The Femininity of Food in “A Kitchen in the Corner of the House”

Abstract

Ambai’s “A Kitchen in the Corner of The House” signifies the place and position of a woman in a household which is confined in one corner of the house as ‘Kitchen’. There are some stereotypes who still believe that the terms kitchen, cooking, washing, nurturing, raising the kids and cleaning belong to the women. Hence, it is evident that house-keeping and child-rearing well describes a woman’s identity and fertility. A woman is believed to be physically delicate and exhibit kindness. But often her kindness is mistaken as weakness and subjugates her as a life-time slave in the name of marriage. Though a man has been assigned to play the role for upholding moral values and work as engineers, a woman is imprisoned in the corner of the house as portrayed in the short story “A Kitchen in the corner of the House”. This paper analyses the relativity of food and femininity; and how it remains closely connected even in the 21st century.