EXPLORING GENDERED SPACES IN NAMITA GOKHALE'S PARO: DREAMS OF PASSION AND PRIYA: IN INCREDIBLE INDYAA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v7.i12s.2026.8328Keywords:
Gender, Space, Feminism, Gender Roles, Gender SpacesAbstract [English]
The paper presents gendered space representations in Paro: Dreams of Passion and Priya: In Incredible Indyaa, written by Namita Gokhale, within the context of feminist literary studies. The paper examines how spatial structures shape gender identity, roles, power hierarchies, and feminine subjectivity in contemporary Indian fiction. Specifically, it focuses on the interplay between urban and rural environments, private and public spaces, and female characters' resistance, negotiation, and compliance to analyze how space affects identity formation and characters' actions. For that purpose, the qualitative textual analysis of Gokhale's works is carried out with a feminist literary perspective and comparison as the key approaches applied. The results demonstrate that urban space allows women some agency; however, it also creates contradictions with established social norms. Rural space, in turn, tends to preserve stereotypes of gender roles and community norms. Moreover, domestic space is revealed to be an important environment where family hierarchies define feminine identity and its functioning.
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