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Research Proposal

Social Evils as Represented in Grazia Deledda’s The Shoes: A

Narratological Study

That every society and culture is characterized by a variety of such social ills and evils, as

poverty, deprivation, unrealized dreams and aspirations, etc. is beyond any doubt. These

evils are a major concern of literary genres like novel and short story in particular. As

such, there are a number of cross-cultural texts based on such themes, as for example, The

Shoes, an Italian short story, by Grazia Deledda, The Necklace, a French short story, by

Guy de Maupassant, Overcoat, an Urdu short story by Ghulam Abbas (Translated in

English by Zainab Ghulam Abbas), Lingkuan Gorge, a Chinese short story, by Tu Peng

Cheng, The Blanket, an American short story, by Floyd Dell, The Beggar, a Russian short

story, by Anton Chekov. Of all the short stories, especially the ones mentioned afore, The

Shoes appears so prominent in terms of depicting various social ills and evils in a

symbolic, suggestive sense which is a highly artistic way, much in accordance with the

spirit of true literature.

Main Purpose of the Study

The current study is aimed at exploring various social ills and evils in Grazia Deledda’s

The Shoes in light of a comprehensive narratological model suggested by Roland Barthes’

Poststructulist Model, based on five famous codes, that is, the hermeneutic, the symbolic,

the proairetic, the cultural, and the semiotic.

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Significance of the Study

This research will hopefully be of a great worth for the students and researchers of

literature with respect to exploring the underlying meanings of a compact literary piece of

writing like a short story through the deconstruction of the symbols for highlighting the

social ills and evils by the application of a stylistic or narratological framework.

Research Design

This research is predominantly qualitative in nature. It will involve a logical progression

of a few steps. Firstly, the researcher, on the basis of a recursive and rigorous review of

the text The Shoes, will identify the symbols used for highlighting various social and evils.

Secondly, the selected symbols will be matched against the five codes of Barthes’ model,

particularly, the symbolic, hermeneutic, and symbolic. Thirdly, the symbols will be

interpreted in terms of their connotations in The Shoes. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn

as matching the purpose of the study held at the start.

Bibliography

Barry, P. (2002). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory.

Manchester: University Press.

Felluga. D. (n.d.) Modules on Barthes: On the five codes. Retrieved from

http://www.cla.purdue.edu.

Malik, H. M., Zaib, S., & Bughio, F. A. (2014). Theory into Practice: Application of

Roland Barthes’ five codes on Bina Shah’s ‘The Optimist’. Academic Research

International, 5(5), 242-250. Retrieved from

http://www.savap.org.pk/journals/ARInt./Vol.5(5)/2014(5.5-26).pdf
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Shah, B. (2007). And the world changed: Contemporary stories by Pakistani women.

Shamsie, M. (Ed.). The optimist. Karachi: Oxford.

Shamsie, M. (Ed.). (2007). And the world changed: Contemporary stories by Pakistani

women: Introduction. Karachi: Oxford.

Tyson, L. (2006). Critical theory today: A user friendly guide. New York: Routledge.