Gaban is one of
the famous novels written by Premchand and published in 1931. The literal
meaning of Gaban is embezzlement. The title of the novel Gaban seems
metaphoric. The only time when embezzlement occurs in the novel is when
Ramanath stole the jewel from his wife while leads the sequence of bad
consequences on Ramanath. So the alternate title of novel should be ‘the stolen
jewel’.
Premchand had written the novel in realism style. Premchand
used the characters in such a way that the reader will feel himself lost in the
novel as the real life. Gaban is a classic novel which describes the true
picture of Indian society. The novel tells us about the social and economic
condition of India before the independence. The love of jewel for a woman in
Indian society is beautifully described by Premchand through the character of
Jalpa.
Jalpa loved the jewel from her childhood. In her childhood
she used to wear a plastic necklace. Her love for jewels was greater than
anything in her life. Premchand used the character Jalpa to show the affection
and love for jewels in Indian women. When Jalpa married to Ramanath she did not
get any chandrahar. She was very sad. She did not talk much to her husband and
family members. Ramanath loved his wife but when he saw no way to pay the rent
money he stole her jewels. He was so ashamed of his actions that he left the
home without telling anyone and gone to Calcutta. Jalpa’s friend Ratan is
married to a rich advocate. Her husband had a big house. When her husband died
the money and house of her husband had gone to relatives of her husband because
they have joint family. In Indian society the money of a person after his death
belongs to the widow only if the person did not have a joint family. Ratan
loved her house like her children from the time she entered in the house so
when the house is taken away from her after her husband’s death she refused to
leave the house but in the end she was bound with the laws of Indian society so
she decided to leave the house and do the job to live by herself without help
of anyone. Premchand beautifully described how the foolish laws in Indian
society cause the suffering for many widows.
Premchand also showed the polluted conditions of police
system in Indian society. The peoples who are supposed to protect innocent
persons are making them suffer. In the novel when Ramanath run away from home
and started to live in Calcutta he was always afraid of policeman because he
illegally used government money for his personal use. Jalpa had a change of
heart and she started to love his husband more than jewels. She returned the
money taken from municipal office but Ramanath did not know about this. When
police arrested him he gave fake name and address to hide his identity. Police
used this opportunity to take advantage of him so they keep him in dark forced
him to give false testimony. They made him their agent to give fake
testimonies. Jalpa used chess prize trick to find Ramanath. She tried to
contact Ramanath but he was prisoned in big house so she wrote him letter to
tell the whole truth. When Ramanath read the letter he was so ashamed of
himself. He decided to change his testimony and told the police that he did not
committed any crime so he is no longer police service man. Police decided for
comfort him but Ramanath did not listen to them. In the end police threaten him
that they will put him and his family in jail. Ramanath got scared to death
after hearing such threat from police. He knows that police will take his
family into custody by any mean so he remains silence.
So in the end I liked the novel Gaban. The impressive use of
vivid characters in the novel by Premchand keeps the novel interesting till the
very end. Premchand used different characters to show the state of Indian
society. The character of Jalpa is used to show the classical love of jewels
for an Indian woman. The character of Ratan is used to show the miserable
condition of a widow in Indian society. In Indian society the widows had always
suffered after the death of their husband in both emotional and economical
ways. The character of Daroga is used to show the fake mask wearing police
officers in Indian society who sucks the blood of innocent peoples to make
their life comfortable and luxury. Police who is supposed to protect innocent
peoples from crimes are committing crimes one after one in the dark so that
their reputation will not spoil. Premchand wants the readers to think about
such improper activities which are polluting the society and take actions to
remove the bad government peoples from the society.
So after reading the novel I think the novel is overall
great and interesting. It reflects the true face of Indian society. So the
readers should think seriously about their society’s welfare. Laws should be
made in the society to support helpless widows. Strict rules should be made so
that police do their job well. There is a lesson for women of Indian society in
this novel also. Women should not put so much affection for jewels instead of
welfare of her family. So in the end the novel Gaban is overall interesting.
Very nice
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