A Synoptic View 0f Self Assertion of Indian Woman in Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters

<p>The present research paper attempts to evaluate the selfassertion and the inner world of an Indian woman in Manju<br>Kapur’s novel “Difficult Daughters”. During the preindependence period, women have no right and freedom to<br>do anything in society. But in the post-independence period,<br>education became available to the masses so it paved the path<br>to women's liberation. Freedom also shaped the awareness in<br>women about their individuality. Although the term Indian<br>woman is very convenient to use, it is quite ambiguous also.<br>In India, the women's struggle cannot be separated from<br>another system of domination and exploitation, such as class<br>or caste and creed, etc., The emergence of women's writing<br>during the last quarter of the nineteenth century is of the<br>great significance, that it makes the birth of an era which<br>promises a new deal for the Indian women. A distinct feature<br>of the creative writings by women during the last two and<br>half decades has been one of increased awareness of the<br>abuses to which women are subjected. This sensitivity among<br>the writers can undoubtedly be attributed to the influence of<br>the Feminist movement. On the whole, Indian Feminism<br>becomes evolutionary. Today Indian females are quite aware<br>regarding their self-assertion due to the spread of education<br>but they are inhibited in their social and cultural roots as<br>well, which creates problems in their life.Many Indian<br>English women writers portray the independent woman who<br>is not in conflict with the male, but rejects choiceness and<br>accept responsibility for herself. Self Assertion is no more an<br>imagined or abstract concept but a conflict between physical<br>existence and social rights. Manju Kapur in her debut novel<br>Difficult Daughters portrays three generations of women who<br>are surrounded by subjugated past but they break the<br>traditional norms and find their own identity. A quest for<br>self-assertion finds an echo, especially in the works of postindependence Indian feminist writers like Nayantara Sahgal,<br>Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Shobha De, Namita Gokhale,<br>Githa Hariharan, and Manju Kapur.</p>