Shanlax International Journal of English

The Womb as Battleground: Ecofeminism, Silence, and Survival in the Daughters of Madurai

A. Nasreen Banu, R. Ponmani Subha Chellam — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study explores the application of ecofeminist theory to Rajasree Variyar’s The Daughters of Madurai (2022), a novel that exposes the horrors of female infanticide in Tamil Nadu and its long-lasting effects on women’s lives. Drawing on ecofeminist theorists such as Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, and Karen Warren, this analysis argues that the oppression of women in Variyar’s novel parallels nature’s exploitation under patriarchal and capitalist structures. In addition, the study highlights how women’s bodies and reproductive capacities are treated as resources to be controlled, reflecting the same utilitarian logic that governs environmental degradation. Through its dual timelines of the 1990s Madurai and 2019 Sydney, the novel dramatizes the intergenerational transmission of trauma and suggests pathways toward healing and resistance. The ecofeminist reading reveals how cultural traditions that normalize violence against women mirror ecological destruction, thereby urging a rethinking of both gender relations and human-nature interactions. Ultimately, Variyar’s work aligns with ecofeminist ethics by envisioning solidarity, care, and ecological balance as alternatives to the patriarchal domination.

John the Baptist, Lakshman, Balaram and the Brotherhood of MDZS: A Comparative Study of Prophetic Witness and Brotherly Selflessness

B. Lakshmikantham, N. Abbenaya — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This Research article explores the convergences of prophetic witness and adopts a cross-scriptural inquiry into the preparatory roles of John the Baptist in the Holy Bible, Lakshman in the Ramayana, and Balaram in the Mahabharata, and compares them with the characters of The Grand Master of Demonic cultivation. It explores how they function as a threshold figure: a divinely chosen intermediary bridging mortal existence and divine revelation, revealing a trans-religious archetype of sacred service, loyalty, and moral witness. Drawing on theological hermeneutics and literary narratology, this study argues that John’s harsh prophecy parallels Lakshman’s disciplined devotion to his elder sibling Ram and Balaram’s guidance of Krishna, his younger sibling. They are not only supplementary personas but also spiritual conduits, shaping the ethical imagination of their respective civilizations. Portraying the frameworks of comparative theology, the study argues that John’s ascetic ministry, Lakshman’s brotherly selflessness, and Balaram’s detached strength reveal convergent moral cosmologies where divine purpose intersects with human restraint. This study synthesizes theological, literary, and ecological appraisals to illuminate how these praiseworthy men mediate divine order through obedience and purity, offering models to understand inter-religious ethics in the twenty-first century.

Love’s Hate Behind a White Veil: A Counterplay Between Ageing, Trauma and Revenge

Aditi Rana, Sowmya Srinivasan — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The literary ghost of Charles Dickens’ The Great Expectations, Havisham, is appropriately repositioned by Carol Ann Duffy as “the wicked old hag” in a contemporary setting in her poem “Havisham.” The gory and decaying room of Havisham can be interpreted as a metaphor for an old-age home, portraying the struggles of aging, declining mental health, and temporal stagnation. The suspended state of the room covered in dust and taint reflects the fragility and fixation that can be seen in older people. Havisham’s obsessive behavior and emotional extremity mirror the conditions of PTSD that are commonly found in geriatric patients with bitter past experiences who become social recluses. However, there is an exception to this. This research aims to study Havisham’s voluntary isolation from the perspective of the autonomic nervous system, specifically the Dorsal Vagal system, characterized by immobilization in the Polyvagal Theory proposed by Stephen Porges, not as a clinical examination but as endorsed by a critical textual analysis, where her action is screened similarly to that of old people who would have faced traumatic betrayals in life.

Virginia Wolf and Anita Desai: A Comparative Study of Female Consciousness through Critical Discourse Analysis and Intertextuality

V. Amshupali — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study compares the works of Virginia Woolf and Anita Desai, focusing on how each author explores the inner lives of women. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and intertextual analysis, this study examines how language choices, such as vocabulary, sentence structure, and imagery, reflect and challenge the expectations placed on women by society. Drawing on Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and A Room of One’s Own, alongside Desai’s Cry, the Peacock, Fire on the Mountain, and Clear Light of Day, this study asks: how does each writer use language to capture women’s experiences and to push back against traditional roles? The analysis further explores the cultural and historical contexts that inform both writers’ works, offering a nuanced understanding of female subjectivity across time and place.
It examines how vocabulary, syntax, narrative voice, interior monologue, silence, repetition, and imagery construct women’s experiences while simultaneously questioning the dominant gender ideologies.
Woolf and Desai employ language not merely as a means of representing women’s psychological experiences but also as a subtle form of resistance to socially prescribed identities. Through an intertextual reading of the selected works, this study identifies both continuities and differences in the writers’ representations of female agency. While Woolf interrogates patriarchal conventions through formal experimentation and feminist critique, Desai adapts and transforms similar concerns within distinctly Indian social and cultural contexts. The comparative analysis demonstrates how language becomes a site where gender, identity, culture, memory, and resistance intersect. By placing Woolf and Desai in dialogue, this study contributes to a broader understanding of the evolving representation of female subjectivity across different historical, geographical, and cultural contexts.

The Impact of ICT Integration on Secondary English Language Learning

M. Karunya, K. Muthamil Selvi — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education is garnering increasing attention, especially for its ability to make language learning more successful and enjoyable. This study aimed to investigate the effects of ICT on secondary school English language instruction. To assess learning outcomes, the study used an experimental research design and included pre- and post-test measurements for the two groups. At a public secondary school in Bagmati Municipality, Sarlahi district, sixty ninth-graders participated in the study. From this group, 30 students were chosen for in-depth interviews to collect qualitative insights into their learning experiences. The study’s conclusions showed that the academic performance of the two groups differed significantly. In particular, pupils who received instruction through ICT-based methods significantly outperformed those who received instruction through traditional means. These results demonstrate how well ICT integration can improve English language learning (ELL) in secondary schools.

Climate Change and Indian Literature: Ecology, Memory, and Environmental Consciousness

Aswathi Mohan, K. Usha Savithri — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Climate change has become one of the most pressing concerns of the twenty-first century, shaping political debates, social realities, cultural practices, and literary expressions across the world. In India, literature offers a particularly rich space for thinking about these changes because ecological relationships have long been part of the country’s cultural and literary traditions. This paper examines how Indian literature represents environmental degradation, climate anxiety, and displacement, and the ethical questions that arise from our changing relationship with the natural world. It brings together perspectives from ancient Indian traditions, postcolonial ecological writing, contemporary climate fiction, ecofeminism, and indigenous narratives. Particular attention is given to Amitav Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, and Vandana Shiva, whose writings highlight environmental exploitation and the close relationship between human well-being and ecological health. By reading literature as both a record of ecological memory and a space for reflection and action, this paper argues that Indian literary traditions can offer meaningful ethical perspectives on the climate crisis.

Structure of Control and Acts of Revolt: A Foucauldian Interpretation of “Omelas” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Farhana Annushka — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper showcases the structure of control and acts of revolt in two stories by Ursula K Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” And Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Here, authority is seen as an internal control mechanism of moral, medical, social norms. This study examines the creation of moral complicity showcased through a suffering child in “Omelas” and claws of paternal patriarchy and medicality used as a form of control in the home space of Gilman. The study is conducted through the lens of qualitative, comparative textual analysis and close reading. Both texts demonstrate resistance in two different forms- ethical withdrawal of Omelas and through psychological rebellion of the victim in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. These texts expose concealed violence within normalised authority, representing resistance as necessary yet partial and challenging. This study demonstrates the usefulness of Foucauldian theory as a way of liberation by analysing authority, obedience, and disciplinary power imposed on all of us.