Vol. 1, Issue 6, Part G (2015)

Abstract
The Indo-English novels, generally speaking, and, more so, in respect of the female characters therein, have moved steadily from the social to the political, and then on to the psychological-cultural levels in a manner that has evoked international acclaim. Kamala Markandaya, one of the notable female writers in India, has created some of the exemplary characters in her novels. In the case of female characters belonging to her novels, we have to keep this in mind that they have to be considered, perhaps, strictly in the context of socio-cultural or sociological frame of reference. Her characters belong to towns and cities, they are both educated and uneducated, conventional and unconventional figures, and while a majority of them are natives, some of them are outsiders too. As we find, while some of her female characters are individuals, such others are typical in nature. The novelist may be, as she is generally called, an insider-outsider but she considers the socio-economic and cultural problems of India through the sufferings of her female characters. It is in the background of such problems as poverty, unemployment, exploitation of human misery, ignorance and superstitions and the way that her female characters face all these challenges that this paper has undertaken a study of these characters in her novels. In fact, she presents them to us in such a manner as to compel our close attention towards them. And it is in this very light that we have to consider the topic in question.