The Voice of Subaltern: Indira Goswami's Giribala

Abstract

 Since time immemorial, women are classified as the ‘weak section' of the society but not the ‘other half.' But in the passages of time and with the rise of feminist norms, they come under a ‘same' roof demanding their own rights and even they go beyond this and want equal status and identity like the male counterpart. Ironically, even they become the subject of the subaltern studies. Their voice is unheard and untouched, keeping them aside in this man made patriarchal stereotype. They are not recognized as the subsidiary contributor of the society; instead they are walled in the house itself. In this paper an attempt is made to study the sufferings of Giribala in Indira Goswami's novel, The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker. Secondly, this paper will show how she develops herself against the man coded web of the time, means though forcefully categorized as the subaltern; she raises her voice.