International Journal of Gender & Women's Studies

Redefining Roles: An Exploration of the Emancipated Self and Combatant Spirit of R. K. Narayan’s Daisy in The Painter of Signs
Babori Mahanta

Abstract
A new era dawned with the recognition of the competence and innate strength of women. The social awakening in both men and women helped to come a long way from the traditional status and roles of women. The novels of R. K. Narayan offer a meeting ground of the ancient Indian culture and the new unconventional modes of behavior. Narayan’s delineation of Daisy in The Painter of Signs (1976) as a fascinating and independent modern girl suggests the refreshing change gradually creeping into the middle-class Indian women. Western influence and industrialization have considerably changed them. This paper presents the concepts of women’s emancipation and birth control. It reflects Daisy as the new women who steps outside the scripts of traditional behavior with her mission as a population control officer, her new ideas on marriage, her confrontation with the traditional socio-moral codes and such other unconventional ideas and interests. The research methodology used in the study is analytical, and consultation is carried out on the basis of primary as well as secondary data.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijgws.v10n2a7