The Role of Culture and Society in the Development of Plot in Tanushree Podder’s Escape from Harem and Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra: A Feminist Reading

Khandhar, Diren Ashok; Mani, Manimangai

doi:10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.56.44

ILSHS > Volume 56 > The Role of Culture and Society in the Development...

< Back to Volume

The Role of Culture and Society in the Development of Plot in Tanushree Podder’s Escape from Harem and Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra: A Feminist Reading

Full Text PDF

Abstract:

Culture and Society are often the main gist of most novels. These two factors often influence and control the characters, thus helping in the development of the plot. A plot, as defined by Egan (1978), is used to indicate an outline of events and serves as a skeleton in a literary piece. In other words, it is a tool in making sure the main incidents or scenarios are presented in a particular order to establish a clear understanding of what is being written. Culture and society plays the essence in a novel as it constructs these main ideas in engaging the interest of a reader and also extends the intended message of the particular writer. This paper looks into how culture and society helps in developing the plots of the selected novels using the feminist approach. Tanushree Podder’s, Escape from Harem (2013) and Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra (1993) amazingly are both set in India. Podder and Mehta have inserted the perception society had over women and how male supremacy was glorified in many aspects. The essence of feminist approach was very much present in these two novels. According to Tyson (2006), feminism concerns the ways in which literature undermines the economic, political, social and psychological oppression on women. Though the setting of both novels fall in different eras but the theme of female oppression remains the same. The patriarchal society uses culture and religion as a tool to control women and oppress them. Both authors have shown how the women in the 17th century and in the 20th century face the same kind of judgment from the society and men in general.

Info:

Periodical:

International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences (Volume 56)

Pages:

44-49

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.56.44

Citation:

D. A. Khandhar and M. Mani, "The Role of Culture and Society in the Development of Plot in Tanushree Podder’s Escape from Harem and Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra: A Feminist Reading", International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, Vol. 56, pp. 44-49, 2015

Online since:

July 2015

Authors:

Diren Ashok Khandhar, Manimangai Mani

Keywords:

Culture, Feminism, Male Supremacy, Plot, Society

Export:

RIS, BibTeX, Text

Distribution:

Open Access

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References:

Barrett, Michele. Women's oppression today: The Marxist/feminist encounter. Verso Books, (2014).

Egan, Kieran. What is a plot?., New Literary History (1978): 455-473.

Friedan, Betty. Feminine Mistique. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.

Mani, Manimangai. Unblinding History Through Literature in Tanushree Podder's Escape from Harem,. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences. Vol. 53 (2015) p.6067.

Mehta, Gita. A River Sutra. India: Vintage Reprint, 1994. Print.

Mernissi, Fatima. Beyond the Veil: Male- Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1975. Print.

Millett, K. Sexual Politics. New York: Avon Books, 1971. Print.

Mitchell, Juliet. Psyhoanalysis and Feminism. London: Allen Lane, 1974. Print.

Patel, P. R. Feminist Perspective in the Novels of Gita Mehta. The Criterion An International Journal in English 4. 4 (2013): 1-8.

Podder, Tanushree. Escape from Harem. New Delhi: Roli Books, 2013. Print.

Thakur, Daxa G. Sociological Status of Women in Geeta's Metha's A River Sutra. Indian Journal of Research 3. 9 (2014): 156-158.

Tyson. Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.

Yodanis, Carrie L. Gender Inequality, Violence Against Women, and Fear A Cross-National Test of the Feminist Theory of Violence Against Women., Journal of interpersonal violence 19. 6 (2004): 655-675.

Show More Hide

Cited By:

This article has no citations.