The present article attempts to explore the causes of marital conflicts through the feisty voice of Meena Kandasamy in When I Hit You : Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife, where an unnamed narrator dissects toxic masculinity. The narrator faces sexual abuse, rape, mental torture, social stigma, internal conflicts in her four month?s marriage. The young badgered wife has just managed to escape her tormentor. Feminists view marriage as an institution traditionally rooted in patriarchy that promotes male superiority and power over women. The power inequality between men and women make men believe that they are more in charge of their life and women seeing themselves as being controlled rather than controlling. That is why women generally have been placed at the receiving end of power dynamics in society. The power imbalances and injustices directly create disputes, sustains and escalates other conflicts and invades all other human interactions. Therefore, this autobiographical fiction through the author?s art of writing about desire, abuse and trauma questions power and gender roles which are sought to be adjusted within the society through the institution of marriage.
M.A. (English), B.H.U., Varanasi
