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The IUP Journal of English Studies

New Woman: Dominant Narrative of Modern Indian Womanhood

Article Details

Pub. Date	: June, 2022
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJES080622
Author Name	:Adwitiya Gope and Gyanabati Khuraijam
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Arts & Humanities
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 15

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Abstract

Contemporary discourse of 'new Indian women' corroborates representation of feminine self-interrogating cliches arising out of the interaction between tradition and modernity. This study addresses the issues relating to the changing status of Indian women to 'new Indian women' and the roles played by the new Indian women over a substantial period of time. Citing examples of protagonists from Manju Kapur's fictional oeuvre, the functional aspects of the new woman are studied. Kapur's new women are young Indian women who do not accept traditional roles conferred by domestic space, home (tradition) passively; instead, they seem to be (re)traditionalizing their strategies of domestic responsibilities. This study reveals that Manju Kapur's novels present the changing image of Indian women, who keeping pace with the ever changing India, are moving away from traditional portrayals of enduring, self-sacrificing women toward confident, assertive and aspiring individuals.

Introduction

Novels written by Indian women novelists have a stronger presence now in both India and across the globe. International accolades for novels like God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy published in 1997, Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur published in 1998, to sample a few among many others, have probably accelerated the number of books published by women of Indian origin. Nonetheless, it is not to be missed here that the literature produced by Indian women novelists in recent times brings forth the dominant narrative of modern Indian womanhood.1 Any contemporary discourse of