Tracing Women’s Agony and Empowerment in Anita Nair’s Selected Works
S. Sumathi
Abstract
Indian society is characterized women as gentle, dependent, and submissive. They play the position of a mother, sister, wife, and daughter. For ages, women lived below the safety of their dads and mom or husbands. They are predicted to stay below sure boundaries. But now, they begin to thirst for independence, freedom, and self-identity. Indian women writers in English also are great for their demanding situations of patriarchy and open several methods of wondering about present-day social life. Anita Nair is a Post-modern novelist in India, who attempts to provide how her women protagonists are trying to find their individuality or assert self-identity. She has proved herself as an eminent creator in speaking approximately Indian women and international and Indian feminism with seriousness. In, Ancient times, women were below-rated and deemed to be not as good as men. They have continually passed through suppression of a wide variety and features in no way been handled similarly to their male counterparts. Nair has performed a splendid task of empowering women via way of means of vocalizing their troubles, suggesting their redressal and women primarily based totally on studies and desires to beautify recognition and therefore sell the popularity of women in society.
Keywords: self-realization, individuality, liberty, feminism, patriarchy.
Introduction
Among the novels of Anita Nair, The Better Man (2000), Ladies Coupe (2001), Mistress (2005), and Lessons in Forgetting (2010) are chosen for this paper.
In The Better Man, there are stories of female protagonists interwoven in the whole description. Paru-Kutty is obtainable as a dependent woman, and her life is the representative example of the life of women in middle-class families where women have to carry the burden of tradition in which women mutely suffered the tyranny and unfaithfulness of the husband. She feels insecure in her husband’s house, but she cannot escape this life. She represents Indian women who are the worst sufferers of patriarchy on account of their illiteracy and economic dependence. Behind her sufferings, she is also responsible. She does not protest against her husband’s unjust actions. She cannot defend even her son. Only when Achutan Nair brings in Ammini, she puts down her foot and opposes sharing a house with her. She decided to take revenge on her husband by not allowing Ammini to store paddy on the palm-leaf mats in her yard. But, Paru-Kutty’s life is tragic because not even her son helps her and she dies a mysterious accidental death.
Meenakshi was Mukundan’s childhood friend. Meenakshi fell in love with Balan and married him, but he went away on a tour and promised to come back to fetch her. But he never came back. She had a child through him. She stayed with her mother, to look after her and to bring up her child. She ran a crèche and later became a shopkeeper, selling bangles, ribbons, embroidery material, notebooks, eggs, and so on. Her husband Balan had pleaded with her to forgive him when he was bedridden suffering from Tuberculosis of the spine. When Mukundan said her husband was going to be only a burden to her, and she had a choice to say, ‘no’ to him, Meenakshi gave a characteristic answer. She could have said no, but she said, ‘yes’. Meenakshi appeared to Mukundan as a woman of strong character. Her straight back and the head held high indicated her defiance. If she was heartbroken, she did not show it. She was taking her husband to the Ayurvedic Centre for his massage. When Meenakshi came to Mukundan’s house, he had expected her to be a woman with, no strings attached. “He pretended to be reading when she was at the door. He expected her to be easy to approach, that she would easily be in his arms. But Meenakshi said in a very matter-of-fact way, I haven’t met the targets for this year. I was wondering if you could help me” (TBM 66). Mukundan was taken aback by this business talk and could not control his surprise. Meenakshi was clever enough to read his feelings. “She plainly told him, but I have been faithful to my husband, and I’m not going to change that, not even for you” (TBM 66).
Valsala, motivated by love for Sridharan and also for her wish to have all the benefits of her marriage, becomes a party to commit a terrible crime. Together with Sridharan, she conspires to kill Prabhakaran. They have buried him in Sridharan’s plot over which he planted the saplings of coconut. Valsala’s breaking the marital bond with an old man is quite defendable, but her resorting to serious criminal activity is not forgivable. The case of Prabhakaran’s vanishing turned into a murder case when his severed body was found under the coconut saplings in Sridharan’s plot. And there were fingerprints of both Sridharan and Valsala on the handle of the axe used as a murder weapon. Valsala was taken away by the police. Valsala is a new woman in the sense she breaks traditional morality by having an affair with Sridharan. She has a right to do so because she is unjustly married to an old man. But she should have divorced her husband. She, instead, became a criminal for the sake of his money and property.
Anjana as presented by Anita Nair is a new woman, educated and capable of earning her own livelihood. She would like her husband to talk to her about his business, and his plans and expects love and a caring attitude from him. But, she is greatly disappointed in all these. He is a failure as a husband, as a businessman, and even as a human being. Anjana, on the other hand, shows a positive attitude in her marital relationship. She becomes financially independent, acquires her own identity and she shows how a woman can be self-dependent. She loves Mukundan because she finds him honest, confessing his own failings, and she knows he really loves her.
In Anita Nair’s second novel ladies coupe, Akilandeshwari or Akhila, the protagonist is a forty-five-year-old spinster, who takes a variety of roles unable to marry due to the hardships and conditions, which her family faced after her father’s death. “Anita Nair probably hints at the family’s easy acceptance of her as the head of the family in a place traditionally snobbish for the patriarch in both the colonial and post-colonial period” (LC 220). Although the bread earner, she was not familiar with and chose the status of being the real ‘head of the family’. Akhila’s childhood friend Karpagam, a feminist tells “What are you afraid of – what the world will say?” Karpagam’s voice tore through the dense layers of self-pity. If I can live alone, why can’t you? And encourages. Akila undertakes the journey to attain her self-identity.
Margaret Shanti is a victim character of male domination. Her husband Ebenezer Paulraj tried to control her body, mind, and spirit and never gave her liberty of her own. Margaret chooses flattery as a weapon to bring down Ebe’s self-esteem, she decided to revenge on the self-absorbed narcissist husband by making him fat and less arrogant through the food she fed. Through this character, Nair comments from her feministic view that the woman could vanquish the domineering man in the patriarchal society.
The next prominent character of Prabha Devi, Anita Nair strikes at the gender discrimination which begins from the embrace. Prabha’s birth was denounced by her father in the following words: “Has this baby, apart from ruining my business plan confused your brains as well? If you ask me, a daughter is a bloody nuisance” (LC 169). She has led her life in comfort and luxury as a daughter and daughter-in-law. Her visit to New York makes her conscious of her own beauty, her own dreams, and her freedom. Akhila is impressed by the confidence and renowned interests of Prabha Devi to construct her own life. Through this character, Akila gets a better insight into life. She learns that one’s freedom is in one’s own hands and not in the hands of others.
Janaki is, thus, completely engulfed in her marital life, bringing up her children and doing her domestic duties. Janaki does feel like revolting against this subjugation as she once shouts at her husband saying: “you want everyone to do your bidding” (LC 30). But like a traditional Indian Hindu wife, she sacrifices herself by doing what her husband wants her to do. She says to Akhila. Why should a woman live by herself? There is always a man who is willing to be with her. (LC 21). As she tells this to Akhila, she almost paraphrases Manu Smriti: “I am a woman who has always been looked after. First, there was my father and my brothers, then my husband. When my husband is gone, there will be my son, waiting to take off from where his father left off. Women like me end up being fragile. Our men treat us like princesses. And because of that, we look down upon women who are strong and who can cope by themselves” (Manu 22-23). Janaki’s example shows how women, knowingly or unknowingly, are subjected to domestic slavery in a patriarchal society.
Sheela boarded the train at midnight. In portraying Sheela, Anita Nair brings out the issue of child abuse. When Sheela went to her friend Hasina’s house. Hasina’s father Naazir’s attention to Sheela hurt Hasina and her mother. Sheela herself was unable to protest against Naazir’s unwanted touching. She feels disgusted and ashamed of this physical abuse, but she is unable to say anything. She, however, decides never to go to Hasina’s house again. At the age of fourteen, Sheela is an emancipated girl, and the credit for it goes to her grandmother. She tells Sheela, the only person you need to please is herself. “When you look into a mirror, your reflection should make you feel happy” (LC 67-68). Her love and respect for her grandmother make her decorate the dead body of her grandmother. She, in this way, rebels against the old tradition.
The story of Marikolunthu is a pathetic story of a woman in a humble and poor peasant family. She is the victim of male oppression. She could have been sent to a town for her further education, but her mother feels: “It’s not just money but how can I send a young girl by herself— there is too much at risk” (LC 215). When she is raped by Murugan and becomes pregnant, the landlord Sridhar is reluctant to do anything against his relationship, Murugan says, “The girl must have led him on and now that she is pregnant, she’s making up a story about rape” (LC 245). She finally asserts herself and decides to follow her own feeling as seen in her final resolve to live an independent life and bring up her son, Muthu. Her story is that of social and economic repression. She emerges to be a great woman on account of her struggle to achieve her emancipation.
The strong character Radha is an embodiment of self-assertiveness and courage. She does not believe in following certain meaningless, irrelevant cultural practices that are stifling for women in India. She forbids the redundant cultural impositions on her and the status of an unhappy wife of Shyam, a businessman, who runs a restaurant the Nila. Radha commits adultery with Chris Stewart. Radha has been depicted as a woman who revolts at subordination by the patriarchal society. Shyam, like a typical male Chauvinist, tries to dominate her, and subdue her by ordering her to act according to his whims and fancies. She tries to break herself free from the shackles of being a duty-bound wife. The mental constructs about the negative image of the mistress are deconstructed to have a clear image of her. The rejection of conventions by desiring sexual pleasure from Chris, Radha respects the self rather than the social norms. Anita Nair through Radha condemns the marginalization of women in order to overcome conventional prejudices. Radha revolts against Shyam’s claims of ownership of his wife’s body as a sexual object and says such a thought is disgusting and irrational.
Saadiya is another important character who finally fought for her real self. When she fell in love with Sethu, she was tired of her Muslim community’s old customs. She hated the strict rules made for women. She wanted liberty in her life. She often thinks that why she is bound to sit within the four walls of the house and why she does not have the right to take decisions about her own life. She has been burnt brutally by her father on her leg because a man has seen her face when she is staring at the beautiful sky. She was the dearest child of her father, so he also feels the pain but he had to punish her for the sake of the rules of their Muslim community. Saadiya expresses in despair, “Would she, like her sisters and every other woman born here, live and die hidden by these walls? Was there never to be a way out from here?” (M 99).
She realized that her real identity is as a Muslim girl and she is quite different from Sethu. When Sethu selected a Hindu name for their child, she rejected it and decided on a Muslim name. Sethu accepted all her demands for he wanted to see her happy but she was not stopped. She was already feeling alone like a broken leaf from its tree. She felt that she had done a blunder by leaving her family, for she had no identity without them. She was so depressed that she could not accept Sethu’s denial and committed suicide.
The silent character Smriti is presented as a passive character but the entire novel revolves around this active feminist’s bold assertive behavior and the consequences of that. One cannot separate the physical ailments of Smriti and the mental ailments of Jak. For, through Jak’s mental agony one can understand the unutterable anguish of Smriti, the bold feminist.
Nair comments on the feministic struggle where the individual who is unable to cope with the bitter life secludes themselves from the problem. Nina, an active feminist comforts her own mind and tries to move according to the system of life. But, on the other case, what Jak has done is another way of approaching life’s hurdles. He undergoes, his identity crisis and also could understand the identity crisis of his daughter Smriti what is pathetic to note is that he searches for truth like an outsider totally detaching himself from the family members emotionally and all his concentration revolves around Smriti alone, which is clear from the statement of Kala, “Look at her, Kitcha. If her life is on hold, it’s because of an accident. But You, Kitcha? You behave as if to recover and move on would be an act of betrayal. Nina is dealing with this better than you are. What are you doing to yourself? (LIF 57).
Meera is presented as a feminist who, a bearer of many talents is forced to undergo plights under the shackles of marriage; she is humiliated, insulted, and even betrayed by her own husband Giri. She at one stage bleeds profusely to fix meaning to her life. She is deserted by her own husband and is left destitute. The very core of her existence is put to test. Meera is the head of the family even when Giri is in and out of his family. For, her presence is mandatory to the family but she is never appreciated or encouraged for that, but it is certain that her absence will spoil the entire system.
Anita Nair’s novels powerfully depict the complexities of Indian womanhood in the face of patriarchy. Her female characters—Paru-Kutty, Meenakshi, Valsala, Anjana, Akila, Margaret Shanti, Prabha Devi, Janaki, Sheela, Marikolunthu, Radha, Saadiya, Smriti, Nina, and Meera—reflect diverse experiences of oppression, resistance, and transformation. Whether through bold defiance, quiet endurance, or painful sacrifice, these women strive for autonomy and dignity. Nair’s work reveals that feminism is not a monolithic movement but a tapestry of personal struggles and societal challenges. Her narratives compel readers to confront uncomfortable truths and reimagine a more equitable world where women are not confined by tradition but liberated by choice.
Conclusion
Across all four novels, Anita Nair crafts female characters who emerge from the depths of their personal problems. Whether it is abuse, abandonment, neglect, societal expectations, or existential doubt, each woman learns to understand herself more deeply through struggle. Their emergence is not always triumphant or complete—but it is always transformative. Nair’s fiction underscores the reality that women’s liberation is not handed to them—it is earned through pain, courage, introspection, and often, quiet defiance. These characters remind us that true empowerment begins when a woman confronts her own problems and discovers her strength within them.
Thus, all the protagonists that one comes across in these novels prove themselves to a brilliant feminist. Because it is their brilliant decisions that bring to the limelight their success in attaining their freedom. Almost all the characters of Nair appear as transformed person at the end of the novel who is ready to defy the rules of this society which favor only men.
Reference
Miller, J. B. (1978). Towards a new psychology of women. Penguin Books.
Millet, Kate. (1972). Sexual politics. Sphere Books.
Nair, Anita. (2000). The better man. Penguin Books.
Nair, Anita. (2001). Ladies coupé. St. Martin’s Press.
Nair, Anita. (2005). Mistress. Penguin Books India.
Nair, Anita. (2010). Lessons in forgetting. HarperCollins Publishers.