Volume VI Special Issue I January 2026

Name of Author : Laxmi Devi

Title of the paper : Voice, Silence, and Survival: A Feminist Reading of Veena Vermas Short Stories

Abstract: This paper examines the feminist politics of voice, silence, and survival in the diasporic short stories of Veena Verma one of the most compelling voices in contemporary Punjabi literature. Through a close reading of The Wrong Woman, The Purchased Woman, and A Soiled Sheet, the paper interrogates Vermas portrayal of women caught between the patriarchal norms of traditional Punjabi society and the exploitative conditions of migration. By situating Vermas narratives within feminist and postcolonial theoretical frameworks including those of Gayatri Spivak, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Simone de Beauvoir, and Trinh T. Minh ha this study explores how her female characters resist domination through silence, endurance, and moral strength. Vermas stories expose the paradoxes of diasporic modernity while migration promises liberation, it often re configures old hierarchies in new geographies. Through her nuanced representation of womens psychological and bodily suffering, Verma transforms silence into a language of defiance and survival, offering a radical redefinition of feminine agency in transnational contexts.

Keywords : Feminist politics, Diaspora and migration, Patriarchy and resistance, Voice and silence, Postcolonial feminism

DOI :

Page Number : 213-218