Mothers Mummified: A Study of the Novels of Anita Desai and Bharati Mukherjee

Abstract

This  paper presents an Indian women motherhood is not only the personal fulfillment of an old wish and the biological consummation of a lifelong promise, but an event in which the culture confirms her status as a renewer of the race, extends to her a respect and considerations which were not accorded to her as wife. It is only with motherhood that she comes into her own as a women, and can make a place for herself in the family, in the community and in the life cycle. A universal mother is the epitome of love and care, is duty-oriented and a protector. The Indian patriarchal mother is subordinate, a conformist to the norms of patriarchy with mute obedience to her husband and with no regrets about her role. But she exercises more power over her soon through his wife, by showing more authority as a mother-in-law over her daughter-in-law. The research shows that Anita Desai and Bharati Mukherjee have exhibited the fact that a mother is indispensable for the upbringing of her children. They have brought out the good mother/bad mother binary in their fiction which in turn is an outcome of man-women relationship.

Keywords: Motherhood, marginalized, empowered, patriarchal, empowered, surrogate