Depiction of the 'Whore Image' in the Poems of Jayanta Mahapatra: A Critical Analysis of Select Poems

Abstract

The present research paper has been written with the primary objective to investigate Jayant Mahapatra's numerous poems that throws light on the dark side of the society. He keeps a critical eye on the whore image through his works. His works focuses on the depictions of the abject and pitiable circumstances of such women who have been objectified for sexual gratification. Such women are forced to such pathetic and horrendous condition without having another option for their survival. This paper focuses on the real life experience and the treatment they receive from this patriarchal society which is sexually perverted and seeks physical pleasure and mental relief among the prostitutes. He has focused on the intimate desires of the male sex and laid bare the cruelty of it over the female prostitute with distinct picturization of the receiver's anatomy and the act in itself without letting it slip into the erotic realm of the literary creation. He refers his female characters in third person. Very rare they have been addressed by their names. They exist without any name which exhibits the unnoticed, unappreciated and insufficient existence in the society. They have been viewed through male centered lens and suffer sexual, physical objectification. The dark and dull moment of the life of prostitutes has been documented. The prostitution business has been filled with the plight of women where they have been trapped in the trade of sexual gratification in sexually perverted society. He used his literary craft in sensitizing the well-to-do world of the plight of the destitute and desperately worked to bring a positive change through his writings.