Hari M G
Assistant Professor, Department of English and Humanities, Amrita University, Coimbatore, India. Orchid: 0000-0003-0508-8112. Email: harimg09@gmail.com
Volume 9, Number 2, 2017 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v9n2.25
Received May 15, 2017; Revised June 28, 2017; Accepted July 02, 2017; Published August 11, 2017.
Abstract
This paper explores the negotiation of identity in K R Meera’s novel Hangwoman, in the light of Michel Foucault’s deliberations on power, subjectivity, and critique. The novel’s layered delineation of the way power shapes subjectivity, and its insightful detailing of the scope for resistance the very process itself entails, echoes the thoughts of Foucault. Meera’s protagonist exudes an exemplary resilience when she confronts multi-faceted subjugation. The resistance that she makes is characterised by a resourcefulness to actively engage in the mechanics of power and to remake her own sense of identity. Thus power, as depicted in the novel, is a force that creates ‘identities’ and at the same time a productive network which gives room for remoulding identities. The paper, also, discusses the protagonist’s gritty resistance to the hyperrality of the postmodern visual media.
Keywords: Hangwoman, K R Meera, Foucault, Subjectivity, Critique, Power
