through this medley of narratives, snippets of experiential realms captured in texts and perspectives of feminist scholars, one may observe how the precarious beauty myth is created, allowed to percolate the social psyche and sustained.
NOTES
1. See ‘Doll Sized Feet- Cyberschool!,’ cyberschool.sd42ca/online/socials/ Chinatown/doll.html. For the high class Chinese girl child the process of foot binding began when a girl was between the ages of three and eleven years old. The foot was purposely broken and bound for a duration of two to three years, until her feet were a mere 3 inches long and resembled the Chinese lotus flower. The results of the foot binding practice were highly deformed feet that were extremely painful to walk on. Many times, the toes fell off due to the bandages wrapped so tight that blood could no longer reach them. (‘Curious Cultures- Ripley’s Believe It or Not!’, www.ripley’s.com/surfersparadise/files/2010/05/Curious-Cultures.pdf)
2. See Encyclopedia Britannica www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/138772/ corsetý
3. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that causes people to obsess about their weight and the food they eat. People with anorexia nervosa attempt to maintain a weight that’s far below normal for their age and height. To prevent weight gain or to continue losing weight, people with anorexia nervosa may starve themselves or exercise excessively.
4. “My mother bore me in the southern wild/And I am black, but O! my soul is white/White as an angel is the English child/But I am black as bereav’d of light”- “The Little Black Boy” By William Blake
5. Kanakambaram is also a type of flower.
REFERENCES
‘Anorexia nervosa – Causes’, www.nhs.uk/conditions/Anorexia-nervosa/Pages/ Causes.aspx.
‘Beauty[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]’, plato.stanford.edu/entries/ beauty
Chakraborty, Kaustav and Debashish Basu .‘Management of anorexia and bulimia nervosa: An evidence- based Review’,www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.
Millett , Kate “Sexual Politics,” www.uic.edu. Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. London: Picador, 1994.
Munro, Alice. “Something I’ve been Meaning to Tell You.” New York: Vintage International Edition, 2004.
Nair, Anita. Lessons in Forgetting. New Delhi: Harper Collins & India Today Group, 2010.
Newman, Cathy. ‘The Enigma of Beauty’,science.nationalgeographic.com/science/ health-and…/enigma-beauty/ý.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Delhi: Worldview, 2011.
Vitruvius, ‘Beauty[ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]’, op.cit.
William, William Carlos. ‘The Red Wheel Barrow’, www.poets.org.
Contributor:
SHIVANI JHA. Is an assistant professor at Bharati College, University of Delhi and has several publications to her credit. Her area of specialisation is Ecocriticism. Her areas of interest include Feminism and Indian Writing in English.
