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| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
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A/L English Literature Made Easy - Short stories Disonchinahamy - by Gunadasa Amarasekara Translated by Ranjani Obeysekara Though Gunadasa Amarasekara is a Dental Surgeon and a busy person he has found time to engage in Literary work. Being a critic, a fiction writer and a poet Gunadasa Amarasekara favoured the "Buddhist way of Life and thinking". He seems to criticise the western lifestyle to which most Sri Lankans are subjected to.
Bandusena is the character symbolising the Sri Lankan lifestyle. The story is titled Disonchinahamy, is about a poor woman from a remote rural area in Sri Lanka. This poor woman residing at Weudatenna, has a tumour in her upper jaw, and how she has been transferred from hospital to hospital and her final destination was a Colombo hospital. Having undergone surgery, she had to face death in a very pathetic manner. Doctor Kumar Jayawardane, in this story, is a man brought up with a western outlook, educated in England and he is a cancer specialist. His father too had been a medical specialist. Doctor Jayawardane is the symbol of "western expertise" and a first class specialist, trained in tumour surgery and was dedicated to his profession. He favoured democracy, thus treating Bandusena, a grade III clerk as a friend. Usually, in Sri Lanka, superiors seldom treat their lower grade employees as equals. They often expect minor employees to honour and respect them. Maybe such a system has come down from our "feudal history". Dr. Jayawardane being incapable of handling letters and conversation in Sinhala, has to find help and support from Bandusena. The "language barrier" is highlighted by the writer emphasising the vast difference between people educated with a western outlook and the less fortunate, who had received their education in their mother tongue. Dr. Jayawardane seems to have realised the difference. He was an alien in his own country. In England there was the colour bar which stood as an obstacle for promotion. Thus Dr. Jayawardane seems to be an 'alien' in his own country and in England, where received his education. Dr. Jayawardane has to face this conflict. Bandusena on the other hand, discourages Dr. Jayawardane reporting the apothecary and the surgeon at Kurunegala, saying that there won't be any favourable effect. The most pathetic scene is created when Disonchinahamy, having undergone surgery ends her life in a pathetic manner. The interest of the reader is attracted by Disonchinahamy the symbol of unfortunate poor people, ignored by the rich, subjected to poverty and indebtedness. Disonchinahamy's letter to her husband reveals her innocent and sincere feelings, of her present situation. Her love for her children and for her husband is highlighted in such a manner so as to highlight the difference between the Sri Lankan villager and the cosmopolitan individual. Disonchinahamy presenting herself to the reader as "an upper jaw floating in a glass jar" in Dr. Jayawardane's "Research Room"; and her body was "amidst a collection of bodies flung on the stone slabs of the dissecting room", showing how "the poor in this country are only material for research". The wailing of Disonchinahamy's husband, "How am I to take her away? What else can I do but stand here and watch you do what you wish with her...? I've pawned our rice ration books to make this journey" Disonchinahamy 's husband's sorrowful wailing and leaving his wife's dead body "to the mercy of the hospital authorities" highlight the helpless and pathetic living condition of the poor villagers in the remote areas of Sri Lanka. Gunadasa Amarasekara reveals clearly the lifestyle of the rural folk, poverty stricken, blessed with big families. Disonchinahamy 's husband hitting his wife with the plate when the little one was crying of hunger. "I saw the little one crying of hunger and couldn't bear it....I threw the plate I had in my hand at her. That was what caused it to swell up sir, kind sir". The words "what am I to do?" reflects his helplessness and the utter negligence of the medicai authorities by keeping her for days transferring her from hospital to hospital. "They kept her for twenty two days and didn't even think of doing a biopsy. I will not let this pass....." Disonchinahamy dying at the age of thirty-eight years, having six children, minus economic security, indebted to rich people, having worked for them throughout their lives paying debts with thier small income, working as daily labourers. The Medical Reports of Disonchinahamy standing witness to her malnutrition"...face and hands and feet show a certain pallor. Endemic malnutrition suspected "A year ago, because of excessive fatigue and panting, stopped work on weeding of the upper section of the hill....." There's a contrast in Disonchinahamy 's pathetic death and Dr. Jayawardane's successful research work. "Disonchinahamy will undoubtedly enter into medical history. I don't think a case like this has ever been reported.... The case of Disonchinahamy, reported from Sri Lanka..." and Bandusena's indifference emphasises the pathetic state of the poor villagers.... and the destitutes like the poor patient who had to end her life at the age of thirty-eight. Bandusena's negative response to Dr. Jayawardane shows that only an ordinary man could understand the suffering of the poor but not the westernised rich folk. "It's a good thing for you, sir, that you don;t understand the Sinhalese language... you are just like our present socialist leaders who can't speak it. Is it surprising that they can't see our suffering?" Dr. Jayawardane, though highly educated has "little capacity for feeling" for he couldn't understand Bandusena's reactions why Bandusena was so sympathitic towards Disonchinahamy after reading the last part of her letter. "If I die, look after my little ones" and her words revealing that Mr. Hitchi owes her three days wages for weeding and money for two bunches of Bananas, revealing how the poor live and die in poverty working for the rich. James Joyce's "Araby" and D. H. Lawrence's "Odour of Chrysenthemums" have a "symbolic approach to the subject" but in "Disonchinahamy" Gunadasa Amarasekara has approched the subject in a different manner. The subject matter is typical of Sri Lankan Society and the characterisation is superb. The language style is not in keeping with the "English style" as this story is a translation but the use of Sinhala idiom has enhanced the mode of presentation familiar to the Sri Lankan reader. "I keep remembering our small son's face" The Sinhala translator of the story has embodied the "emotional content" of the Sinhala language style. Doctor Kumar Jayawardane's character is built up on the background of the rich and highly educated intelligent lot; and unable to understand the mental attitudes, living conditions or the lifestyle of the poor villager; being quite indifferent in feelings and atitudes towards the ordinary people. "On his return he was amazed to see Dr. Jayawardane once again absorbed is his micro cope and back at work as if nothing had happened...." "The nickname "Bashful Maiden" given to Dr. Jayawardane by some new attendants seems very appropriate" and the final paragraph reveals Dr. Jayawardane's visible characteristic, his ardent desire for research and for further research. "Dr. Jayawardane needed only parts of the liver and spleen, seeing that particular part of the body untouched, he was quite content". Mrs. C. Ekanayake, Retd. Specialist Teacher Eng. Lit., St. Anne's College, Kurunegala. |
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In this short story Disonchinahamy, Gunadasa Amarasekara abhors the way
some people have absorbed western culture. The character of Doctor
Jayawardane, in this story symbolises those who have absorbed western
culture. 
