Dealing And Resisting Verbal Aggression In (Husband-Wife) Abusive Relationships Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Reading Meena Kandasamy And Krishna Sobti’s Fiction

Abstract

Verbal aggression within marriage remains one of the least visible forms of domestic abuse despite its severe psychological consequences for women. In patriarchal societies, emotional humiliation, coercive communication, and linguistic domination frequently become normalized within marital relationships. This study examines the representation of verbal aggression and emotional resistance in When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy and Mitro Marjani by Krishna Sobti through the framework of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and feminist literary criticism. The primary objective of the study is to analyze how abusive language shapes female subjectivity and how women negotiate emotional trauma within patriarchal marital structures. The research adopts a qualitative comparative methodology based on close textual analysis of dialogue, narrative voice, emotional response, and interpersonal conflict in the selected novels. The findings suggest that verbal aggression functions as a mechanism of patriarchal control intended to regulate women’s desires, silence dissent, and weaken emotional autonomy. At the same time, the protagonists develop distinct forms of resistance through assertiveness, cognitive reframing, emotional distancing, and narrative self-expression. The study concludes that literary narratives can illuminate psychological survival strategies associated with emotional resilience and cognitive resistance.