AN ANALYSIS OF VOICELESSNESS OF THE INDIAN WOMEN IN WATER AND THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate Bapsi Sidhwa's Water and Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things through the lens of the Muted Group Theory. During the post- and pro-independence era, the subdominant groups were repressed and muted at the hands of the dominant groups. This discriminatory approach of Indian institutionalized society forced the muted groups to endure exploitation and suppression. This study highlights the factual truth, about the hypocritical and hierarchal Indian-subcontinent society and seeks to investigate the presence of the muted voices in Roy and Sidhwa's texts. This research examines muteness as a broader phenomenon, which is only not restricted to women in these selected texts. This research employs the Muted Group Theory to deal with the muted groups' muteness. Shirley Ardener and Edwin Ardener coined the term Muted Group Theory in 1975. The Muted Group Theory portrays that society is under the control of dominant groups. This research adopts the Thematic analysis, and themes play a significant role in organizing data. The study of the texts reveals that the Muted Group Theory allows Roy and Sidhwa's mute and marginalized characters to accept their significance and consider themselves valuable entities of Indian-subcontinent society.