| Manju Kapur has left her own mark on contemporary Indian English novel. She has won a reputation as a frank and sensitive chronicler of the lives of Indian middle-class families and, above all, their women members. Being a feminist she is aware of the fact that, women under the patriarchal pressure is subjected to social ostracism. They are biased in lien of their sex and are discriminated. In Indian patriarchal society, a man heads the family and holds the rein of power in his hands. Women internalize patriarchy's notions about themselves and remain obedient, self-sacrificing devoting their self for the service of others. This internalization leads women especially mothers to become patriarchy's agent and groom their daughters to internalize features of so called 'good woman'. All her novels depict this oppressive mechanism of a closed society. In her third novel Home, Kapur talks openly about oppression, sexual abuse and gender discrimination that occur in joint family. It is about the family of Banwari Lal, the shop owner, his sons Yashpal and Pyarelal and their wives and children and it explores the world of joint families and destructive limitations of Indian family values. The protagonist Nisha learns her life-lessons from her early childhood. Sona, her mother always tries to mould her in feminine virtues. |