A Critical Analysis:
The Cardsharper's Daughter (1951) is one of Basheer's remarkable short stories. It belongs to particularly two typical genres of stories one is called Long Story' and the other is 'Sthalam Stories'.
From the beginning to the end, the story abounds in laughter. Sarcastic, subversive, and mocking verbal exchanges of the characters, who inhabit the story, make it uniquely humorous. The protagonists of the story are two comic characters, Mandan Muthapa and Ottakkannan Poker. Mandan Muthapa is a pickpocket. He is tall and of a black complexion. Ottakkannan Poker calls Muthapa a fool. Throughout the story, Muthapa entertains the readers through his foolish and laughter-provoking gestures. Ottakkannan Poker is a cunning one-eyed cardsharper of the place. His behaviour also enhances the element of laughter in the story. Zainabu is an important female character in the story. She is the one and only daughter of the cardsharper.
The narrator of the story, who introduces himself as a 'humble historian', appears before the story begins and states that he is going to inform us how Ottakkannan Poker, the cardsharper lost his game to the foolish and slow-witted pickpocket Mandan Muthapa and how Muthapa succeeded in winning the hands of Poker's daughter Zainabu, Mandan Muthapa's love affair with Ottakannan Pokker's daughter Zainaba is central to the plot of the story. Muthapa is passionately in love with Zainaba, and he is dreaming of his marriage to her. But Pokker does not like Muthapa and considers him a fool. He strongly opposed to their marriage. Eventually, public interference takes the matter up and supports Muthapa.
One day, Mandan Muthapa comes to play the card game with Pokker. He loses to Muthapa this time. This infuriates Poker because for the last Twenty years Pokker himself has been the winner. No one in the locality could beat him ever. The whole scene is highly humorous with its crowds gathered to participate and watch the game. For Muthapa, this card game is a game of life and his victory gives him a new status, the status of a wise man. In fact, it was Zainaba who revealed the trick to Muthapa for winning the game. She knew that her father Ottakkannan was doing some malpractice to win the game all the time befooling the crowd and participants, Zainaba disclosed this secret trick to Mandan Muthapa. After Muthapa won the game, Pokker's attitude to him gradually begins to change. Pokker lost his authority and dominance over both the game as well as poor and ordinary people like Muthapa. As a result, the marriage between Muthapa and Zainaba becomes a reality. Thus, the story closes with the description of their marriage festivities.
The lives of the marginalized, the power politics of the privileged, and social discriminations based on profession, social status, and money are Basheer's unwavering concerns in the work. The collective power of the common people to bring about changes in relationships and societies are also pointed out by Basheer through a seemingly simple and humorous short story. In the case of Muthapa, who belongs to the lower section of society, it is people's will also that wins upon Pokker's stubbornness and authority. The small village mentioned as "the Sthalam', is where the incidents of the story occur. The tone and terminology of the story is in a fashion of a parody of historical fiction, conventions of the romantic genre, and is also a mockery of the serious traditions of literary writing. The story is also a satire on the power politics of all cultures, people, and political parties. A reader can find several instances for establishing this point from the text.
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