Emergence of New Woman: A New Feministic Approach in the Select Novels of Mahasweta Devi, Manju Kapur, Rupa Bajwa and Shobha De A Thesis Submitted to Lovely Professional University, Phagwara For the award of degree of Doctor of Philosophy In English By: Priyanka Mahajan (Registration No. 41200397) Supervisor: Dr. Jaideep Randhawa Department of English Lovely Faculty of Business and Arts Lovely Professional University Punjab 2017 DECLARATION I declare that the thesis entitled “Emergence of New Woman: A New Feministic Approach in the Select Novels of Mahasweta Devi, Manju Kapur, Rupa Bajwa and Shobha De” has been prepared under the guidance of Dr. Jaideep Randhawa, Assistant Professor(Former Head and Assistant Dean), Department of English, Lovely Professional University. No part of the thesis has been formed the basis for the award of any degree or fellowship previously. Priyanka Mahajan Department of English Lovely Professional University Phagwara, Punjab DATE: ii CERTIFICATE I certify that Priyanka Mahajan has prepared her thesis entitled “Emergence of New Woman: A New Feministic Approach in the Select Novels of Mahasweta Devi, Manju Kapur, Rupa Bajwa and Shobha De” for the award of the Ph.D degree of Lovely Professional University, under my guidance. She has carried out the work at the Department of English, Lovely Professional University. Dr. Jaideep Randhawa Assistant Professor Former Head and Assistant Dean Department of English Lovely Faculty of Business and Arts Phagwara, Punjab DATE: iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT There have been numerous people including my well wishers, my friends, my colleagues and my institution who have walked alongside me during my journey in obtaining my Ph.D. They have guided me, placed opportunities in front of me, and showed me the doors that might be useful to open. It is only through their continuous support and encouragement, this thesis has seen through its completion. At the end of my thesis, it is a pleasant opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have made it a memorable experience for me. Firstly, I acknowledge my sincere thanks to my advisor Dr. Jaideep Randhawa for her immense knowledge and valuable guidance in the completion of my Ph.D. study and related research work. I am indebted to her for the whole hearted discussions she indulged in, her involvement in my thesis and the patience she has shown towards me. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my Ph.D. study. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank all the people of IKG Punjab Technical University Main Campus, Kapurthala, my workplace for their unconditional help in the completion of my work. This is the platform from where I started my journey of obtaining Ph.D. I would like to extend my thankfulness to my thesis committee: Dr. Pavitar Prakash, Dr. Ajoy Batta, and Dr. Jaytee for their insightful comments and for asking me hard questions which directed me to widen my research work from various perspectives. iv I am grateful to all the people whose occasional suggestions and constant encouragement have actually contributed to the development of my research. In particular Dr. Ghanshyam Sharma, Dr. B. K. Sharma, Dr. J. P. Aggarwal, Dr. Ranbir Singh, Dr. Narinder Sharma, Dr. Sarabjit Singh, Dr. Pooja Mehta, Dr. Mandeep Kaur and Mr. Balkar Thakur who solved my queries even on telephone. I would like to thank Lovely Professional University for providing its research scholars the world class facilities in the campus and for making research as a way of life in LPU. A special thanks to my in-laws and my parents for their absolute faith in me and for their affection and blessings. Most of all, for my affectionate, caring, encouraging and tolerant husband Sumit, whose faithful support during the different stages of this Ph.D. is so much respected and cherished. I would like to dedicate this thesis to my son Gaurish whose persistent words of motivation “Mumma! Please finish your work…..” always kept me moving on towards my goal. Above all, I am thankful to God, the Almighty, who blessed me with patience, hard work, strength and wisdom while making this attempt. (Priyanka Mahajan) v ABSTRACT The thesis entitled “Emergence of New Woman: A New Feministic Approach in The Select Novels of Mahasweta Devi, Manju Kapur, Rupa Bajwa and Shobha De” discusses the evolution of new woman in India after the partition through an analysis of selected Indian fiction. It explores the “New Woman” presented in the select novels of Mahashweta Devi, Manju Kapur, Rupa Bajwa and Shobha De. Various domains of her growth i.e. social, political and psychological remain the focus of the present investigation. The choice of the authors has been done on the basis of time period to which they belong and their literary works that project different facets of Indian new woman.The underlying purpose is to explore the voyage of development of Indian new women through their female characters. It starts with the subaltern fiction of Mahasweta Devi to urbanized fiction of Shobha De and to the contemporary discourses of Manju Kapur and RupaBajwaon the issues of girl education and marriage. The objective is to highlight the fact that if the social situations, economic scenarios and religious patterns of female characters of each of the chosen authors are diverse, their forms and manifestations of growth are also varied. The new image of Indian women presented by novelists under study is ambitious, power hungry and audacious. The traditional image of ideal Indian woman has become out-dated. A new woman is career-oriented because she knows that it is her economic dependence which empowers a male to dominate his wife and subject her to physical and mental torture. Feminist historiography, feminist writers and critics from the West as well as East have already done a laudable job by revealing the historical process of vi women‟s subjugation, their rising out of various suppressive power structures and the emergence of „New Woman‟ both in society and fiction.It is significant to note that throughout the history of mankind from its stone civilization, the worship of goddess was widely ubiquitous, and families were matriarchal in their structure. But in the course of time, the society and culture were overtaken by patriarchal dominance, and the worship of the male deity became the prevailing thought. Male ego got to hold and control in all the spheres of social activities such as ritualistic performances, politics, religion, ethnic which in turn submitted women to the place of utter subordination, a secondary place; the insignificant. The dynamics of feminism, one of the leading subjects of present-day literary studies can be attributed the credit of bringing out the women out of prison of patriarchy. The seeds of feminism were sown centuries ago but it evolved as a revolutionary group in 1966 with Betty Friedan‟s formation of „National Organization for Women‟ (NOW) in America.NOW brought forward the women from forbearance of their own exploitation to confrontation and rebellion, from Victorian prudery to Renaissance humanism, from timidity to bluntness, from ignorance and savagery to learning and faculty, from weakness to control, from absurd to normal, from male reliance to self-sufficiency, from panic to self-confidence, from domestic to individual, from social conventions to the need of life what G. B. Shaw calls „life force‟ after all she attains „so many freedoms. Rousseau‟s cry “Man was born free but he is in chains everywhere” provided for the nourishment of feminist movement. Woman‟s journey of growth began with the publication of Mary Wollstonecraft‟s work A Vindication of Rights of Woman in 1792. Woman attained vii shifting characters in modern time like „modern woman‟, „new woman‟ and finally „newly born woman‟. Mary Wollstonecraft was followed by J.S Mill‟s On the Subjection of Women (1869). Mill presented powerful arguments for improvement to women‟s legal situation. Feminism by the end of the 19th century had become a revolution both in thoughts as well as practices. In America, it detached the woman's movement from Christianity and conservative decorum and became the part of broader „revolt against formalism‟ (Allen 7).These new feminists were determined to „realize personality‟, to achieve self-determination through life, growth, and experience, thereby giving birth to new woman. Charlotte Perkins Gilman described her as: “Here she comes, running, out of prison and off the pedestal; chains off, crown off, halo off, just a live woman” (32).It was Henry James who invented the phrase „new woman‟ (Stevens 27) when he used it to describe American emigrants living in Europe. Sensitive women who possessed material wealth showed a free spirit in their attitude and behavior. They became responsive as a result of various social, political and economic forces and took up the new positions in cultural, social, political and economic life. In England, Women‟s lives were undergoing a spectacular change on various fronts, most easily noticeable for daughters of middle and upper classes. Women‟s participation in found in the previously male domains of business and the professions dramatically increased. When Bernard Shaw wrote his famous play Candida (1895) the feminists were campaigning for equal rights of women and the „New Woman‟ was the key issue of the period that attracted the attention of the intellectuals. viii „New Woman‟ is a Post- World War II occurrence in feminism. Modern day woman is concerned about her individual self and wishes to lead life on her own choice. She does not want to become a doll in the hands of overbearing man. She wishes to stand on equal footings and demands for her rights and status no less than a man.