Role of ‘space’ in determining ‘power’ – a study of Ambai’s A Kitchen in the Corner of the House

Abstract

Literature is an important medium to „voice out‟ one‟s pain and suffering due to oppression, in the name of caste, creed, nation and gender. Especially, a form like short story provides much „space‟ for voicing out against the domination either actively or passively. A short story is a brief work of prose fiction, like that of the novel, having the components, elements and the same techniques as well. This had already been substantiated by Edgar Allan Poe in his definition of the short story. Though it lacks the „magnitude‟ of the novel in its dimension, it still is not inferior in presenting the „intended‟ emotion of the writer. It is no wonder that the short story is the widely read genre of the modern man in his busy life.