In reading "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar," I couldn't help but think that it reminded me a lot of the fairytale "Cinderella." Many aspects of the two stories line up, but "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar," seemed to apply to real life much more than the fairytale.
There are characters in each story that somewhat correspond with one another. Bibi and Cinderella of course play similar roles in their respective stories. Meanwhile, Haldar, Bibi's cousin, and his wife take on similar characters to Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters: they are somewhat forced to take care of Bibi once her father dies and they pretty much confine her to a storage room where they make her do boring work for them. Aside from these more obvious connections, I saw the other women in the apartment building as similar to the fairy godmother, as they try to help Bibi find a husband. Last but not least, though this may be a bit far-fetched, I saw the baby boy that Bibi has at the end of the story as the handsome prince, as this is what "cures" her.
The plots of the stories also seem to follow the same sort of path: like Cinderella, Bibi's kind father dies and is left with evil relatives who mistreat her and force her to work for them. One day, Bibi finds out that there is an option for her to be cured from her disease (which I thought was like Cinderella going to the ball), but her evil relatives refuse to help her to get a husband. Despite this, Bibi becomes cured and lives happily ever after.
The stories were not perfectly symmetric though. I found that the differences between the two stories were mainly things that simply made Bibi Haldar's story seem like it takes place in real life. After all, "Cinderella" is a fairy tale for a reason: it's not entirely realistic. For example, one difference between the two stories was that Bibi Haldar was described as "not pretty. Her upper lip was thin, her teeth too small. Her gums protruded when she spoke." (p. 160) Meanwhile, much of the story of Cinderella hinges on her being extremely pretty. A second difference is between the "fairy godmothers" of the stories. Cinderella's fairy godmother is definitely too good to be true, and she can magically transform Cinderella into a maiden fit for the ball. In Bibi Haldar's case, the women of her building, though they do sort of play a role as the fairy godmother, give a more half-hearted attempt at transforming Bibi and helping her find a husband. Furthermore, they definitely aren't eager to be responsible for her. This makes the "fairy godmother" character in Bibi Haldar's story seem much more human than Cinderella's fairy godmother.
The biggest difference between these stories though, is that the resolution in Cinderella's story is that she is basically swept off of her feet by a handsome prince and they live happily ever after. Bibi never gets married, but she is saved, like Cinderella, from her life of (somewhat) loneliness, mistreatment, and in Bibi's case, seizures. However, Bibi's "happily ever after" seems to be much more empowering and realistic: she becomes a successful single mother, basically starts her own business, and stops having seizures. We don't know who the father is, but he doesn't seem to have much impact on the rest of Bibi's life.
From these things, I felt like Lahiri took the classic Cinderella story and bent it to fit a more modern day scenario in a foreign setting. I'm not sure if this was actually Lahiri's goal, but I think it makes sense to look at it this way. What do you all think? Were these Lahiri's intentions? Do you see any other connections?
I really like the connection that you made between these two stories. I admit, while I was reading, I didn't see this connection. As you pointed out, there are really good strong connections between the two stories. I found the connection that you made between the other women in the apartment building being like the fairy godmother. I think that is interesting because as we said in class, the women in the building will help Bibi to a certain point but then they won't help her anymore. In the fairytale, the godmother will help get her to the ball, but will only give her a certain amount of time at the ball. The connection between the baby and the prince is really good and one that I would have defiantly not have seen if you didn't mention it. I think that more than Lahiri taking the story and transposing it into a more modern setting, she playing with the more broad theme of a woman going from poverty to wealth.
ReplyDeleteWow, great thinking! I especially like your comparison of the women of the building to the godmother--even though their actual ability is way different, their function has key similarities, which are fun to think about. I don't think Lahiri meant this to be parallel to Cinderella, but considering how much human stories all have in common, I'm not surprised--you could probably find something for all of Lahiri's stories in classic fairytales, would be my guess.
ReplyDeleteThese parallels hadn't occurred to me when I was reading but I can definitely see them now. Another difference is that Cinderella's beginning and ending are two extremes. She lives a more miserable life than Bibi (mistreatment and forced labor) and ends up living a much happier life in the end (marriage to rich, handsome prince). Lahiri does a good job of keeping Bibi's story realistic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your interpretations, I can definitely see the parallels now. It's true, the plot is bent to fit a more modern feel, but also obviously a more realistic feel given the fact its a realistic short story and not a fairy tale. I'm not sure if Lahiri actually intentionally did this, but certainly it could've affected her. The more ambivalent ending only makes sense to me, given the general arc of the stories in the book to that point.
ReplyDeleteI really like this assessment of the story. I think that this connection totally works, and actually makes me appreciate it a little more. The whole scheming of the 'fairy godmothers' seem to be a very realistic situation, where they act like the want to help, but only to say they helped. Random things like this make the story much more enjoyable in retrospect.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I can definitely see the parallels between these two stories. I will also completely agree that the ending was way more empowering in Bibi Haldar's story. I felt like she had been given an opportunity and she siezed upon it, in order to achieve happiness. While on the other hand, Cinderella just kinda chances upon happiness. Personally, that made me like Bibi Haldar way more.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of this before, but it does make sense! You made great connections between the two books that do work, and I agree that "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" is a much more realistic story in a way. We refer to different events or happenings as a "Cinderella story" because of how unreal and miraculous that happening is. "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" has an ending that isn't quite completely a happy or miraculous ending as "Cinderella". Although Bibi is cured, she was cured indirectly from her being sexually assaulted. These two stories definitely have connections, but Cinderella is a much happier story while "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" was much darker and more realistic as a story.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting connection! I never considered that before! If it was Lahiri's intentions to make this a Cinderella story, she did a really good job of humanizing it. Instead of just a pretty girl, doing the household chores, we see a much more “real” person, who is actually facing a lot of struggles in her life. My favorite difference between the two stories would be that Bibi pulls herself up, instead of relying upon others. While the people of the village facilitate some of her upward movement (by sending the cousin out of business), she is the one that builds the business and creates a life for herself.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of this story that way, but now I do see the connections; in fact, the connections are so clear I might agree with you that Lahiri might actually have modeled her story after Cinderella (which in turn reminds me about our critical creative project, but that's a whole different story). Maybe this is from one of Lahiri's old English projects...?? Just kidding! But to be honest, great job in finding a really nice parallel that we all can jump in on -- it's always fun when that happens :)
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