A Feminist Study of Maya’s Predicament in Anita Desai’s Cry The Peacock

Abstract

The present paper is a study of Anita Desai’s novel Cry the Peacock from feminist point of view. The purpose of this research paper is to show the views of Anita Desai on feminism and considers them in the light of the feminist principles. Fiction by Indian women novelists occupies a prominent place in Indian writing in English. They have made a substantial contribution to the bulk of Indian writing. Their novels are mainly concerned with gender discrimination and other problems related to women who are exposed to physical and mental sufferings and ill treatment in the male dominated Indian society. The writers analyze the female characters and their inner minds from the point of view of feminine sensibility and insight. The writers depict how women struggle not only against male domination but also against social, cultural and religious oppressions prevalent in contemporary society. They also illustrate how orthodox attitudes and traditional beliefs strengthen the patriarchal practices which have made women inferior creatures and mere objects of pleasure. The study brings out all these issues under study through Anita Desai’s novel, Cry the Peacock.