Internalized Oppression in Jacinta Kerketta’s “Closed Doors”

Kanika Saini

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.89417

Internalized Oppression in Jacinta Kerketta’s “Closed Doors”

Author(s)	Kanika Saini
Country	India
Abstract	Women’s oppression within patriarchy does not always remain visible through direct control, violence, or restrictions. Repeated exposure to patriarchal expectations can gradually shape women’s psychological and emotional experiences as these experiences become internalized, influencing their sense of self, freedom, and self-worth. This process can be understood through the concept of internalized oppression. Jacinta Kerketta’s “Closed Doors,” published in her poetry collection Angor (2016), illustrates a woman living in a confined space where the physical restriction of the closed door is closely connected to her inner oppression. Her dreams remain outside, darkness enters her consciousness, and the door’s small opening becomes a space through which she observes a world beyond her confinement. Drawing on feminist understandings of patriarchy and internalized oppression, this paper examines how the character’s experience reflects oppression that extends beyond social restriction and becomes internalized within women’s consciousness. Kerketta argues that the deepest form of patriarchal oppression is when a woman internalises her limitation so deeply that she begins to doubt even her freedom. This paper examines the representation of internalized oppression within patriarchy in the poem, with particular attention to the woman’s restricted domestic space, suppressed desires, growing awareness, and eventual assertion of will.
Keywords	Oppression, Patriarchy, Gender, Internalized, Marginalization
Field	Arts
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On	2026-10-10
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.89417

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Internalized Oppression in Jacinta Kerketta’s “Closed Doors”

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