Sisterhood: A Feminist Motto of Empowerment in Thrity Umrigar’s The Secrets Between Us

Abstract

Sisterhood as a fountainhead of women empowerment is a widespread motif in popular feminist discourse
around the globe. Though feminist critics differ in their opinions about the nature and constitution of this
solidarity among women, none denies the significance of forming alliance and developing camaraderie
among women on the ground that such sorority assists them in their struggle against oppression to ensure
immediate survival and achieve sustainable growth. Indian born American novelist Thrity Umrigar’s The
Secrets Between Us (2018) recounts the triumph of sisterhood between two elderly women, Bhima and
Parvati, by manifesting their synergic fortitude in both confronting and surmounting innumerable odds
like poverty, deprivation, illiteracy, sexist oppression, deception, sexual assault, class and caste division,
and infirmities of old age. This paper aims at unfolding the nature of the sororal tie between these two
ageing women as well as analysing how this bond of sisterhood functions as an endowing factor in turning
their heart-rending past and precarious present into a propitious future.