Claiming Space for Oneself: Politics of Gender in Gita Mehta‟s Raj

Abstract

Gita Mehta occupies a prestigious place in Indian Writing in English. Being a female novelist, her writings raise the issue of women’s identity. Her novel ‘Raj’ mainly focuses about culture, tradition, and political condition of India. According to her, women are trapped in the circle of religion, culture, tradition, and all social taboos. In this novel the heroine of Mehta, Jaya Singh breaks the shell of all such taboo and emerges herself as a new individual in the society. This research paper will show how the novel ‘Raj’ viewed as a wide scope for feminist analysis. The aim of this thesis is to explore and analyze how the protagonist, Jaya Singh along with other subordinate female characters struggle hard and create their own space in so-called male dominated society. With the help of Judith Lorber’s theoretical perspective of the social construction of gender, Judith Halberstam’s ‘female masculinity’, and Judith Butler’s notion of ‘gender performativity’ the thesis analyzes how gender roles and ideologies are socially constructed, not something considered as natural. The finding highlights that gender is not something related with presence or lack of certain genes. It is the product of society and culture made to suit the ulterior motive of patriarchy. The main conclusion to be drawn from this work is gender is not inborn entity which is quite political issue hence; the female characters deployed in the novel are claiming their ‘space’ in the society.