Sukanya Ray
Volume-XIV, Issue-III, April 2026
Volume-XIV, Issue-III, April 2026 | ||
Received: 24.04.2026 | Accepted: 27.04.2026 | |||
Published Online: 30.04.2026 | Page No: 231-238 | |||
DOI: 10.64031/pratidhwanitheecho.vol.14.issue.03W.102 | ||||
Fragmented Bodies, Fragmented Identities: Gendered Disability in Mahesh Dattani’s Tara Dr. Sukanya Ray, Assistant Professor of English, Kabi Joydeb Mahavidyalaya, Illambazar, Birbhum, West Bengal, India | |
This paper examines Mahesh Dattani’s Tara as a site of intersectionality between gender and disability. The titular protagonist’s body is not only a physically disabled one but the battered remnants of social injustices and prejudices meted out to the female. By examining the partisan surgical separation, the paper questions the patriarchal manoeuvrings that govern natural determinism to perpetuate cultural hegemony. The surgery acts as a metaphor for the fragmentation of human souls depriving humanity from a composite identity, rendering them deficit by prioritizing masculinity and repressing femininity. Chandan is unable to retain the leg and is a cripple too but naturally privileged due to his sex, his handicap is lesser in comparison to his sister. Disability and gender work in tandem to doubly marginalize Tara. Her disabled body is the battleground where patriarchal mutilations, clinical corruptions and familial expectations are contested, leading to Tara’s untimely demise. Tara’s death is more tragic than pathetic since a conspiracy by her nearest ones caused her impairment, not nature. Chandan writes their story, naming it as ‘Twinkle Tara’ but ends up writing his own tragedy. Dattani being a man, writes Tara, so of course, the narrative could never be unbiased, Tara remains perpetually unrepresented and unwritten. Using Feminism and Disability Studies, the paper spotlights the nexus between gender and disability and explore how these intersect to cause the compounded marginalization of the female sex. | |
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