Exploring Gender Discrimination in the Novel Bloody Dreams by Gopinath Lakshmanan

Some women stories are authentic and narrated so wonderfully that they strike chord immediately with some section of the society. Bloody Dreams is the debut work of Gopinath. What a story it is about a man-woman-man relationship. It takes us to the lives of Rajeev and Rajee, in between there are meek spectators are Divya and Radha…but why they are silent…is more important.

The story of the novel is set in contemporary Chennai. Magical realism, surreal portrayal of pain, and heartbreaking realities — the novel’s intensity brims over the cup with these themed features.

Gopinath breaks stereotype of feminism undertones. He didn’t choose a lady story hating men for reasons spiraling of her past. It is rather opposite, first we encounter Rajeev — a will-headed son of Radha who respects no women because he has everything in life…parents, money, entrepreneurship, and success. He loves his girlfriend Divya, a socially downtrodden girl who indulges in dance.

However, the ego morale of Rajeev and his father loathes her dancing participation. He, the Rajeev, not only assaults her publicly but also compels her to stop dancing. No reasons taken. The cruelty of the man is shown in vivid reality.

The phase of the novel changes when one night Rajeev retires in a heavy drinking state, next he finds himself in a different world, accompanied by no one except Divya. Rajeev is now Rajee — a poor lower-middle-class girl. However, the world is new but the memory of Rajeev hasn’t eroded. He is desperate to break from it.

Rajee sees the true pain a woman could face in her life. Her mother marries her off with an oppressive police officer. She gets pregnant only to be cursed for carrying a female child in her womb. Only Divya first helps her with a job at someone’s place. A woman with no financial and moral support has no strong backing. Rajee is all that could happen to a miserable girl. Rajeev understands the pain albeit through a dream. And it was a bloody dream. The novel didn’t take the route of banal feminism but it concerns the voice for women who give up their dreams and career for pleasing men ego.

The book will teach you that there is something magical about being a woman. Narrated in multiple points of views that intertwine the story of man and woman with a single soul! Socially applicable book with strong message for all of us who are bound to be holistic and harmonious while living with our equal better off — women!