Feminity, Frailty and Felicity: A Reading of Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters

Abstract

Women are integral part of human civilization. No society or country can ever progress without an active participation of women in its overall development. Unfortunately, men have always looked down upon women as the weaker sex. Down the ages women have been denied existence as a complete and independent human being, they have been given secondary place both in society and family. A large number of women are reconciled to a life of humiliation in the form of gender while performing the roles of daughters, wives and mothers in a rigidly custom-bound environment they live in. They are expected to serve, sacrifice, submit and tolerate each evil against her peacefully. Her individual self has very little recognition in the patriarchal society. The illustration of Sita, Savitri and Gandhari are also expected to be followed by her. The emergence of women writers in the last quarter of the 19th century marks the new era of emancipation for the Indian women. ManjuKapur, a remarkable writer, voices the liberation for the women folk. Her heroines Virmati, Ida, Rupa, Nisha, Astha and Nina strives hard to ensure their recognition. Kapur's Difficult Daughters portray the struggles and sufferings of Virmati, to find a space for herself in the patriarchal society.