Representation of Women in the Works of Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro

2025-12-29T06:02:11+00:00

This paper examines the representation of women in the works of Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro, two major figures in Canadian literature whose writings offer a sustained critique of patriarchy and gendered social structures. Through a close analysis of selected novels and short stories, the study explores how women’s identities are shaped and constrained by cultural conditioning, domestic expectations, and moral surveillance. Both writers portray women not as idealized heroines or overt rebels, but as psychologically complex individuals negotiating emotional repression, sexuality, memory, and selfhood within restrictive social frameworks. The paper highlights recurring themes such as patriarchal conditioning, objectification, sexual double standards, conflict between domestic roles and creative ambition, and the significance of memory and trauma in the formation of female identity. It further demonstrates how silence, endurance, and introspection function as subtle forms of resistance rather than signs of passivity. By employing psychological realism and innovative narrative techniques, Laurence and Munro expose the invisible workings of gendered power in everyday life. The study concludes that their fiction offers a nuanced feminist perspective that validates women’s lived experiences while challenging traditional representations of gender and authority.

The Function of Mythical Consciousness in Indian English Fiction: A Study of Raja Rao and R. K. Narayan

2025-12-29T06:02:11+00:00

Mythical consciousness plays a vital role in shaping the thematic and narrative framework of Indian English fiction, serving as a bridge between tradition and modernity. This paper examines the function of myth in the works of Raja Rao and R. K. Narayan, highlighting how myth operates as a living mode of perception rather than a static inheritance. Raja Rao employs myth philosophically to interpret nationalism, spiritual identity, and metaphysical truth, particularly through Advaiticconcept epic symbolism in Kanthapura and The Serpent and the Rope. In contrast, R. K. Narayan integrates myth subtly within realistic narratives, using irony and moral symbolism to restore ethical balance in everyday life, as seen in The Man-Eater of Malgudi. Through a comparative analysis, the study demonstrates that mythical consciousness in Indian English fiction functions as a dynamic narrative force that preserves cultural continuity, critiques social injustice, and articulates universal human concerns within contemporary contexts.

IJO - International Journal of Educational Research (E.ISSN: 2805-413X) (P.ISSN: 2536-6696)

Representation of Women in the Works of Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro

The Function of Mythical Consciousness in Indian English Fiction: A Study of Raja Rao and R. K. Narayan