Women's Inequality as Portrayed by Anita Desai's in Cry the Peacock

Abstract

Anita Desai examines the issue of gender inequality in Cry, the Peacock by focussing on Maya, the main character, and her psychological challenges in a patriarchal culture.  The novel explores Maya's union with Gautama, a detached, logical personification of the patriarchal standards that suppress the demands of women on an emotional and private level.  Maya's sensitivity and need for emotional connection are written off as unreasonable, underscoring the oppressive roles that conventional gender norms play in keeping women in submissive roles in marriages.  Desai shows Maya's increasing psychological unease as a mirror of the profound emotional and societal alienation that women experience when their voices and wishes are silenced.  Maya's fascination with a death prophesy represents her inner struggle and her yearning to overcome the limitations of patriarchal domination.  The Peacock criticizes the emotional and psychological suppression of women in a world dominated by males through Maya's spiral into insanity in Cry the Peacock.  Desai's novel offers a compelling examination of women's inequality by showing how social conventions and traditional gender expectations may harm  to those who want autonomy and acceptance.