Social Picture or Rural Bengal in Syed Walilullah’s Tree Without Roots

Answer

What social picture of rural Bengal do you get in Syed Walilullah’s “Tree Without Roots”?

Tree Without Roots is a remarkable work by Syed Waliullah in which he portrays rural settings. His depiction of rural illiterate people, their poverty, religious superstition, male domination, and early marriage gives a proper representation of traditional rural society. 

Illiteracy: The people of Mohabbatpur lead a very simple life. There is no school in this village, and they suffer from illiteracy. They only go to Maktab to learn the Quran. They just memorize it. No one even knows the meaning of any word of it. Their illiteracy brings other problems to their lives. 

Majeed’s Treachery: Majeed takes advantage of their illiteracy. He targets these people and creates his dominion over them. Due to a lack of education, the villagers fail to understand Majeed’s treachery. Even when Akkas offers a proposal to build a school in the village, he cunningly insults him with irrelevant questions. 

Where is your beard, Mian?

Poverty: The novelist describes the poverty of the village people. They don’t have enough food. They struggle to survive in poverty. Majeed is the muezzin of a mosque of Madhupur in Garo Hill. One day, he learns about Mahabbatnagar from a government official. Then, he feels this place is not sufficient for his existence. So, he leaves Garo Hill for the betterment of food and shelter. He leaves with: 

A Kurta, a couple of old Lungis, two thin towels, and a small, much-thumped Koran,

Religious Superstitions: Through this novel, the novelist tries to show the superstitions of rural Bengal people. The villagers believe in religion but don’t have enough knowledge about it. A famous quotation from Waliullah,

There are more tupees than heads of cattle ,more tupees than sheaves of grass,

Majeed takes advantage of their religious blindness. He entraps them using religion, and the people blindly believe him. In the name of religion, he starts to exploit them. He establishes a Mazar and says,

You have earned God’s gratitude,

He becomes successful in gaining worldly affairs and pleasure. He uses religion as an investment. This shrewd man imposes his own generated thoughts on the ignorant village people. He also takes revenge on those who go against him.  The villagers get treatment from the Pir rather than going to a doctor. They believe in Mazar and its spiritual power. They seek help from the Pir in any kind of problem. 

Male Dominating Society: The society depicted in this novel is completely dominated by men. Women are like lifeless objects. They are neglected in every sphere of life. They are treated like servants to the men. It is established that women are born to be slaves of men and please God. No one cares about their feelings or emotions. In the novel, Jamila is the best paradigm of the social victim. Majeed marries her at a young age. He wants to dominate her and kills her at the end of the novel. So, Male dominating society is the central element in this novel.

Child Marriage and Polygamy: Child marriage is a common picture in rural areas. Waliullah shows this social issue through the marriage of Jamila and Majeed. Jamila is a very young girl. She gets married to a man of middle age. Jamila is the second wife of Majeed. He marries her because his first wife is unable to give birth to a child. 

In conclusion, we can say that the novel Tree Without Roots is the best paradigm of the social picture of rural Bengal. Here, Syed Waliullah represents contemporary social issues like child marriage, religious superstition, male-dominated society, literacy, and poverty. He also reveals the rebellious character Jamila, who raises his hand against religious superstition and male-dominated society.