LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:9 September 2018
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.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Emergence of Postmodern Women in Manju Kapur’s Novels

Y. KusumaKumari, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar

Abstract

Manju Kapur in her novels examines how woman has begun to grow as an individual and the primary centre of collision for her becomes the institution of marriage which has, so far, constituted the limits of space. The women in the novels of Manju Kapur are not traditional women who think that marriage is their destiny and they are to obey their husbands. They differ from traditional women and break all social taboos and conventions emerging as new women who are aware of themselves. This evolving new image of women has created a crisis in family and society and has shaken the foundations of age-old institutions like marriage and motherhood. Pre-marital sex, fornication, extra-marital relations or divorce are no longer considered to be a taboo. The women in the novels of Manju Kapur are the personification of the ‘new woman’. They are projected as convention-bashing new women, subverting the male chauvinism.

Keywords: Manju Kapur, ultra-modern, social taboos, extra-marital, convention bashing, sexual freedom.

Manju Kapur, a Postmodern Writer

Manju Kapur, being a postmodern writer, gave her protagonists the same postmodern touch which they deserve, breaking down the age-old traditional norms of patriarchal hegemony. They are liberal, bold, outspoken, progressive and radical women creating an identity for themselves. Kapur experiments with new themes like gratification of sex from women’s point of view and uses this sexual freedom as an instrument of resistance to thwart patriarchal myths and values. The first striking feature of post-modern Indian fiction in English is its broadening of the thematic range. The post-modern woman possesses certain distinctive qualities that distinguish her from the rest of women kind. She embodies certain traits that present her in a different light, strikingly different from common image of woman. In the first place, the postmodern woman is well educated and is quite aware of the changes that take place in society from time to time; She is economically independent; when she is confronted with a problem, she thrashes it and arrives at certain conclusions, and acts on her own; she chooses her own life partner and, she actively participates in politics and social work; her views are generally progressive and embraces a catholic vision of life and in this process, she fights tooth and nail to overcome any stumbling blocks of traditional nature and sets aside all conventions that might stifle her personality or render her identity hazy and indistinct. She plays a dynamic role of an abolitionist of woman-servitude in any form either in domestic domain or in society and never ceases to fight for the rights of women.

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

Y. Kusuma Kumari, M.A. M.Phil.
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Department of English
Andhra University
Visakhapatnam-530003
kusumsurendrat.bw@gmail.com

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