Identity Complexity in "In Other Rooms and Wonders"

COMPLEXITY OF IDENTITY IN
“IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER

WONDERS” BY DANIYAL
MUEENUDDIN
Presented by:
Areeba Aftab, Urooj Mohsin and Tayyaba Kanwal
Introduction:
◦Identity complexities in the short stories of Pakistani English writer Daniyal
Mueenuddin from his collection of short stories titled In Other Rooms, Other
Wonders.
◦The stories portray characters exhibiting their hybrid identities while being
caught up in a complex interplay of class, wealth and gender.
◦ The characters’ identity is constantly bombarded and they are forced to do
things by those in authority which infiltrates their ideologies and standpoints.
◦This study is anchored in Lisa Lau and Ana Cristina Mendes’ concept of ‘re-
orientalism’ and intends to explore how identities of characters are lost or
merged when a difference of two spaces ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ occurs.
.
◦How does the concept of ‘Other’ and ‘Self’ dismantle the identities of
characters in short stories ‘Provide, Provide’ and ‘In Other Rooms, Other
Wonders’?
◦How does the elites dominate superiority over the ‘Others’ in short stories
‘Provide, Provide’ and ‘In Other Rooms, Other Wonders’?
‘Self’ and ‘Other’:
◦From the work of Lisa Lau and Ana Cristina Mendes’s Re-Orientalism and
South Asian Identity Politics.
◦Other can be visualized in various terms of difference – those of gender,
sexuality , race, color, culture, class and so forth, or a combination of two or
more of these.
◦There has to be a relationship between the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’.
◦‘Other’ is a threat to the existence of ‘Self’.
◦In the short stories, the lower class is associated negative connotations, treated
as a mere other and considered as a threat to the members of elite status.
‘In Other Rooms, Other Wonders’
Introduction:
◦“In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” show elements of the life of Harouni & his
relationship to Husna.
◦She was a poor-girl , looking for a job. For this purpose she came to him for
financial help.
◦K.K Harouni offered her employment and took her under his wing.
◦Throughout the story, she is treated as an “Other” and seen as a threat to the
elite’s “Self.”
Analysis:
◦Class difference between Harouni and Husna.
◦She wanted to escape her low standard life & get out of the gloominess of her
poor house and
◦She wanted to rise above her present status.
◦She was treated as mere “Other” throughout the story.
◦She was also described as someone who is trying to seduce the rich man and
climb up the social ladder.
◦Seen as a threat to K.K Harouni’s “Self” by his wife, daughters and even his
girlfriend.
.
◦Harouni’s wife was afraid that Husna might steal her position and her
husband’s affection.
◦Harouni’s daughter, Sarwat , also contemplated Husna as a threat to her
father’s image and her treatment towards Husna was quite rude.
◦Husna is treated as a threat to the identity of elite status people and that is why
they are rude to her. But in reality it is opposite.
◦These elite class people actually provide threat to Husna’s identity, they treat
her inhumanely and abuse her emotionally.
.
◦Begum Harouni showed her dominance over Husna by making her come to her
at nights, but not letting her have food and other basic requirements of life.
◦While, Sarwat ignored Husna so she could know her worth.
◦And even, Harouni used her to satisfy himself.
◦She served Harouni in his last days, she offered him, her body and let him
control herself.
◦She gave Harouni complete domination over herself which actually destroyed
her identity completely.
◦Harouni and Husna’s relationship effected Husna more than it did Harouni as
portrayed in the story.
.
◦Husna’s actions were only a revenge of the humiliation she faced by the upper-
class people.
◦When Harouni died, she was destroyed completely, she had nowhere to go.
◦She could not go back to her home as no man would be ready to accept her and
she could not stay in Harouni’s house either as his daughters had ordered her to
go.
◦At the end, she leaves for she realized she was just an “Other” in Harouni’s
life.
◦She was a servant and did not deserve any other title in the lives of the rich.
“Provide, Provide”
Introduction:
◦Story revolves around politics, corruption, death, love and the conflict between
the elite class and poor class.
◦Main focus on the affair between Chaudhry Jaglani and his servant Zainab.
◦Both had vast dissimilarity among each other, “class-difference” being one.
◦"Other" and "self" difference.
Analysis:
◦Jaglani was K.K. Harouni’s manager as well as a leading figure in the political
world.
◦Jaglani belonged to the higher class of the society, whereas, Zainab, was just a
poor girl.
◦Jaglani hires Zainab as a cook.
◦Zainab did not make any effort to seduce Jaglani and climb up the social
ladder.
◦He fell in love with Zainab, although the feeling of love was never mutual and
Zainab did not return Jaglani’s love, she did give herself to Jaglani.
.
◦He wanted to possess her and used his power to obtain her completely.
◦He forced Zainab’s husband to divorce her and secretly married Zainab.
◦He felt satisfaction and happiness because the marriage made him “feel that he
possessed her”.
◦He still considered her as inferior. He thought Zainab was an “Other” and a
threat to his “Self”, his family and reputation.
◦He felt guilty about marrying her.
◦He thought that his first wife had given her so much and Zainab had given him
nothing.
.
◦His feelings did not even change when he was on the death bed.
◦He did not leave her anything at all after his death because “he did not want
Zainab to live on after him”.
◦Zainab and Jaglani’s relationship also did not have any vast affect on the elite’s
“Self”.
◦Their identities and futures were mangled. Zainab’s marriage to Jaglani
destroyed her.
◦After Jaglani's death, Zainab was left with no place to go at the end.
◦She was just a servant in the eyes of Jaglani and nothing else.
Conclusion:
◦Mueenuddin through his two stories voices the disillusionment and destruction
of Pakistani society.
◦He shows how poor the “Others” were treated and left with a sense of loss at
the end of the stories.
◦Both, Husna and Zainab were considered as a threat to the elite’s “Self” but in
reality it was actually their presiding lovers and their families who caused
harm to their individuality.

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COMPLEXITY OF IDENTITY IN

“IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER

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