The Curse of Infertility in Manju Kapur’s Home

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate the manner in which infertility, in most societies all over the world, has been deliberately constructed as a curse since it seems to deprive women of their primary function in society – that of motherhood. Patriarchal society glorifies and exalts motherhood, and thereby justifies the division of labour wherein the woman is delegated the responsibility of the children and household, while the man provides for the family. The paper examines how the inability of the woman’s body to perform its delegated function results in serious psycho-social consequences, and explores the impact that infertility has on the psyche of women through an analysis of Manju Kapur’s novel Home (2006).