Match box

                      MATCH BOX

                                          - Ashapurna Debi

Important Points

• The story Matchbox is written by Ashapurna Debi.

• Nomita is the central character of the story.

• She is married to Ajit.

• They live in a joint family.

• Ajit opens and reads a letter addressed to Nomita without her permission.

• This behaviour of Ajit hurts Nomita's self-respect.

• The letter is from her poor widowed mother.

• Nomita becomes angry and quarrels with Ajit.

• She lights a matchstick and burns her sari.

• Ajit jumps to her side and puts out the fire.

• He sees a fire burning in her eyes.

• Nomita goes down stairs to give the dress to the washerman.

• She pretends as if nothing has happened.

• The author tells us that women suppress their pain in front of others.

• The author depicts the status of traditional women in our society.

Important Characters :

1. Nomita

* Nomita is a poor Bengali village woman.

* She is the wife of Ajit. 

* Nomita and Ajit live in a joint family. 

* Ajit always doubts Nomita.

* He reads the letters to Nomita without her permission.

* She becomes angry and quarrels with him .

* Ajit insults her with harsh words.

* She lights a matchstick and burns her sari.

* She suppresses her pain in front of others.

* She pretends as if nothing has happened.

* Nomita is a typical Indian village woman.

2. Ajit

* Ajit is a character in the short story “Matchbox”. 

* He is from a rich and joint family.

* Ajit is the husband of Nomita. 

* He is an unkind person.

* He reads the letters addressed to his wife without her permission

* He quarrels with Nomita.

* He hurts Nomita with harsh words

* He represents the male-dominated Indian society.

* He is a symbol of pride and defiance.

3.Nomita’s mother.

* Nomita’s mother is a widow.

* She is a poor woman. 

* She had a big dream about her daughter Nomita .

* That’s why she gets her daughter married to Ajit, a rich man.

* She had the habit of begging money from her daughter . 

* Ajit insulted Nomita for this habit.

* This habit of the mother put Nomita’s life in trouble.

* Nomita’s mother was living under a cracked roof. 

* She was an illiterate ordinary Indian woman.

Space of Indian woman in modern society.

* Women play an important role in the society.

* Indian women are devoted to their families.

* Women have proved their potential in every sphere of life.

* Women have started to step out of their comfort zones.

* They manage their roles both at home and at work place.

* Many of the women in our society are the breadwinners.

* They are instrumental in nation building.

* The status of women in society is slowly changing in recent years

* Unfortunately , some women are still being exploited and humiliated in modern Indian society.

* They are denied equal opportunities in many walks of life.

* It is our duty to protect women.

* Let’s strive for a better society.

Character Sketch of Ajit

        'Match Box’ is a story of a married couple Ajit and Nomita. Ajit married Nomita because of her beauty. He has the habit of opening his wife Nomita’s mail and reading it. He says that it is his right to check it to see if she has a lover. Even if she questions about it, he would laugh or 

scold her. When there is a letter from her mother, Ajit says sarcastically to find out a money order form. To suppress his behavior problems, he highlights Nomita’s family and background saying that she is dung picker’s daughter and now a queen only because he married her. Though he is from a rich family, his behavior towards Nomita seems not up to his status. Towards the end of the story, Nomita burns the anchol of her sari. He was frightened to see it and immediately he puts out the fire. It s clear that Ajit is of dominating nature outwardly where as he 

fears inwardly when Nomita asserts her rights and tries to break the shackles of her domestic slavery. He is presented here as a man who always tries to keep his wife under his control and thus becomes a 

typical male- chauvinist.

Character Sketch of Nomita:

        Nomita in the story "Match box" Written by Ashapurna Debi is a typical Indian house wife who is bound to sacrifice many of her ambitions and hopes and be enslaved in the kitchen. Ashapurna Debi portrays her colourless - without the hues of a happy life. Her widowed mother thinks that she is successful in consigning her daughter to a rich family which is not on tbe merit of finance but by looks alone. Nomita expects a minimum freedom of reading the letters addressed to her. Her husband seems to be dubious about the letters when ge tries to read it without her conscent. It is true what Ashapurna Debi says about Nomita and women in general that they are like match boxes settled at the corners of the house with their hidden power to explode at any time. Nomita follows the example of a match boxand she burns with anger when she is helpless. To break the shackles of marital slavery she is ready to kill herself. Again she is depicted as a meek innocent woman who smiles olinfront of others when a volcanoe is burning inside her. She can tear off the mask of her husband's large heartedness, but she doesn't. Thus she proves to be a prototype of an Indian woman who is meek as a lamb.

Character sketch of Nomita's Mother:

      Nomita's mother is a silent but powerful character of the story and the center of all the unfortunate incidents that take place in the life of Nomita in the story "Matchbox". Fate has made Nomita's mother a widowand her poverty is the cause of her worry. Pride and greed are her inherent characters. Her only daughter Nomita and her good looks prompt the mother to get her married off to a high class bachelor Ajit. With this marriage she gets a chance to rise up the social ladder. She is proud to state that her daughter lives like a 'queen'.

         This nameless character, Nomita's mother is not empowered. She is illiterate and does not have self- respect. If she was empowered, she would not have caused shame and insult to her daughter by begging for money from her son- in- law. She would not have written letters to her son- in- law asking for money necessarily. She would not let her daughter's head go down in shame. She would have lived with whatever income she had with self respect. She would not have been greedy for money and social status. All these negative qualities exhibited by her were the result of not being empowered and into positive thought, we can assume that this negative character of her mother must have prompted Nomita to live with great self- respect and dignity.

Blurb

You translate the stories by Ashapurna Debi to English and Oxford University Press publishes the book under the title ‘Matchbox and other Stories by Ashapurna Debi’. Prepare a blurb for the book.

 

 ‘Matchbox and other Stories by Ashapurna Debi’

        Matchbox and other Stories by Ashapurna Debi’ is a collection of short stories. They are originally written in Bengali. They are translated to English by Mr. Sonu Begam, a famous Indian writer. The themes of the stories are thought provoking. They point to the problems faced by women in our male dominated society. The language used here is powerful. It is a must read among short stories. The characters are interesting and inspiring.