The storyline
of The Coffer Dam girdles around the construction of a dam.
For the construction of Cofferdam a set of British engineers landed in a jungle
of the southern part of India. The very intention of constructing a dam by
modifying the path of a river is nothing but a business deal. Industrial
expansion and economic development has rendered human beings inhuman. Tampering
with nature for the cause of development has become a common phenomenon.
Disruption in the natural system is the highlight of this novel which is
analysed using ecofeminist theory in this paper. Though eco-feminism has been
cultured since few decades, but it is still in its nascent stage. It has
enveloped a series of issues which needs to be eyed upon. French feminist
Francoise d’ Eaubonne coined the term Ecofeminism in1974. The theory advocates
inseparable connectivity between women and nature. Since then rigorous research
has been done on different social issues by applying ecofeminism as an applied
theory. Numerous books, article, journals and chronicles have been written down
after making thorough research on connectivity of nature with living beings.
Men who are also a part of the living world forget that their own survival
depends upon the well-being of the entire earth. According to Maria Mies, man
is the integral part of nature and cannot stand different from it. In her
words:
The earth
doesn’t belong to the men, men belongs to the earth. All things are connected
like the blood which unites one family. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the
sons of the earth. Men didn’t weave the web of life; he is merely a strand of
it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. (Ecofeminism 105)
Man considers
the pronoun ‘I’ when the question of survival arises whereas woman considers
the pronoun ‘my’ in the same situation. Nature being the mother of all
sustenance is losing its own sustainability. This degradation of nature is
caused due to human brain’s intervention in natural mechanism. The idea of
simplifying life amplifies nature’s complexities. This paper throws light on
eco-feminism and the state of subalterns in general and nature as a subaltern
in particular. Development strategies of modern men lead to doom. Vandana Siva
explains the concept of development in the following lines of the text Ecofeminism:
Dams, mines,
energy plants, and military bases- these are temples of the new religion called
‘development’, a religion that provides the rationale for the modernizing
state, its bureaucracies and technocracies. What is sacrificed at the altar of
this religion is nature’s life and people’s life. The sacraments of development
are made of the ruins and desecration of other sacred, especially sacred soil.
They are based on the dismantling of society and community, on the uprooting of
people and cultures. Since soil is the sacred mother, the womb of life in
nature and society, its inviolability has been the organizing principle for
societies which ‘development’ has declared backward and primitive. (Ecofeminism 98)
This paper
examines the common factor of feminine traits which is evident in both woman
and nature. The central female character in The Coffer Dams novel
Helena affirms the eco-feminist ideas. Helena’s benign attitude towards nature
as a whole is most arresting. In this novel, we will sight many such instances
where nature is nauseated with rancid intentions. Mechanization has
mal-functioned the entire natural system. Throughout the world we come across
many such incidents, where construction of dams, bridges and water reservoirs
have turned apocalyptic. Trying to divert the natural path of the water bodies
by destroying forest and exploding mountains is a very dare devilish activity.
In few attempts of man, we can see the desirable changes of development
whereas; in maximum cases the magnitude of failure is unfathomable. Due to such
human conducts nature undergoes certain irreversible changes.
The preclusive
chapters of the novel picturized the man’s world. A group of technicians try to
figure out the dam. Howard Clinton was the chief designer and the master mind
of the dam assisted by a group of men with various specialties. Bob Rawling was
the chief engineer whereas Henderson was the turbine specialist. Apart from them
Leferbe was the head supervising the soil mechanics laboratory. Todd was the
electrical wizard followed by Galbraith. Besides these people, Mackendrick is
also a leading member in the project. These group of men were assigned the
building of the Coffer Dam. After a lot of haggling in the Indian executive
level, Clinton was assigned with task. Clinton being a veteran in this field
was confident enough about his master plan. These Europeans were audacious
about their upbringing and their higher breed. The typical colonial concept of
civilization got reflected in their behavior. Their attitude towards the
localite was much depreciating. The Europeans abhorred the indigenes and
outcasted their skin texture and body structure. At the same time the encaging jungle,
the gurgling sound of the river and the shrilling sound of the animals
penetrated the ears of these civilized men giving them a notion of savagery of
primitive age. The Coffer Dams explains:
By night it was
different. The jungle crept back, closing in as the shadows of the huge trees
fell across the line where the clearing merged into scrub, and advanced and
deepened; and the men grew restless, listening to the yelp of jackals, or the
soft furtive sounds of frightened deer, and lurched out to herd together in the
canteen or cinema, or the shanty-town-style saloon bar, where the familiar
noise and thick blue air, and in the end alcohol, restored the illusion of
England. (The Coffer Dams6)
The group of
European technicians had to work with Indian labour force. These workers were
quite hard working. They were barbaric in the eyes of these Europeans. The
chocolate colored skin, their edgy jawline, flatten nose and prominent eyebrow
bones made them look different from these white people. They were considered
more apes than human beings. Helena the beautiful and tender wife of Clinton
was rather blessed with a mature understanding. She is a lady of compassion.
The very backdrop of jungle inveigled her thoughts. She tried to be defensive
when any of her European companions chastised the poor aboriginals as
subalterns. Her empathy gets well reflected when in initial days of their stay
at India she tries to pacify the frustration of her husband. According to the
conversation of Helena and Clinton:
Helena, his
wife, had no such blocks. Was it, he wondered, because she was half his age?
When he asked her she laughed. ‘It’s nothing to do with age. I just think of
them as human beings, that’s all.’ He frowned at the equivocal statement, and
she added seriously, trying to help: ‘You’ve got to get beyond their skins,
darling. It’s a bit of a hurdle, but it is an essential one.’ (The Coffer
Dams6)
Helena’s sense
of maturity to deal with drudgeries is scattered throughout the novel.She finds
herself one with Mother Nature. The nourishment of the Mother Nature to the
entire living world cannot be compensated by any mechanical development. The
European colony, Helena was residing in was well designed with all comfort.
Despite being in her comfort zone she speculated about the day to day condition
of the people who lived in the jungle. She always looked for a plea to escape
into the dense jungle and to know its culture. Every bit of it attracted her. She
was completely annoyed to come across the remarks of Mackendrick towards the
Indians. The sense of pity he expressed to see the poor people of India were
something uncommon to Helena. In Mackendrick’s view regarding Krishnan, the
Indian technician:
Mackendrick
glanced at the Indian with something like sympathy. In a way he
understood-better than either of Englishmen-the pulsing jealousy and pride that
a poor nation could feel and transmit to its nationals: the pride of an ancient
civilization limping behind in the modern race, called backward everywhere
except to its face and underdeveloped in diplomatic confrontation-a euphemism
of sheltering intent but dubious minting and no less humiliation.(The Coffer
Dams12)
In the mid of
such criticism the team of workers had already defined their protocol of the
dam‘how to obstruct and deviate the path of the river?’By constructing this
massive dam, they intended to facilitate the poor country and felicitate their
own country. The huge collection of machines contributed the execution of the
dam. Those machines were used without giving a second thought. According to
Helena, this mechanization is ruining the natural world. As per Maria Mies’
analysis:
Sovereignty
thus shifted from the soil and soil-linked communities to the sovereignty of
the nation state. Laws of nature and their universality were replaced by the
laws of a police state which dispossessed peoples of their original homelands,
to clear the way for the logic of world market. In this way organic communities
give way to slum dwellers or urban and industrial jungles. Development builds
new ‘temples’ by robbing nature and society of their integrity and their soul.
Development has converted soil from sacred mother into disposable object-to be
ravaged for minerals that lie below, or drowned beneath gigantic reservoirs.
The soil’s children, too, have been made disposable; mines and dams leave
behind wastelands and uprooted people. (Eco-feminism106)
The shifting of
‘Laws of Nature’ has turned recurring incident which occurs in every nook and
corner of the world. Once again the same is witnessed in this novel where the
nature is being smitten by the construction of a dam. Clinton, the lead of the
project was overpowered by various plans regarding the execution of the dam.
For Clinton, his work was a passion but his passion for Helena made him bring
her to such a distant land. The world of men keeps women away from their
workplace because they have a predefined notion that women are not meant for
their workplace. Rather women are meant to give solace when they return from
their workplace. Men have created these ideologies since antiquities. This
phenomenon of creating ethics for women is still agile in present day world.
Masculine power has overpowered feminine senses. Heather Eaton opines about
human ethics lucidly as follows:
The idea that
men create ethics and write moral codes is not just a throwback to the middle
ages but also reflects modern times. Modern rationalism is actually masculine
rationalism and is alive and well among us. (Eco-feminism and Globalization167)
Helena was not
exempted from such moral codes. She was interrogated for her actions like her
visits to rural belt. Sometimes she was restricted and was made immobile by her
husband’s command. But she at times refrained herself from such dictates. She
strived hard to minimize the difference between the colonizers and the
colonized. All her attempts were futile. The colonizers rejected the
existential reality of the colonized. The civilizing operation of the
colonizers got an uncivilized outlet. In usual sense in order to clean the dirt
one has to get a bit dirty. If the cleaner is afraid of dirt, then cleaning is
not desirable. Same is the case with Clinton and his companions. Helena being
an exception was foregrounded and sensible. She comprehended the pidgin of the
natives and embraced them with all humanity. This fragment of the paper
reflects the ecofeminist ideologies of Helena. An ecofeminist is the one who
perceives oneness among all.
Thudding of the
huge machines, growling of the Lorries, and yelling of the workers was a sight
which dissatisfied Helena. Helena occasionally paid her visit to the
construction site of her husband. She was displeased to see the explosions of
mountains by dynamites. This was something like poking a nose in nature’s
business. In the words of Rachel Carson:
The balance of
nature isn’t a status quo; it is fluid, ever shifting, in a constant state of
adjustment. Man, too, is part of this balance. Sometimes the balance is in his
favour; sometimes- and all too often through his own activities- it is shifted
to his disadvantage. (Silent Spring 215)
Helena even
tried to convince her husband for establishing unquestioned integrity of Mother
Nature. But no one heeded her. Lois Ann Lorentzen justifies the moral code
concept in the following lines from the text Ecofeminism and
Globalization:
The goodness of
woman was predefined as synonymous with humility, silence, self-effacement,
tenderness and openness. Women are good when they keep quiet and go about their
work according to their roles established by the patriarchal society. This is
why we are afraid to make mistakes and act badly. We are also afraid we will be
judged by this established morality. In the end, we are afraid to become human
beings who risk their lives in the midst of all other’s lives; people who have
to learn that life is full of attempts, victories, set back, death, as well as
experiences of freedom and love. (Eco-feminism and Globalization 168)
Helena’s frequent escape to the distant land was
discarded with resentment of Clinton. Clinton’s anger got channelized through
his forceful and aggressive intimacy with Helena. The patriarchal norms get
asserted by any means, either by force or by wit. The freedom of expression of
women is curtailed by confining them to ethics. Negation of which is considered
as ‘acting badly’.
The concept of
development and progress relies on the idea of capital accumulation even at the
cost of others life. Here, the term ‘others’ include many salient features. The
‘others’ are the oppressed ones. The oppression ingests the lives of the poor
aboriginals in general and poor women in particular. Children and animals are
also no exception to such othering. The subordination of these helpless
sufferers tags them as subalterns. For man, development needs the sacrifice of
subalterns. ‘Without pain there is no gain’ is the catch phrase of these
development ambassadors. They forget the fact that development is possible by
including everyone, not by excluding some. The colonial power in the name of
development has subjugated the entire supportive world, and germinates
subalternity. In the text Ecofeminism and Globalization, the writer
Heather Eaton asserts the capital accumulation concepts of development.
According to her:
The concept of
development was clearly based on capital accumulation and commercialization for
the generation of profits. This implied not only the creation of wealth but
also the creation of poverty and dispossession. This Eurocentric (and later
American and Japan centered) model of development legitimized colonialism and
imperialism and the economic choking and neo-colonialism that took over nation
after nation in the south. This submerged all other civilizations, all other
cultures, all other historical experiences. It ignored highly developed systems
of philosophical and religious thought and asserted that the western paradigm
was a so-called civilizing force in a supposedly uncivilized world. (Eco-feminism
and Globalization84)
This very
project dam of Clinton was never-the-less is an eye catching instant of above
argument. Despite such debates and discussions, these developmental works are
perpetual. The nocturnal scenario of the river bank is completely different
from the day time view. During the night hours when machines and men are in a
state of exhaustion, the river was agile and audible. The grumbling sound of
the river becomes louder in the dead hours of night. It becomes even louder and
conspicuous, when it is given attention. The swishing sound of the river was a
cause of horror in the hearts of the European workers. In the text The
Coffer Dams the spectacle of river is awful. It explains as follows:
By night the
river was stronger. Its soft purl penetrated all his defenses, earplugs
and closed door and ticking clock, and hung in heavy oppressive garlands above
him until he cursed again and reached for the tablets that made him dream
sweetly of the traffic that roared past his door all night at home in England.
(The Coffer Dams 26)
Clinton in a
state of deep slumber dreamt either of Helena or the project dam. In both the
dreams river was the background. He could hear the gentle gurgle juxtaposed
with that of the rustling silence of the forest. The roaring sound raised the
anxiety level of his heart. He was mostly wrestling with divergent thoughts
related to the execution of the dam. He visualized a year to cut the diversion
channels, and another consecutive year for the construction of the Coffer Dam.
He also estimated another additional couple of years for the construction of
the main Dam. Blueprints were set to execute the plan; flags were dug at
eastern point of the west bank of the river, where the main dam would span the
torrents. The bulging river was looking furious. Kamala Markandaya picturized
the ferocity of the river with precision:
It ran deeply
here, this river which two thousand men and ten thousand tons of equipment had
so far assembled to tame. On either side the banks rose in a steep incline,
lichen-covered slopes whose weathered surfaces belied the intractable nature of
the igneous rock layers below. Time, the slow aeons, that passed in a flash of
the cosmic calendar, had hardened and toughened these layers, fusing them at places
into granite walls through which the river cut its way on its own measured,
implacable course. Here, in the jagged clefts left by that ancient encounter,
the waters eddied and tumbled, churned into foam and spume of a blinding
whiteness where they cascaded down. Here, too, before the cataracts and between
these granite flanks, rising from the solid rock of the river bed two hundred
feet below through it’s over layers of sandstone and gravel, Clinton planned
his dam. He had first to alter the course of the river: block its flow at the
upstream coffer dam, and deflect the rising waters into a channel cut in the
east bank and curving in a wide arc from the upstream barrage to a point north
of the downstream coffer where the river would resume its natural flow. In this
still water, the motionless unnatural lake created between the coffers, the
main dam would grow. (The Coffer Dam 29)
Helena’s
initial excursion to the upriver village was solo. She had the courage to
explore a distant land all alone. This adventure was to have an uncluttered
impression on her own. In her opinion, if she was escorted by any guide, she
could not see the real rural life. Rather she would be shown a spectacle, which
would have a colonial prejudice. Being a pedestrian she sauntered on the rough
narrow roads. Gradually, she slipped into the area of the natives. She was
amused by the unusual scenario. The scantily fed dogs loitering around, pigs
and chickens pacing to and fro was something which got a childlike smile on her
face. The pot bellied children were simpering at the strange sight of a foreign
lady. Their brown colored shimmery skin was a nature’s miracle for Helena.
Within a short period of her arrival at the village the parents of these
children emerged with question marks on their faces. The adults were also half
dressed indifferent and identical with the children. Helena was much pleased to
witness the primeval life of the simpletons. Their life is additively
integrated with that of the nature. The rare of the rarest quality is
discovered in Helena, is her oneness with nature. Despite her sophisticated and
civilized origin she did not hesitate even a bit to mingle with the
aboriginals. This reflects the fact that women are compassionate and empathetic
no matter whatever is their origin. She felt strange to see her husband’s
inclination towards the mechanical world. According to Helena, intervention in
the natural system in the name of growth and development is unacceptable. The
group of engineers, technicians, and workers at construction site baffled her.
The heap of stones and clay which got cluttered here and there was a sight of
repulsion. It was as if nature was strangled, and mutilated deliberately.
Helena feels that nature is raped of her dignity and left in an indefensible
state. This ill treatment of nature is considered as taming nature.
The present
paper circumnavigates around the topic of dam. A dam is meant to enhance the
development quotient of an underdeveloped country. The dam will constrict the
river and regulate the water flow by diverting its normal and natural path.
This diversion is to expedite the commercial agriculture and industry. This
profit motivated projects backfire most of the time. As Vandana Siva observes:
The
desacralisation of rivers and their sources has removed all constraints from
the overuse and abuse of water. Projects of controlling rivers, of damming and
diverting them against their logic and flow to increase water availability and
provide ‘dependable’ water supplies have proved to be self-defeating. The
illusion of abundance created by dams has been created by ignoring the
abundance provided by nature. The role of the river is recharging water sources
throughout its course, and in its distributive role in taking water from high rainfall
catchments through diverse ecosystems has been ignored. When dams are built by
submerging large areas of forested catchments and river waters are diverted
from the river course into canals, four types of violence are perpetrated on
the river’s water cycle:
1. Deforestation
in the catchment reduces rainfall hence reduces river discharges and turns
perennial flows into seasonal flows.
2. Diversion of
water from its natural course and natural irrigation zones to engineered ‘command’
areas leads to problems of water-logging and salinity.
3. Diversion of
water from its natural course prevents the river from recharging ground water
sources downstream.
4. Reduced
inflow of fresh water into the sea disturbs the freshwater-sea water balance
and leads to salinity ingress and sea erosion. (Staying Alive177)
Unmindful
experiments many a times give unsought results. And such results are beyond
human control. To play with water bodies is an unaffordable business for human
civilization. In the novel The Coffer Dams we see the exact
disintegration in the natural path of river. When a river flows, it distributes
its water resources in different areas in proper proportion. Starting from the
fountainhead to surcease of the river has its due course of action. That action
gets hampered with human conduct. According to Vandana Siva’s opinion:
The cause of
the water crisis and the failure of the solutions both arise from reductionist
science and development working against the logic of the water cycle, and hence
violating the integrity of water flows which allows rivers, streams and wells
to regenerate themselves. The arrogance of these anti-nature and anti-women
development programs lies in its belief that they create water and have the
power to ‘augment’ it. They fail to recognize that humans, like all living things,
are participants in the water cycle and can survive sustainably only through
that participation. Working against it assuming one is controlling and
augmenting water while over exploiting or disrupting it, amounts at one point
to the breakdown of the cycle of life. That is why in water management, it is
imperative to think and act ecologically, to think like a river and to flow
with the nature of water. (Staying Alive174)
Intermediating
in nature’s preinstalled designs uninstall the entire life cycle. Clinton and
his team have exactly done the same to the water cycle. They have endangered
the lives of the poor people who were dependent on that river for survival.
Life cycle depends upon the perfect equilibrium of the earth which mainly
depends on water cycle. Water is the elixir of life, which germinates and
supports life in all its forms. Excessiveness or inadequateness of it can cause
ravage. This is but an undeniable oracle for the entire sentient world. This
was having an indelible imprint in Helena’s mind. The sustainability of human
being is paramount instead of growth and development. Vandana Siva criticizes
the scientific development programmes. She considers it irrationality which
leads to the expropriation of nature’s dignity. In her words:
Modern
reductionist science, like development, turns out to be a patriarchal project,
which has excluded women as experts, and has simultaneously excluded ecological
and holistic ways of knowing which understand and respect nature’s processes
and interconnectedness as science.(Feminism and Ecology 120)
Nature should
be dealt with dignity instead of imposing subalternity. The over imposed
subalternity on nature can flush all kinds of subordination in one solid swipe.
The writer Vandana Siva elucidates the water crisis concept in her text Staying
Alive:
Water
circulates from seas to clouds, to land and rivers, to lakes and to underground
streams, and ultimately returns to the oceans, generating life wherever it
goes. It is a renewable source by virtue of endless cyclic flow between sea,
air and land. Despite what engineers like to think, water cannot be ‘augmented’
or ‘built’. It can be diverted and redistributed and it can be wasted, but the
availability of water on earth is united and limited by the water cycle. Since
it is volatile, and since most of its flow is invisible, in and below the soil,
it is rarely seen as being the element that places the strictest limits on
sustainable use. Used within the limits, water can be available forever in all
its forms and abundance; stretched beyond these limits, it disappears and dries
up. Over-exploitation for a few decades or even a few years can destroy sources
that had supported life over centuries. (Staying Alive 174)
All the
justification regarding the natural imbalance is evident in the novel The
Coffer Dams. Eventually the Coffer dam would do the same harm to the water
cycle. The construction of the dam was in its full swing. Every participant of
the project both Indians and Europeans were well versed with the tenacity of
their job. The roaring and ever growing river was just like a wild elephant
that a group of trainers were trying to tame. No matter what may be the number
of human trainers, but a tusker is always a game planner and a game changer. In
a gamesomely swing, or a casual fling, or a mighty string can toss the trainers
in the air because elephant, as a trainee, has no human impulse. Similarly
mountains and rivers have their own existential tendencies. It can’t be tamed
and reduced to profit providing factors. Such profit minting
projects causes great human loss. In the words of Rachel Carson:
To have risked
so much in our efforts to mould nature to our satisfaction and yet to have
failed in achieving our goal would indeed be the final irony. Yet this, it
seems, is our situation. (Silent Spring 214)
Now nature has started retaliating. Though man is often intimidated by nature’s
reply but unfortunately cannot pacify its grumbling. The Coffer Dam has already
started showing its reverse outcome. The planners are panic stricken. Abrupt
increase in water level has destroyed the hard work of everyone. The river
started to spread its physical ambit dashing and splashing itself on chopped
edges of the mountains and hilltops. Toppling the pillars and sliding the walls
the waves glided all human safety boundaries. Swallowing the river banks it has
already established its position with all its might. People were swept away,
structures got capsized and lands got submerged. This humongous retreat of
nature left a handful of human beings alive in a state of helplessness. Among
them were the central characters Clinton and Helena, who were simply mute
spectators trying to escape the catastrophe. This tragic end is the outcome of
their tragic flaws.
