Reverberations of Caste & Gender in Select Novels of Contemporary Literature

Abstract

This paper attempts a comparative study of the novels Pyre by Perumal Murugan and Sangati by Bama in terms of Caste and Gender Oppression found in rural India. It aims at bringing out the nature of the two extreme ends of an Oppressive society.

Pyre is an insightful narrative to be analysed on the basis of inter- caste marriage and its brutalities in a casteist society. The reverberations of honour killings are echoed in a reverse perspective. Tragic realism is a tool used in analysing this novel. Sangati is a plural narrative focusing on the lives of women in the society and the harsh realities they endure both within their caste, and overarching hierarchical structure of the society. The concept of Double Oppression is highly vital in analysing this text.