INTRODUCTION

The title of my thesis bears explanation, for I have used the

assumptions found in the title to help me choose and shape the direction of

this research. While much has been published on feminism, and a few

attem pts made to establish a canon of feminist criticism, th is research paper

to my knowledge, is the first major project in not only highlighting feminism

in India as a viable entity, but also an attem pt to quantify and assess the

growing impact of feminism in the Indian psyche, and to propound im portant

theories th a t would enable a feminist entry into the next millennium.

Contrary to w hat a few critics hold, I have argued th a t feminism is not an

alien term. One research work however, cannot do justice to the myriad

strands of theory and research, for current work can be interpreted in a

variety of ways. My objective is to create a definitive map of feminist

scholarship, rath er th an to point in the direction of w hat appears to me to be

an interesting and fruitful line of inquiry. I have divided my research work

broadly into three parts : The first, deals mainly w ith the historical concepts
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of the nature of feminism, and the theoretical advances feminism had made

up till now. The second part, deals w ith practical criticism, in the genre of

fiction, and poetry where I have focussed on the w riter’s treatm ent of women

as struggling to overthrow their conditioning w ithin the confines of a

patriarchal system and rejecting traditional role-definitions in the process.

Literary feminism provides the necessary documentation, and points to the

inadequacy of traditional definitions. While I intend p art one as a touchstone

to point to the direction my work proceeds, I intend p art two, to substantiate

definitions of feminism, and deals w ith visualizing the post-feminist post­

modern, post-industrial woman.

The chapter ‘F e m in is t E th o s’, explicitly takes up the definition and

nature of feminism. It provides a history of major fem inist theoretical

positions th a t have influenced the development of fem inist scholarship, and

has organized a theoretical position around the dualism th a t feminists have

worked w ith and against. In order to construct a framework of legitimacy, I

have also analyzed the various theoretical positions prom inent fem inists have

taken down the ages, and across the world. I have also pointed out the

theoretical pitfalls of taking the notions of gender and representation for

granted. I have concentrated on Indian feminist history in order to

demonstrate th a t feminism in India is not redundant, b ut merely invisible.

Women’s history is a blueprint, whereby I intend to highlight specific

experiences of women within a concept which appears to be universal. I would

suggest th a t we need a four-fold form of reflection : about ourselves, about

historical material, about political choices which shape our way of thinking

and finally, consideration of how far the histories we write enable us to focus

on, and end the problem of patriarchy. This approach involves a feminist

consciousness which focusses not on the negative position of women as a

suffering collective subject, but in a readiness to analyze the norms, ideas,

and experiences which shape our thinking, w hether consciously or

unconsciously. Such a methodology emphasizes complexity and

interdependence. We need to stop looking a t one place to locate women, and

areas, giving them more attention than facts th a t ju s t seem glaringly obvious.

Traditionally, most of our models for achievement and autonomy have been

male. Fem inist w riters are creating female protagonists who are imaginative,

ambitious and adventurous. To provide female models and to keep them alive,

even when the wider culture ignores them , is one of the most im portant

function women’s studies can perform. This can be done through a new look

a t women’s history through a reinterpretation of women’s work in literature,

and through a re-examination of roles society provides to women.

In the p art on practical criticism, I have considered two genres, fiction

and poetry, of which fiction is again subdivided into two chapters, women

w ithin the family in a patriarchal society, and women confronting issues th at

call for an individual’s own decision. In order to show women as complex,

women w riters claim for women w hat men have already claimed from

literature. This hum an need to experience the world in order to define the

self, has been represented in innumerable versions of the Homeric myth of

the Odyssey. Adapting this myth to female experience, women characters are

shown thinking, doing, becoming; they are the subjects in their own stories,

involved in shaping their own destinies. The pain of growing up honestly is

also presented here, it is also transcended. Family structure so far, has been

almost universally built on a clear division of labour, by gender and sex-

stereotyping of female and male behaviour. This structure encourages

passivity in women and dominance in men, ties women to the house and to

a dependance on men. Inherent is the biological function, to overthrow

fathering of children and the notion th a t parenting is a collective

responsibility, thus encouraging the less traditional models and alternative

lifestyles. I have also considered the other end of the spectrum of post­

motherhood, whereby women w ith grown-up children have to deal with

dilemmas peculiarly their own, from over integration into society to isolation.

Continuing w ith this trend I have evaluated women w riter’s treatm ent of

male characters in their works and have provided a critique of masculinity.

In the chapter ‘F e m in is m a n d th e In d iv id u a l’ , I have concentrated

on the four most im portant issues facing women : biological determinism,

along with an analysis of the historical origin of patriarchal power; marriage

w ith its various emotional and psychological pressures on women and the

necessity of such a redundant institution. Dependency is an enslaving factor,

and in order to overthrow such a dependency, women will have to become

economically independent; I have studied the various conditions a career

woman has to face and the emerging image of the careerist is one of ambition,

confidence and determination to succeed. 1 have noted this slow

transform ation and traced its passage from a feeling of inherent guilt at their
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success, to a feeling of pride in their achievement/ In our race to succeed, it

has been said th a t the inherent bitchiness of women comes to the forefront,

and hence I have focussed on the various aspects of female friendship,

debated the necessity of sisterhood, and ifs potential viability as a mass

movement.
 In my chapter on poetry, I have celebrated prominent poets tryst with

biological writing, their demolition of alienating symbols and the creation of

new ones which override existing cultural restriction and conquer self-hatred,

and a feeling of inadequacy.

This emergence of a new image, a new symbol heralds the emergence

of post feminism with its focus on power, universality and futuristic

feminism. I have concentrated on three potential irritants. Feminists have

always complained that women are hemmed in and constricted by cultural

symbolism, and one of the major criteria is to rewrite old myths that are

culturally damaging to women and to create new myths that symbolize the

emerging success-oriented woman. In this change of focus from identifying

with powerlessness to identifying with power, post-feminism has termed a

change from victim feminism to power feminism. In today’s changed world,

women need to be emotionally equipped with an understanding of power. I

have defined power, and delineated the ways and means of achieving power

and holding on to it. Lack of a proper power-vocabulary has handicapped

women, and I have intended this section to change confusion into

comprehension of power. With women finally getting into the forefront of

civilization and society radically restructuring itself, alternative lifestyles

have opened up and there are new definitions of gender. Gender differences

remain differences no more as the search is on for new cosmic vistas.

Cyberspace, virtual reality, robotics, changes perceptive dimensions, and the

self-conscious burden of being a male or a female is left far behind as the

androgynous personality gains prominence.

focus on western feminism in a research(gape? on Indian feminism? Paced

with the difficulty of coping with fragmentation and diversity, as well as with

the challenge of pluralism from the inside, feminists from developed nations

seek a theoretical refuge in cultural relativism as a kind of functionalist

anthropological attitude. They try to avoid passing what they are worried will

be Value judgements5which might be construed as cultural imperialism, On

the other hand, there are third world feminists who try to distance

themselves from western feminism in the name of authenticity and who

claim, rightly so, that the problem of the women in the third world are far

more serious. Now the need for relativistic imperialism is unnecessary. We

are as much in need of the theoretical advances made by the western

feminists as they are in need of our experience and pain. Ethnocentrism helps

break down barriers to cultural understanding, besides we have no time for

such nitpicking. Techno feminism is already upon us, we only have to walk

the road to liberty, equality and power.