Smart Moves Journal IJELLH (International Journal of English language, literature in humanities)
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Female Agency and State Control in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale
Full text linkDystopian narratives frequently develop during periods of uncertainty, using imagined futures to mirror social concerns that already exist in the present. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a theocratic regime in which women’s bodies and identities are regulated through institutional authority. This paper examines how the novel presents the relationship between state power and female agency as it unfolds in the everyday life of Gilead. Drawing on a feminist critical approach, the study explores how patriarchal systems govern reproduction, language, and autonomy, while also recognizing limited but meaningful forms of resistance. It argues that although Gilead attempts to suppress women’s individuality through routine practices and ideological control, agency continues to surface through memory, narration, and everyday survival. By tracing these tensions, the paper reads The Handmaid’s Tale as a feminist dystopian text that cautions against the ease with which authoritarian systems can normalize gender-based oppression
Remembering and Forgetting in the Novel The Only Story by Julian Barnes
Full text linkThe novel The Only Story by Julian Barnes explores how memory plays an essential role in shaping love and identity through a reflective narration of the protagonist of the novel, reminiscing about his life and his affair with Susan, a middle-aged woman, dwelling deep into the intricate aspects of remembering and forgetting. The paper attempts to examine how the author portrays memory as both the cause of suffering and solace, emphasising its being selective, subjective and malleable. The protagonist\u27s reminiscence of the past is more inclined towards emotional truth rather than factual accuracy, which highlights how one reconstructs the past to serve psychological needs through memory. How forgetting serves as a coping mechanism for the protagonist to manage the emotional hurt and pain of the struggles with Susan\u27s struggles and eventual separation. Also, the act of forgetting proves to be insufficient as the protagonist remains tethered to unresolved memories, showcasing the paradoxical relationship between two opposing forces, remembering and forgetting. The fragmented and non-linear narrative structure reflects the unpredictability and cyclical nature of memory. Through the exploration of the paradoxical nature of memory both as a burden that comes with remorse and hurt and as an anchor that preserves love and identity. The Only Story positions memory and forgetting as intertwined processes that determine the human condition, showing the inescapable tension between holding onto and letting go of the past
A Feminist Inquiry into the Mother-Daughter Bond in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Writings
Full text linkThis article is an exploration of the complex and dynamic mother-daughter relationship as inscribed in the fiction of Jhumpa Lahiri, with special focus on two of her short stories Hell-Heaven and Unaccustomed Earth. Jhumpa Lahiri often highlights the lives of women who have to deal with migration, displacement and cultural negotiation. The mother-daughter bond is an important aspect of her narratives. Mothers are often portrayed as custodians of tradition and memory, while daughters inherit and reshape the cultural memory based on their own lived experiences. In diasporic settings, it is the continuous clash between tradition and modernity, between memory and forgetting and between distance and intimacy that shapes the mother-daughter bond. Through the mother-daughter relationship, Lahiri reveals the role of postmemory in the evolution of intergenerational bonds as well as the function of patriarchy in determining the roles of mothers and daughters for each other. A feminist analysis not only reveals the dual nature of the mother-daughter relationship that consists of both conflict and mutual understanding but it also depicts how the equations in personal spaces reflect the broader political issues. This paper attempts to reveal that the works of Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrate the mother-daughter bond as both deeply personal and profoundly political, reflecting the struggles of women to sustain identity, heritage, and agency across borders
Psychological conflict revealed through dramatic monologue in Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger’
Full text linkThe White Tiger is a novel, in which Aravind Adiga utilized the device of a dramatic monologue and has narrated inner thoughts of Balram Halwai who belong to Laxmangarh, an aspirant of becoming entrepreneur, narrates his past in a conversation with an in interlocutor, a Chinese premier, Mr. Wen Jiabao. Balram’s past is a reveals his poverty and unemployment at his native. He also narrates his village life style and growing need of financial security to his family for which he shifts to the Light i.e. city, New Delhi. After migrating to an urban area he faces marginalized status in the Stork’s family where he performs all sorts of house work alongside his main duty of chauffeur. But through this struggle he finally plans to overcome his stature by murdering his master. Through a monologue the protagonist recounts and reveals his inner conflict. Viewing from this point the paper focuses on the psycho analysis of the character
Astha in A Married Woman: Between Duty and Desire
Full text linkThis paper examines the complex journey of Astha, the main character in Manju Kapur’s “A Married Woman”, as she balances societal expectations and personal interests. The novel depicts the life of an Indian woman, encapsulated in the life of Astha, who transforms from an obedient daughter and dutiful wife into a woman striving for autonomy, emotional fulfilment, and self-expression. When studying the narrative, the author uses feminist literary criticism to analyse how Astha’s emotional conflicts resonate with the structural gender discrimination that persists in India’s societal framework even today.
Drawing on foundational feminist theories by Simone de Beauvoir, Adrienne Rich, bell hooks, and Virginia Woolf, this research contextualizes Astha’s journey within broader discourses on marriage, motherhood, sexuality, and artistic agency. The paper highlights the tensions between tradition and modernity, individuality and conformity, and examines how these dichotomies manifest in Astha’s psyche and personal relationships. Astha’s romantic and sexual relationship with Pipeelika goes beyond self-empowerment, as it serves to confront traditional domesticity and rigid gender constructs, showing radical transformation. This paper emphasizes the critical relevance of the novel “A Married Woman”, including its critique of misogynistic societal frameworks and its celebration of women’s creative imagination and resilience as shaped through women’s agency, solidarity, and self-exploration, by locating it within global feminist thought as well as intertextual literary traditions
The Two Villainous Brothers, their Crimes and Punishments in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi
Full text linkFerdinand and Cardinal in John Webster’s renowned revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi, are two brothers of the central character, the Duchess. They symbolize evils, although the elder one expresses remorse just before the end of the play. Among the three siblings, Ferdinand is the eldest, Cardinal is the middle, and the Duchess is the youngest. Ferdinand and Cardinal are infamous for their villainy in the Jacobean drama. At the start of the play, set in Italy, the volatile eldest brother, the Duke, plans to control the acts and decisions of his only sister, a widow with three children. The deceitful Ferdinand threatens that if she marries secretly, the consequences will be disastrous, and the brothers will not accept it. His younger brother, the Cardinal, joins Ferdinand in conspiracies with him. They appointed Bosola to work as a spy on her. He works as the head of her stables to collect information about the Duchess’s secret marriage. After learning about her clandestine marriage with a low-ranking steward, Ferdinand shows volcanic eruption and becomes determined to take revenge on her. The innocent Duchess, unaware of the brothers’ schemes and revenge plan on her, falls into her brothers’ prey and is murdered by Bosola. This way, the brothers committed crimes and sins as they were the masterminds of the brutal killing of their sister and her two children. The Cardinal remains unaffected and proves him the worst brother. English literature has some notorious villains in different texts, who remain unchanged and show no sign of regret at their deaths. But, in this tragedy, Duke Ferdinand’s villainous activities were deliberate, and his repentance is also genuine. He is revealed as a man who is not a thorough villain. Throughout the play, the reader does not find his commendable qualities in him. In the end, his repentance uplifts him as a human being. His realization and repentance arouse sympathy in the reader as he does not lose all traces of humanity. He recreates his identity from a wicked to a moral person. But we do not see any repentance in scheming, dishonest the Cardinal. This paper attempts to show the crimes and punishments of both the brothers. It also aims to show who is the worst between the two
The Change: The Study on Caste, Gender, and Political Transformation in P. Sivakami’s Novel The Grip of Change
Full text linkThe term Change generally refers to the dynamic process that creates tension between progress and tradition. In the novel The Grip of Change, the author P.Sivakami reimagines her childhood and society through the youth character Gowri to define the process of change or transformation that challenges the norms and structure of power and oppression. This paper would like to explore the concept of ‘change’, focusing on how caste, gender and politics interact and evolves in the lives of Dalit people. Through the narrative, the novel portrays change as a questioned and uneven process. One of the main characters of this novel Thangam whose seek for justice against upper-caste oppression has taken her to accept the patriarchal domination by her own community. So, the paper argues that the author does not portray change as a smooth transformation; rather she presents how this change triggers a new form of struggle, negotiation and compromise. Eventually, the novel requires a critical lens to analyse weather real change is possible without questioning both external oppression and internal hierarchies
Translating Stereotypes: The Semiotics of Disability Representation in Cinema
Full text linkIndira Karamcheti posits that all acts of representation are perforce acts of translation from being to saying, experience to memory, presence to absence (Karamcheti, 185). Like translation, representation also is a twice-written discourse that transforms the original by supplementation. Unlike linguistic translation, it does not deface, displace, and replace but supplements it. To elaborate more specifically in the context of this paper, it can be said that representation is a kind of translation of identities, cultures; ideologies, etc. which are portrayed and constructed in cultural narratives such as literature, cinema, and other media. Thus, representation here does not involve just reflection but construction, negotiation and dissemination through narrative structure. Additionally, media narratives are shaped by the cultural, social, and historical contexts in which they are created
Journey from Fragmentation to Wholeness in Paul Auster’s Sunset Park
Full text linkThis article examines the journey focusing on the fragmentation and wholeness through the characters in the novel particularly navigating through their identities and relationships in America. This novel explores with the themes of fragmentation, disillusionment and the search for meaning in this fractured world. Auster’s portrayal of characters undergoes emotional, mental, social shifts facing struggles at various stages. This paper argues that this novel Sunset Park represents a transformative journey from fragmentation to wholeness. The novel travels through the process of self- healing and understanding in terms of past trauma, isolation and uncertainty. It offers the possibility for reconstructing the self
Harnessing Digital Media for Academic Success: Insights and Strategies from Students
Full text linkDigital media has transformed the entire educational landscape. Despite considerable research on the use of digital media in education, there is a notable lack of emphasis on how students strategically utilise these tools to enhance their learning. Existing research mainly focuses on the availability and frequency of digital tool usage, but has not explored in depth how students adopt these tools to make their academic experiences more meaningful. This creates a gap between research on digital media use and students\u27 perspectives. The present research aims to address this gap by investigating how students perceive and utilise digital media to achieve academic success. A mixed-method, descriptive research design was adopted, drawing on both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through a Google Form questionnaire distributed to undergraduate students from various disciplines and regions of India. A total of 339 students participated in the survey. The responses were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The results reveal that digital media plays a vital role in shaping students’ perspectives as well as their academic practices, considering the frequency of digital media use, the variety of tools they employ, and the strategies they develop to enhance their learning