Author(s): Vinaya Peter

Abstract: This study attempts to read the context that male chauvinist oppression is not only held in the former ages but also exists in contemporary society. When I Hit You: Or, The Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife (2017) is a meditation on love, marriage, violence and how someone who is a feminist gets trapped in an abusive marriage. This book takes the readers through structures of toxic masculinity and patriarchy which allow violence to be perpetuated.The novel portrays the torture inflicted by an ideologically conflicted revolutionary husband to his wife. He is not manifesting the ideology he is boasting off. Ideologies have an explanatory function: they provide explanations for the facts and problems of social life, enabling individuals and groups to orientate themselves in society, but the man in the novel is building traumas in his wife’s life.

Keywords: Chauvinism, Dichotomy, Women’s Literature, Feminist Literature, Ideology, Trauma, Domestic Violence.

Article Info: Received: 20 Nov 2024; Received in revised form: 16 Dec 2024; Accepted: 22 Dec 2024; Available online: 27 Dec 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.96.48