DEPICTION OF NEW WOMAN IN MITRA PHUKAN'S THE COLLECTOR'S WIFE: A STUDY OF THE CHARACTER OF RUKMINI

Abstract

Woman is treated as ‘second sex’ in patriarchal society and placed at different disadvantageous position due to gender difference. Women are always found themselves hidden behind a mist of illusions and misled by the imposed ideal of womanhood.In the latter half of the nineteenth century, breaking the traditional norms and stereotype gender roles laid by the patriarchal society, the women began to enter into a new space with new roles. Such a woman who breaks the traditional image of “the angel in the house” and seeks freedom is termed as new woman in literature. This paper is an attempt to analyse the character of Rukmini as a new woman  in  Mitra Phukan’s The Collector’s Wife. Mitra Phukan depicts the journey of the protagonist Rukmini from a  meek, gentle, obedient housewife to a self-sufficient individual  who rebels against male domination and thrives for self identity.