Abstract
Manju Kapur's Difficult Daughters explores the lives of women negotiating patriarchal norms in pre-Independence India against the backdrop of the Partition. With an emphasis on the experiences of Virmati, Kasturi, Shakuntala, and Ida, this study investigates how women are treated from a feminist standpoint. The study examines gender inequality, education, marriage, identity, and resistance through qualitative textual analysis and feminist literary criticism. According to the study, rather than depicting women as helpless victims of tyranny, Kapur shows them as active actors in questioning social norms. Even though education is a powerful tool for empowering women, it does not completely liberate them from the profoundly ingrained patriarchal systems. Rather, the book highlights the psychological and emotional complexity of women's fight for independence and identity. The study indicates that Difficult Daughters continues to be an important contribution to feminist discourse in Indian English literature and provides a potent critique of patriarchal society.
