International Journal of Innovations & Research Analysis (IJIRA) 123 ISSN :2583-0295, Impact Factor: 5.449, Volume 03, No. 01(I), January- March, 2023, pp 123-126 GETTING OVER LONELINESS: A STUDY OF “THE RULE BREAKERS” BY PREETI SHENOY Shalini Jane Anne Rebello  Kusum ThantryD’Sa ** ABSTRACT Being a social animal, man needs to interact and associate with one another. The family, which is the fundamental pillar of society, plays an important role in shaping our personalities. Communication, support, sharing, caring and trust in one another enables in developing strong, healthy and secure relationships. Lack of it could have negative consequences thereby affecting the family members causing relationships to crumble down. The focus of the current study is on the protagonist, Veda, who is attempting to fit in with her new family. She enters her husband's home after saying goodbye to her loved ones anticipating the same warmth here. Her mother-in-law, constantly humiliates and torments her and her husband is in his own little world. Unable to fulfill her dreams and no one to share her feelings with, she is lonely and sad. Her freedom is curbed and she faces gender bias too. She finds a true friend in her neighbor and keeps herself busy by working along with her. She finds solace in teaching the underprivileged children. She is able to comprehend and support her husband who had been maintaining a distance with her all throughout. The present study focuses on the mental state of the protagonist and the transformation seen in her from a shy to a confident woman at the end. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: Loneliness, Relationships, Identity, Family, Gender. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction One of India's top five best-selling writers is Preeti Shenoy. She is a modernist writer whose works are highly engaging and primarily focus on family relationships, discovering oneself, parenting etc. She is also listed among the noteworthy Indian personalities by Forbes. Her works have been translated into several languages. Moreover, she is a blogger and has received numerous awards for her outstanding writing skills. The present study focuses on the importance of healthy relationships within a family, examines the protagonist's mental state in the novel, and explores ways to overcome loneliness. Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina opens with the line: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." As we are all aware, healthy relationships are the basis of a contented family. The absence of it ruins the peace within the family, leading to its disintegration. In the present novel, the protagonist, Veda, faces gender bias and discrimination at the hands of her very own family. She undergoes many adversities in her marital life too. Furthermore, she is forced to follow the age-old traditions, thereby curtailing her modernistic views. This kind of treatment meted out to  Research Scholar, College of Social Science and Humanities, Srinivas University, Mangalore & Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistic Studies, YIASCM, Mangalore, India. ** Research Guide, College of Social Science and Humanities, Srinivas University, Mangalore, India.