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Abstract
Marxist literary criticism maintains that a writer's social class, and its prevailing ideology have a major bearing on what is written by a member of that class. Over the years, literature and ideology, both individually and in tandem, have evolved as epistemic-discursive categories. Mahasweta Devi spearheaded the movement against the industrial policy of the earlier communist party of India (Marxist) government of West Bengal. Specifically, she stridently criticized the confiscation of large tracts of fertile agricultural lands from the farmers by the government and ceding the land to the industrial houses at throwaway prices. This paper is an attempt to showcase how ideology undergoes an unprecedented expansion in the writings of Devi with reference to her female characters in her short story collection Outcast: Four Stories