Socio-Cultural Issues and Subjugation of Women in Shashi Tharoor’s Riot

This paper is an attempt to study socio-cultural issues and subjugation of women in Shashi Tharoor’s Riot - A Novel. The novel Riot (2001) traces the events of cultural activism and religious confrontation in the Indian scenario. It is a study of the East-West cultural clash against the backdrop of the communal disturbances. Tharoor is a distinguished figure in the history of Indian writing in English as his novels develop certain strategies in order to address directly some of the central concerns and burning problems of contemporary India. He depicts socio-cultural issues and women subjugation in Riot. He cleverly presents social evils in the society such as extra-marital affairs, dowry deaths, exploitation of women, violence in home and outside, repeated child births, superstition, subordination as well as marginalization of women along with the East-West cultural clashes. Subjugation of women in every social evil and customary calamity has been contemplated in the paper. On the basis of Tharoor’s Riot - A Novel, a sincere attempt is made to show the author as a social reformer who deftly reveals socio-cultural issues and subjugation of women. &nbsp