ASPECTS OF POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM WITH REFERENCE TO JASISHREE MISRA’S ANCIENT PROMISES

Abstract

Patriarchy is a system created with and historical background in which men hold primary power both in the family and public domain. This system paves way to women’s oppression and subjugation. In the family the father figure holds authority over women, girl children and powerless men. Within this patriarchal setup women have been restricted with certain exclusive norms and conditions. Jaishree Misra’s Ancient Promises explores the cultural and psychological impacts of postcolonial concerns in literature written in English in India. She voices out for woman’s reclaiming basic identities and acknowledgements from the society where she lives in. Her protagonist in Ancient Promises resists cultural and traditional overtones and goes through the trauma of displacement and power structures. Janu the female protagonist in the novel blends with two cultures and creates a new a complex postcolonial identity. Through the theme and the perfect art of characterization she extra-ordinarily gives her voice to the subaltern-the marginalized women underestimated by primordial norms of patriarchy.