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GATE 2026 XH2 (English) – Question 36

History of English Literature and Literary Studies · Global Perspectives on Literary Studies: Anglophone literatures (British, American, Canadian and other postcolonial literatures) · 1 mark · Multiple select

What is/are the central theme/s of Kamala Das’s “An Introduction”?

  1. Identity Crisis
  2. Political Activism
  3. The Feminine Mystique
  4. Cultural Assimilation

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Correct answer: (A) Identity Crisis; (C) The Feminine Mystique

Explanation

In "An Introduction" the speaker asserts her own identity against the demands of family and society on how a woman should behave, speak and dress. That is a search for selfhood (identity), and it is the dissatisfaction with a prescribed feminine role that the phrase 'the feminine mystique' stands for. Political activism and cultural assimilation are not what the poem is about.