The Emergence of New Women in Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters, Home, and The Immigrant

Abstract

The current study examines how women’s roles have changed in Indian society through an analysis of Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters (1998), Home (2006) The Immigrant (2009), and literary works. This paper analyzes the quest for feminine identity and the struggle for change in the female protagonists in the select works. Her fiction projects raise feminist concerns and feminist issues. In Indian tradition goddesses like Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Durga are worshipped in every household. Thus, the women are expected to have goddess-like characteristics to escape the scrutiny of critical eyes and feel trapped by such mundane situations. The prime objective behind the feminist movement was to change the destiny of women and make them realize that the time has come when they stop suffering silently in helplessness. Women in Indian society have never been recognized as persons apart from their assigned duties as mothers, wives, and daughters. The female protagonists of Kapur, Nina (The Immigrant), Virmati (The Difficult Daughters), and Nisha (Home) attempt to break away from the dependence syndrome that patriarchal agents have imposed upon them. The current study centers on the female protagonists’ quest for uniqueness and self-identity and avoids being perceived as self-sacrificing rubber dolls. They must struggle for their existence, which has been going on for centuries and will probably continue for a long time.