FANTASY AND REALISM: EXPLORATIONS OF THE FEMALE PSYCHE IN SUDHA MURTHY’S HOUSE OF CARDS

Abstract

Sudha Murthy is one of the eminent female writers in India writing in English today, composing on the overwhelming issues related to women in modern India in the age of globalization and their struggle for space in conventional Indian society. She is a recipient of many awards and the most notable amongst them are the Padma Shri Award and the R.K Narayan’s Award for her contribution to Literature. Sudha Murthy’s enormity as a writer revolves around her accomplishment in exploring the mind of her characters. The protagonists in majority of her works are well educated women with inherent power who can confront the difficulties under any conditions and develop effectively creating a place for them in the society inside the parameter of the Indian custom. Her women characters are hardworking, devoted, fragile, respectable and submissive. They ordinarily go for complete surrendering but the very essence of self-respect always stays with them, ultimately, forcing them to become rebellious however in a subdued manner. Sudha Murthy’s House of Cards is an intricately woven novel that explores human relationships in telling detail and holds up a mirror to our society with sincerity and with conviction. The present paper focuses on the inner conflicts of the female characters in House of Cards and how women’s emotions and attitudes are delineated in Indian society. These women are real flesh and blood protagonists who make us look at them with awe with their relationships to their surroundings, their society, their men, their children, their families ,their mental make-ups and themselves.