The Role Of Women In Society By Manju Kapur

Manju Kapur has explored the life of a woman in the male dominated society through the Astha’s life, which is a tale of shattered series failures and frustrations in every walk of her life first at her father’s house and then husband’s. She has a skilled hand in portraying the traumas of women in the male dominated society. The women do not have much importance in the society. Women suffer due to the typical age-old tendencies and beliefs, which exist in society. Astha’s parents also were product of that society, so how they could behave differently. They neglect Astha’s thoughts about her own life. Astha’s father wants his daughter to be independent but mother wants to see her well settled in her married life. However, she fails to complete
She becomes lonely, isolated and returns to her husband. It is in fact her submission to the male dominated society. It is generally accepted fact that Indian women are respectful of their marriage and even though alternatives are available, they are neither acceptable nor fulfilling. If any woman succeeds to break that shackle for a while at the end, she has to surrender herself in the name of traditional values and customs. It is a fact that woman is never allowed at the center part of family; she always enjoys second position in silence. She is forced to become mute sufferer of the male dominated society. In her article, “Inching towards Freedom” Krishna Rathore writes:
A woman was not supposed to voice her experiences and anguish in public. She was indeed free to record them in her private diaries or confine in one or two intimate women friends. There are strong taboos against sharing them with men. It was her sole duty to make her marriage successful even if the husband strayed. (Rathore
Her life takes different turns with the entry of Aijaz in her life. Aijaz was the first man who appreciates her talent and immediately she falls in love with him. Here Astha seems to be immature. If someone appreciates your talent, it is not right to fall in love with him by neglecting your own family life. She forgets all her responsibilities towards the family. Her speech at Manch exemplify, “In essence woman all over the world are same, we belong to families, we are affected by what affects our husbands, fathers, brothers and children in history many things are not clear, the same thing that is right for one person is wrong for another and it is difficult to decide our path of action. We judge not by what people tell us but by what we experience in our homes. And that experience tell us that where there is violence, there is suffering, unnecessary and continuous suffering, when we look to knighting wrong committed hundreds of year age, we look to the past” (Kapur 197-198).
Astha’s speech explores the harsh reality about the status of the women in the male dominated society. It is true that women generally are affected by their family disturbances. She emphasizes on the concept ‘oneself’. She tells other women to be strong in any situation and think about their self