SELF- EMPOWERMENT AND 'FELANEE' (Pages 131-136) by in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Women have always been treated as marginal since time unmemorable. They are either treated ‘plaything’ or ‘Obedient servant’ of men. But the Post- Colonial era has witnessed tremendous milieu in respect of women’s status and space as it shows that women are not subordinate to men; in fact they are equal to men. It is only the patriarchal stereotype that tries to throw this class of mankind as either ‘marginal’ or ‘weak’. With the rise of feminism, women have placed themselves in a very strong position. They are no more the dolls in man’s hand, they are their own masters. This is how they are empowering themselves and this gradual strong empowerment can never be replaced by the so-called male domination or male ego. Arupa Patangia Kalita’s Felanee, the novel shows how one simple woman has become victim of different circumstances and significantly how she defeats her sufferings and womanly weaknesses and becomes ‘strong’ exactly like men and throws herself in man’s position. So, as an academic exercise, this paper is a humble attempt to study woman as her own master and how different circumstances become the empowering force to empower woman and how they are changing obstacles into opportunities. Keywords: Patriarchy, Marginal, Feminism, Circumstances, Stereotype, Empowerment, Society.