• Dr. Kumari Shikha

When the issue of gender equality enters literature the feminists get activated to search how a woman has been treated in a particular text written by male or female writers. They identify gender biases of literature and thus help both women and men defeat these biases by reading against them. Feminism in literature provides historical, social and literary context seen and understood from gender’s perspective. Feminism is a political perception based on two premises, firstly, gender difference is due to inequality between men and women by which women suffer social injustice and secondly, it is produced by cultural construction and not biological necessity. This paper is based on the review of two texts of two different eras and places with a feministic approach. They are George Eliot’s “Middlemarch” of 19th century England and Arundhati Roy’s “God of Small Things” of 20th century India. Sex- difference (the notion of woman as reproducer) sanctions gender- difference (the notion that a woman must set up a family as her chief priority) which in turn requires punishment. The society is harsh to Dorthea (Middlemarch) and Ammu ( God of small Things) because they refused to conform. Unlike men non-conformity to social norms is a punishable act for women. This paper tries to bring out the fact that when we compare women’s condition from the past to the present, we certainly find noticeable improvement, but overall somewhere the picture remains the same irrespective of time and place.

feminism, gender, sex difference and non-conformity

"Patriarchy and Women: Similarity Across Border and Time", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 9, page no.219-225, September-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2009027.pdf

"Patriarchy and Women: Similarity Across Border and Time", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.7, Issue 9, page no. pp219-225, September-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2009027.pdf