SUBALTERNITY AND REPRESENTATION: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUE OF DIVORCE IN THE SELECTED NOVELS (1990-2007)

Abstract

Thesis Title: Subalternity and Representation: A Feminist Analysis of the Issue of Divorce in the Selected Novels (1990-2007) For Spivak, the idea of subalternity as encapsulated in“Can the Subaltern Speak”?(1994)-is a complex definition, encompassing the way concrete historical locations, social relations as well as political structures interconnect to consolidate subordination of a particular group or people. In terms of the representational neglect of divorce in contemporary literary studies, utilizing Spivak’s concept of subalternity has meant that women, along with many other subaltern groups have long had their experiences being denigrated and excluded in favour of the masculinised knowledge of the discipline. As a consequence, despite the prevalence of divorce as a theme in the contemporary Indian/Pakistani women's fiction, critical exploration of the issue of divorce within postcolonial literary criticism has been slightly considered. This study offers a feminist analysis of the divorce experience of the female protagonists in five postcolonial novels, which include: The God of Small Things, Ancient Promises, Sister of My Heart, My Feudal Lord and Typhoon. This study draws upon Stuart Hall’s idea of representation as an ideologically inscribed process for investigating the context and its relevance with the theme of divorce in the selected texts. It highlights that divorce is an experience, which is meticulously constituted in time and space, and when coupled with the gendered identity of a female protagonist render her marginal. The divorced woman is peripherized by the mechanisms of patriarchal ideology which surrounds the institution of divorce and places her to a subaltern position in comparison to her male counterpart.