Sites of Oppression seen as sites of emergent new roles through positive resistance by applying the essence of power theories of Michael Foucault-A case study of the protagonist Virmati in Manju Kapur’s difficult Daughters

Abstract

Abstract: Woman as such are generally believed to be oppressed and therefore sympathized and seen in perpetual plight. Michael Foucault has concentrated on the resistance strategies adopted by the oppressed. Foucault has a totally novel and refreshing point of view for power relations. What his work tries to do is move thinking about power beyond this view of power as repression of the powerless by the powerful to an examination of the way that power operates within everyday relations between people and institutions. Michael Foucault looks at powerful and oppressed in a positive way and that is the new angle through which I would like to analyze the female characters depicted. In this paper, I have attempted to look at the protagonist Virmati from Difficult daughters by Manju Kapur and her struggles against the powerful patriarchal systems as positive sites of resistance and not just sites of oppression. We can conclude that something new evolves from this power struggle which is a step closer to emancipation.