Abstract
This article examines the social realism in the short fiction of two master narrators from different cultures — O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) from America and Prem Chand (Munshi PremChand) from India — who wrote during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Both writers faithfully reflected the socio-political transformations of their respective societies in their short narratives: O. Henry chronicled the lives of New York’s toiling masses and the social upheavals of industrializing America, while Prem Chand documented the condition of the Indian peasantry and the injustices of caste, colonialism, and economic exploitation during the nationalist period. The article argues that both writers, as social-realists, caused changes in society by projecting the suffering of marginalized groups with deep commitment and artistic power.
Keywords: O. Henry, Prem Chand, short story, social realism, American literature, Indian literature, colonialism, class, gender
Introduction
All writers are true inheritors and by virtue of their creative power contribute in the very process of inheritance. They take whether consciously or not, what their predecessors pass on to them, through the great treasure house of thought and feeling registered in their works. Then from their space in time and place, the socio-political conditions of the immediate world influencing their creativity and their contribution in turn, impact the lives of people; individual lives and also certain section or class of society. This becomes more evident in times of political or socio-economic crises in the lives of nations when they are fighting for freedom, civil rights or some major changes are taking place in the social or political structure of society. Writers as social-realists reflect and thus cause changes in the society at a given point in time.
19th century and early 20th century witnessed this paradigm shift across cultures and literature written there around saw it projected with sincerity and firmness of purpose. In this article I take to find the changes that were taking place and how these were faithfully reflected in the short narrative writings of two master narrators, about their respective cultures and socio-political inheritance — O. Henry and Prem Chand.
O. Henry and Social Realism in America
William Sydney Porter, who wrote under the pen name O. Henry, remains one of the most widely read American short narrative writers — master alike of tragedy, romance extravaganza and tales of the mystery of common life with a special skill in stories of the supernatural. Starting with Cabbages and Kings in 1904, O. Henry established himself as a writer with his second book The Four Million (1906).
Most of his stories depict the life he shared in a constantly shifting scenario suggestive of the city’s colourful, endlessly varied facets. The life he portrays is the real New York of his day with its endless allure, its thousands of beckoning contrarieties and denials and true to life characters. The toiling masses, the new work culture, women-over-the-counter, the laughter shading off into signs of sadness and even despair — O. Henry vividly pictures the given New York culture.
In his stories we find suffering damsels, joyless existence of the shop girls — a picture of the new life culture representative of the changes that gave a new look to and affected every walk of life in turn resulting in the changed attitudes and thinking of members of this new emerging society and their values. His short stories reflect a period just becoming fully aware of the hardening class structure which a burgeoning industrial era had imposed on America’s democratic society. It is said that these stories caused Theodore Roosevelt to admit that it was O. Henry who started him on his campaign for office girls.
Prem Chand and Social Realism in India
India of 19th century presented a confused and complex socio-political and cultural situation — the time of British rule in India. Munshie PremChand is credited with having created the genre of serious short story and transforming fiction in both Urdu and Hindi languages — from rambling romantic chronicle or didactic tales to a high level of realistic narrative. His nearly three decade career span 1907-1936 was politically and socially important for India and was enlightening for its thinkers and writers who were passing through a phase of immense western literary influence.
Prem Chand relates the inner conflict in the minds of individuals to the social environment. Even family relationships are viewed as being determined by social forces. In his stories he also projects the social ills rampant among the ignorant masses who awkwardly stood at the political and historical crossroads. Sadgati depicts the trauma of these unfortunates whose very existence is a bitter comment on the Indian caste system and the traditions and customs of Indian society. Here a Brahmin, a professional priest who accepts money and gifts from his clients for performing sacrificial ceremonies and for advising them regarding auspicious and inauspicious dates, subjects a poor chamar Dukhi to ruthless physical labour refusing him even water to drink, leading to his tragic death.
Kafan is another story about the bitter reality of our world. Here poverty stricken father and son collect money for the shroud of the daughter-in-law of the house and by the time they collect it they are too tired and thirsty and spend the entire begged sum on cheap liquor. Prem Chand thus makes his writings representational and reflective of the time, registering the importance of historical events in the life of the people and the nation.
Conclusion
Thus we find the two master narrators through the art of social realism in their writings, projecting and leaving this wealth of ideas for future generations, their deep concern for their people — different sections of the society and different groups, men, women alike, who were grappling with the high tide of change, brought about by the political events on the shifting sands of time. Both perhaps were less concerned with politics but the sociological aspect of these happenings which often meant immense suffering and pain of the weak and the down trodden, the less privileged and the lowly born as a whole, prompted the commitment of these agents of change. Man remained the subject of their narratives — benefiting from the wisdom of their predecessors like true inheritors, they churned out what made them more than mere writers, for their future generations to look up to and revere.
Note
All text quotes of O.Henry’s stories are from Collected Stories of O.Henry. New Delhi, Rupa and Co.1988.