Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part L (2025)

This article examines the representation of women as subalterns in the short stories of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay, one of the most influential voices of early twentieth-century Bengali literature. Through a close reading of selected stories, the study explores how women—positioned at the margins of patriarchal, caste-bound and socio-economic structures—negotiate their identities within restrictive social frameworks. Saratchandra’s female characters often inhabit spaces of silence, sacrifice and moral scrutiny, yet they also exhibit moments of resistance, emotional strength and ethical clarity. By engaging with subaltern theory, particularly the ideas advanced by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, the article analyses how these women articulate agency even when denied formal platforms of expression. Saratchandra’s nuanced storytelling exposes the contradictions of a society that simultaneously venerates and suppresses womanhood, revealing how cultural norms, familial obligations and gendered expectations shape women’s lived experiences. The article argues that Saratchandra not only portrays women as victims of social constraints but also foregrounds their inner resilience and moral autonomy. Ultimately, this study positioned Saratchandra’s short fiction as a critical site for understanding the complexities of gendered subalternity in colonial Bengal and contributes to broader discussions on women’s voices in South Asian literary narratives.