Question

Comments on the anti- patriarchal mature of the poem 'marriages are made,by Eunice de Souza?

Answer 1

Answer:

This paper probes how Eunice De Souza, from her triply marginalized position of being

Goan, Catholic, and a woman, negotiates her sense of belonging in India.

Encouraging Goan-Catholics to unite with the larger Indian Hindu community, De

Souza, in her poetry, provides a new perspective to understanding the Goan-Catholic

identity. The poet dismantles her community’s assumption of being superiorly

“different” from the rest of India by highlighting its flaws. Further, embracing

compassion, a predominant trait of the Roman Catholic religion, De Souza in her

poems seeks to find an answer to the sense of intolerance that Goan-Catholics exhibit

towards followers of other religions in India, especially Hinduism. Further, this paper

elucidates how De Souza’s poetry sets an example for other Goan-Catholics by

embracing and celebrating a “hybrid” identity that allows her to be a part of the

heterogeneous yet coherent Indian nation.

KEYWORDS: Goan-Catholic, Identity, Hybridity, Nationalism, Portuguese

colonization

INTRODUCTION

Born into a Goan-Catholic family in the year 1940 in Pune, Eunice De Souza uses the

genre of poetry to examine and comment upon her unique background with keen

sensitivity yet scathing wit. Like most Indian English poets of her generation, De Souza

draws from her personal life and experiences successfully connecting these to a

broader context of the cultural and political milieu of Goa. Consequently, her poetry

also reflects the sense of identity crisis that marks Goan society. De Souza’s ability to