I would like to add my two-cent's worth to the Jillian/Nam chain of comments. I agree with Nam that the village is an entity that rests UPON the jungle and that the village and jungle are two separate entities. I am not sure that I agree with the suggestion, however, that the jungle somehow represents "chaos." Rather it seems to represent an ultimate order because of its impermeability--the scratching, digging, clearing, and conniving of man on its surface is miniscule in comparison to its primordial fecundity and ability to survive. It deals with the village the same way that any organism deals with an intruder--it gathers its potency around the alien entity and forces it out. It is described as "a living wall about the village, a wall which, if the axe were spared, would creep in and smother and blot out the village itself(3)" Even the animals within it are at it's mercy. Of all the characters thus far, only Silindu seems to have an understanding of this. The fact that he is not a cultivator but a hunter places him within the natural order of the jungle to a greater degree than the rest who clear their chenas and succumb to a man-made hierarchy. He is aware of the rhythms of deprivation and plenty, the rules of hunter and hunted, the mystery of something greater than himself. He becomes one with it-- "when he started for the jungle, he became a different man...he glided through the impentrable scrub with a long, slinking stride...."(10) Yet he fears it--not the animals and other attendant dangers but the immensity of the "thing" itself. While Leonard Woolf may or may not have intended the jungle to become symbolic, it certainly seems so at this point, and Silindu crosses back and forth over the line of demarcation between the two forces of nature and man.

A caste system.

Caste systems have always fascinated me, especially those in India, and the surrounding region...I find it really interesting, that even though Beddagamma seems so far from "civilization" there is still something like caste adhered to so strongly. It may have been just me, but there seemed to be so little difference between the classes in the village, that it's difficult to distinguish (though living in the culture would make it clearer, as I'm sure it was to Woolf). Though the caste system lends order to the village in a way, it also is what created all of the disharmony and discomfort. It's one of the reasons that capitalism, and harsh caste/class systems have always had an un-mendable flaw.

I'd also have to agree that the story, so far, has a classic love story emerging reminiscent of Romeo & Juliet- which kind of enforces the pre-/Victorian influence on the transnational modernist writers. It's a trait that I'm glad has yet to die out even in post-modernist composition.

Law of the Jungle

The image of the two stags fighting over a doe on page 34 is very interesting. Punchi Menika seems to forget the first rule of the jungle: fear. The doe has not forgotten it, and even as two stags fight for the right to posses her she is aware of the danger in the jungle. Punchi Menika, on the other hand, distracted and dreamlike from the momentary "stirring of life around her" (35), for, perhaps the first time in her life, feels safe in the jungle. It is almost immediately after that that Babun "pounces" on her and leads her deeper into the jungle. Babun is then characterized as a "devil," as Jillian keenly pointed out.

What is intersting to me is that Babun's possession of Punchi Menika is neither attacked nor defended by the text. It is as if the novelist, or narrator, himself lives by the law of the jungle. The weak, or those unafraid of the danger lurking in the shadows of the jungle, are free game. It is both unforgiving and fair. It is not, however, evil. The first chapter of this novel disagrees with me, saying, "All jungles are evil, but no jungle is more evil than that which lay about the village of Beddagama" (10). Perhaps the wording is misleading, though. The natural world of the jungle is one which is later described as a place driven by fear, hunger, and thirst. Those creatures that fear the jungle must still face it to survive, and all creatures fear the jungle, even the leopard. Punchi Menika makes the mistake of forgetting her fear, and though she is wild and strong, she becomes vulnerable.

Silindu's later refusal of forfeiting his daughter is in vain. She has already given herself to Babun and it is no longer her, or her father's, place to refuse what Babun has claimed by natural law. Human desire and morality, then, are secondary to the law of the jungle.

I'm not sure this makes sense to anyone else, but you might be able to make something out of it.

Winesburg, Woolf, and Women

I see some striking similarities between the two texts in terms of setting. In both cases civilization implies order, an order which often isn't roomy enough for the individual who stands alone. Silindhu and his family are outcasts, in large part, because they/he refuse to adhere to the social customs of the village. Their intimacy with the jungle, specifically his daughters', casts the family as savages and Hinnihami and Punchi Menikha are seen as betrayers of the villages codes of womanhood.

If the village offers order and safety in numbers it also relegates women to cooks, childbearers, and perhaps even less flattering, gossips. A failure to comply with social norms leads to a virtual banishment and subjectification by other villagers.

The jungle, on the other hand, serves as the unkown and offers opportunity for experience beyond the toil of daily chores and links woman/man to the mysteries surrounding the village while teaching survival in and respect for the natural world.

In this novel it seems as if Mankind's laws are much more susceptible to corruption than those of nature, as the opportunity to hunt or be hunted seems more democratic than the constant levying of interest by the headsman upon fellow villagers. Furthermore, the jungle provides much of the mythological sustenance of this community and as readers we witness a gradual dissipation of such as modernity begins to infiltrate the region.

Do I Detect a Hint of...Shakespeare?

I am probably going way out on a limb here, but does the story of Babun and Punchi Menika remind anyone else of Romeo and Juliet? We have two families that don't see eye to eye, a balcony scene that happens to take place in the jungle, and a father, Silindu, who says his daughter is too young to be given to a man.

First of all, the two families in Village in the Jungle share striking similarities with their Shakespearean counterparts. Nanchohami berates Babun, saying, "'Twill be a fine thing in the village to hear that the headman has given his wife and daughters to Rodiyas, leopards, jackals!" (42). Her scorn for Silindu and his family brings to mind the invectives tossed between the Capulets and Montagues during the fight scene of Act I, scene i.

Secondly, what I'm calling the balcony scene: in the Shakespearean version, Romeo and Juliet don't actually consummate their relationship, they just poetically swoon and make promises of their love. While Babun and Punchi Menika appear to have consummated their relationship, the scenes are still similar--apparently, we find out later, Punchi Menika has made some promises of her own: "Appochchi! it is true: I said I would go with him...I gave my word: what can I do?" (47). So we also have a scene where the young lovers make the exciting discovery of their love for each other, and vow to be together forever.

Finally, we have the Sinhalese Lord Capulet, whose main argument when Babun requests his daughter's hand is that she is too young to be married. He says to Babun, "The girl is too young. I cannot give her to you, or evil will come of it" (45). This is the very same argument Lord Capulet makes to Paris when he requested the hand of Juliet.

Obviously, there are differences between the two stories; I'm not arguing for complete congruence here. I just thought it was interesting to note the similarities, as it leads me to wonder if the ending for Babun and Punchi Menika will be the same tragic, suicidal end Shakespeare's lovers meet.

Order vs. Chaos in The Villiage in the Jungle

In Leonard Woolf's text The Village in the Jungle there seems to be a distinct struggle between order and chaos as they are associated with the village and the jungle respectively. From the beginning in Chapter 1, the jungle represents a sense of chaos and disorder as it is described as a living, breathing object that can swallow up the village at any given moment. It is almost as if the villagers must carefully "tame" the jungle if they hope to survive. On pages 4-5, the jungle is described as providing the villagers with a distinct sense of fear and terror; as if it possesses some innate sense of evil.

In Chapter 3, the sisters Punchi Menika and Hinnihami are described as possessing "the same strangeness and wildness as the jungle"(34). As the girls and their father spend more time in the jungle they seem to develop the same unpredictable characteristics of the jungle and in a sense, are viewed by the other villagers with the same fear and distaste as they view the jungle.

Finally, the culminating point of chaos as it is associated with the jungle in Chapters 1-4, is when Babun seizes Punchi Menika in the jungle. It is as if he is a "devil" emerging from the trees to take her (37-38). Much like in the stories that her father has shared with she and her sister. Punchi Menika experiences feelings of both desire and fear as she moves further into the jungle with Babun. This ultimately makes Punchi Menika as wild as the jungle that surrounds her.

Reading Questions for Village in the Jungle

•What is the relationship between characters (esp. Punchi Menika) and setting at the end of Ch. III.
•How would you describe Woolf’s style or what other writers does he remind you of?
•What image of Sri Lanka/Ceylon emerges at the beginning of this novel? You might consider religion, sexuality, family, politics, etc.
•What is the symbolism of the jungle?