FEMININE SPACE AND RESISTANCE IN BAPSI SIDHWA’S CRACKING INDIA: A GEOCRITICAL READING

Abstract

This paper investigates the aspects of feminine space and resistance in Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel Cracking India (1991) with a geocritial approach. Against the backdrop of the Partition of India in 1947, this novel offers a rich tapestry in which physical, social and psychological space mingle -- especially for women. The study uses geocriticism, an interdisciplinary approach that looks for the ways in which space and place are used to configure literary texts (unless other-wise indicated, all emphasis is mine), to explore how Sidhwa portrays women’s travails during a period of national and personal turmoil. The research emphasizes how female characters traverse fields of violence, turpitude and dispossession as well as enact acts of will and opposition. The results indicate how Sidhwa, exploits space as a metaphor for the political chaos of Partition, and authors it as a privileged site of female resistance and agency. The essay ends by noting the significance of conjuring up an exploring the spatial dimensions of gendered resistance in post-colonial texts.

Keywords: Bapsi Sidhwa, Cracking India, feminine space, resistance, geocriticism, Partition of India