Problematizing Female Body and Sexuality:

A Study of Salma’s The Hour Past Midnight

The materiality of female body and its repercussions have remained a taboo subject in
Indian literature by women writers. Among the few women writers who have touched upon the
issue in an engaging manner in their fictional writings, Salma is one of the early feminist voices
among Tamil women writers. Not just thematically, but symbolically also her writings resist the
patriarchal normativity. It should be recalled herein that Salma’s poetry was branded as obscene
for its preoccupation with female body in an explicit manner. In one of her interviews, she
clarifies her stance on making the female body a subject: “If women do not know their own
bodies, they cannot claim rightful ownership over them. They become a function of men, once
more like everything else. What can a woman possess if not her own body? (Salma Interview:
2013)”. Understandably, Salma discusses sexual relationships, female sexuality and its needs and
an analysis of a woman’s space within her home.

The present paper examines the questions of female body and sexuality that Salma has
posed in her novel The Hour Past Midnight. Multiple themes such as the grip of patriarchy in a
Muslim community, the inner lives of women, censure of women’s body and sexuality,
marriage, desertion and widowhood and its implication in women’s lives abound The Hour Past
Midnight. Instead of making a thematic analysis of the novel, I propose to closely examine her
portrayal of women’s bodies and sexuality in a close knit Muslim community. She situates her
female characters in a Muslim community in rural Tamilnadu and delineates the realities of a
woman’s life within the community. The concepts of shame and honour associated with female
body in its various forms and functions are addressed by her. Moreover, she portrays the
implications of a growing female body in such a community. In addition to the issues of female
body, Salma also describes how older generations of women are so caught up in the web of
patriarchy that they take up the role of patriarchal guardian unknowingly. She reflects upon how
patriarchal norms turn women against each other as they normalize double standards for men and
women in relation to their sexual conduct. Several characters in The Hour Past Midnight fall
prey to this system without ever contemplating or realizing the cause of their downfall.
 The novel is centered round the family of two brothers Karim (married to Zohra) and
Kader (married to Rahima) and their daughters Rabia and Wahida. A web of various relations
and neighborhood is slowly built up ranging from both upper and working class: Mumtaz,
Nafiza, Sherifa to Fatima, Nuramma and Mariyayi. The novel is not the story of any single
character, but all these women and their lived experiences. Thus, there is no linear story line to
explore but the lives of all these women and slow changes that creep in.

The novel starts with a prologue in the form of a poem which provides an overview of the
complexities of female body projected in the novel. The poem projects female body as
something that essentially limits women. It establishes a binary relationship between male and
female body and shows how the unlikeness between the two serves as a disadvantage to women.
A male body “proclaims itself”, “stands manifest” and does not carry the trace of its being as a
burden. In contrast, a female body bears the brunt of experiences. The speaker seems to believe
that the reproductive faculty which is assumed to be only a woman’s prerogative and ‘power’,
causes her downfall. The body weighs heavy upon a woman as a burden which she carries along
with her to her grave. Traces of the violation on her body cripple her soul at the dead of the night
when a man descends upon her body. The peculiar combination of these makes post-midnight a
bizarre experience for a woman. The theme of the prologue has an uncanny resemblance with
Wahida’s first sexual encounter with her husband Sikandar in the novel wherein she lies
sleepless as the satiated body of Sikandar sleeps off peacefully.

In the textual landscape of the novel, female body is considered as an object of shame.
The older women usually censure girl children from going out and playing around because of
their growing adolescent body, especially sexual parts. Chiding girls to cover their budding
breasts and be modest in their activities is a normal practice. Even if the mothers always do not
do such things at their own will, the fear of being rejected by elderly men of the community on
their failure in bringing up a girl child properly compels them to resort to this. Purdah and the
resultant confinement from the outside world after girls menstruate and before they get married
is widely practiced. Girls who practice purdah in their day to day life are praised as the true
followers of religion and upholders of the honour of the community. Strangely, even when girls
are brought up with a notion that their bodies should be covered, and are for the enjoyment of
their husbands, from an early age they are taught to decorate themselves. It creates conflict
because while the female body is projected as an object to be hidden, it is also seen as an object
of beauty, as beauty is considered the greatest asset of a woman. Fair and well-shaped bodies are
complemented because of the notion that a man is interested only in the physical looks of a
woman. Zohra is upset on account of her daughter Rabia’s dark complexion and jealous that
Wahida is fair, beautiful and feminine in her dealings. Conscious and cultivated shyness
regarding their body is a major part of socialization of girls. Beset with sexism and
discrimination, girls are brought up with the notion that their bodies are shameful sites to be
hidden away from male gaze. The awareness of developed breasts as sexual, thus something to
be concealed rather than a natural process of growing up is imposed into each girl’s psyche.
Restriction of movement is ubiquitous; however in lesser degree as Salma presents a relatively
closed society with fixed boundaries. But the restriction is pathologically imposed with
‘discipline or punish’ tendency once the girls start menstruating. Menstruation, locally familiar
as ‘coming of age’, again, is not just a biological phenomenon but associated with various
sociological connotations. Menstruation is constructed as the process which turns girls into
women because of their attainment of reproductive ability. However, the reproductive ability is
not considered to be celebratory or liberating in nature; rather brings more restriction into the
daily life of women. A girl, after coming of age, cannot see or cannot allow herself to be seen by
a man outside family relations. This does not imply only an observance of purdah round the
clock but also a complete restriction of physical movement. In the entire novel, we do not come
across a single instance, where a girl after coming of age, goes out unguarded unless she sneaks
away from house or runs away. The only possible future a girl after coming of age can aspire is
marriage. The period preceding marriage offers confinement and seclusion. It is only after
marriage that women regain certain space and mobility for themselves. In The Hour Past
Midnight we can see that the relative freedom of mobility that Mumtaz and Nafiza enjoy despite
being in the prime of their youth is due to their marriage. Marriage remains a complex terrain of
analysis in the novel. In certain ways, it oppresses women and curtails their wishes and desires.
On the other hand, it gives them a certain identity even though it’s relative to the men they are
married to.

As the female body is sexualized in all the walks of life, sexuality occupies an important
space in the thematic purview of the novel. Salma, as a woman writer, broke the barrier of
silence around sexuality in Tamil literature. Moreover, her initiative was also important because
she imbibed women’s perspective and worldview in her discussion of sexuality. Her treatment of
sexuality remains essentially centered around women in the novel. It does not imply that she
does not write about women’s experience of heterosexuality which involves a man, but that she
presents such experiences from the perspective of a woman. Sexuality remains a slippery ground
throughout the novel. As the women in the novel belonging to the particular community do not
enjoy any voice in the choice of their marital partners, a similar non-existence of their consent to
have/ not to have sex pervades throughout the novel.

The American feminist lawyer Catherine MacKinnon’s observation is pertinent in this

context. According to her, whether women enjoy heterosexual intercourse or not is altogether a
different matter; what is important is whether they enjoy the right to say a meaningful ‘No’ to a
sexual encounter. Understandably, the world in The Hour Past Midnight is devoid of any such
rights for women. Sir Mathhew Hale’s observation regarding a wife’s unretractable consent to
have sex with her husband holds true here. In the absence of a wife’s right to resist the sexual
advances of her husband within the marital framework, a woman is left without any choice but to
concede to sexual intercourse passively. Heteronormativity in sexual behavior leads to a wide
acceptance among women the inevitability of heterosexuality, desirable or not. This results in
pathologizing any disinterest in sex as unhealthy and abnormal. In The Hour Past Midnight, even
though there is no such peer pressure among women to be sexually active and prove their liberal
attitude towards sex because of a conservative society, asexuality does not remain an option for
women. It happens so because sex remains the only channel through which a woman can
exercise some sort of power through her husband. But ironically, this only objectifies the women
even more. In the world projected in the novel, there are both kinds of women, hence, both kinds
of sexual behavior. The older group of women such as Rahima and Zohra maintain silence
around sexual behavior either because they think it’s a taboo subject or they find such sex-talks
distasteful. However, it is evident from their behavior that sex remains for them an inescapable
duty for the requirement of reproduction. That is why they despise such sex-talk, mostly initiated
by Mumtaz and Nafiza. Passive role in sexual intercourse by women is normalized throughout
the novel. However what is interesting is that even in those apparently active sex talks, woman’s
passivity is assumed. For instance, in response to Rahima’s apprehension about how Wahida is
going to face the wedding night, Nafiza responds “Just because she’s young, it doesn’t mean she
doesn’t know how to lie down” (Salma 87). Wahida’s inhibitions in sex with Sikandar or desire
for a more tender form is outright rejected and pathologized. Her response is construed as
frigidity whereas Sikandar’s aggressive approach to sex is in no way considered to be abnormal.
In contrast, Wahida is chided for her ‘frigidity’ and showed pornography by Mumtaz and Nafiza
so that she would ‘enjoy’ sex hereafter however paradoxical it might sound. It is understood
from these responses that sex is considered to be duty of a wife towards her husband and meant
for his pleasure. Various anecdotes shared by different women share the same mindset. It is
completely accidental that certain women such as Mumtaz in the novel enjoy a relatively more
participatory sex in marital life.

Sexual intercourse with husband runs parallel to sexual longing of wives in the absence
or death of husbands in the novel. As Suleiman, Mumtaz’s husband, works in Saudi Arab,
Mumtaz shares her toll of sexual longing along with Sherifa and Fatima. The situation is
altogether different for Sherifa and Fatima though, as Sherifa is a widow and Fatima’s husband
has deserted her. Fatima shows greater openness and courage in expressing her sexual needs and
desires. Her working class status definitely plays a role in it. Sherifa, on the other hand, prefers
to subdue her desires and longings within herself. Being well off in familial position, she has
prospects of re-marrying which she keeps on rejecting for the sake of her child until Suleiman is
imposed upon her. Fatima, however, neither has beauty nor property to remarry. In addition, she
has a young son and an ailing mother. She is the only bread earner in their family which does not
leave any space for her escape. However, in a leap of courage, she runs away with Muruga, a
Hindu man from the neighborhood. Sherifa, who was chiding Fatima for her outspokenness all
along until now, feels a tinge of jealousy for her, but simultaneously feels proud that one among
them gathered up courage to break the oppressive traditions and assert her desires.

In The Hour Past Midnight, women being the product of the same patriarchal tradition as
men, profess a worldview as hypocritical and misogynist as that of their male counterparts. This
hypocrisy is best manifested in the advocacy of different sexual conduct with regard to men and
women. The expected sexual behavior of men and women remain widely divergent. Men make
the laws and turn, twist or break it as it suits them whereas the rules acquire magnanimous
proportion when it comes to be applied to women. A woman’s desire and movement are
curtailed by the man-made law in the community. The glaring instance of such biased treatment
could be derived from a comparison between Karim and Fatima. Karim enjoys an extra-marital
sexual relationship with Mariyayi, a Hindu labour woman. It’s well known fact in the village and
the community. Men as well women share open banter about this relationship in front of Karim,
Mariyayi and Zohra in full public view. Karim is almost indifferent to such talks; Mariyayi feels
certain elation as its gives her an identity in relation to Karim; and Zohra tries her best to hide
her disappointment when such talks erupt. Nobody, including the fundamentalist religious
figures make any objection to such an illegitimate relationship that has turned into a public
knowledge. However, the news of Fatima’s elopement with a Hindu man creates a sensational
debate on how the moral values of the community are eroding because of such conduct and the
community’s failure to take any action in response to it. In contrast, there is utter silence around
a similar conduct for men. It is only Nuramma, Fatima’s old destitute mother, who criticizes
openly the biased decisions of the community heads – “You say it was a sin for my daughter to
elope with a Kafir. Is there a single man who hasn’t slept with one of our Hindu worker women?
Speak out, let me hear. Let just one of you stand up; I’ll agree my daughter did wrong” (Salma
254). Her angry outbursts in front of the entire community unravel the hypocrisy and misogyny
of the society. No doubt, as a logical development to Fatima’s elopement, there is a complete
restriction of women’s access to cinemas, including girls. Cinema is viewed as a corrupting
influence upon the morality of women, which is why it needs to be inaccessible. But for men,
there is no such potential threat of pollution of character. This shows how the concept of evil
does not get applied to the character of men.

Coming to women’s responses towards such sexual transgression, women are as much
part of the sexist and biased belief system as men. What is interesting about this mindset is that
women tend to see sexual chastity as an essence of womanhood. The grain of the argument
implies not a binary of chaste and unchaste woman, but poses a world wherein the womanhood
of a woman who commits the crime of adultery is questioned. Mumtaz and Nafiza, despite being
good friends, share this taunt in their dealings with each other. Mumtaz hints at and condemns
Nafiza’s suspected extramarital relationship with Aziz. Men’s romantic or sexual liaisons are
treated as amorous affairs whereas women who engage in such behavior are immediately
deemed as immoral, or worse still, unworthy of being a woman. Mumtaz in an all women
gathering comments “Perhaps we have to accept that men will have their way with their
mistresses. What I can’t understand is how women can bring themselves to sleep with many
men. I can’t think what sort of creature that must be” while pointing at Nafiza’s character (Salma
89). Similarly, Wahida as she finds Firdaus, Zohra’s sister, in a sexually compromising position
with the Hindu neighbor Siva, the first question she shoots at Firdaus is “Do you call yourself a
woman?” (Salma 383).

This discriminatory mindset for men’s and women’s sexual behavior is so well
internalized that there is not a lone voice of resistance against this among the community, even
orally. Women like Fatima and Nuramma who do not conform to the notion are victimized by
the powerful people in the text as well as symbolically in the form of death within the textual
world. It should be noted herein that women pay the price of death for sexual transgression.
Fatima dies in an accident; Firdaus is made to drink poison for the sexual choice she has made
outside marriage; Nuramma dies from hunger and exposure. Thus, both thematically and
structurally, the novel poses a world where there is no place for women to transgress the moral
principles set by the society. The picture that emerges finally is bleak where the women who
dreamed and tried to live their dreams, break the shackles of patriarchy are pushed to the margin
of non-existence. Their failed rebellions do not leave even a flutter in the lives of women who
are left behind. In contrast, the existing solidarity among women seems to slowly wane as the
aftereffect of such events.

Women within the community do not really choose to be pillars of patriarchy. Even if not
due to feminist mindset, because of their humanitarian temperament, they disapprove of many
incidents happening around. However, they are helpless as none of them has a voice in the
decision making process of the community. Salma’s novel does recount a few feministic
rebellions but sadly which withers in time. However, her own life tells us an optimistic tale. And
from the uncertain note that the novel ends with, it could be assumed safely that Rabia could be
the voice of dissent and freedom in future like Salam herself.

In her interviews, Salma has clarified that she has not discussed religion as an issue in her
novel even when focusing upon Muslim community. Though she does not touch upon religion
and religiosity as independent phenomena in her novel, her elaborate and faithful depiction of the
day to day life, conversations, rituals and beliefs of a Muslim community in rural Tamilnadu
include the influence of religion in the lives of these people. Thus, she does not critique religion
as such in her novel, but the negativities that women go through in their lives due to the practice
of religion are highlighted. Salma has clarified also that having been born and brought up in a
closed community, she could write truthfully only about the community she knows well. This is
the reason behind her choice of Muslim community as subject. Rather than critiquing religion for
its fundamental principles, she focuses her attention upon the diktats practiced in the name of
religion which affect both men and women, but women more. So rather than taking a stand of
religion as essentially misogynist, she takes up a position which argues that religion is
appropriated and used by a certain section of the society for their own advantage against another,
which mostly constitutes women, brings out the evil in religion. Hence, it is always women who
suffer at the hands such misused religion.

Salma’s The Hour Past Midnight ends with changes slowly creeping into the small
village unknowingly. Suleiman, the Saudi returned over enthusiast brings with him
fundamentalist Islamic value system in the form of more stringent punishments and absolute
intolerance. After Fatima’s elopement with a Hindu man, all the women in the community are
barred from going to cinema. Nuramma’s angry outbursts near the mosque are angrily met with
Suleiman and a little gang he has gathered during his short stay in the village. Changes at the
macro level in the village run parallel with micro level changes within families or at personal
front. Small tragedies rip apart people. Small rebellions take seed: sometimes they flourish, but
mostly wither away with time. The women who are to rebel against the societal norms ironically
face death or elimination from the text in the end. The realistic picture of a slowing changing
village poses the potent challenges that women empowerment face in a Muslim society.

The Hour Past Midnight combines several perspectives and positions which are usually
marginalized in literature. She describes women’s lives in a Muslim community from the
perspective of a woman who is also an insider to the locale. Hence, the novel is ethnographically
tedious as Salma leaves no stone unturned to elaborate upon the specificity and peculiarity of day
to day life and rituals in a Muslim community in rural part of Tamilnadu. Salma presents what
can be truly called a female worldview in her novel. She does not attain that by completely
eliminating men from the fictional landscape but by juxtaposing both men’s and women’s
worldviews and making the women’s perspectives the dominant one. The advantage of having
lived in a homosocial society translates into a unique ability in the realistic portrayal of the inner
world of women, shrouded by purdah as they are from the outside world. It shows how women’s
concerns and preoccupations are widely divergent from that of men’s and how a space populated
only by women permits a certain liberty in their speech. Salma keeps herself away from any
opinionated or judgmental treatment of the characters, both men and women. Being a third
person narrative, the major characters get an opportunity to speak for themselves. This results in
several viewpoints being juxtaposed turning the novel into a space for interaction of multiple
voices.

Salma has a feminist voice in her fiction, but there is a visible unwillingness to preach
feminism. Instead, she decides to portray a realistic picture of numerous dimensions of women’s
lives. Hence, The Hour Past Midnight may apparently seem to be lacking in feminist
consciousness. Women in this text live in rural India, are denied education and employment
opportunities and have no access to decision making process. The only duty that they perform in
their entire lives ranges from taking care of home to bearing children. There are small rebellions
that these women initiate, whether it is Firdaus’s decision to leave her husband or Fatima running
away with a man of her choice. Sometimes, if not in actions, verbally, a few women speak of an
emerging feminist consciousness. These moments of feminist consciousness are interspersed
with their realization of male hypocrisy, double standards for men and women, and role of
religion in women’s subordinate status. The few feminist actions asserting their individuality that
women partake in the novel ultimately result in tragedies of death, nothing less. Thus, the overall
picture that Salma presents in The Hour Past Midnight remains bleak as to the possibility of
women’s empowerment.

WORKS CITED

MacKinnon, Catherine A. Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law. Cambridge:

Havard University Press, 1987. Print.

Salma. The Hour Past Midnight. Tr. Lakshmi Holmstorm. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2009. Print.

---. “Freedom Writer Salma.” By Krysten Maier. Madurai Messenger. April 2013. Web. 23 Aug.
2013. <http://www.maduraimessenger.org/printed-version/2013/april/in-conversation-02/>.

---. Interview. By Gopal Ethiraz. Asian Tribune. 23 Aug. 2009. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
< http://www.asiantribune.com/node/22393>.
Ms. Lahari Behera
Junior Lecturer in English
N.C. Junior College, Jajpur, Odisha
Email: lahariunique@gmail.com
Mob. No: 8337961137