Having tried her hand in novels and short stories and being successful, she has also written one feminist play We Are So Different Now (2009) published in 2011. Shauna Singh Baldwin's engrossment in the character of Draupadi from Mahabharata the "Quintessential dark heroine of Indian mythology" ( An epic retelling: Akila Kannadasan. Web source) seems to be evoked due to her unconventional life full of vicissitudes. The predicament of Draupadi's life in Mahabharata attracts the attention of any writer and Shauna Singh Baldwin is no exception in this regard. Biljana Doric - Francuski, in her article " Woman as Godess or Woman as Victim?
Thus they share similar and intimate experience of oppression. That is why postcolonial thinkers have shared concerns with development in feminist theory. They are striving to reassert marginalized voices. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak puts forward rhetorical and ironic question through her essay, “Can Subaltern Speak?” (1985) declares women voiceless. She has focused on the dual burdens carried out by the postcolonial female subjects; both patriarchal and imperial.
Works of most of the authors express their stance towards bringing about social change. Their themes explore the atrocities and maladies women undergo. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is one among such writers. She is an Indo American author. Women occupy the central place in her fictional world.
The literary text Woman at Point Zero by Nawal Al Saadawi, portrays women in a victimized manner corresponding to the social and historical context of Egypt in the 1970s. Through the first-person narrative of Firdaus, Saadawi portrays the social context of Egyptian women in the 1970s. The literary techniques used help define and characterize women in the text. Saadawi uses a variety of themes and motifs in order to further portray the role of women in Egyptian society as well as the use of symbolism. Dialogue throughout novel help highlight the separation between the genders and their roles.
The first chapter makes an introductory assessment of Indian English women novelists in general and makes a brief survey of the portrayal of women with specific account of suffering and discrimination in particular. It deals with the development of genre ‘novel’ in Indian English literature with the focus of women novelists of the period. This chapter explores the fictional portrayal of suffering woman and her subjugated status in the male dominated society. It explores that the women were fated to suffer and struggle right from birth to their death. It is observed that women are still suffering and their struggle has not ended yet.
That was why she got inspired to write about women and their strengths in order to survive in modern society. Woolf dedicated her major novels to analyze the patriarchal English society. Different types of women are portrayed in various contexts. She opened women’s eyes on their inferior status and provided them with a female tradition to rely on. She strives to provide women with the proper clues for having a meaning in life.
The God of Small Things is a typical postcolonial feminist novel with the streak of interrogative stance on the gender and caste biased system in India. Arundhati Roy makes artistic efforts to put forward the saga of the agony and fire of revolt of women that has been sparking for a long time. Female characters like Ammu, Mammachi, Baby Kochamma, Rahel, Margret and even Kochu Maria in the novel are the instruments in the hands of the novelist to put resistance to the norms, dogmas, laws, values and structures typical patriarchal apart from challenging the “Love laws” and institution of marriage which assigns more bondages for women. Ammu finds herself entirely alone and helpless to fight the system that is designed to be hostile to fair sex. Mammachi feels threatened by whatever happens on the television as she opts to view the world through small screen rather than confronting the grim and unfavouring realities of life around.
Postfeminism provides a theoretical space to conceptualize Sarah Joseph’s social activism footed on the feminist platform. In her novels feminism finds a broad based multiple application in order to address the demands of all marginalized and colonized cultures. Regional, ethnic, environmental and postcolonial feminisms get represented in Aalahayude Penmakkal, (The Daughters of Aalaha), Mattathi (The Other), Othappu (The Scent of the Other Side), Oorukaval (The Vigil), Aathi (Gift in Green) and Aalohari Aanandam (Each One’s Share of
When we explore feminism of gender-rights from the perspective of Begum Rokeya, we find that she deals with the basic issues of women in a different way than most other feminists. Rokeya has shown interest in opening up the inner world of women so that they can understand that the dogmatic patriarchal society treats them as
As Helen Cixous suggests, Gilman “breaks up truth with laughter.” (11) Although it was written hundred years ago yet it has so much relevance in the contemporary world. By strongly criticizing the culture and tradition of outside world, Gilman has brought this imaginary world with a feminist perspective. She has presented in her novel that, gender difference, suppression and oppression of women, sexual harassment, rape, will continue throughout the years. Gilman’s works are strongly embedded and connected with women like Women and Economics, Concerning Children, The home: Its work and Influence and many more. Herland depicts the breakdown of isolated society and expresses the changed ideas and the conflict between the outside world and their world.