Gendered Realities and Digital Dreams: Feminist Resistance in Contemporary Indian Novels

Abstract

This research paper examines the evolving landscape of feminist resistance in contemporary Indian novels by analyzing how women navigate both traditional societal structures and digital environments. Focusing on works such as Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupé, Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and The God of Small Things, Megha Majumdar’s A Burning, and Bama’s Karukku, the study interrogates how female protagonists resist patriarchal, casteist, and socio-political constraints. In traditional narratives, resistance is portrayed through intimate, everyday acts of self-assertion, survival, and storytelling within domestic and marginalized spaces. These narratives often redefine femininity by challenging normative roles of motherhood, sexuality, and obedience, using alternative literary forms to subvert dominant narrative conventions. The paper also explores how the digital realm introduces a new dimension to feminist resistance, offering both empowerment and vulnerability. Social media and online platforms are shown to amplify women’s voices, as in A Burning, but also expose them to state surveillance and gendered violence. Through a comparative framework, the research highlights that feminist resistance in Indian fiction is multifaceted—expressed through silence, speech, mobility, memory, and even digital articulation. These novels not only give voice to historically silenced experiences but also function as literary acts of defiance themselves, critiquing both cultural norms and narrative structures. Ultimately, the study asserts that contemporary Indian fiction remains a vital space for imagining feminist futures while remaining rooted in socio-political realities.