Essay on Lindsey Collens Rape of Sita - 1443 Words

When Rape of Sita was first published it was immediately attacked because of the title linking the Hindu goddess Sita, who symbolized chastity, to the word â€Å"rape.† Even though Collen’s novel does focus around political struggles, literature is not politics. However, literature is able to be a form of social action. What is literature is it doesn’t post those crucial questions that get humans thinking? Collen believes in reflecting on concrete situations and posing moral dilemmas in literature. For her it is a way to share experiences towards the â€Å"other† (Williams 201). The Rape of Sita is a part of a postmodern turn to ethics. Where it uses language to make political comments suggesting a new perspective on history. Williams examines how†¦show more content†¦How the teller has to re-tell a true story anew each time (Williams 204). Iqbal invites the reader to be active. The oral tale usually has a social function of challenging accepted v alues. Which makes the narrative structure so significant that it allows for the telling of a story of rape differently. Williams calls Iqbal’s narrative strategy as being digressive. Iqbal even compares his narrative to a â€Å"bunch of grapes† (Collens 197). Which in turn challenges traditional methods of narration. Gibson refers to The Rape of Sita, as an â€Å"anti-novel† (Williams 205). Williams writes that this narrative hold no real source or authority, no real author, only a chain of memories (205). The spectators have the ability to influence the course of the story, by interpreting and posing questions. Williams uses Gibson again to call this narrative an â€Å"ethics of dissolution† which is seen throughout the novel through, â€Å"repeated and radical interruption of given horizons† (qtd. in Williams 205). Williams calls it a double mainstream story where Sita is trying to remember the rape and the actual story of the rape. There are al so interruptions to discuss characters coming in and out of the narrative to show who Sita is defined by. Thus the writing of this story becomes an action. Williams goes on to comment that the narrator himself actually experiences what is said (207). If a narrator wants to be persuasive they need to adopt the