Q. Critically analyze the story of either Mulk Raj Anand's " Two Lady Rams " .

Hi

The story " two lady rams" revolves around the theme call " indianness". It is very difficult to define the meaning of the term in clear sense and precise words. It is like a broad umbrella and comprise of everything deeply rooted in the indian culture and soil.

MULK RAJ ANAND is the writer of the 'two lady rams". He is one of the prominent indian literary figure of 1930s.  It is a short story about lalla jhinda ram and his two wives, sukhi and sakuntala. The two wives constantly battling between themselves for their Husband's attention. Confused jhinda ram divides the house in two wings one for each wife. He also divides the household works to keep both of them far apart from each other. The conflict arised when jhinda ram was given the knighthood and invited to the garden part along with lady ram. Since the invitation mentioned 'lady ram' he had to choose one of his wives for the garden party.

The above story points out the bigamy that was once accepted by the indian society. It is a humerous story but criticizing the social standards.  It out the downside of the indian patriarchal society as it is shown that men were free to marry multiple times if their wife is unable to bear children highlighting the discrimination against the women that existed in the society. It also brings out the fact that women didn't have their individual identity and often referred with the husband's name and occupation. In the story the 1st wife of jhinda ram accepted the harsh truth about her husband's second marriage with any protest against the injustice down towards her. It is shown that a woman's only value is her ability to produce heir for the family potraying a certain double standard that existed in the indian society where woman were defined according to their spouse. The story brings out the constant struggle between two wives to get the attention of their husband. It is also astonishing as a reader to find a woman willing to marry an already married man. It is also noticed in the story that jhinda ram is able to bend or make new rules according to his will as he had the power and money to do so which concludes that irrespective of time and eras power and money has always been the deciding factor in most fields

Hope this helps