• Rashi

Women are pigeonholed as the secondary sex in our society. Second sex and Angel in the house has been allotted to women by none other than our phallocentric society to define their gender roles. They are expected to be homemakers and continue to be compliant and subservient. But in the nineteenth century, women challenge the traditional role of angel in the house and transgress the roles and norms set up by the patriarchal society resulting in entering into a new role. And such women are called New Women. One such woman named Giribala is presented in Mamoni Raisom Goswami’s novel the Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker. This novel is a literary piece centres on the widows and their sufferings and also focusses on several women characters who resist patriarchy as well as cross the patriarchal constraints. Indira Goswami has very well presented the issues such as caste system as well as the position of women as victims in a patriarchal society. The paper attempts to study the female character, Giribala who emerges as a new woman. Being a widow at a very early age, Giribala fights all odds and events till her death for her individuality. Her resistance till her death becomes a guiding force for thousands of Indian women who are still suffering behind the curtains of patriarchy.

New Woman, Patriarchy, widowhood, Individuality, Resistance

"From margin to centre: Analysing New Woman in Indira Goswami’s The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 9, page no.e222-e227, September-2021, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2109425.pdf

"From margin to centre: Analysing New Woman in Indira Goswami’s The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.8, Issue 9, page no. ppe222-e227, September-2021, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2109425.pdf