Yes. She is his wife. It is said she was born as his wife! Her parents celebrated her marriage by force in her tenth year itself. She also does not deny it, and it happened a long time ago!

She was his wife four years ago. But now? We cannot say so. As per law, if a husband and wife do not live together for two years, she can get divorced from him. At least she has the right to say she is not his wife. She can lead an independent life.

But she does not know any of these things. Even if she knows, she does not derive additional benefit. As a matter of fact, the opportunity did not arise for her to divorce him. As for her life, she has been living independently for four years. Even when he was with her, did she live happily, sitting pretty!

He went away. Where he went no one knows. It is not known how far away he went. But she had great confidence that he was not dead. That may be the reason why she wears bangles like a married woman who has a living husband. Whenever possible, she puts on the bindi on her brow. The villagers treat her as a married woman whose husband was alive.

But we cannot say she still loves him. We cannot also say at the same time that she hates him with all her heart. There is never a day when she does not remember him on some occasion or other. There is not a day she does not curse him. There is not a day she does not cry. That is her life.

He left her. We cannot also say he left her for good. He simply left her and went away. That was all. There was no information from him. For the last four years they had been living their lives for themselves separately.

It is doubtful whether he knows how she is living now! It is also not known whether he remembers her at all. In the beginning she entertained some hope. But her tree of hope dried up. She also dried up and became a skeleton of a dried-up tree.

She has her parents, elder brother, younger brother and younger sister. She has other male and female relatives. Yet she runs her family all alone. Her self-respect does not permit her to shift her family to her parents. Anyway, what is it she gains by living with others? They live their lives separately. She was brought up only for marriage like many others.

That is why she lives in the hut left by him. She lives with the children left by him. She lives in the memory of his having left her. She lives as a guardian of the responsibilities left behind by him.

All people in the village knew that he had left her and gone. Yet his shadow follows her like an evil force all the time. Perhaps he is not responsible for her difficulties. She is tortured by the middlemen and those who became rich all of a sudden and with the problems and difficulties they create for her. Her sky is a lonely sky. The sky over that village is filled with restrictions, hopelessness and darkness. Her small heart is filled with fear.

Yet, she is living. She cannot but live and so she is living. She hates suicide. She fears it. So, she lives. She loves her children. So, she lives. That is the reason she did not die. That was the reason she could not die though she thought of dying. Perhaps the newly rich thought that that was the crime she had committed.

Their sight was too sharp. There is no count as to how many times her body was pierced and injured because of their sharp looks. There is no benefit even if the number is counted. Her hut was pulled down into a heap four times by now. They made her shelter less.

Her wounds reveal that her body responds to touch. The wounds confine her to her cot for a week or ten days. The agony of those days will be of a different kind. That it would have been good if one of them had died. Those curses and beatings are because of him. Something seems to have happened sometime back! He was involved in it! If it was not known where to search for him, this was the method to be adopted. But it is nowhere written like that. Yet what is done is that. In that manner he did not leave her all these four years. Yet he is not seen. Now and then he is heard of in this manner.

The spring in her life faded again and again. The happy days when she lived with him were also receding into the background. In recent times nothing had been heard of him also. She was happy that her body was not being subjected to wounds. Fear for some other reason, agitation and in this manner, she lost peace of mind. The silence was giving her greater pain. That means she was still loving him. She was living like his wife. Yet he is not seen, is not heard of.

The sound that had gone silent suddenly exploded. Somewhere a newly rich had died. The storm that raged as a result swept off her hut and destroyed five other houses in the village. Hundreds more houses were razed to the ground in neighboring villages. 

It was his shadow that made her shelter less for the fifth time. Her six-year-old daughter was lying in a pool of blood with a broken head. The eleven-year-old son had a broken hand. She had fallen down and was unable to move. They remained like ruins in the ruined hut for seven days.

The newly rich attackers warned the villagers saying that if they gave her shelter or rebuilt her hut, they too would suffer the same fate as her. For another ten days fear ruled the place. Later the village erected her hut again. It had only a look of a hut, but it was no hut of the past. The old articles were also not there. It was a shelter that looked like a pandal. She wiped her tears with gratitude thinking that it was itself a great boon.

Her eyes had not yet dried up, which she had wiped. She heard another news. When the news was brought to her, he was not alive. They did not hand over to her at least his dead body. They killed him and burnt his body to ashes somewhere. She could not believe the news which she did not see with her own eyes. A little hope glowed feebly in her mind.

Hardly a month passed when her young daughter told her mother that an account was written about her father. Her tender hand held a colored paper. It contained her father’s photograph. She wept uncontrollably.

In that manner he left them for good. Another chapter in her life ended abruptly. Yet strangely, his responsibilities were still with her. His responsibilities became her responsibilities and controlled her life. She did not desire such a life. As for him, not only his life, even his death took place in the way he desired. Though without her volition, her life took the same old shape.

She can remarry without her second marriage, creating problems for her responsibilities and sacrifices. Society could not inject courage into her for a second marriage. So, she could not opt for a second marriage. 

Time was passing. She was growing in years. Along with experiences, her courage was also growing. Now she collected her courage to re-marry, not caring for the jibes and remarks of society. But she cannot marry now. Her children were not prepared to forgive her now. They wanted their mother from earlier times. Even if she had a second husband, she wants children like the earlier children. She wants both things. But society asked her to choose one of them. She opted for affection, love and motherliness. So, in her proverbial hundred years of married life, the eight years she spent with him remained her boon.

~*~

Now she has grown into an old woman. Her son who grew up and supported, her, died like his father. Her daughter, who married, remained in her new home without going back to her mother, like her mother.

She grew blind. She cannot see any of her people. Tragedy has been taking place in her life again and again. Tragedy entered her house more severely and cruelly than the earlier times, the mother losing her children.

Another colored paper in her changeless life in which her problems were not solved. The paper contained only details about his birthplace, the manner he grew up and the deeds he had done. There were also compensation and condolence. But it did not mention anything of the sacrifices she had made. But anyway, she does not know anything about these. Though she knew, nothing could be done about it.

That paper closed midway to another chapter in her life more unexpectedly. At the end, like a twisted ripe leaf falling off in the forest, she too died with a body shriveled in wrinkles.

Those who knew her remembered her as the daughter of so-and-so. Some praised her, saying that she was ‘that’ man’s wife. Many extolled her as the mother of that boy. In this way, this father- oriented language made her the daughter of someone, as someone’s wife, a mother of so-and-so and not recognize her as an individual having a name for herself. Unless there were such ideas, a language also will exist. She was born and bred not to live her life. She passed away in a life which was not hers. Society expected from her only sacrifice and her life had no rights. She is the stone edict of sacrifice which melts away in all circumstances. This is the history of her sacrifices made to society while supporting her family. Her name is ‘Housewife’.

Original Telugu published in Nalupu fortnightly, (May, 1991)

Critical Review of the above story by Dr. Kolahalam Ram Kishore

"Housewife" is a powerful and emotional story. It describes the life of an unnamed woman who is abandoned by her husband. The story follows her struggles over many years...from being a young bride to becoming an old, blind woman. This review will look at the story from different angles: literary, social, psychological, and feminist.

Summary of the story:

The story begins with a woman who was forced to marry at the age of ten. Her husband leaves her without any explanation. She lives alone for four years, raising their two children in a hut. The villagers still treat her as a married woman because she wears bangles and a bindi. She does not know that she has the legal right to divorce him.

Even though he is gone, she suffers greatly. Rich and powerful men in the village harass her. They destroy her hut four times, beat her, and leave her injured. Her children are also hurt, her daughter’s head is broken, and her son’s arm is broken. Eventually, she learns that her husband has been killed and his body burned. Later, her son also dies like his father. Her daughter marries and never returns. The woman grows blind and dies alone. Society remembers her only as someone’s daughter, wife, or mother—never as an individual.

Literary Analysis:

The story is written in simple, direct English, which makes it easy to read. The author uses short sentences and repetition to show the woman’s pain and loneliness. For example: “There is never a day when she does not remember him… There is not a day she does not curse him. There is not a day she does not cry.” This repetition creates a rhythmic, sad effect.

The author also uses powerful metaphors:

 “Her tree of hope dried up. She also dried up and became a skeleton of a dried-up tree.”

“Her sky is a lonely sky. The sky over that village is filled with restrictions, hopelessness and darkness.”

The title “Housewife” is ironic. The woman is not just a housewife, she is a laborer, a single mother, a victim, and a survivor. But society reduces her to only that one role.

Social and Cultural Perspective:

The story strongly criticizes Indian rural society in the 20th century (and even today in many places). Key social issues shown are:

1. Child marriage – She is married at ten without her consent.
2. Abandonment – Her husband leaves without responsibility.
3. Lack of legal awareness – She does not know she can seek divorce or maintenance.
4. Harassment by powerful men – “Newly rich” men beat her and destroy her home.
5. No community support – Villagers are afraid to help her because of threats.
6. Pressure against remarriage Society does not give her courage to remarry. Later, her children oppose it.
7. Patriarchal language, The story ends with a strong statement: “This father-oriented language made her the daughter of someone, as someone’s wife, a mother of so-and-so and not recognize her as an individual.”

Psychological Perspective:

The woman shows complex emotions. She does not fully love her husband, but she does not fully hate him either. She remembers him daily, curses him, and cries for him. She keeps wearing bangles because she believes he is alive. This shows denial and hopeful thinking, common responses to traumatic abandonment.

She suffers from:

· Fear – “Her small heart is filled with fear.”
· Depression – She thinks of dying but cannot do it.
· Resilience – She lives for her children. “She cannot but live and so she is living.”
· Guilt and confusion – When she finally gathers courage to remarry, her children refuse to accept it.

Her blindness at the end is symbolic. It represents how society never truly “saw” her as a person.

Feminist Perspective:

From a feminist view, this story is a strong critique of patriarchy. The woman’s entire life is defined by men: her father (who married her off), her husband (who abandoned her), her son (who died), and the rich men (who abused her). She has no independent identity.

Key feminist observations:

• She was “born and bred not to live her life.”
• “Society expected from her only sacrifice and her life had no rights.”
• She is called a “stone edict of sacrifice” ... meaning she is like a monument that only shows sacrifice, not her own desires.
• Even in death, people do not use her own name. They say “daughter of…”, “wife of…”, “mother of…”

The story also shows how women are trapped between choices. She wants both a second husband and her children’s love, but society forces her to choose only one. She chooses motherly love and sacrifices her own happiness again.

Strengths of the story:

1. Emotional impact – The story touches the heart. The suffering is described honestly without being too dramatic.

2. Universal theme – Though set in rural India, the problem of unrecognized women’s labor and identity exists everywhere.

3. Strong ending – The last lines are unforgettable: “Her name is ‘Housewife’.” This turns a common word into a tragic title.

4. Social message – The story educates readers about legal rights, child marriage, domestic violence, and the need to see women as individuals.

Weaknesses or Limitations of the story:

1. The husband’s background is unclear – Why did he leave? What was his “involvement” in something? The story hints but never explains. Some readers may find this frustrating.

2. Passive portrayal – The woman never takes strong action. She never goes to court, never fights back, never leaves the village. While this may be realistic, some readers may wish for more agency.

3. Dated context – The story is from 1991. Laws and awareness have improved in India since then (e.g., Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005). A modern reader might note this.

4. No names – Not giving the woman a name is a literary choice, but it also makes it harder to connect deeply with her as an individual.

Comparison with Other Works:

This Story can be compared to:

· “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman ... both show women trapped by domestic roles and ignored by society.

· “A Woman’s Place” by various feminist writers ... on invisible household labor.

· Real-life stories of Indian women abandoned by NRI husbands or local husbands ... still common in newspapers today.

Conclusion:

“Housewife” is a short but very powerful story. Through simple language and heartbreaking details, it shows the life of a woman who is never allowed to be her own person. She is married as a child, abandoned as a young woman, beaten and silenced by powerful men, rejected by society when she thinks of remarriage, and finally forgotten as just a “housewife.”

The story is not just a story but ... it is a social document. It reminds us that:

· Every housewife is an individual with her own name and dreams.

· Sacrifice should not be the only identity of a woman.

· Laws, education, and social support are necessary to protect women from such fates.

I recommend this Story to anyone interested in gender studies, Indian literature, social justice, or human psychology. It is a sad but necessary read.

My personal Rating to this Story : 4.5/5
(For emotional power and social relevance. Minus 0.5 for unclear parts about the husband’s past.)

Final line from the story to remember:

“She was born and bred not to live her life. She passed away in a life which was not hers.”