′Heroism′ in Badami´s The Hero´s Walk –
An analysis of the female protagonists of the novel

by

 Doreen Walter

CONTENT

1 Introduction 1

2 The Hero´s Walk and its female heroes 3

2.1 ′Romance plot′ 3

2.1.1 Theoretical part 3
2.1.2 Romance in The Hero´s Walk 5

2.2 Quest plot7 

2.2.1 Theoretical part 7

2.2.1.1 Social quest 8
2.2.1.2 Spiritual quest 8

2.2.2 Quest in The Hero´s Walk 8

2.3 Family plot 9

2.3.1 Theoretical part 9

2.3.1.1 The generation plot 11
2.3.1.2 The mother-daughter-plot 11

2.3.2 Family plot in The Hero´s Walk 12

2.4 Concepts of characters 13

2.4.1 Static vs. dynamic characters 14
2.4.2 Monodimensional vs. multidimensional characters 14
2.4.3 The female protagonists in The Hero´s Walk 15

2.4.3.1 Ammayya 15
2.4.3.2 Putti 18
2.4.3.3 Nirmala 21

3 Summary 23

4 Bibliography 24

4.1 Primary Literature 24
4.2 Secondary Literature 24

I find it touchingly heroic to just see people living from the day they´re born until the day they die, so full of hope. You just wake up every morning and expect the next day to go well. And I find that touching. I wanted to work with that idea: that notion of heroism. And I think that´s basically what the book is about.¹

1 Introduction

In Badami´s The Hero´s Walk the reader becomes witness to different heroic lives within an Indian family, both female and male characters. This paper will take a closer look at the female protagonists in the novel and will therefore contribute to investigate "die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen weiblichen Heldentums in der Literatur" (Gutenberg 2000, 11). Already in the early seventies, Joanna Russ (1972) asked: "What Can a Heroine Do?" (quoted in Gutenberg 2000, 11). So the criticism of images of women was extended to a certain degree to a criticism of the fictional plot frame for female characters and therefore to a critical consideration of plot patterns. 

Novels, especially, depend upon what central action can be determined as being performed by the protagonist (or protagonists) – i.e. what can a central character do in a book? An examination of English literature, or Western literature (or Eastern literature, for that matter) reveals that of all the possible actions people can do in fiction, very few can be done by women. (Russ 1972, 4f.; quoted in: Gutenberg 2000, 11) 

In order to raise consciousness for this situation and to show the discrimination against women within a patriarchal society, the women´s movement demanded a more positive female role model in literature, which would allow the female reader to identify herself with the character and would be a more authentic portrayal (Gutenberg 2000, 12).

One of the consequences of now putting more emphasis on female heroism in literature, was the differentiation between the conventional heroine on the one hand and a female hero on the other (Gutenberg, ibd.). Heroine stands for the conventional, more passive woman within a novel, whereas a female hero implies the concept of an active female protagonist who is not exclusively subordinate to a male hero. 

In The Hero´s Walk the reader meets several female heroes who are all part of an Indian family. Badami´s first book, Tamarind Men, is also a novel that focuses on its female protagonists. It is about the relationship between a mother, Saroja, and her daughter, Kamini, who have very different perceptions of a past they both shared. Therefore being accused of being a feminist, Anita Rau Badami once said in an interview: 

“Well, it depends on what you mean by ‘feminist’. If you mean that being a feminist is that somebody expects both sexes to be equal, so long as you both have equal opportunities and the chance to make a decision about where your life is going and the opportunity to work that decision through, the fair chance to do so, then yes, I´m a feminist. […] Now there is more awareness that women have a right to be treated as equals so perhaps the need has faded a bit. I mean there is still a need to yell and shout and scream a bit.”² 

This paper will firstly take a closer look at certain plot patterns and will then investigate how these patterns can be applied to the novel. Afterwards, we will deal with different concepts of characters – how they can be categorised and analysed and we will then try to describe some of the female protagonists of The Hero´s Walk.

2 The Hero´s Walk and its female heroes

First of all, the different ways of how plots and literary characters can be analysed or categorised will be taken into consideration. This typology will be followed by the application of this "theoretical equipment" on the female protagonists of the novel by taking a closer look on them.

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1 http://www.janmag.com/profiles/raubadami.html (6.10.2003)

2 http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/96-3/issue6/anita.html (06.10.2003)