Digital Object Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.31
This paper explores The Dark Room by R. K. Narayan as a study of male authority and women’s awakening within patriarchal family structures. It also examines the oppression of women in a family as a social institution, where the dark room becomes a site of refuge and respite, culmination in awakening of the self. The present article explores the text through a feminist lens. It investigates domestic oppression within the patriarchal structure and the journey of the protagonist from subjugation to self-discovery. It also interprets the text as a site of domestic marginalisation of women, patriarchal conditioning, and self-realisation.
Rani, Arti. “The Dark Room: A Symbol of Patriarchy and Female Awakening in R. K. Narayan’s The Dark Room.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 5, Oct. 2026, pp. 557-66, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.31.
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
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