A new Feministic Approach in the Select Novels of Manju Kapur

Abstract

This study analyses the trials and tribulations of female protagonists in the chosen novels Difficult Daughters, The Married Woman, Home and The Immigrant) of Manju Kapur and their progress towards self-identity. It also focuses on the image of modern women as projected in her novels. An attempt hasbeen made to use the specific feminist approach to readher novels and analyze herliterary discourse to unearth the hidden ideologies that construct a woman in Indian society, keeping its culture, philosophy and values in perspective. The research paper is about a brief outline of feminism and the growth of the Indian English fiction and a bio-critical sketch of Manju Kapur and her works on the central concept on Self-Identity. The word Self-Identity is paradoxical in genuine self, meaning both sameness and distinctiveness, and its contradictions proliferate when it is applied to women. Self-image mounds and transforms self- identity. One s identity is rooted in the culture in which one lives and hence alienation from culture leads to lose one s socio-cultural identity. The urge to identify authentic self with present stimulates one in the quest for identity, which operates at public and private levels. For my research work, A new feministic approach in the select novels of Manju Kapur , I have selected specifically three novels which deal with the feminism, portrayal of women, identity crisis and the aggressive relationship within society, gender, and power politics in a distinctive way.These novels are- Difficult Daughters, A Married Woman, Home. The reason to select the above-mentioned novels is that each novel deals with an issue which is not only concerned with social situations but also creates a mental storm within the readers.