Quest for Feminine Identity in Mitra Phukan's The Collector’s Wife

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze Rukmini's self-identity in Mitra Phukan's The Collector's Wife, a work of fiction that shows Rukmini's transformation from a submissive, kind, and meek housewife to an independent person who defies male dominance and strives for self-identity. This essay explores the search for feminine identity in Mitra Phukan's The Collector's Wife, placing the book in the sociopolitical setting of Assam, which is plagued by insurgency. The research looks at how the protagonist's journey illustrates the conflicts between self-realization and home expectations. The study examines how political upheaval, emotional estrangement, and patriarchal systems influence female subjectivity via a feminist and sociocultural viewpoint.

Rukmini Bezbaruah, the main character of Mitra Phukan's The Collector's Wife, goes from being a submissive, childless housewife in 1980s Assam to an assertive person who asserts her individuality in the face of severe sociopolitical instability.

In the end, she reclaims her agency as a "new woman" in a culture rife with conflict by rebelling against patriarchal restrictions, the stigma associated with infertility, and a chilly marriage. Rukmini, a contemporary, well-educated English teacher, opposes the conventional, subservient position that is expected of her as the wife of a District Collector. Phukan challenges conventional ideas of "chastity and purity" by using Rukmini and other characters like Nandini to present a nuanced portrayal of women discovering their own identity and voice. Rukmini changes from a "meek" wife to a self-sufficient person who forges her own path, exhibiting strength and resilience in both her personal life and the unstable environment of Parbatpuri. In patriarchal societies, women are viewed as the "second sex" and are positioned in disadvantaged ways because of their gender. Women are constantly deceived by the enforced ideal of womanhood and are concealed behind a cloud of illusions.

Women started to take on new responsibilities in the second part of the nineteenth century, defying the patriarchal society's established conventions and stereotypical gender roles. In literature, a woman who defies the conventional notion of "the angel in the house" and pursues independence is referred to as a "new woman." Phukan depicts feminine identity as a dynamic process of self-assertion, resistance, and negotiation rather than as a fixed construct