Woolf & Atwood | In
Focus
Ever since Judith Butler’s massive attempt at deconstructing the ‘essentialist’ic nature of gender identity through her masterpiece, Gender Trouble that’s gained significant traction the world over, there’s been a smashy burgeoning of sorts in the field of Gender Studies in academia in general, and literary studies in particular!
Indeed, gender was, is and continues to
be one of the dominant factors that’s profoundly shaped societal perspectives
on sexual orientations, and has proved an impactful decider of sorts, on one’s
individual’s self-esteem, one’s way of life and thereby one’s identity per se.
This post, in a little series, attempts to give a bird’s eye view to some of the pertinent gendered representations in literary
texts over the decades, or, literary representations of femininity and
masculinity, from a very very very subjective point of view, thus revealing the
impactful resonance that gender occupies in our lives.
The post starts with the Butler’ian
postulate that syncs to a tee with the premise of Simone de Beauvoir in her Second Sex, “One is not born, but rather
becomes, a woman!” with an existential streak running through its frame!
Here goes the Butler’ian postulate: Gender
identity is NOT a manifestation of intrinsic essence but rather the product of
actions and behaviors, which translates to performance!
Remember the central proposition of
Existentialism developed by her soul-mate Sartre, that existence precedes
essence! Proves quite a take, ain’t it?
After a perusal of this post and its
import, I sincerely wish that there could be a perceptive ponderance on some of
the questions that I’ve raised herewith, that could possibly be discussed in connect
with the present context!
Three questions are highlighted for a more
sustained intervention on the topic!
First and foremost: Are the double binds,
the predicaments and the dilemmas of the female characters different from those
of their male counterparts, in the literary text? If yes, how? And why?
Secondly: Does an author's gender play a
role in impacting the narrative voice within the text? If yes, how? And why?
Thirdly, are there absent voices or thwarted
voices, muted voices or silenced voices, gendered stereotypes or missing gaps
that merit intense focus in the text?
Orlando:
A Biography is an epic novel by Virginia Woolf that
explores much on the concept of gender and how it has profoundly impacted the
protagonist’s perception of the ‘lived experience’ over the course of about 350
years (1588 – 1928). The story is highly representative, in that, it is a stark
depiction of the nature and history of gender, identity, and sexuality through
time.
Woolf, through Orlando, beautifully
brings out the range of perspectives, practices and attitudes towards sex and
gender through various pitstops in history. For example, moving on from the
Elizabethan age, known for its liberal attitudes, to the austere, restrained,
prudish and stringent world of the Victorian age, Orlando (now she) wakes up to
“the present” and is terrified, when she ‘realizes’ that she exists in a NOW
that she doesn’t seem to recognize at all – a time frame where women have
become objectified, and have thereby become property!
The shift from ‘shrewd to skewed’ brings
out the highly volatile, alternating patterns to issues of gender, identity,
and representation through the course of the novel.
Margaret Atwood is yet another writer who
delves deep into these gender constructs that have been the normative over the
eons!
Well, Atwood’s fiction has always delved
deep into the aspects of power with regard to gender roles and how it has got a
‘political tinge and weave’ to it all.
Although stark feminist themes don her
oeuvre as such, there’s also a subtle strategy to bring to the forefront the repressive
nature of sexism in all its myriad manifestations in her texts!
The
Handmaid’s Tale is a case in point. The Republic of
Gilead offers a representative dystopic vision of the inequalities and abuses
that ails and plagues the women in societies across the world.
The new, stifling and oppressive patriarchal
regime that's stormed its way to power, denies women the right to have a career,
and worse still, women are not allowed to maintain and manage their own bank
accounts, or even to hold property, which, subsequently has to be handed over
to the control of a male relative.
The Handmaid Offred’s subservience in a
patriarchal world is beautifully brought out by Atwood. Offred is a caged bird,
who is in fetter all along, and her fetters, her restrictions and her constraints
are, to Atwood, representative of all the women folk!
Added, under the new
dispensation, where she’s always under the scanner, the panoptic surveillance, [Eyes], and even the doors to her room cannot be completely shut,
she’s always at the mercy of the patriarchal establishment all the time!
Her words to Luke sums up her predicament
thus –
‘We are not each other's, any more. Instead,
I am his.’
Atwood also highlights the gender –
language connect, by bringing out the significant male-oriented bias in
discourse, that’s conditioned societal communication for centuries.
Offred’s words are witness to this bias –
“Lie... lay... I don't really know what men
used to say. I had only their words for it.”
Compare it with Kamala Das’s take on
language in her “Introduction” –
Why
not let me speak in Any language I like? The language I speak, Becomes mine,
its distortions, its queernesses. All mine, mine alone.
Contrast it with Anne Bradstreet’s
“Prologue”,
“This mean
and unrefined ore of mine”!
Indeed, the representations of gender in
language have always been political, patriarchal and hence connected with
power!
David Crystal offers a way out of this
malady, in his voluminous, phenomenal guide to language, titled, Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.
He offers simple elucidations on how
nonsexist usage can be prioritized in organizations, institutions, and academia
in general. [Please read through the Chapter on Social Variations, page 369 on
the book].
To be continued…
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