Marriage, Motherhood and Stigma: The Traditional to Modern Transition of Women in Manju Kapur's Fiction

Abstract

This study explores the diverse representations of womanhood in the fiction of contemporary Indian author Manju Kapur, focusing on the negotiation between traditional and modern roles that her protagonists undertake while remaining anchored to marriage and motherhood. It argues that while Indian cultural ethos offers security to women, it also assigns them greater obligations than men. Occupying a subaltern status, Kapur’s women characters are torn between tradition and modernity. Their struggles to dismantle repressive, centuries-old traditions in order to achieve liberation are examined in detail, revealing a feminocentric critique of dominant cultural values in her fiction.