The Intra-psychic Conflicts in Lalhmingliana Saiawi’s Novels

Abstract : Lalhmingliana Saiawi observes every minute detail of a household, a village, a city, a society and a relationship but he is primarily concerned with the psyche and emotion of his characters. Sex, his major theme, pervades his novels; a healthy, active and great sex life in marital relationships is foregrounded and idealised in all his novels. In the Pre-Christian Mizo society, there was some kind of struggle in their courtship: the struggle to mate and the struggle to escape owing to the fact that philanderers were admired while virgin maidens were esteemed. This sexual struggle between the sexes continued to persist in the psyche of the youth even in the Christian era. Saiawi draws a very clear picture of the shame and fear of humiliation experienced by maidens who indulged in casual sex through Nukawki and Hazeli who lived in constant fear that their respective sex partner might either bother them or expose their sexual encounter. He also depicts contrasting maidens like Chhuahthangi, Sakawlhi, Laleni, Ruatlawki and Darsawiveli who were rather happy than remorseful for indulging in sex with their lovers. On exploring the mental apparatus of his characters, Saiawi uncovers the mental conflicts that dominated the behaviors of his characters. He presents several incidents where his characters had to deal with their sexual impulses and the operation of the superego.

The mental conflicts derived from sexual impulse and the demands of social ethics and morality not only influenced the behavior and personality of his characters but their life and the lives of others as well. The operation of the mental components of his characters is therefore an important element for the representation of his themes, the spiritual growth of his characters and the development of his plots.

Lalhmingliana Saiawi is an observer who observes every minute detail of a household, a village, a city, a society and a relationship. He understands men and women, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the ignorant and the wise, the illiterate and the educated. His unique narrative technique involves the description of particular events and  incidents from different angles and perspectives. Economic and religious lives of his characters are not his primary
concerns: he is primarily concerned with the emotion and psyche of his characters. Sex, his major theme, pervades his novels; a healthy, active and great sex life in marital relationships is foregrounded and idealised in all his novels. This paper is an attempt to explore the effect of sex and sexual impulse on the minds and behaviors of his characters.

In the Pre-Christian era, it was every Mizo young man’s goal to sleep with as many young girls as possible. Adultery and premarital sex had nothing to do with their spiritual life and the life after death as Captain T.H. Lewin in The Hill Tracts of Chittagong and the Dwellers Therein points out:

Adultery is very uncommon. It is punished by the death of both parties; a husband is allowed to cut them down, and no fault attaches to him; their only shelter is in the Chief ’s house and a life-long slavery…but the intercourse between the unmarried of both sexes is entirely unchecked: a girl may go with any young man she fancies. If parents marry a girl to a man whom she does not like, she generally runs away from her husband, and is not thought to be wrong in doing so. (137)

Men and women mingled freely without any restriction; sex dominated young minds. Young men aspired to sleep with maidens whereas maidens tried to preserve their chastity. It was believed that Pawla, who was standing with his catapult at the crossroads of ‘Mitthi khua’ (village of the dead) and ‘Pialral’ (abode of ‘Thangchhuah’ men and wives after death) hit every young man who had not slept with any maiden. Lt. Colonel J. Shakespear in The Lushei Kuki Clans observes that Pupawla, “may not shoot a young man who has enjoyed three virgins, nor at one who has enjoyed seven different women, even if they were not virgins; but women, whoever they may be, he always shoots at” (62). This notion about Pawla’s pellet bow may be just a myth to justify their sexual impulses and relationships. However, it was evident that there was some kind of struggle in their courtship- the struggle to mate and the struggle to escape owing to the fact that philanderers were admired while virgin maidens were esteemed.

This sexual struggle between the sexes continued to persist in the psyche of the youth even in the Christian era. Lalhmingliana Saiawi in “Chutiang Pawh A Ni Lo Ka Nu affirms that some young men often bragged about their sexual encounter whereas maidens were reticent on such matter:

Thian kawm danah pawh hmeichhia leh mipa hian danglamna tak an nei. Nula tlangval ngai chuan mi hriat an hlau a, tlangval nula thei chuan an hlau ve lova, uan nana hmang pawh an awm. (203)

It was a matter of shame and humiliation if a maiden’s sexual indulgence was disclosed but it did not have any impact on other aspects of their life. Saiawi draws a very clear picture of the shame and fear of humiliation experienced by maidens who indulged in casual sex through the plight of Nukawki and Hazeli who lived in constant fear that their respective sex partner might either bother them or expose their sexual relationship. Nukawki’s predicament was a worst nightmare maidens could endure when Chhungbuluka, in a drunken state, gloated over their sexual encounter in front of her students and told them not to respect her anymore for she has been defiled by him. He furthermore blurted out that her legs are very beautiful as he was trying to pull up her gown.

Naupangho ngaihthalo khan kal hla lovin an lo thlir a. An en reng lai chuan Chhungbuluka chuan, “He nula hi in zah em em a. Kei pawhin ka zah der a. Zah duh suh u. Ka theih hnu a nih hi. A malte hi a nalh asin,” tiin a kawrfual hlimsak a tum ta. (Saiawi, Nukawki 82)

The misfortune of Nukawki worsened when her father who was initially protective over her, called her names and berated her saying that she deserved to be harassed by the scoundrel. Had not a neighbour intervened, she would have been whipped by her father.

A pa chu a thinur lutuk ta. “Vawi eng zat nge a tih che mi hur nu? Min va timualpho em em ve! A sawisa reng ang che chu. Khawnge kei pawhin ka’n vaw ve teh ang che,” tiin kut thlak a tum a. Kawmchhak nu khan a lo dang a. (84)

Regardless of her fall, Nukawki managed to marry a man of her dreams, the tall, handsome and well-off Lianhawla, and she gradually won acceptance and respect from her sisters-in law. The loss of Hazeli’s virginity and the subsequent affliction that she witnessed echoes Nukawki’s predicament. Hazeli’s mother pulled her hair and dragged her out of the bathroom when she figured out about her sexual activity. She then woke her husband up and told him to thrash her.

A nu chuan a samah a kai a, inchhungah a hnuk lut a. A thin a ur em a ni: khawngaihthlakin!
A pasal a muhil hman tawh a, a va kai tho va.
“I fanu hi han vaw teh! Tlangval a ngai a nih hi!” tah awin a ti . (Saiawi, A Na Lua 34)

Hazeli’s father did not either abuse her verbally or beat her physically; he silently punished her by ignoring her and refusing to talk to her for a long time. Her sexual partner never became a nuisance in spite of her fear that he might constantly pester her. However, he bought his friend a drink in celebration of his triumph on the day following their consummation. This incident reflects the notion of male struggle to mate and their sense of victory if they succeed. Her subsequent marriage to Darchhuana, a much older affluent man in compliance with her parents’ wish parallels Nukawki’s marriage to a much older Lianhawla. Contrasted to them, Saiawi depicts maidens like Chhuahthangi, Sakawlhi, Laleni, Ruatlawki and Darsawiveli who were rather happy than remorseful for sleeping with their lovers. By presenting these contrasting female characters, Saiawi testifies that sexual impulse and sex are marks of humanity.

With the development of Christianity in the Mizo society, the Christian doctrine about sex between unmarried persons as a sin began to influence the social, mental and sexual life of the people. The instinctual libido coupled with the primitive sexual struggle of the sexes and the Christian moral and ethical values began to create conflicts on the minds of individuals. These mental conflicts, as claimed by Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality, propel and control personality. Freud discussed personality in terms of a constant conflict between the internal forces of the id, the ego and the super-ego. The id, driven by the pleasure principle that seeks instant gratification of all desires or needs, is the source of sexual and aggressive drives. The ego that develops gradually from the id strives to satisfy the desires and demands of the id in realistic and socially acceptable ways, and the superego works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards.

The ego develops a defence mechanism to prevent itself from feelings of guilt and anxiety as explained by the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “In the Freudian framework, conflicts among the three structures of the personality are repressed and lead to the arousal of anxiety. The person is protected from experiencing anxiety directly by the development of defense mechanisms, which are learned through family and cultural influences”(761). Freud identified repression, regression, reaction formation, sublimation, displacement, projection, condensation, rationalisation, denial, and intellectualisation as the defense mechanisms.

Saiawi, on exploring the mental apparatus of his characters uncovers the mental conflicts that dominate the behaviors of his characters. He presents several incidents where his characters had to deal with their sexual impulses and the operation of the superego. Hazeli in A Na Lua succumbed to her sexual impulse, and she slept with Vala at their first encounter. The act of washing herself in the bathroom calls to mind the hand washing scene of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Makuki in Nukawki Fanu had to deal with the intra-psychic conflict when she was sleeping in her ex husband’s bedroom with her son. Making sexual advance to him was the demand of the id whereas the superego reminded her that it would be unfair for Nukawki, her son’s nice stepmother. The most loved and esteemed Nukawki surrendered her virginity to the pugnacious Chhungbuluka as a result of the dominance of the id.

The mental conflict of Nukawki was heightened by her guilt as she was a Sunday school teacher. She wanted to resign but she did not want to disclose the nature of her offence for fear of infamy. Gradually the ego develops rationalisation which, in the words of Jeffrey A. Kottler and David S. Shepard in Counseling Theories and Practices is “the intellectual misuse of logic to over explain or justify conflicting messages” (90) to protect the mind against anxiety. She rationalised her sinful deed by conceiving that many young women who had indulged in the same sinful deed still continued to work as Sunday school teachers, and the church might run out of teachers if all of them confessed to their sins.

The wealthy married men Lianhawla in Nukawki and Darchhuana in Lungrang Hmangaihna faced the intra-psychic conflict resulting from their sense of obligation to their attractive, educated and sophisticated wife and their feelings for a much younger village girl Nukawki and Mazami respectively. They resolved the conflict by exercising repression which according to Freud, is “the process by which a mental act capable of becoming conscious (that is, one which belongs to the preconscious system) is made unconscious and forced back into the unconscious system” (General Introduction 586). Their mental conflict was never revealed, and it never created a problem in their marriage. Their unintentional divorce on grounds of incompatibility and adultery respectively provided them an opportunity to finally marry their object of sexual impulse. The application of repression in these cases is a skillful attempt of the novelist to promote fidelity in marital life and to portray female protagonists who deserved to finally live a happily ever after life.

Laiawrha’s mental conflict in Lungrang Laiawrha commenced right after he slept with Laleni, his love object. He realised that she had always been a virgin despite the rumour about her pregnancy and abortion that had been the talk of the village. He was certain that he was more attracted to her than the person he was going to marry in a few days but his conscience advised him that jilting an innocent young woman is downright injustice:

Laiawrha rilruah chuan Laleni kha a khat tlat mai a. Han hmuh leh a chak hliah hliah mai. Sakawlhi aiin a duh zawk em em tih a rilruah chuan a chiang. Mahse thiam lohna nei ve reng reng lo nula han thlauhthlak ngawt chu a dik lo nasa tih a hre bawk si. Rilruah sual a lut tam tulh tulh a, Sakawlhi chu nei nge nge dawn ta pawh nise a aia hmeltha zawk Laleni chu han chetpui leh rih te pawh a chak ta. (173)

The sexual impulse was so strong that he would often pass through her house hoping to see her but he never got the chance to see her again. He married Sakawlhi, and he began to repress his feelings for Laleni. The repressed feeling which was locked in his unconscious was revived after many years when he learnt that Laleni was down with illness. His hesitation to inform his family about her illness and hospitalisation at Durtlang Hospital was a reaction formation that the ego developed to protect him from anxiety. Reaction formation as Corey puts it is “actively expressing the opposite impulse when confronted with a threatening impulse” (64). When his wife scolded him for not reporting about Laleni’s critical condition, he simply said that he thought it was not an important matter and that he had forgotten altogether about it. This denial, “the distortion of reality by pretending that undesirable truths about ourselves, uncomfortable feelings, or unacceptable events are not really happening” (Kottler and Shepard 90), manifested itself from his guilt over his sexual relationship before his marriage. He repressed his grief over her death, and the ego developed reaction formation by behaving as if he had not been affected by her death. In this way, Laiawrha saved his marriage, and his application of the defence mechanisms is the main reason behind his active and happy sexual life with his wife which
became the foundation of the prosperous Lungrang family.

Darsawiveli and Darthangvunga in A Na Lua had been fighting against their instinctual libido since they reached puberty. Repression of their feelings for each other took place because their impulse was too shameful as they were foster siblings. As the impulse generated a high level of anxiety they shied away from each other. Darthangvunga would read books in an empty room whenever he paid a visit to Darsawiveli’s house. This is an exemplification of sublimation which is “diverting sexual or aggressive energy into other channels” (Corey 65). In fact, he was diverting his sexual feeling into something which was socially acceptable. They eventually gave in to the demands of the id as a consequence of which Darsawiveli became pregnant. The sudden death of Darthangvunga became a turning point in her life because Darchhuana, Darthangvunga’s father finally accepted her as a daughter when their secret love affair was disclosed.

Chhunruaii’s mental conflict resulted from her love and attraction for Unionliana and her moral obligation. However, she yielded to his sexual advance when he emotionally blackmailed her by saying that her refusal to yield to his demand meant that she did not truly want him. Her commonsense that cautioned her about his true feelings and her conscience forced her to stay away from him. Unionliana, on the other hand, had resorted to displacement which is “the rechanneling of energy from one object to another” (Kottler and Shepard 90) by displacing his feelings and sexual energy to her considering that his love object Vanlalruatlawki had sexual scandals involving ‘Vaipa’ and Lianrova. Chhunruaii’s strange behavior of ignoring him, locking herself in the bedroom, praying fervently and reading the Bible for most of the time after a lapse of four years baffled and disappointed him. He had experienced multiple sexual relationships during his absence, and the revival of the recurring sexual craving for her incited him to develop ‘Projection’ which is “attributing to others one’s own unacceptable desires and impulses” (Corey 64) by wondering if she was carrying an illegitimate child of a ‘vai’ (non-Mizo). It turned out afterwards that the inner conflict that arose from her sexual urge and the Christian notion of pre-marital sex as a grave sin had prompted her to act as if she did not care for him which is a specimen of reaction formation. She began to behave normally after she let the id dominated her life.

Unionliana developed the intra-psychic conflict as a consequence of his sexual attraction and unrequited love for his high school sweetheart Ruati and his obligation to his faithful and trusting wife. The conflict became so strong that he went out recklessly on a Christmas day to pass time. He came to realise that Ruati had never been defiled as they were in a very intimate condition at the cinema hall. With the predominance of the id, he slept with her when he visited her at Calcutta. The most intense intra-psychic conflict he had to resolve was whether to save his marriage or to divorce his dutiful wife when his mistress became pregnant. He finally rationalised his infidelity and his decision to marry his mistress by pointing out that she might bear him a son his mother had been craving for, and also that the innocent child would not become a ‘bastard’.

Nupuia ka neih loh chuan ka fa chu sawn a ni dawn. A hrin hmaa nupuia ka neih erawh chuan sawn a ni lovang. A fa chu mipa a nih hlauh chuan ka nu’n a awh em em kha a ni dawn a, dik tak chuan kei pawhin fapa hi awt lovin ka han insawi tak a, ka chauh thu ba rawh mai mai a ni ve bawk. (Saiawi, Unionliana 152)

He further pointed out that he himself had wanted a son all along and his claim of not coveting a son was just intellectualisation as he knew his wife’s failure to bear a son was not their choice. The predominant id triggered him to divorce his wife and start a new family with his beloved. Chhunruaii also remarried soon after the divorce, and she lived a peaceful life with her second husband.

Saiawi does not portray individuals with an overtly strong and dominant id. In most cases, the id became dominant only after the operation of different defence mechanisms for some time. The dominant superego prevented Laiawrha, Lianhawla and Darchhuana from having extramarital relationship whereas the strong id drove Hazeli to commit adultery which became the basis of her tragic end. Similarly, the dominant id caused Unionliana to suffer from terrible humiliation, regret and distress following the dissolution of his first marriage and the strain of his second marriage. The portrayal of these characters is a skillful device employed by the novelist to emphasise the importance of fidelity in marriage. Saiawi, whose major theme is the importance of a healthy, active and happy sex life in marital relationship, also gives an account of several situations related to premarital sex in order to universalise sex and sexuality. The mental conflicts derived from sexual impulse and the demands of social ethics and morality not only influenced the behavior and personality of his characters but their life and the lives of others as well. The operation of the mental components of his characters is therefore an important element for the representation of his themes, the spiritual growth of his characters and the development of his plots.

Works Cited :

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• Freud, Sigmund. “A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis”. Encyclopaedia Britannica : The Major Works of Sigmund Freud. Translated by Joan Rivierra, William Benton, 1952, pp. 697-717.
• Kottler, Jeffrey A. David S. Shepard. Counseling Theories and Practices.3rd ed., Cengage Learning India Private Limited, 2008.
• The New Encyclopaedia Britanica.3 Vols. 15th ed., Encyclopaedia Britanica, Inc., 1989.
• Lewin, Captain T.H. The Hill Tracts of Chittagong And The Dwell ers There-in. Bengal Printing Company Limited, 1869.
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• ———. Chutiang Pawh A Ni Lo Ka Nu. Ramdinsanga Saiawi,2013.
• ———. Keimah Unionliana. M/s Lalrinliana & Sons, 1997.
• ———. Lungrang Hmangaihna. Lalrinliana & Sons, 2000.
• ———. Lungrang Laiawrha. P.S.L. Hlunsanga, 1998.
• ———. Nukawki. Nukawki & Nukawki Fanu. Ramzaua Saiawi, 2010.
• Shakespear, Lt. Colonel J. The Lushei Kuki Clans.Macmillan & Co., Ltd.