Profitable Daughters Analysis

The protagonist Tara ventures to expand the boundaries of wedding, love and sex. The title of the novel is embedded with significant meaning with irony. It connotes that daughters are graceful asset for a family and so their dealings ought to be desirable and enviable. They should behave as per the prescribed socio-cultural ideals and values. The daughters who overlook the ways and behavior of ‘Luxman Rekha’ would not be accepted and appreciated. They become then in Kapur’s phrase ‘difficult daughters’. In the novel, two female characters including Tara do the same and cross the fixed margins of culture. All the three daughters of Brahman Bengali Chatterjee family are desirable in their earlier life in the sense that they fulfill the criterion of daughterhood- possessing attributes like modesty, grace, diligence and deference, but are caged within the circumference of the home: “our father could not let either of my sisters out on the street, our ear was equipped with window shades” (29). This limited freedom of mobility is further foregrounded by Tara’s words: “our bodies changed, but our behavior never did. Rebellion sounded like a lot of fun…. My life was one long childhood until I was thrown in a marriage”

Ida is a counterpart of Kapur novelist herself. After Virmati’s death, Ida decides to know her mother who used to be “…a silently brisk and bad tempered”(2). The opening declaration of the book is somewhat startling as Ida asserts, “the one thing I had wanted not to be like my mother”(1). Generally, children willingly trace the footsteps of their parents, but Virmati’s maiden pregnancy, its callous abortion, breaking of custom, trampling of filial duties, disregard for parents and above all ousting Ganga’s position and rights repulse and disgust Ida unmitigatingly. Like her mother, Ida is also educated but childless, and is at liberty to move as per her whim and ultimately turns out triumphant in segregating herself from the failed marital bond. She is overtly gratified, though mentally suffers from angst and trauma. She cannot avoid marginalization and estrangement which is the rule for woman in patriarchal society. Although she surpasses her mother as well as her grandmother in terms of success, yet she speaks her mind “I feel my existence as a single woman reverberate

Although they acknowledge that in the last sixty years, Indian conventional establishment has changed to a large extent, yet the need of the hour is to have a setup in which everybody may flourish equally irrespective of gender, culture, and place. Through the sensitive portrayal of the female characters and their problems, Bhartee Mukherjee and Manju Kapur have given us an effective illustration and unforgettable picture of the evolution of the Indian woman’s psyche overtime, starting from the earlier pre-independence era through the freedom struggle up to the time of the post-independence. Their individuals are shown mostly as incarcerated within the bounds of age-old traditions. When they try to think independently and chalk out their life schemes for themselves, they become unbearable for the socio-cultural setup. The combat between these individuals and the surroundings leads them to create their own individuality and social