According to Marxist literary criticism, “the literary works are the reflections of the social institutions which in turn a source for the origin of literary works”. This method is also called the Marxist method propounded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Sivakami focuses on the major events and incidents in the lives of the Dalit and the women are portrayed. This paper’s first focus is the minor character Thangam who is a childless widow and tormented at many different stages. The study and analysis is carried out from the dialectical and historical materialistic perspective in order to achieve the objectives mentioned above. translated by the novelist herself with the name The Grip of Change. The study and analysis of the characters of the oppressed and the problems, they undergo in their social life how the characters of the marginalized are portrayed and how their problems are projected in these select novels and the exposition of the dialectical relationship between history (the contemporary material conditions of society in other words production relations) and literature are in the scope of the research. They are put to physical assaults and mental harassment by their husband Periyannan. While Kathamuthu’s wives in The Grip of Change are subject to psychological distress, Anandhayi, the wife and Lakshmi, the concubine who is held captive in the house of Periyannan are subjugated by Periyannan. The main male characters in these two novels are male chauvinists. Sivakamis The Grip of Change was first written in 1997 in Tamil and later translated into English in 2006 by herself, but with an addition of The Authors. It is with this objective, the two novels – The Grip of change and The Taming of Women are studied analytically.

This paper explores how women are subject to physical and psychological harassment by their husbands.

The grip of change by sivakami