Post-Colonial Feminist Perspectives In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Select Novels

Authors

  • M. Sri Lakshmi Lecturer in English GDC (a), rajahmundry Part-time Research Scholar TDR-HUB Andhra University Visakhapatnam
  • V. Sudheer Lecturer in English GDC S. Kota Research Supervisor TDR-HUB Andhra University Visakhapatnam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56062/gtrs.2024.2.10.497

Keywords:

Diasporic, Immigrant, Transformation, Stereotype, Ideologies, Feministic Perspectives.

Abstract

Post-colonial literature as an extensive genre includes diasporic, immigrant feminist genres too. The advocate of Post-colonial theory Edward Said has proposed the concept of ‘otherness’. This is considered to be an important theory, especially for diasporas from South Asia bearing a colonial past. It also helps in understanding the effect of power relations between the colonizers and the colonized, the reason for otherness and alienation experienced by immigrants in their respective host lands. The representation of women as an object, sexual toys, and a maid before post-colonial had its transformation with the debut of postcolonial literature. Simon de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex had a huge effect on the readers in the transformation of stereotyped ideologies and myths about the female gender.  Later with the advent of The Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, the females were made to think of their rights, independence, identity, and the need to achieve them. Many post-colonial feminist writers took it as their prime responsibility to propagate and advocate the rights, efficacies, and strengths of women to the patriarchal chauvinists. The writers who move from one country to another occupy significant positions between culture and countries. They realize that their culture or identity doesn’t remain the same as it was earlier. Identity evolves, grows, and is subject to many changes. The act of writing makes him/her explore both cultures of homeland and hostland. Memories of homeland are kept alive in his thoughts and imagination in fact, becomes a channel between the self and the world. (Shailja, 2008, 52)

Post-colonial feminists, who work for the advancement of women, also challenge the assumption that the gendered oppression is the primary force of 23 patriarchy. They question the approbation of the oppression as it leads to the misrepresentation of their lived experiences. Currently, they struggle to fight the gender oppression within their own society to preserve and safeguard the dignity of their women. Thus, the concepts of freedom, equality, and rights to women, stem from the Enlightenment based on the egalitarian beliefs and principles and have become the main area of concern for the postcolonial feminists of today. In short, postcolonial feminism is not just literature written by women, but literature of women voicing their experiences from within. This principle has created a welcoming ambiance for many of the women writers in Indian Writing in English to use literature as a vehicle to present the true state of Indian society, its treatment of women, and the psychological traumas of women due to their own traditional and cultural barriers. To this school of post-colonial transformed feminist ideologies belong the works of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. This paper aims to discuss the reformed feministic perspectives with special reference to Sister of My Heart and Oleander Girl.

References

Beauvoir, Simone de. “Childhood” The Second Sex. Penguin, 1972.

Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Sister of My Heart. Anchor, 1999.

Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee, Oleander Girl, India: Penguin Books, 2013.

Sarkar, Parama. “The Old Rules aren’t always Right,Redefined Gender Roles in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Narratives.” South Asian Review, 28.4,2007,39

Mano Ranjani G.M. “Sufferings of South Asian Immigrant Women in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Sister of My Heart.” Shanlax International Journal of Arts, Science and Humanities, Vol.5, 2017.

Shailja, P. From Scene to Scenario : Expatriate Writers Journey, Postcolonial Literatures : Discourses on the Praxis and the Pedagogies, edited by Raja ShekharPatteti, Prestige Books, New Delhi, ISBN: 978-81-906183-6-6,2008:52.

Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. Psychology Press.

Bhabha, H.(1992). The World and the Home, Social Text, 141-153.

Vasigaran, S. Cross cultural experiences of the Indian woman hood through a post colonial feminist perspective a study on the select works of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

Yadav, Anoopama, Swain Tamishra. Hybrid Identities:Postcolonial Insight into Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices. JETIR May 2019, Volume 6, Issue 5.

Narwal, Anju. A Quest for Her Roots: A Study of Divakaruni’s Oleander Girl. Notions Vol. 7 No 2. 2016.

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Published

2024-01-25

How to Cite

M. Sri Lakshmi, and V. Sudheer , translators. “Post-Colonial Feminist Perspectives In Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Select Novels”. Creative Saplings, vol. 3, no. 01, Jan. 2024, pp. 21-30, https://doi.org/10.56062/gtrs.2024.2.10.497.

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