Feminism and Female Body A Postcolonial Reading of The Select Novels of Bapsi Sidhwa Monica Ali And Khaled Hosseini

Abstract

In the present thesis and#8213;Feminism and Female Body: A Postcolonial Reading of the newlineSelect Novels of Bapsi Sidhwa, Monica Ali and Khaled Hosseini the researcher has newlinefocused on the theme of defilement of female body taken by the post-colonial newlinenovelists such as Bapsi Sidhwa, Monica Ali and Khaled Hosseini. They have used newlineand#8213;female bodyand#8214; as a theoretical model and a critical construct to explore the plight of newlinewomen. In this area of research the sufferings of women of Bangladesh, Pakistan and newlineAfghanistan are analyzed and investigated. All the women protagonists of Bapsi newlineSidhwa, Monica Ali and Khaled Hosseini suffer from sexual oppression and newlinemarginalization. In this thesis the theoretical framework of the body has been taken newlinecombining it with insights from Post-colonial feminist theories to critically analyze newlinethe depiction of women protagonists. This thesis is based on the perception that old newlinepatriarchy used religion and customs as powerful tools to control and oppress the newlinefemale body. The main texts of Bapsi Sidhwa, Monica Ali and Khaled Hosseini are newlineunder investigation. Sidhwa s The Pakistani Bride created wonderful character of newlineZaitoon. Her female body is colonized by Sakhi who rapes her and beats her newlinemercilessly. Sakhi paid five hundred rupees to Qasim for Zaitoon; Saboor was highly newlinecompensated for the sale of Pari to Nila Wahdati in the novel And the Mountains newlineEchoed. Women protagonists of Sidhwa, Monica Ali and Hosseini encounter sexual newlineobjectification. They become neurotic wrecks as in the case of Hasina in Brick Lane newlineand Zaitoon in The Pakistani Bride. The women are made to suffer mental tortures, newlinegender discrimination and physical tortures. Hasina suffers segregation and alienation newlinebeing women in a male dominated society. Karen Horney aptly observes that and#8213;Men newlinehave enjoyed socially sanctioned right to sexualize all females, regardless of age or newlinestatusand#8214; (Westkott 95). Bapsi Sidhwa wrote her famous novels; An American Brat newline(1993) and The Pakistani Bride (1984), Cracking India (1991), Water (2006) and she newlinebecame an i