Premium
Self, womanhood and social order in Narayan's fiction
Author(s) -
WICKRAMAGAMAGE CARMEN
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1990.tb00258.x
Subject(s) - sympathy , complicity , social order , sociology , order (exchange) , autonomy , preference , context (archaeology) , gender studies , aesthetics , social psychology , literature , psychology , art , history , political science , law , archaeology , finance , politics , economics , microeconomics
Narayan's preference for a stable social order, as it is incorporated into the framework of his novels as both a structural device and reverential representations of community life, has been variously dealt with. This paper considers the effect of such a predilection upon his portrayal of the Indian women who are beginning to enjoy a greater measure of autonomy and social mobility in the context of changing socioeconomic structures than were available to them under the traditional patriarchal culture. Four of Narayan's novels will be used to discuss the nature and extent of this unfortunate complicity with a decidedly patriarchal social order even as he strives to dilute it with a degree of sympathy for the oppressed women.