scholarly journals Shurpankha as an assertive woman in Kavita Kane’s ‘Lanka’s Princess’ – a critical study

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rucha Dharma ◽  
Subrat Guha
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Woman Character

Indian mythology has been a subject of deep study and interest. Many people have reviewed and shared their thoughts regarding various mythological subjects. Various primary, secondary, male, female characters have been discussed on various platforms. But, there are many women characters who have not got justice regarding their lives and personality. A lot of them have been portrayed as negative and dark characters. The explanation behind their angst and revenge has been unknown or hidden. Kavita Kane in her works has tried to unravel the hidden personalities and various aspects of these characters. In this paper, the focus has been made on a very negatively approached woman character, Shurpankha, sister of Ravan, from the epic Ramayan. Was Shurpankha really hateful? What would have been the reasons behind her anguish and dark nature? Kavita Kane has made an effort to answer many such questions about Shurpankha, in her book ‘Lanka’s Princess’. Even being a princess, what might have been the reasons about her revenge taking acts, that caused war between Ram and Ravan.

scholarly journals CELIE: A PORTRAYAL OF AN AFRO-AMERICAN WOMAN'S REJECTION OF TRADITIONAL VALUES

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Ekawati Marhaenny Dukut ◽  
Nuki Dhamayanti
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Alice Walker ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
American Women ◽  
The Color Purple ◽  
The World ◽  
Color Purple

The world of literature can be a medium of expressing the writer's expressions and ideas. Universal topics such as, love, death, and war often become subject mailers in the world of literature. In the novel, of The Color Purple. Alice Walker describes the oppression experienced by Afro American women in the female characters of Celie, Nellie, Shug Avery, Sofia, and Mary Agnes who faced sexual discrimina!ions in a patriarchal society. Womanhood, education, and lesbianism are factors that help the Afro American women to free themselves from traditional values. The Color Purple puts into words the process of its main character, Celie, who tries to reject and escape from the male domination of her world. The other Afro American women characters that help Celie to find her selfidentity represent the manifestation of the rejection of the traditional values. This article. which uses the socio-historical alld feminism approach. is intended to analyse the Afro-American women's rejection of traditional values by focusing on the major character of' Walker's The Color Purple. Celie. as she develops from being a victim of traditional values to the rejoiceful discovery of her selfidentity.

scholarly journals Across community barriers: female characters in Vimala Devi’s short stories

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. e45888
Author(s):  
Cielo Griselda Festino
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Women Characters ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Short Story Cycle ◽  
Short Story Collection ◽  
Story Cycle ◽  
Story Collection

This article brings a reading of the short-story collection Monção [Monsoon] ( 2003) by the Goan writer Vimala Devi (1932-). The collection can be read as a short-story cycle, a group of stories related by locality, Goa, character, Goans, from all walks of life, and theme, in particular women´s milieu, among other literary categories. In her book, written from her self-imposed exile in Portugal, Devi recreates Goa, former Portuguese colony, in the 1950s, before its annexation to India. A member of the Catholic gentry, Devi portrays the four hundred years of conflictive intimacy between Catholics and Hindus. Our main argument is that Devi´s empathy for her culture becomes even more explicit in Monção when her voice becomes one with that of all her women characters. Though they might be at odds, due to differences of caste, class and religion, Devi makes a point of showing that they are all part of the same cultural identity constantly remade through their own acts of refusal and recognition. This discussion will be framed in terms of Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson’s theory of autobiography (2001) as well as the studies on Goan women by the Goan critics Propércia Correia Afonso (1928-1931), Maria Aurora Couto (2005) and Fátima da Silva Gracias (2007).

scholarly journals Woman-character and woman-author in ancient Greek and Roman literature: an attempt at the typology

2021 ◽  
Vol IX(253) (45) ◽  
pp. 20-24
Author(s):  
O. Halchuk
Keyword(s):  
Ancient World ◽  
Literary Discourse ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Female Images ◽  
Woman Character ◽  
Roman Literature ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Woman Author

The article proposes a typology of female characters of ancient literature. The typology is based on the dominant categories of «moral» (expressed by the dichotomy of «moral – immoral»), «heroic» («achievement – offence») and «aesthetic» («beautiful – ugly»). Through the prism of mythology, the semantics of the figurative gallery «woman-character» and «woman-author» reflects the specifics of the position of women in the ancient world. Misogyny is typical for the male world of antiquity. This determined the emphasis in the interpretation of women's masks, which were mainly given the role of the object of erotic posing. This, however, does not diminish the reception potential of female images of ancient origin in the subsequent world literary discourse.

scholarly journals Gender Nonconformity and Casting around Individuality, Free Will and Survival: Sharat Chandra’s Women in His Novel Srikanta

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 08
Author(s):  
Sultana Jahan
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Gender Nonconformity ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Indian Women ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Traditional Morality ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Traditional Sense ◽  
Women Rights ◽  
Sincere Effort

<p>The present paper is a sincere effort to explore the image of Indian women in the early 19th century social context as depicted in Sharat Chandra’s  novel S<em>rikanta</em>. In this novel Sharat Chandra’s  portrayal  of  women  characters-  Rajlaksmii,  Annada,    Abhaya  ,  and  Kamal Lata  assert    their  individuality, self-worth  and    deliverances  boldly  in  the  then  male-controlled  and traditional society. These characters are unwavering and resolute enough to cast around an emancipated futuristic outlook. They are all precursors to the later day women characters depicted by the feminist writers. Sharat chandra is not a feminist in the traditional sense nor does he take the side of forceful assertion of women rights but he shows    a  significant  understanding  of  woman  psyche  and  to  a  great  extent, protests against  social  and  religious  double  standard  that  ultimately  results  in  gender nonconformity.  He  values humanity more than chastity  and raises his voice against traditional  morality  and religious dogmatism  in depicting  illicit  love relationship  and in disclosing  the deceptions  underlying  the established  marriage  custom. To all  female  characters, Rajlaksmi,  Annada,Kamal  Lata,  and  Abhay,  marriage  fails  to provide  congenial atmosphere  to love and value each other;  rather to them, marriage is nothing but  religious  and social yolk that come up with patriarchal applaud   but result in self-deception. This paper is an attempt to elucidate Sharat Chandra’s unconventional idea of chastity and reversed roles of women going deep into the female characters of this novel who fearlessly look down on the patriarchal impediments.</p>

scholarly journals Relocating Heteronormativity and Questioning Feminism: A Study in the Fiction of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Dr. Jayshree Singh ◽  
Dr.Chhavi Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
Women Novelists ◽  
Feminist Literature ◽  
Indian American ◽  
Indian Origin ◽  
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni ◽  
Private And Public

A Critical Study of the Selected Novels of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni deals significantly with the post-feminist literature written by women novelists belonging to the Indian origin. She has delineated upon the thinking women of the Indian diaspora, whose mental faculty compels them to introspect their so long stereotypical status quo in the prevailing customs, traditions, myths, patriarchy, motherhood and marital life, that they have inherited or imbibed genetically to the alien lands far from their imaginary homelands. Due to literacy, technology, science, employment, migration, and the equal opportunities, economic independence, their sense of metaphysics has set equilibrium with their non-conventional discomfort zones and they have attempted to cross customized thresholds of comfort zones. They have advanced further from the set paradigms of women’s image which have been popularly prevalent from the historical perspective. the selected writings of the Indian – American diaspora woman author indicates that the dimensions of contextualizing in-betweenness, hybridity of thought in women’s personality and psyche have although been issues of conflicts and contradictions both in private and public space; however, they are more thoughtful to revamp and retrace their old-patterned trajectories for breaking the track of ice-ceiling. They have challenged fragile zones of both expectations and realities. Women characters in the novels of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Contemporary Indian-American Diaspora Woman Novelist) have been projected with the capacities of self-emancipation in their own negative and positive perspective; they represent the modus operandi of self-sufficient, self-independent and self-exploratory to emancipate their lives, although, in their quest of being free, they deviate. They acknowledge the fact of mutual understanding and acceptance of differences which are the metaphorical ways of resistance. They attempt to oscillate their self-disintegration and self-denigration. The selected novels discuss the double standards of society/community in terms of the expected standards and reality standards and that’s what makes sense in the author’s creative-writing scholarship that analytically, dexterously, meaningfully and emotionally brings out a contemporary critique on the choices, changes and commonalities confronted by women, against women, and for women. The author explores uncommon reoccurrences of gender existential needs, responsibilities and roles in order to demystify the stereotypical, sociological and psychological myths with regard to women’s thoughts and actions.

scholarly journals THE PORTRAIT OF THE AMERICAN WOMAN IN MARGARET MITCHELL'S NOVEL "GONE WITH THE WIND"

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 1749-1753
Author(s):  
Lirije Ameti
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
American Woman ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Gone With The Wind ◽  
Woman Character ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Artistic Achievement ◽  
History Of

This theme, The Portrait of the American Woman in Margaret Mitchell's Novel " Gone With The Wind " is broad, challenging, interesting and among many contradictory to one another's point of view, at different social grounds , periods of time simply or merely of the fact that a female writer of this tremendous saga read mostly by women represents multi dimensional themes. It is an interweave of tradition, history , war, social classes, Reconstruction, transition and more. All these and many other themes written with a masterful disciplined imagination put in the longest novel in history. A masterpiece of 1037 pages published in 1939 and subsequently in the greatest and longest motion picture on screen. Piling up records and building it's own history and legends. The novel has sold in more than 25 million copies in at least 27 languages in thirty countries and in more than 185 editions according to the research conducted in 2004. These figures continue to increase, not to mention that the film is seen by more individuals than the total population of the USA. GWTW has grown and conflated into a phenomenon of American and later into a phenomenon of levels of basic appreciation after international popular culture. Thus criticism was attested at the levels of basic appreciation , often in the opposite poles of love and /or hate , the evaluation again in bipolar terms of praise and / or scorn. On the popular level the book was lauded and in the literary world it was defamed. Mitchell's novel " Gone With The Wind " was seen as important symbols of American culture forces. A serious biography in 1965 sparked reconsiderations simply by the assumption of Mitchell's importance as a writer. Other re- evaluations followed which asserted the literary quality of the work, notably in feminist terms. Attesting the qualities that critics wrote such as Michener who said: " The spiritual history of a region". Many other scholarly papers have been undertaken to attack it and completed to praise it. Because of the enormous popularity , readability , embodiment of the heroine woman character Scarlett O'Hara with many other women who saw themselves in those situations or experienced the same then or even nowadays. These multi themes to discuss about, issues primarily of women, the novel is defined as a woman's literary artistic achievement, seen through the eyes off a woman Scarlett herself and many other women characters. Is seen the distinction of the past and present of the old and new society. Mitchell herself says it is about courage and gumption to change as a necessity in order to survive war, reconstruction and transition. The search of survival by poor and nearly defeated young women who had no control or capacity to understand these tensions. Indeed this novel has become an icon of the US culture.

scholarly journals ‘I was a Girl of my Time’: A feminist literary analysis of representations of time and gender in selected contemporary South African fiction by women

Literator ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Murray
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Female Protagonists ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
And Gender

This article offers a feminist literary analysis of selected contemporary South African texts by women writers in order to explore how they represent female characters’ engagement with conventional understandings of time and its chronological and linear progression. These engagements are represented as being particularly fraught for women characters as they find themselves constrained by various temporally located constructions of femininity even as they attempt to heed the temporally dislocated voices of gendered trauma that consistently speak through their bodies. In this article, my focus will be on Bridget Pitt’s novel, Notes from the Lost Property Department (2015), Elleke Boehmer’s The Shouting in the Dark (2015) and Mohale Mashigo’s The Yearning (2016). Despite frequent references to the importance of temporality in making sense of the experiences of the female protagonists, there has been a dearth of scholarly attention to the complexities of the intersections between gender, time and trauma in contemporary South African fiction by women. While gender violence and trauma are topics that have received extensive critical scrutiny in South African literary studies, this article demonstrates that the inclusion of temporality in the analytical framework enables a richer and more nuanced reading of the experiences of the female characters in the selected texts.

scholarly journals Inner Strength of Female Characters in Loitering with Intent and The Public Image by Muriel Spark

Text Matters ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 135-144
Author(s):  
Monika Rogalińska
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Public Image ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
The Public ◽  
Muriel Spark ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Inner Strength ◽  
Difficult Situations

Women characters in Muriel Spark's novels are diverse, some strong and powerful, some weak and unable to make decisions. And there are characters who develop throughout the novel and learn from their own mistakes. From being passive, they gradually start acting and making their own choices. Loitering with Intent and The Public Image present women characters who go through metamorphosis, from being dependent on others into living their own lives and freeing themselves from former influences. Such kaleidoscopic change enables them not only to be able to finally make their own decisions but also to overcome many difficult situations threatening their future life. Fleur Talbot, a heroine in Loitering with Intent, finds herself at a point in which she thinks that everything she cares for is lost. Chronically passive and naïve, she cannot imagine another way of being until she understands that she is being cheated, that her life will be ruined if she does not act. Everyone around her seems to be in conspiracy against her; only taking a firm stand and opposing her surrounding world can help. Fleur's life has become totally dependent on her ability to be strong and decisive. She knows that if she remains what she is, her career and prospects for the future will be lost, so she decides to prove her determination and her will to be finally happy. Her transformation into a powerful character saves her dignity and makes her a successful writer. Annabel, a character in The Public Image is the same type of person as Fleur, as she lacks self-confidence and has no support from anybody, even her own husband. Muriel Spark, however, presents her as another example of a heroine who develops as the action progresses, able to evoke strength in herself when her situation seems hopeless. Annabel, at first treated as a puppet in the hands of other people, who use her image for their own benefit, shows that she is capable of anything by the book's end. When her career and reputation are threatened and her privacy invaded, she decides to leave the country. This requires both effort and sacrifice, as she has to leave behind everything she has worked for all her life, but this is the necessary price for her freedom. The ability of both female characters to show so much determination reveals an inherent inner strength, and their weakness and vulnerability as just superficial. When the situation requires it, both Annabel and Fleur are ready to fight for their rights, for their freedom and self esteem, and they discover that they are indeed capable of changing their lives.

scholarly journals Revisioning Subalternity: A critical study of Ramayana through Mandavi and Urmila

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Tiwari ◽  
◽  
Priyanka Chaudhary
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Minor Characters ◽  
Multiple Voices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender And Power ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Power Hierarchy

Ramayana is a narrative knitted through multiple voices but is written around the story of Rama, neglecting the voices of the minor characters. The contemporary South Asian authors breaking the conventional norms of Ramkatha tradition have provided agency to such characters through their contemporary renderings. The study tries to bring forth such hidden nested narratives of the unheard characters of Mandavi and Urmila who are identified either in relation to Sita or their husbands, to re-define the idea subaltern. The paper will analyse the social and political oppression faced by the two female characters because of the existing gender and power hierarchy existing in the text, the unconscious oppression and suffering neglected by the author, reader and the characters of the text as well. The paper will try to analyse the contemporary renderings as an agency and subaltern space for the voice of these subaltern unsung characters of Ramayana, understanding how the concept of unconscious subaltern and normalization of oppression on these character in the epic, demarcating the related myths.

scholarly journals A Study of Cultural conflict and trauma of the protagonist in Amitav Ghose’s The Glass Palace

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 140-152
Author(s):  
Dr.K. Jaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Salman Rushdie ◽  
Caste System ◽  
Cultural Conflict ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Amitav Ghosh ◽  
Humanistic Approach ◽  
Entire World

Amitav Ghosh is one of the most popular novelists of the period, with an amazing intelligence of place, history and politics. Ghosh has joined the ranks of notable novelists such as Monohar Malgonkar, Shashi Tharoor, Khushwant Singh, Salman Rushdie, Chaman Nahal, and others. In Ghosh’s novels, one may detect a feeling of historical realism. Ghosh’s writings are characterised by a strong desire for strong identifications and race relations. Amitav Ghosh recognises that society must be reformed from problems such as caste system, gender discrimination, ill-treatment of women, child marriages, poverty, exploitation, and demonic tradition, among others. Ghosh’s humanistic approach provides voice to the forgotten and lowly women characters in his works. He wants to free the entire world from the squabbles of caste, race, gender, religion, untouchability, and geographical dislocation that obstruct human development. It is also demonstrated how the sacrifices of marginalised and female characters have gone unnoticed in the pages of history. This paper examines the Cultural conflict and trauma of the protagonist in AmitavGhose’s The Glass Palace.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document