REVIEW OF ‘THE MIDDLE MAN’
Novel written by SANKAR
(TRANSLATED BY ARUNAVA SINHA)
No doubt this novel,
THE MIDDLEMAN ( originally JANA ARANYA) written by Sankar &
translated by Arunava Sinha, is a work out of sheer brilliance. Describing the
time of recession in Calcutta at the time of 1970s , the story not only has
kept the problem on the table ,but also has pointed out the loopholes of the
entire system –education ,jobs ,government and everything else.
Firstly ,before criticising(good or bad) the novel, we must
get to know the background of the entire story; better to say,we should know
the stage before watching the play. The story is drawn on the plot of recession
stricken Calcutta of 1970s where there is a lot of young ones who were quite
educated but had no job in there hands, good to say they were ‘educated
jobless’, and to the society they were just ‘good for nothing’. The story has a
main character , who , himself being a jobless, symbolises the jobless of not
only Calcutta but also of the society of
all times and places.
The protagonist of THE MIDDLEMAN , is Somnath Banerjee, son
of a retired judge, having two older brothers who are well established, married
and having their time of life. Whereas Somnath, though passed his B.A. exam in
second division, is struggling in his life to have a job, to get onto his own
feet, but was unable. Although Somnath is badly off, his family is not in need
of his income.His struggle is personal, not familial as there are quite
supportive presences in the family such as his sister-in-law Kamala, who
inspite of being in any hard conditions has supported Somnath.
Sankar sketches portraits of men and women within the frames
of an opinionated society overflowing with proclivities. Somnath undergoes a
moment of emasculation when his father attempts to marry him off to a girl who
has a, “slight defect in her left hand,” but is considered a good match for a
boy like him who is unemployed. Of course he can take over the girl’s father’s
business so he gets to kill two birds with one stone. But this incident is
extremely humiliating for Somnath because marriage is the first priority for
girls in this society and a man without a job is considered as burdensome as a
girl who is unmarried.
On the other side of the coin, there is a character like
Sukumar. Whose poverty is another cause (most probably the main cause) of his
struggle to get a job. The portrait of Sukumar is also powerful. He is the
perfect example of how society can drive a person to madness because he does
not fit in. Belonging to a poor family, it has become the only aim of his life
as marriage of three sisters and the whole earning of the family after his
father’s retirement all depends upon him only. The place of a jobless of a poor
family in his house itself is portrayed awfully in the verses of the novel. Sankar
expertly depicts the fellowship of these two hopefuls, Somnath and Sukumar, but
does not fail to remind us of their differences.
There are two another very sound characters in the story.
One is Dwaipayan and another one is Kamala. Dwaipayan is a sound image of a
father who is quite worried of his unemployed son. On the other hand, Kamala is
a loving sister-in-law, fond of her brother-in-law irrespective of his job
perspective and has immense sympathy for both Somnath and his friend Sukumar.
Now coming to the symbolisation of the main protagonist, it
describes a very truth of the backbone-broken society. How a common, honest
person, quite educated,can turn to the
way of a fraud is a main social issue and is brought up on the table by Sankar
in this story through the main protagonist himself. The ways that Somnath had
to choose to get established in life after trying so much but being still a
jobless is not the story of Somnath only, it’s the story of a many jobless who
can’t make out with the adverse conditions of life, take wrong paths to get to
the stream of life. Somnath also tried a lot, but when all went in vain, he had
to take a “wrong turn”. But we see that he realised what he did, his
frustration, unrest condition everything has notified the thought of guilt
within himself inspite of being self-employed.
Another state, another attitude arises- the attitude of ego.
It was well shown through Sukumar’s character. How the stress, the scold of the
family-mates, their words can change the views of an unemployed towards his
near and dear ones is perfectly painted through Sukumar’s character. His
disgust has kept on increasing towards the family, his friends, the society,
the system with the increase in the duration of his unemployment. This state of
mind for a jobless is very natural as is seen in most of the cases. And Sankar
has made no mistake in describing that with real plots.
Coming to the naming of the novel, I think I should go for
both the versions of the title, the Bengali and the English names. The name
‘JANA ARANYA’ as given by Sankar in Bengali
effects the mind of a reader quite differently as is done by the name
‘THE MIDDLEMAN’. Jana-aranya in Bengali is synonymous to a lot of people or a
large community of people. Here the word ‘jana aranya’ no doubt describes the
‘aranya’ of the jobless ‘jana’ or people. The story portrays their social,
habitual, economical, familial conditions to a great extent. It is a story
about them pointing out the status of the society itself, how there is no work
even for the educated, the social exploitation is stated by the author
brilliantly. In that sense, the name fits to the story. Now coming to the
translated story, the name is basically denoting the job that Somnath started
when he had nothing to do, under the consent of someone known. The story is
overall (if not seen deeply according to its social message) a pathway how an
honest, ordinary person becomes a fraud, a middleman after coming under
pressure mentally or whatever. The two words have described the story in short,
have pointed towards all the message that the writer wanted to convey. The
title in this language is too quite apt.
Being a Bengali myself, I have taken the advantage of
reading the story in both the languages. So, talking about the translation made
by Arunava Sinha, it was also a pleasure reading the same in English. At times
the translation is word-wise, at times the translation is feel-wise. It is good
that the translator never tried to stick to any particular form of translation.
It has made the translation much easier to read with all its moves and essences
of the story still glued to it till the last word. As a resolution, I can say
that I’ve enjoyed both the texts with similar extents. Besides Sankar, Arunava
Sinha has also done an awesome job, worth praising.
For the final sentences to arrive, what I didn’t like so
much about the book is that it seemed to be overcome by pity for the unemployed
protagonist and others like him. Moreover, the two main protagonist only tried
for the jobs which they might have thought of their own ‘status’ or match
somehow with their educational qualifications. They have not tried for menial
jobs or small businesses which could at least give them something to stand
with. Circumstances at the time may have been such that this course of action
would have proved unfruitful: but the fact that they don’t even try holds you
back from really feeling sorry for them.
Although it is written in a smooth, unornamented prose, the
novel’s achievement is deceptive. One would have to draw a diagram of the plot
to see how deftly Somnath’s encounters with the different people in his life,
his shuttling between home and the world, are laid out. There is a
heartbreaking tenderness about some of the family scenes, and then a powerful
hunger and ruthlessness about the world of deals and commissions; yet these
realms are not a pair of simple contrasts, and at times it appears that it is
the family that is unreasonable and the world of commerce a better arbiter of
worth.
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