Volume V Special Issue IV October 2025

Name of Author : Balaji V, Dr. R. Chitra Shobana

Title of the paper : Revisiting Gender Identities in the Novels of Anita Nair

Abstract: Anita Nairs fiction has consistently engaged with questions of gender, identity, and social roles within the Indian cultural framework. Her novels portray women negotiating the tension between traditional expectations and individual aspirations, highlighting both the persistence of patriarchal structures and the possibilities of resistance. Texts such as Ladies Coupé, The Better Man, and Mistress foreground women who confront restrictive gender norms while seeking autonomy, dignity, and self definition. Through her narrative strategies, Nair situates her characters in everyday spaces where silence, desire, and struggle become central to the exploration of gender. The male figures in her works are also represented with complexity, revealing how social conditioning shapes masculinity alongside femininity. This paper examines the ways Nairs fiction revises conventional portrayals of women and men, interrogates gender stereotypes, and contributes to a broader understanding of gender relations in contemporary Indian writing in English. By analyzing selected novels, the study demonstrates how literature can illuminate the intersections of gender, culture, and selfhood, thereby offering new perspectives on both personal and collective transformation.

Keywords : Gender, Identity, Patriarchy, Resistance, Social Transformation.

DOI :

Page Number : 128-133