Difficult Daughters Character Analysis

International Seminar on Dimensions of Anthropocentrism

Ave Maria Mechery M.Phil Research Scholar Nirmala College for Women
Coimbatore
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"Portrayal of a New Woman and her Quest for Identity” in
Manju Kapur’s ‘Difficult Daughters’ Abstract---Manju Kapur is an eminent writer in the world of Indian English writings, her debut novel ‘Difficult Daughters’(1998) depicts the portrayal of a new woman and her struggle for the attainment of identity. The novel ‘Difficult Daughters’ received Commonwealth Award

Learnt from her own sorrowful experience she tries to condition her daughter Ida that she should not fall into a trap like her. Simone de Beauvoir’s statement makes it more explicit:
She (mother) grimly forbids the child to resemble her; she wants her experience to be of some use, it is one way of having second chance. The prostitute sends her daughter to a convent: the ignorant woman has hers educated. Real conflicts arise when the girl grows older; as we have seen, she wishes to establish her independence from her mother. (78) It is clear that Virmati’s character reflects the Indian Woman’s psyche. To quote R.S. Pathak, “Her quest for identity is a spiritual odyssey of the modern man who has lost his social and spiritual moorings and who is anxious to seek his roots” (150). Indian women have achieved their successes in half a century of independence but the true female independence too, much remains to be done. The heroines of Manju Kapur’s novels we may find the portrayal of new woman who awakens with a new spirit satisfying her physical, mental and psychological needs. Her heroines somehow rebels and comes out from the traditional mould framed for them. They escape from the conservative web which entangles them and gets