Portrayal of Womanhood in Godavari

Before Godavari we have read a lot about womanhood by some of the most distinguished writers of Urdu prose Minto and Intizar Husain but Fehmida Riaz has a complete different picture of womanhood in her writing. It could be because of the fact that now we are reading about a woman from the view of a woman and we cannot help being unimpressed by this kind of narrative. Before Godavari we have seen women like Sultana, Sogandhi and Sabira but Maa’s character is different because she is not free and independent like them. Fehmida Riaz succinctly reveals her picture of womanhood by using a woman who is restricted in a society which is run by Men like Baa. This kind of representation definitely goes with the reality. Maa looks determined to move along and handle the problems but at the same time Usha is present to tempt her to free herself from all the worries. Womanhood in Godavari is also dazzling because now we can see Men from the point of view of Women. Baa and Siva Ji represent manhood that is very much different from other characters studied before. Their characters do not have any commendable attributes and Fehmida Riaz also can’t help using the terms like Kutta for Men. Men have been objectified in Godavari like women were in Minto’s stories. Minto describes a woman by the attributes of her physique in the same way Fehmida Riaz talks about men here. This is confusing and interesting at the same time because we have never read this kind of thing before.