LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:12 December 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Women’s Dilemma in Manju Kapur’s Novels
Difficult Daughters and Home

H. Uma Maheswari, M.A., M.Phil.


Abstract

Manju Kapur is a post-colonial writer who intuitively perceives the position of women in a patriarchal society and deals with the problems of women. Kapur’s Difficult Daughters is the story of a young woman Virmati who falls in love with a married man, hitherto a condemned passion in her narrow social circle. It is not only about the difficult daughters but also as much about the difficult mothers of the changing times. The novelist deals with the leading themes of the times where the description of love, sex and marriage is very bold and rather unconventional. The narrator, Ida, is a difficult daughter and she explores the life of her mother in the novel. Kapur uses three generations of daughters, who exhibit three sets of notions. The novel presents the paradigm of two mother-daughter relationships where the daughters differ from their mothers and never want to be like them but in the end, they cannot but identify with their mothers. The novel Home presents Nisha, the protagonist as bold, educated and balanced. Her feminist sensibility has been suppressed to a great extent by patriarchy. Manju Kapur takes the readers through a brisk and strangely captivating account of three generations. It explores the complex terrain of Indian family and reveals many issues that are deep rooted within the family. Nisha’s marriage and later her motherhood assert the fact that a woman’s intellectual emancipation does not negate her biological stature of nurturing relationships. Kapur is not argumentatively vocal in pleading the fate of the contemporary woman rather she sympathetically paints a woman’s struggle to find an identity. Striking a balance between a natural co- existence on one hand and unfettered freedom and space on the other, Kapur’s eloquent narration of women’s issues is both Indian and universal.

Keywords: Manju Kapur, women’s dilemma, Difficult Daughters, Home, Identity Crisis

Manju Kapur’s Novels

Manju Kapur’s thematic perceptions are seen in her novels. Difficult Daughters (1998), A Married Woman (2002), Home (2006), The Immigrant (2009), and Custody (2011) throw light on the various shades of Indian social life and culture. Her novels have a typical Indian outlook, and she does not write to please the western readers. She selects the Indian background, characters and themes. She loves to present the Indian way of life which respects moral values. Traditions, conventions, cultural values play an important role in shaping human life.

Difficult Daughters

Difficult Daughters is set against the historical background of India’s partition. It is the story of a young woman Virmati who falls in love with a married man, hitherto a condemned passion in her narrow social circle. She is torn between family duties, the desire for education and illicit love. It is a story of sorrow, love and compromise.

Home


Manju Kapur’s third novel Home too unwaveringly spotlights the woman in the tale. She presents Nisha, the protagonist as bold, educated and balanced. Her feminist sensibility has been suppressed to a great extent by patriarchy. Manju Kapur takes the readers through a brisk and strangely captivating account of three generations. It explores the complex terrain of Indian family and reveals many issues that are deep rooted within the family- the revolt against the age- old traditions, quest for identity, the problems of marriage, women’s dilemma and lastly the women’s struggle for survival.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

H. Uma Maheswari, M.A., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor in English
Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College
Sivakasi - 626123
Tamilnadu
India
umanakshatra91@gmail.com
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