Love, Marriage and Motherhood: A Critical Analysis of Jonathan Coe’s The Accidental Woman

Abstract

Jonathan Coe has written on various subjects like Thatcherism, nationalism, terrorism, racism and familial disharmony in domestic life and at the same time he expects order in his society which is devoid of all the anti-social elements mentioned above. The research paper examines the issues of women at all stages of life with reference to the novel “The Accidental Woman”. The novelist argues that displacement and male dominance can in no way surpass modern women as they have transformed themselves into highly potential beings. Some of the elements that create adverse effects and threats to the woman folk are only from patriarchal dominance and woman of male dominated views. In addition, they encounter wrong choice in marriage, pre-marital and extra-marital relationship, economic dependence, possessiveness and self-pity. Surprisingly these negative elements that have been imposed on women make them emerge as empowered women who have got a new and vibrating energy and power.