Race, Gender And Marginality In Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali

Abstract

Using Robert Young’s concept of subalternity, which is better suited to justify the claim that subalterns can speak if provided with an environment that enables them to flourish socially and economically, this paper aims to critically investigate Mahasweta Devi’s short story Rudali, which deconstructs Spivak’s notion of subalternity. These ladies, Sanichari and Bikhni, are a crystal-clear illustration of the invincibility of the spirit that never succumbs to apathy, even in the most difficult  situation. When Sanichari and Bikhni take up the practice of wailers for the funeral ceremony, their lives undergo a dramatic upheaval. Here, we’ll look into the text to see how the gendered underclass copes with a hopeless socioeconomic situation.