Abstract
45 DCL
CLAI 2012
Dr. Munazza
Yaqoob
Voices
of Dissent: Theme of Marriage in Contemporary South Asian Fiction in English
Abstract
Theme of marriage is one of dominant themes in
English fiction by contemporary South Asian authors. An analysis of their
fiction illustrates that these authors draw upon the institution of marriage as
a space to discuss and invite the attention of their readers to the oppressive
apparatuses of patriarchy deeply rooted in South Asian cultural traditions. They
support feminist critique of the ideology of ideal womanhood which serves to
condition women to be passive, docile and self-sacrificing and through their fiction
register their protest against the oppressive cultural traditions and
structures which deny women their true identity and legitimate freedom as human
beings. Their fiction portrays two models of married women. The married women
in one model are those who passively accept their subjugation and perform their
services as an obedient wife and devoted mother and the second model is of the
women who are self-reliant and rebel against their subjugation and struggle for
their freedom. The present paper explores these two models in detail as
portrayed in the selected fiction of Uzma Aslam Khan, Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin
Hamid, Arundathti Roy, Kiran Desai,
Jhumpa Lahiri and Amitav Ghosh to discuss how these authors respond to the
traditional structures of marriage in South Asian cultural tradition which are
employed as oppressive tools to deny women self-realization and self-reliance
and thus are resistant to social and cultural change.
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