LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:3 March 2013
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.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Feminism and Its Influence on Women’s Emancipation
in Nayantara Sahgal’s The Day in Shadow

Mohana Sundari, L., M.A. (English), M.Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar

Abstract

Feminism is an expression which connotes a movement for securing equality between the sexes in all walks of life, social, economic and political. It aims at ensuring for womanhood freedom in all respects. Nayantara Sahgal primarily deals with feminism in most of her novels. She is a writer of feminist perspective. She projects her heroines struggle for freedom and self-realization in her fiction. She infuses into her heroines the spirit of self-respect and individualism. Her heroines always try to realize their self-hood either unconsciously or consciously and deliberately. In The Day in Shadow, she shows how a woman can be criminally exploited ‘without creating a ripple.’

The novel delineates the emotional and economic strains of divorce on the female protagonist, Simrit. Simrit is an independent woman who can make choices. She marries Som, solely attracted by his colour, life and action disregarding opposition from her parents and the dislike of her friends. Very soon, she realizes her folly when she is forbidden in his house to have a say even in routine matters like choosing servants or a cook, selecting curtains or sofa covers. Disappointed at Som’s attempts to restrict her individuality and the humiliating treatment meted out to her, Simrit resolves to dissolve her seventeen-year-old marriage. Even as a divorcee, she asserts her individuality. In the sight against the outworn traditions, she chooses to start a new life with Raj, a liberal thinker.

This paper presents in detail the problems faced by woman and their struggle for self-identity and their emancipation from the traditional bondage of the patriarchal society.

Key Words

Feminism- marital discord - quest for identity-identity crisis – self realization – emancipation

On Defining Feminism

Feminism is a search for identity and a quest for the definition of the self. It is an expression which means a movement for securing equality between sexes in all walks of life, social, economic and political. It aims at ensuring for womanhood freedom in all respects.

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

Mohana Sundari, L., M.A. (English), M.Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Part-time Department of English
Manonmanium Sundaranar University
Tirunelveli - 627012
Tamilnadu
India
mohana.pravi@gmail.com
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