Identity Crisis in Manju’s Kapur’s ‘Difficult Daughters’ and ‘Home’

The emergence of women writers in the last quarter of the 19th century, carried with it a double significance. It indicated the birth of a new era of emancipation for the Indian women, an era of increased opportunities and a more dynamic participation in the social and intellectual life of the country. Feminism emerged as a worldwide movement to secure women's rights. It focused on women's struggle for recognition and survival and made them realize that the time has come when they should stop suffering silently in helplessness. Simone De Beauvoir has very precisely exposed the condition of woman in her most famous book ‘The Second Sex'. Of course, the miserable condition of woman all over the world inspired the women of talent like Virginia Woolf to do something in this field and the result was the emergence of Feminism, a great movement in the western world in 1960's. It is a movement for the emancipation of women and their fight for equal rights. The condition of woman is equally miserable in Indian society. The Indian society is basically patriarchal, where a woman is given the secondary role. This study seeks to identify the contours of feminine quest in the novels of Manju Kapur, with special reference to ‘Difficult Daughters' and ‘Home'.