Abstract
“…[T]he category “woman” as well as the category “man” are political and economic categories not eternal ones” as commented by Monique Wittig. However, in any patriarchal society these categories are treated to be eternal through repeated naturalisation determining ‘ideal’ gender roles for both the genders. In Kandasamy’s novel When I Hit You the ‘young wife’ started to imbibe and epitomise the role of an ‘ideal wife’ as determined by the patriarchal society. The novel emphasises on the performativity of the pre-assigned gender roles of the protagonist and the authoritative agencies of patriarchy determining her as “evil spirit” when faced with performative resistance. In this dialectics of performance and resistance the writer’s words become the tool of resistance for the marginalised ‘young wife’ of Kandasamy’s novel. Her criticism is not only against the construction of these gendered roles but also against their naturalisation and appropriation. The primary focus of this paper is thus to discuss the politics behind the gendered roles and the agenda of interpellation working behind the project of their naturalisation with a focus on the necessity of subversion of these roles for the protection of the individual self.
Highlights
Playing the role of an ‘ideal wife’ is not anymore a choice for the ‘young wife’ in Kandasamy’s novel When I Hit You, rather her life depends on her performance
This paper will try to delineate the process in which the gender roles are shown to be working in Kandasamy’s novel for the cause of subversion of women and will try to decode the power-politics that is working as the basis for this process
The ironical part is that the same person who talks about the ideas of enslavement through corporate media, elite prostitution, sexual anarchy is himself trying to impose the disciplinary methods, on his wife, in order to retain his power and position as the master of the house and the marital relationship
Summary
Playing the role of an ‘ideal wife’ is not anymore a choice for the ‘young wife’ in Kandasamy’s novel When I Hit You, rather her life depends on her performance. The myths are being used for the purpose of appropriation of the gender roles and to retain the hierarchical power structure of the society.
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