The invisible cage: a cross-cultural feminist reading of Anita Nair’s ladies Coupé and Cho Nam-Joo’s Kim Ji-Young, born 1982

Abstract

“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.” Simone de Beauvoir’s iconic words provide the foundation for this study, which explores how womanhood is constructed, contested, and stuck in an invisible cage in patriarchal societies. Through a comparative analysis of Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupe (2001) and Cho Nam-Joo’s Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982 (2016), this research paper investigates how women’s identities are shaped by cultural expectations and systemic gender inequality in India and South Korea. The protagonist Akhila’s symbolic train journey in a ladies' coupe highlights women’s personal narratives as acts of resistance against domestic confinement. Kim Ji-Young’s fragmented self becomes a mirror of South Korea’s entrenched misogyny and its impact on female subjectivity. By engaging with the feminist theories of Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, and Gayatri Spivak, this paper argues that both texts illuminate the daily, silent battles of women and their responsibility to others. This represents the invisible cage. Additionally, their strategies of resistance include storytelling, self-awareness, and defiance of prescribed roles. Despite the cultural differences, these works reveal extremely similar patterns of patriarchal oppression. It emphasizes the universality of feminist concerns and the necessity of cross-cultural solidarity in the struggle for women’s agency and identity.