NEW FACE OF INDIAN WOMEN IN ARUNDHATI ROY’S THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

Abstract

This study explores the design of female portrayal and their journey from submissiveness to independence within the subjugation of male-dominated India which makes space for women and enables them to grow as new faces. It can be described as a new face of self-awareness for female characters that will ultimately facilitate their journey on the path to self-independence. The study scrutinizes the novel The God of Small Things (1997) through female characters who are curving emancipation in the realm of patriarchal oppression. Most Indian women face current risks stemming from traditional gender roles. The worst social and economic conditions for Indian women were described in this way by Arundhati Roy. As a divorced woman, the life of Ammu with her parents and brother was not comfortable, and they treated her and her children in an awful way.  Instead of these ill-treatments, some women desire to be emancipated from existing prejudiced social norms. The study forms a pragmatic combination with feminist theory that seeks to understand the response to the subjugated obstacle of patriarchal society posed by female characters. The protagonist expresses her anger and frustration at the difficulties they face in maintaining the boundaries of social space in which they can make limited progress. The study examines how the female characters eventually become emancipated by their self-consciousness and how female characters emerged as new icons in the subjugated patriarchal society.