The Bandit Queens

Violence against women is so pervasive in this novel that it forms the story’s very foundation, for the aftermath of abuse keeps Geeta isolated, friendless, and defiant. Similarly, the constant presence of violence within this culture serves to drive the plot forward, first with Farah’s request for Geeta to assist in murdering Samir, then with the death of Darshan; and throughout the novel’s progression, its entrenchment in modern Indian society is profoundly manifest. All of the characters’ lives have been touched by violence, whether in the form of direct physical abuse or through the extortion of dowry. Violence is also found in the show of support for friends and loved ones whose lives have been ruined by abuse; or, conversely, in the communally enforced secrecy surrounding the shame of it. From the beginning, it is clear that many of the characters—even the women who are being abused—accede to participate in the often deadly silence that enables such an intractable social problem to be perpetuated. For the sake of cohesion, the community itself often becomes complicit in the abuse, and this trend also emphasizes the lower value that Indian society places on women in general. Within the