Exploring Indian Womanhood: Blending Cultures in Shinie Antony’s The Girl Who Couldn’t Love and Preeti Shenoy’s The Rule Breakers

Abstract

 This paper examines the depiction of Indian womanhood through the perspective of cultural hybridity in two modern Indian English novels: Shinie Antony’s The Girl Who Couldn’t Love (2017) and Preeti Shenoy’s The Rule Breakers (2018). Both novels feature female protagonists who challenge patriarchal norms in India after liberalization, as they adopt distinct strategies leading to different outcomes. In Antony's narrative, Rudrakshi (Roo) achieves independence through emotional detachment and repudiation of romantic and familial traditions, shaped by childhood trauma and resulting in solitude. Conversely, Shenoy’s main character Veda seeks education, professional freedom, and inclusive ideals, thereby reshaping family dynamics and asserting her agency. This comparative study argues that contemporary Indian women authors are diversifying literary representations of femininity. These narratives go beyond the one-dimensional idea of the self-sacrificing Indian wife and mother to show how the clash of tradition and modernity can lead to either deep internal conflict or powerful social change.