Society and Tradition as Repressive Determinants of Women’s Individuality as Portrayed in Rama Mehta’s Inside the Haveli

Abstract

The term ‘gender’ is applied to the cultural aspects of male and female roles, In other words, the behaviours, personality and other social attributes become the basis of masculine and feminine roles. Subjugation of women in social institution is manifestation of patriarchal dominance that is chiefly governed by socio-religious customs and traditions. Purdah, institution of marriage and widowhood are some of the traditions that affect and suppress individual identity of women. Present section aims at studying representation of contentious traditions in selected literary texts, in this context, Rama Mehta’s Inside the Haveli is chosen for scrutiny as they come under the preview of the study.  The life of women as portrayed in the novels narrates the influence of tradition and societal pressure on individual.  First novel under the study represents various major and minor female characters caught in a conservative family. Present study is interdisciplinary in nature because it combines sociological research to study weight of traditions on women and feminist readings of socio-familial structures helps to comprehend number of issues that women face in gender biased structures.