Published Paper Details:

This paper critically examines the identity and existential crisis of women by observing the life of the female protagonist in R. K. Narayan's 1938 novel The Dark Room. It will focus on the traditional role of women in Indian society. It will also focus on the traditional values and norms which embrace superstition and conservative thought by offering superiority to men. Hence, this paper especially focuses on the oppression of women in a patriarchal society in which women are marginalised, subjugated and confined within household activities which is the reality of a traditional patriarchal society. The Dark Room explores the lives of its characters in a deeply reflective way, which, combined with themes of gender and power dynamics, opens up interesting avenues for examining existential crises and feminist issues. The novel is centred on the life of Savitri, a middle-class woman in colonial-era India, whose existence revolves around her children and her oppressive marriage to her husband, Ramani.