Resilient Spirit of Women in Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters

Abstract

Manju Kapur, a distinguished woman novelist in the contemporary literary arena, is preoccupied with the depiction of the pitiable plight of Indian women owing to gender politics. In her literary creations, she delineates the innate desire of Indian women to create an identity of their own. She artistically articulates her feminist concerns and accordingly, suggests suitable remedies for the myriad maladies women suffer from during their struggle for survival. In her debut novel, Difficult Daughters, the author effectively interprets the gynocentric struggle of Indian women for liberation and existential identity. She depicts how women belonging to three different generations -- Kasturi, Virmati, and Ida, resist the patriarchal pressures and emerge as self-assertive women by affirming their individuality, realizing their potentiality, and undergoing the process of self-actualization, in different ways. All the three women differ in their conceptualization of values, mindset, perceptions, and reactions to societal expectations. Since they represent different generations, they move in different directions in the attainment of their liberation, adopt various survival strategies, and vary in their struggle for self-assertiveness. This research paper explores how the resilient spirit of women in Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters helps them to emerge as assertive individuals and endure a progressive journey from the state of innocence and victimization to self- actualization and empowerment. The novelist adeptly depicts how women with indomitable will and resilient spirit dauntlessly encounter the trials and tribulations imposed on them by men and society. She incessantly underscores the fact that education liberates women from the shackles of patriarchal ideology and subsequently makes them more self-assertive, self-expressive, and  agnize their strengths and capabilities.