Ambivalent Representation of Female Characters in Kamala Markandaya’sA Handful of Rice

Abstract

This project focuses on Markandaya'sA Handful of Rice(1966), a story that reveals the different nature of Indian women. And the research goes on to explore the ambivalent representation of women in thistext as they are represented in both traditional and radical ways. The project brings the protagonist Nalini in the mainstream of its study. Through the protagonist it has explored the mentality, behavior and thought of the Third World females as well as their relation with males. Moreover, the research explores the real conditions of women living in the Third World countries like male domination, exploitation and domestic violence. With the help of textual evidences, criticisms made by different critics,Third World feminist theories and other necessary tools and techniques, the research finds not only the ambivalent representation of characters, but also, while doing so, claims that the ambivalence in the novel reveals Kamala Markandaya’s inability to come out of the hangover of the traditional gender ideology on the one hand and on the other hand it also depicts the transitional nature of gender relation in the contemporary society.