Mirroring the Images; Representation of Ponna in a Patriarchal World in Perumal Murugan’s ‘One Part Woman’

Feminism as a critical theory has emerged to question the dominant male supremacy and marginalization of women’s position in the society. In its present stage it is an ideology (theory) as well as a political movement (Praxis). The construction of gender and socialization in India is hierarchical and men are placed above women in the social order. Gender roles are part of the cultural setup and are strictly followed leading to patriarchal subjugation of women. The essential way of seeing women, the essential use to which their images are put, are not changed. Women are depicted in a quite different way from men, not because the feminine is different from the masculine, but because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him. Religion is one of the most influential tools that have been used by the patriarchy to wreak violence on individuals who do not conform to the ‘rules’