The Rape of Women in Draupadi, by Mahasweta Devi, and Open It,”by Saad

The transgress of Women in Draupadi, by Mahasweta Devi, and Open It, by Saadat Hasan MantoWhere there is war, there is the break and abuse of women. From the trojan horse War to the Middle East conflict, rape has been a tactic of war. Rape is commonly viewed by society as a symbol of young-bearing(prenominal) degradation, female submission, and the stripping of honor and humanity. In the stories Draupadi, by Mahasweta Devi, and Open It, by Saadat Hasan Manto, the rape of women is a common theme. In Mantos Open It, a young girl, Sakina, is raped by young men of her company, while in Devis Draupadi, a tribal rebel is raped by governing of the state. While the storylines of these pieces be rather similar, the portrayal of the rape and the responses of the young women are exceedingly assorted. Both authors use the disrobing of garments to create a dramatic climax. However, the single climaxes convey contrasting ideas about the rape and degradation of women. In Draupadi, the in stitution of garments reveals immense female power. In Open It, the disrobing of garments reveals helpless female submission. notwithstanding these differences, however, both acts of disrobing result in a striking male reaction and symbolize the remarkable survival of these battered and abused women. The circumstances of the rape and the personalities of the rape victims are truly different in Open It and Draupadi. In Mantos story, a father is desperately looking for his daughter, Sakina, in the thick of the chaos and disorder of zone. He asks self appointed social workers of the community to help him find Sakina. When Sakina is approached by these men, her initial reaction is one of dash The moment she heard the truck, she began to run (Manto 360). ... ...r remarkable survival. Although society will of all time have preconceptions of rape and how a woman should and will react to creation raped, it is apparent through Draupadi and Open It that being raped is a very personal ex perience. It is an experience unique to women that shadow yield very different reactions. Rape can make a woman, like it did Dopdi, or it can break a woman like it did Sakina. Because being raped is such(prenominal) a personal experience, a womans reaction to such a trauma should not and can not be judged. Whether a woman is strengthened or weakened through rape, it does not matter. What matters is that she survives. whole kit CitedDevi, Mahasweta. Draupadi. In Other Worlds. Ed. Chakravorty Spriak. New York and London Routledge, 1987. Manto Hasan, Saadat. Open It. Stories about the Partition of India. Ed. Alok Bhalla. New Delhi Harper Collins, 1999.