Eunice de Souza is widely known as a famous Indian English woman poet who raises her voice for the woman in contemporary world scenario. She chooses poetry as a medium to show her protest and to show the position of woman to transform it. Sometimes she has shared her personal experiences and connects herself with all women. Her collection of poems are Fix (1979), Women in Dutch Painting(1988), Way of Belonging (1990), Selected and New Poems (1994) and many more.
Actually women are always placed as secondary position in this society although they are the other half of the whole human existence and race. Gender discrimination always prevails here as women in India always suffer in school, college, before marriage, after marriage as because of their biological exclusivity, dislocated imperfect society. In this context Eunice de Souza’s poetry shows the ambivalence in women along with physical and psychological position of women in our society. She shows not a particular woman but the whole women race as they are troubled, unfixed, tormented, and confused.
In her poems we find that she shows her concern for woman. She shows the dislocation of mother, daughter, wife in a same way as the different roles of woman suffered different problems. As a feminist poet, in her poems, she deals with the lives of women in Indian context. In some of her poems she advices women about their roles in the society, and in some other, she criticizes the follies in women for which they have remained subordinate to and dependent on men. In the poem, Advice to Women, she tries to make the women aware of their pains and the reasons behind those pains.
The poem is very short, comprising of only twelve lines of irregular length and without any regular rhyme scheme. The poem begins as Medias res. It seems as if the poet has been discussing about the subject of the poem-the crisis of women to cope with the situation when they are jilted in love-for some time, and now she is advising them to find out a solution of it. The very first line appears in an imperative mode- Keep cats. There is no subject of the sentence and the readers have to assume it as the whole womankind as the title suggests that the poem is an ‘Advice to Women‘.
Eunice de Souza begins her ‘advice’ in a decisive and confident tone-
“Keep cats
if you want to learn to cope with
the otherness of lovers.”
The readers at once get surprised at the suggestion. It is clear that the subject of the poem is the otherness of the lovers towards their beloved ladies. It is expected from a feminist poet to speak about the deprived condition of women in both domestic and social fields. Women are jilted in love; they are suppressed, robbed of their right to speak and to act according to their wish. It has been an elemental duty of a feminist author to speak for the equal right of women and protest against all injustices against women. But Eunice de Souza, in this poem does not tell women to protest against these injustices. She advises to rear cats as pets. This surprising suggestion immediately draws interest of the readers to the subject of the poem. The first thing to be discussed is the word ‘otherness’. The word implies a strange and changed behaviour that is not expected from the person. It may be a situation when the woman feels unloved and alone in presence or absence of her lover. A woman, according to feminist propaganda, should resist against this humiliation and, conventionally, she is asked by a feminist author to take a firm stance against her lover to know his mind. But Eunice de Souza does not suggest anything like that. She suggests to ‘Keep cats. And we should also focus on the word ‘cope with’. She says that women should find a way to cope with the ‘otherness’ of their lovers and one such way is to rear cats in their houses. To cope with means to manage or to handle something effectively. That means, the poetess suggests that women can handle this situation through rearing cats. But why? Why does not she suggest a verbal protest? Why does she suggest such apparently irrelevant means? Does she think that women have no other choice but to make a truce with her situation and her lover? Does she accept that women are inferior to men and it is their destiny to adjust with all the adversities? The interest in the reader about the poem grows further with this dilemma. The poetess further explains that –
“Otherness is not always neglect”
That means, she does not include the act of neglecting in the behavioural otherness as only criteria, so the lover can behave otherly even without neglecting his beloved lady. Then, the poet again mentions the case of cats.
“Cats return to their litter trays
when they need to.”
Now this ‘litter-trays’ are a kind of trays containing some absorbent granules to absorb the excretes of cats when they are indoors.
The indispensable questions that arise in the mind of the reader after reading the first six lines of the poem are -What is the relation between a cat and the deplorable situation of a woman? How can the practice of rearing cats enable women to cope with the otherness of their lovers?
To find answers to these questions, first, we have to find answers to another set of questions – Why does the poet suggest keeping cats instead of dogs? What is special about keeping cats or how do cats behave as pets? Cats behave very uniquely as pets. There is a strange type of majesty and haughtiness in their movement and they never become obedient completely to their keepers. They are slaves of their own whims. To train those cats, the keeper has to possess. enormous depth of patience and perseverance. To speak more elaborately, cats are not as faithful as dogs. Cats demands pampering, they enjoy the coziness of the household and the lap of their keeper, but they never endure complete obedience to their keeper. So cats, in this poem, are a symbol of a kind of unique psychology. Cats do show otherness in their behaviour time and again.
So if women practice rearing of cats in their houses, they would definitely grow the habit of keeping patience and perseverance. They will have the habit of facing behavioural otherness of dear ones as cats will become dear to them. as pets. They will have to consider that cats will not always behave according to their wishes. Gradually, a habit of mutual sustenance of parallel existence will evolve. According to Eunice de Souza, this psychological tranformation is the primary requirement for a woman to answer back the otherness of her lover. With this resolution of being indifferent to the indifference of lovers, the poet asserts that – Otherness is not always neglect (1. 4) – as the woman has already seen that her pet cats return ‘to their litter trays/ when they need to (II. 5-6). If we dive deep into the metaphor of returning to litter-trays, we find that the men are compared to the pet cats in this stanza and the women are compared to fond but resolute keepers of those cats. As cats cannot stay away from the litter-trays at their most urgent need, men are also compelled to return to their ladies to refresh themselves in body and mind. A woman should have confidence in herself about this moment and, perhaps, Eunice de Souza suggests women to utilize that urgent moment to answer those men back, in their own manner. That will teach those men a proper lesson.
When we realize the metaphor of cats in this poem, we find it more interesting, when the poetess asks women – “Don’t cuss out of the window at their enemies” (Il. 7-8). The poetess becomes serious from her sarcastic tone of the first stanza (II. 1-6). She analyzes the problem more psychologically in the last six lines. Behind the metaphor of cats, she continues her discussion about how to deal with the fickle attitude of men. She advises women not to be hostile to external provocations to those men (their enemies). Metaphorically, the enemies are the stray cats which envy the domestic coziness and comfort of the pet cats, and they try to provoke those pets to leave behind the security and comfort of household and become wild like them. The keepers cannot resist their pet cats unless they themselves want to stay back. It is because the cats are slaves of their own whims. The poetess tries to make women clear about the fact that they should not get aggrieved at the otherness of their lovers and blame the vices and provocations from outdoors. Instead, they should once again put in use their experience with their pet cats. They should see into ‘those great eyes’ of those pet cats. Cats have “stare of perpetual surprise/ in those great green eyes. (II. 9. 10). The phrase, ‘stare of perpetual surprise’ can be interpreted in more than one ways-
- It can be associated with men;
- It can be associated with women.
(iii) It can be associated with the conjugal love that is at stake at that moment.
(i) In this case, we can take the meaning as camouflage of heart. Men with deceiving heart can wear an innocent look and show surprise at the blames raised against them. We know cats are deceiving in nature. Their wide open eyes never reveal their heart, and they can even steal food in their master’s house. It is their instinct. Eunice de Douza, indirectly places men beside those deceiving cats and makes women aware of this nature of men and asks them to be patient and firm, and not to be carried away by any emotional corrosion.
(ii) In this case, the meaning the phrase takes an innocent nature. Though instinctive, but cats do demand greater pamper from their mistress and their eyes, sometimes make that demand without making any disguise, But still they seek a corner of the house when they are ignored. They do not leave hope, and walks on the lonely balcony, with a hope to be called by their mistress. Their green eyes, a stare of perpetual surprise, always look up at the face of the mistress. This lonely but never-give up attitude of the cats teaches women a lesson.
(ii) In this case, the phrase denotes perhaps the gravest truth. The memories and promises shared and exchanged between two persons wears that ‘stare of perpetual surprise’. Women bears the lion’s share of the weight of this surprise as they try to stick to the root of their relationship and try to survive it, in the face of some false promises of future.
The poetess ends this poem with an omniscient message-
“That stare of perpetual surprise
in those great green eyes
will teach you
to die alone.” (II. 9-12)
Whatever, the meaning of ‘that stare of perpetual surprise’ may be, but the realization it will arouse in a woman, is to accept a life where she is alone among many, she is lonely even is presence of her lover, as he wears a false ‘stare of perpetual surprise’ infront of her hopeful ‘stare of perpetual surprise’, making their relationship, with a ‘stare of perpetual surprise’, an orphan.
One can interpret the poem as a pessimistic one as the poem ends with the phrase ‘to die alone’, foreshadowing a lonely life and an ignored death for women. But the line has a strength of its own. It gives a message to be independent and unique. Every person dies alone. It may sound uncanny but it is the ultimate truth. Eunice de Souza strikes the cord of that universal truth. Women should come out of the false faith on patriarchal shelter. They should feel individual and establish themselves independent of any emotional pampering. Life is a bunch of responsibilities. One has to accomplish them. Women should not get emotionally attached to any bonding of relationship, as cats do not.
Hello, Viewers! Besides being the Founder and Owner of this website, I am a Government Officer. As a hardcore literary lover, I am pursuing my dream by writing notes and articles related to Literature. Drop me a line anytime, whether it’s about any queries or demands or just to share your well-being. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by!
