The document discusses the novel "Othappu" by Indian writer Sarah Joseph. It summarizes that the novel follows a central female character, Marghalitha, who is a nun that decides to leave the convent to live freely outside of the religious norms and practices she could no longer accept. This causes conflict with the church and society who expect her to conform. The novel examines how Marghalitha empowers herself amid the patriarchal constraints of her culture and society through redefining herself and immunizing against oppression.

1. Culture and Gender Questions
in Sarah Joseph’s Othappu
Presented By,
Karthika s
M A English

2. • Indian female writers see gender as an issue
shaping both culture and text.
• Fiction by Indian woman works within patriarchal
society to break down the cultural impediments
and discover meaning of gender constructs in
society.
• Indian writers see literary text as products of a
culture that has an assured unity of symbols and
images.
• Culture plays a vital role in helping a woman to
understand & mould her linguistic behaviour &
cultural ideas

3. •Active member of Feminist
movement in Kerala
Concerned with predicament
of female protagonist
An anti-essentialist writer
Main aim is to bring an
“alternative women’s culture”
Defines her feminism as
human equality & freedom of
choice.

4. Culture
Religion
Mass Media
Gender
Tradition
Community
Class

5. Scandal / temptation
Published - 2005
a Gyno text
anti-essentialist mode of
writing
Main theme- how a women
can be empowered , re-
defined , immunize herself in
midst of all the patriarchal
constraints.

6. 'Othappu' follows the pattern by having a central
female character and protagonist. The novel deals
with the decision of a nun to step outside the
convent and embrace a life free from the shackles
of established religious norms and practices. In this,
the character 'Marghalitha', comes in logger heads
with the church and society which refuse to accept
her personal views and individual freedom and
expect her to conform to the framework in place
regarding those joining the nunnery.

7. • Sigmund Freud
Father of Psychology
Psycho- analytical theory
based on the assumption
that personality in terms of
interactions & conflicts
among needs & impulses
,which operate at
unconscious level in an
individual.
• Helene Cixous
French theorist
“ecriture feminine”
Language as free play of
meanings within the frame
work of loosened
grammatical structures
User- perennial freedom-
fighter, sniping at the
centre of power.

8. Conscious mind – layer of mind which
contains thoughts and perceptions of which
we are aware at a given moment.
Id – original source of personality, reservoir
of psychic energy, unconscious in nature,
guided by pleasure principle .
Super-ego- conscience in the ordinary sense,
ethical & moral force in man, decision
making force in man

10. • Marghalitha - A nun who leaves the convent because
she can no longer pretend that the rituals associated
with belief are meaningful to her.
• Roy Francis Kareekkan - A priest who also
questions the church's double standards in serving
the poor and the rich and influential. He leaves the
priesthood when he realizes his desire for
Marghalitha, but later abandons her.
• Augustine-a Christian freethinker and social-
reformer.
• Rebecca - Marghalitha's cousin who is a kind of
vagabond preacher and healer

11. Male constructed words
•Othappu – scandal/
temptation
•Punyalathi – scared soul
•Vilavu- breast
•Aspiranth – aspirant

12. You want to go back – Margaret Atwood
• You want to go back
To where the sky was inside us
Animals ran through us , our hands
Blessed and killed according to our wisdom , death
Made real blood come out
But face it , we have been improved , our heads float
Several inches above our necks.......................
Multiplying and analysing themselves , perfecting
Their own demands , no trouble to anyone....

13. The Indian woman has, indeed,
achieved her success in half a
century of independence , but if
there is to be a truly female
empowerment, much remains to
be done.

14. Thank
You