Submission to Subversion: An Analytical Study of Meena Kandasamy's ‘When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife’

Abstract

Meena Kandasamy tries to create an identity among the galaxy of Indian writers in English as a poet, novelist and translator. She deals with caste annihilation, feminism and linguistic identity. Meena Kandasamy's novel, 'When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife', deals with the suppression of women in the name of patriarchal society in educated families. She explains the story of a highly educated Indian woman from an affluent family who marries a respected college professor. He seems to be a man who is a social rights activist outside the home, but he abuses his wife at home. Kandasamy depicts a dreadful picture explaining her husband's strategies to keep her under his control. In this context, she delineates the emotions a woman undergoes while adjusting herself to the situation in the family. The writer attempts to develop the status of a woman by discussing more the turmoil she comes across in every part of her life. She wants to disclose to the world that a woman is a human being. She is wise enough to remain uncrushed and unperturbed despite challenges and hostilities. The novel vividly depicts the power game between men and women in Indian families and other societies.