Shackled Vows: A Feminist Critique of Marriage in Susan Abulhawa’s Against the Loveless World.

Ms. J. Anitlin Benita
Junior Research Fellow (NTA Ref. No: 220520476160), Full- Time Research Scholar (Reg. No 241130602033),
Department of English and Research, Lekshmipuram College of Arts and Science, Neyyoor.
(Affiliated to M.S. University Tirunelveli), Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India.
Email: anitlinbenita1996@gmail.com

Dr. R. Shirley Fernando
Research Supervisor, Associate Professor of English,
Lekshmipuram College of Arts and Science,
(Affiliated to M. S. University), Neyyoor, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India.
Email: shirleyfernando1973@gmail.com

Abstract
The research paper analyzes the complex relationship between married couples through the lens of female characters in Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa’s novel Against the Loveless World. The married women in the novel have been disrespected, mistreated and abandoned in the name of marriage. Nahr, the protagonist of the novel has married Mhammad, a revolutionary but is soon abandoned by her husband. Her mother has also been shown as a victim of her father’s infidelity. The novel also provides a glimpse into the life of an Indian maid, working in Kuwait named Deepa and her husband Ajay, who takes another wife as he believes that his wife Deepa is infertile. This paper tries to be a testimony of how the female characters in Susan Abulhawa’s novel perceive and undergo the difficulties of married life in a male dominated Palestinian society. It also delves deep into how various women in this novel gets affected by the power dynamics within the family.

Keywords: Marriage, Abuse, Infidelity, Abandonment, Patriarchy.