Anguished and Assertive Voice: Feminist Consciousness in Kamala Das’s Select Poems

Abstract

Feminist scholarship originates and participates in the larger efforts of feminism to liberate women from the structures that have marginalized women. Major portion of literature has been written from the male point of view either by ignoring or suppressing woman’s point of view. Feminists examine experiences of the women from all races, classes and cultures. The traditional images of women as an evil force, a temptress, an inferior being, and as an impediment in man’s spiritual path have been totally discarded in favour of a more human, egalitarian image mainly due to the efforts of the feminists and the male humanists. Kamala Das is one of the most popular poets of India who have gained space even in the West. As a feminist, she attacks the convention- ridden society. Her attacks on senseless restrictions and conventions plead for the liberation of her sisterhood from the clutches of conventional roles set by the sex obsessed world of domineering male. This paper proposes to highlight Kamala Das’s assertive voice for the rights of women and explicate her attacks on the convention- ridden Indian society by ; subverting the traditional roles of a woman. In the select poems, “An Introduction,” “Old Playhouse,” “The Freaks,” “The Maggots,” “Luminol,” “The Sunshine Cat” and “A Feminist’s Lament” from the collection Only the Soul Knows How to Sing, she pleads for the liberation of her sisterhood from the clutches of the sex - obsessed world of the domineering male.