Representation of Women in Selected South Asian Migration Literature

Abstract

Migration Literature endeavours to recount the struggles and sufferings of the migrants in literary studies and has specifically become an area of growing interest since 1980s alike for researchers and chroniclers who focus on hostility, identity crisis, racism, violence, exploitation and cultural diversity witnessed by them or experienced  by the migrants. The blood-spattered partition of 1947 was defining moment in the history of India and Pakistan and its repercussions are horrific to count be it massive migration or blind massacre, communal violence or religious fanaticism. However, the women bore the greatest brunt of the frenzy in wake of partition of 1947. This study brings forth the representation of women in the selected works of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan and Bepsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India These narratives have the tinge of personal loss and first-hand observations as the authors themselves were victim of the unjustified sorrows and trauma of Partition of 1947. The textual analysis of the selected works signifies the abduction, humiliation, and exploitation of women in the name of honour killing, manliness and reparation as well as the endurance, empowerment and audacity of women as they fought back in those adverse circumstances being marginalized and victims. The study emphasizes that women also deserve to be discussed as more than sufferers and victims of engendered ferocity.