As a result of Munshiji’s distrustfulness towards the legitimate relationship between Mansaram and Nirmala, Nirmala is forced to avoid Mansaram and obliged to act hostile to him when her husband is around. This generates a disapproval of Nirmala among her family members because they believe that she falsely accuses Munshiji’s sons to obtain all his wealth for herself. Apart from Nirmala trying to prove her innocence to both her husband and other family members, she also feels guilty for the deteriorating health of Mansaram. Instead of another minor character not involved in the problem settling the conflict as in Mulberry and Peach, Premchand utilizes Mansaram who plays a role in the strife of Nirmala to resolve it as well:
“And shall I continue to sit and see her enduring such manifest cruelty? If not for the sake of my own honour, then certainly for the sake of protecting her I’ll have to sacrifice myself.” (Premchand 86).
After Manasaram learns about the innocence of Nirmala, he pines away due to grief through which Premchand ends Nirmala’s struggle to justify her virtue and affliction from regret.
Apart from conflict development, both authors include minor characters to influence the characterization of the female protagonists in their novels and to promote themes. In Mulberry and Peach, the mother of Mulberry controls her husband completely and makes all the decisions because of his impotence which Lao-Shih teases of:
“He can’t even manage his own wife…He’s not a man.’…Your father wounded his “vital part”” (Nieh 18)
Another minor character, Aunt Shen explains her longing for power over men and how she achieves it:
“I held you back on purpose, telling you that you were too soft that you couldn’t take it. I encouraged you to play with the maids, even sleep with Hsing-hsing. I let your father have Phoenix so I could keep him under my control.” (Nieh 86)
Her possessiveness towards her husband and son is immense that she kills her husband’s concubine, bores an illegitimate son and comments negatively about her son to regain control over them. Thus, because two important women in Mulberry’s life crave for power and dictate the men in any way possible, Mulberry herself yearns for dominance over men which she achieves through sexual intercourse. Also, through these minor characters, Nieh conveys the message that women want to acquire command over men even it sabotages their characters like Aunt Shen who acts disgracefully to achieve power. Like Nieh, Premchand’s novel contains minor characters that impact the female protagonist’s characterization. Because of Munshiji’s inability to work after the loss of his son, Nirmala is forced to be frugal which makes her look evil in the eyes of her sister-in-law and step-sons. And, as a result of Munshiji becoming weak and guilty for his son’s death, Nirmala is able to have unrestrained authority over her husband and the other characters that further damages her reputation. Nieh and Premchand depict that female characters gain control over men when the men are frail, in a way that is sometimes considered unjust by other characters. Thus, both authors communicate their view that women are able to attain supremacy over the weakened men though the society scrutinizes and denounces their actions.
Not only do minor characters in both novels support characterization, but authors also utilize them to depict the dreams of the female protagonists apart from promoting their values. In Mulberry and Peach, Sang-Wa, daughter of Mulberry, always looks from a tiny window in the attic at the outside world and hopes she can also experience the freedom which symbolizes Mulberry’s longing for liberty from the attic. Through Sang-Wa, Nieh also conveys the importance of freedom. Similarly, Premchand includes Sudha to illustrate the married life that Nirmala dreams of:
“Seeing their happy married existence she could hardly help feeling sorry for herself…Nirmala’s house could boast of much more than their’s…but for all her wealth Nirmala was miserable and Sudha for all her poverty was happy” (Premchand 109-110).
Indisputably, Nirmala regrets her married life and is envious of Sudha’s. Also, Premchand incorporates Sudha to emphasize a theme that wealth and happiness are unrelated because though Sudha does not have money, she is more joyous than Nirmala who is leading a prosperous but unhappy life.
Because Nieh and Premchand are from revolutionary periods, minor characters in their novels depict the changing world. Mulberry and Peach is set in the backdrop of the Chinese revolution where the old values clashed with the modern communist views. It was a time when
“new ideas were sweeping across China” (Malaspina 21)
and the Chinese were:
“urged to rise up against old traditions” (Malaspina 29)
Throughout the period the boat is stranded on the rocks, the refugee student who is a parallel of the young men during the Chinese revolution with a modern vision and the old man, a representative of the traditions, disagree with each other because of their differing views:
“The old man has been complaining that we are brushing up against each other in the cabin and goes around complaining that ‘men and women shouldn’t mix.’ So he has ordered that men can’t go bare-chested…Refugee student doesn’t pay any attention to him and goes around naked from the waist up.” (Nieh 29).
It is evident from the rebellious imagery of the refugee student ignoring and insulting the old man that the younger generation disapproves the ideas of the older generation and vice versa. Also, by naming the traditional man as “old man” without providing a specific name, the “old” signifies the traditions as ideas of the past. Likewise, Premchand includes minor characters to portray the changing attitudes of women in India during that time. An Indian woman is:
“nothing without the man…must never dare to have a will of her own…A wife is to be considered as a mere maternal machine and domestic drudge” (Padfield 47)
Clearly women held a low status in the Indian society and had to be dependent on men. However, in the novel, the transformation in the reaction of the female characters’ to their husband’s death signals the shift in the view of Indian women. In the beginning of his novel, Kalyani regrets arguing with her husband which partially leads to his death, though it is his irresponsibility that causes the brawl and his fatality. However, later, when Doctor Sahib suddenly dies because he attempts to have an affair with Nirmala for which Sudha, his wife, confronts him, Sudha is not guilty because she feels he deserves it. It is apparent that Sudha is more confident than than Kalyani of her impeccability over her husband’s death and courageous to lead life without her husband.
Though minor characters occur only in small portions of the novels, they play significant roles in the plot development and promotion of themes. Thus, without minor characters, authors will have difficulty devising a plot and ways to communicate their views. They are like pillars of a building without which the building will collapse.
1442 words
Works Cited
Malaspina, Nieh. The Chinese Revolution and Mao Zedong in World History.
New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2004.
Nieh, Hualing. Mulberry and Peach: Two women of China. Trans. Jane Parish Yong.
New York: The Feminist Press, 1998.
Padfield, J.E. The Hindu at home: being sketches of Hindu daily life.
Madras: S.P.C.K. Press, 1908.
Premchand, Munshi. Nirmala. Trans. Alok Rai. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999.
