Gender and Feminist Consciousness in Anita Desai’s Novels

Abstract

This paper critically examines the fictional world of Anita Desai, a prominent Indian woman writer to understand her outlook and standpoint on the socio-cultural issues of female freedom and empowerment. The study finds that Desai while depicting psychological plight of female characters in her novels makes clear that Indian feminism is quite different from the western one. Besides, this paper shows how authentically the writer represents the deplorable status of women in Indian patriarchal society.

Keywords: Western Feminism, Indian Feminism, Gender Oppression & Feminist Perspective, Indian Social Milieu