[21] WOMEN, MARGINALITY AND SOCIAL RESISTANCE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INDIRA GOSWAMI’S THE MOTHEATEN HOWDAH OF THE TUSKER AND ARUNDHATI ROY’S THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS: How to Cite : Malikul Islam (2026). Women, Marginality and Social Resistance: A Comparative Study of Indira Goswami’s The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research & Reviews, 5(8),222-227.  https://doi.org/10.56815/ijmrr.v5i8.2026.222-227

Malikul Islam

Authors

Malikul Islam Research Scholar, Department of Assamese, Nagaon University, India.

Abstract

The article analyzes the representation of women’s marginality and social resistance in two landmark Indian novels by Indira Goswami and Arundhati Roy in radically different regional, cultural and historical contexts. Goswami’s The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker deals with the issues of widowhood, orthodoxy and female suffering in the Assamese Vaishnavite and feudal structures. Roy’s The God of Small Things deals with patriarchy, caste violence and the policing of female desire in Kerala. Both texts show marginality is not only a personal exclusion, but a social process which is produced by family, religion, caste and gendered discipline. Together, the novels show that although the resistance of women may seem to be silent, fragmented or not direct, it is nevertheless of political significance in that it subverts established hierarchies. These novels, the study contends, depict women as victims of systemic domination but also as agents of refusal, resisting social power through memory, speech, bodily presence and emotional endurance.