Paper Title
Women’s Identity in Shobha De’s Novels with Reference to Socialite Evenings
Abstract
Feminism refers to the advocacy of equal social, economic, political rights to woman. Feminism brings to
scrutiny the portrayals of gender roles, which tend to impose social norms, customs, connections, laws and expectations on
the grounds of gender discrimination. The feminist ideology began to influence the English literature in India. A number of
women writers through their writings offer penetrative insight into the complex issues of women’s life, their sufferings as
victims of male hegemony. Shobha De an eminent and most popular Indian women writer in English has an extra ordinary
ability to discuss very sensitive aspects of human life tactfully. She believes in a frank narration of incidents and open
heartedness. To project urban culture, she has changed tradition picture of enduring, submissive and self-sacrificing women
with a new picture of bold and liberated urban women. Shobha De’s novel Socialite Evenings shows the image of a new
woman against predatory male dominated society. It is a journey of a prominent Bombay socialite Karuna from a middle
class girl to the self-sufficient woman.
Keywords - Feminism, Liberated, Patriarchy, Self-identity, Self-realize