Liberal Feminism: Emphasizing Individualism and Equal Rights in Meena Kandasamy’s When I Hit You

• Published in: Journal of language teaching and research 2022-01, Vol.13 (1), p.20-27
• Main Authors: Sangeetha, J., Mohan, S., Kannan, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 18th century; Analysis; British & Irish literature; Children & youth; Childrens literature; Domestic violence; Empowerment; English literature; Equal rights; Equality; Feminism; Friedan, Betty; Gender equality; Gender equity; Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928); Indian literature; Individualism; Individuality; Kandasamy, Meena; Novelists; Novels; Oppression; Patriarchy; Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797); Women; Womens literature; Works; Writers
• ISSN: 1798-4769; 2053-0684
• DOI: 10.17507/jltr.1301.03

Liberal feminism is the emerging mainstream feminism that spotlights gender inequality and women’s liberation within the context of liberal democracy. The aim of the study focuses on the perspectives of liberal feminism using prominent ideas of liberal thinkers in Meena Kandasamy’s award-winning novel When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife (2017). The methodology of the study includes concepts of liberal feminism in the text, and it is substantiated and explored using the ideologies of notable liberal thinkers such as Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty and The Subjection of Women.  The protagonist’s transition from a submissive to a self-liberated persona strengthens the novel’s credibility as a liberal feminist text. The paper also attempts to show that the concepts of liberal feminism very well appear in the selected text.