Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s The Householder: A Study of Personal Exile and the Predicament of Female Characters

Abstract

Ruth prawer Jhabvala‘s novels may be convincingly divided in to three phases focusing on the issues of romantic idealism and the search for womanhood. Her fiction centres on women and there is a portrayal of feminine sensibility and quest for identity in the patriarchal society. The paper is the discussion of Jhabvala‘s The Housholder in the light of portrayal of women characters. Jhabvala deals with female problems in an evolving pattern. Her women characters develop from excitement to indifference, from indifference to boredom and from boredom to brokenness. The present paper is an attempt to discuss the development of female characters from excitement to maturity in the canvas of male authoritative society.