Even before I named myself a feminist, or a lesbian, I felt compelled to bring together, in my understanding and in my poems, the political world 1. Towards the close of 1950s an autonomous women’s movement was gaining momentum. The feminists held economic exploitation, terrorism, colonialism and imperialism responsible for women’s oppression. Exploitation of women within the family, in married life, in the heterosexual relation and in childbearing were also considered oppressive. The feminist wanted to break free the stereotype sex roles forced on
"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is a complex representation of an unsteady mother-daughter relationship. The focal point of the story is oftentimes troublesome yet inescapable and uncovers clashing values. The relationship between Jing-mei and her mother stretches throughout the story. Conflict rises as opposite standpoints in connection with identification surface. Living in America as a Chinese immigrant, Jing-mei 's mother plants her dreams of American success on the shoulders of her daughter.
Devi, the protagonist, undergoes an identity crisis even after following the norms set by the society. She con- stately faces the problem of tradition versus modernity, dilemma of cultures western versus eastern, dilemma of mind versus heart and dilemma of being a ‘good girl’ versus ‘bad girl’, The crisis ‘to be or not to be a good girl’ haunts her and the agony of identity crisis attains the desired intensity through the use of myths. Through the study of women characters, provides us with a look into the Indian tradition and culture and the position of women in the Indian society. It is about the journey of Indian women through tradition to modernity in search of self-identity. It also discusses the ways
How come it 's always the women who are fighting for a stable and painless life? Why is it always the women who have the choice to live by suppressed under the society’s expectations or face the consequences of going against it and gaining nothing? Women equality has been an issue for a long time and it is dragged even to the present time. Fitzgerald, in his novel “The Great Gatsby” portrays women in two manners which are submissive and assertive but also showing how they both have desires for a comfort and stable life. Gender roles in society mean how certain genders are expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct themselves.
The novels of Bharati Mukherjeee are self-actualising. Quest for definition of oneself and search for identity are the main features of women in her novels who had caught between tradition, culture and modernity. Her novels reveal the sufferings of most of woman in the alien land. In some of her novels she speaks about women who succeed in the alien land. Neither can they completely detach themselves from their part, nor do they have any sureness in the future.
This search for independence is interesting because I believe that it is something that I can relate to, even in this day and age. In The House of Mirth, Lily struggles with whether or not she should get married like all the other women that she knows, or if she should just accept the fact that she will not have a husband. Both Wharton and Chopin’s stories use similar themes and ideas in order to show that regardless of whether women were trying to find themselves or save themselves, things were different for them simply because they were females. In both The Awakening and The House of Mirth, the theme of “Freedom vs Slavery” is used to show that life was undoubtedly different for men and women. In The Awakening, the theme of freedom vs slavery is shown because throughout the novel it addresses that women are nothing without their men and that it is impossible for a woman to do anything better than a man.
The novel raises the questions whether the role of an Indian woman as a representative of other women, living under oppressive patriarchal systems in relation to cultural resistance, should be restricted only to their roles as wives and mothers. In such a world, woman’s role is limited to reproduction regardless of her own desires and needs. Hence, this paper tries to point out how Anita Nair projects Indian feminism and attitude through women characters in her novels. Keywords: Feminism, Patriarchy, Self-identity. ________________________________________ “Feminism is the recognition of the domination of men over Women and attempts by women to end male privilege….
Portrayal of a New Woman and her Quest for Identity in Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters Ave Maria Mechery, M.Phil., Research Scholar, Nirmala College for Women, Coimbatore Indian society from the very beginning has its own culture and norms but the society is a closed one because of its conservativeness. Women are being treated as inferior objects in the patriarchal society. She strives hard to come out from this submissiveness to establish her own place in the society. This paper shows the transformation of a naive girl into a matured woman, her change of becoming a new woman and her relation to the society and the others. Meenakshi Mukherjee comments, “.
Gender inequality has been variously exposedand protested by number of Indian English feminist critics and novelists.Kamala Markandaya, Shashi Deshpande, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy and Bharati Mukherjee may be mentioned among them. Bharati Mukherjee, a leading American novelist of Indian origin usually explores the lives and psyche of immigrant Indian women across the world. Her works like Wife, The Tiger’s Daughter, Leave it To Me,Desirable Daughter, Three Bridefocuson the marginalization and secondary treatment of women not only in India but in foreign countries also. But her seminal work Jasmine(1989) draws our attention at most to the gender discrimination prevalent in Indian
Her novels explore the disturbed psyche of the modern Indian women. Her primary focus of attention is the world of woman and the struggle of women in the context of modern Indian society. She has created ripples in the society of male domination by narrating women and their plight, fears, dilemmas, contradiction and ambition. She