BS Research Proposal

Women subjugation in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Novel “The Pakistani Bride”

Shoaib Ullah

13607

Program : BS English
Supervisor : Sir Sahil Anwar
Date of Submission : 01/09/2022

Department of English, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Qurtuba University of Science and Information Technology,
Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2022)

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 Contents

Introduction:...............................................................................................................................
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1.1. Overview....................................................................................................................
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1.2. Background of the study.............................................................................................
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1.3. Statement of the problem............................................................................................
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1.4. Research Questions:...................................................................................................

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1.5. Research Objective.....................................................................................................
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Literature Review:......................................................................................................................
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2.1) Overview:.....................................................................................................................
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2.2) Literary Review:..........................................................................................................
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Methodology:...........................................................................................................................
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3.1) Methodology and theoritical framework.......................................................................
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3.2) Types of data:................................................................................................................
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References................................................................................................................................
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Chapter (1)

Introduction:

1.1. Overview:

This chapter will focus on the problem of the current study and discuss a short

summary of the topic of this thesis. Further it will highlight the aims of this thesis, and

give the significance of this research.

1.2. Background of the study :

Society represents man and woman as separate identities, and this gender reality

expands from cradle to the last breath of human life. Stereotypes and traditions

(Kohistani & Pashtun) have adverse effects on any society, and it becomes a

drawback in the progression of society. Some stereotypes and vicious values/ideals in

culture are constantly inculcating and perpetuating within the minds of the masses.

Through generations, these stereotypes of male dominance, egotism, sovereignty, and

female subordination and oppression are converged rapidly in Pashtun and Kohistani

cultures.

The ideologies (set of ideas and ideals) basic to any community and its structure

are under the control of the culture particularly. The constant backward and rural

factors in lifestyle and their ideologies are building and de- constructing society in a

binary nature. The male's domination in almost every aspect of human life had pushed

the female to the periphery of society, considering them as inferiors and insignificant

entities in the world, even that the communication system of that very culture is

predominant by masculine language. Gender communication differences are not only

an important topic in the modern western world but have also remained a

controversial debate in past, “when women challenged the wide use of masculine

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language in social and organizational settings in 1860” (Kramarae, 2005; Leaper &

Ayres, 2007b).

Women who belong to the Kohistani culture have always been disappointed in their

rights, as their culture is excessively imprudent and strict in so far it relates to

females. Kohistani culture reflects a woman as a commodity to fulfill a man’s lust and

to keep her as a showpiece in his home. The same image is portrayed in Bapsi

Sidwa’s The Pakistani Bride (2008) in which a girl Zaitoon is victimized by the

Kohistani Patriarchal system.

I have taken Sidhwa’s novel “The Pakistani Bride” (1983) for feminist study

in patriarchal context.And through qualitative research I will try to analyses the

patriarchal culture which has not only dominated Pakistan but all over the world.

Sidhwa is one of the best and internationally renowned novelists from the Indian

subcontinent. Her novel, The Pakistani Bride (1983) deals with feministic perspective,

gender discrimination and realist narrative. This novel includes themes of marriage

honour and partition.

In this novel Sidhwa has artistically portrayed an orphan girl named

Zaitoon,the heroine of the novel, who is facing the cruel tribal society of Pakistan,

where she has been married. Zation is going to be married into a feudal Pakistani

community, but she tries to escape from these in order to have an independent life.

Sidhwa attempts to disclose that how in patriarchal cultures and societies women have

to face different problems in their lives and how they have to

suppress their desires, longings and emotions in order to seek an acommodative place

at their homes specifically as well as in society generally. They have no right live a

life of their own.

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1.3. Statement of the problem:

The patriarchal system that has been established in Pakistan is one of the most crucial

topics of discussion, and this matter must be fully investigated, and so a solution is

found to resolve this huge issue. "Culture doesn't make people. People are making

culture" (Adiche, 2014). It is important to understand the detrimental effect of

patriarchy on our society and how women are mistreated and subjected to injustice

and inhumane treatment. The novel 'The Pakistani Bride' is a true reflection of

Pakistan's patriarchal culture, and therefore, this novel is a suitable text for the present

research.

1.4. Research Questions:

In this thesis the researcher will address the following questions with the help of

his selected topic and theory;

1. What are the socio cultural factors that effect the status of women in Pakistani

society?

2. How does the act of repression create a sense of delima in the character of Zaitoon

in the novel The Pakistani Bride?

3. Why does Zaitoon rebel the existing Patriarchal structure in the novel?

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1.5. Research Objectives:

1. To reveal the socio cultural factors that effect the status of women in Pakistani

society.

2. To find out the act of repression create a sense of delima in the character of

Zaitoon in the novel The Pakistani Bride

3. To analyze the character of Zaitoon rebel the existing Patriarchal structure in

the novel

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Chapter (2)

Literature Review:

2.1. Overview:

This chapter will provide more details and insights from other different

scholars on the same topic from different perspectives. Further this part of the thesis

helps readers to understand the topic well and provide ways to explore the field of

study in the future.

2.2. Literature Review

In her novel” The Bride “Bapsi explores different facets of Pakistani society

with respect to woman rights, status, position, problems, etc. Women are the

supplemented part of society. Sidhwa highlights women’s place in this chauvinistic

patriarchal society. Pakistani society is divided into parts due to gender

discrimination. A society runs with certain rules and society does not allow anyone to

violate them.

An Indian critic Makarand Paranjape (as cited in Dhawan, 1987) explains, “it

would seem that entire code of honor of the tribe rests on the notions of sexual

superiority and possessiveness” (p. 120). A society allows equal rights for both men

and women and does not allow anyone to replace one another.

Spivak’s concept of “Can the Subaltern Speak” (Macmillan, 1988) can be

referred to as a marginalized place of women are in our society. Women have no right

to speak, to indulge in the activities of life. In the eyes of men, women are a burden.

The important decisions are made by men and are allowed for women to accept them.

Khan opines “female self that remains marginalized within a system” (Ross, 1991).

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The notion of master and slave is highly common in our society. Women are

considered slaves and men are the masters. It is the vision of men, we are masters, we

have the right to do anything, we are liberal, and we are free. We can hold society

with our vision.

“The Bride” captures a new wave of light that presents in women. It gives a

new picture of Pakistani society and culture. In male dominating society, an element

of hope which is hidden in the women is flourished out. Fawzia Afzal Khan says that

this novel is “a challenge to the patriarchal culture and value of Indian Pakistani

society” (Ross, 1991).

This novel is a true picture of women's place in society, the position of

women in literature and a major element of which is a wave of hope to liberate them.

As Andrew Sinclair says “Bapsi Sidhwa is a powerful and dramatic novelist who

knows how to flesh out a story”. (London Times 1990).

Sidhwa is considered one of the most renowned novelists of English in Indian sub-

continent. Her novels bring attention to the stories of female’s suffering and courage.

Sidwa’s novels focus on women’s situation in India and Pakistan, and she has the

ability to paint a canvass with wit.

Khan (as cited in Ross, 1991) states that her novel “The Pakistani Bride” is a

challenge to the patriarchal culture and vales of Indian Pakistani society. She further

describes the novel as an attempt to separate the female self that is marginalized

within the system.

Sanchez (2008) explains that the female body as a site of oppression has

always been the means by which patriarchy maintains control over females. She also

views that no woman can claim of to control has own body…It is for women the key

to liberty.

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 Spivak describes the women of subcontinent as subalterns because of their

silent majority. She also views that due to colonialism this aspect of women in India

had become stronger (as cited in Morton, 2000).

Suleri (1998) views that woman bodies were colonized in two ways, first by

the British and then by the men of Indo- Pak subcontinent.

Chapter (3):

3.1. Methodology and Theoretical Framework:

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 Our paper focused on a qualitative analysis of “The Pakistani Bride”. The

whole text is being diagnosed to extract the lines which provide the idea of

discrimination, objectification, insulting, degrading, derivative, and marginalized

position of women, while impatient, heartless authoritative, and the manipulative

picture of men.

For analyzing the feministic approach the research method employed in this

research is theoretical. First of all, we read the novel “The Bride” by Bapsi Sidhwa

and analyzed how effectively the feministic theory was being employed in this novel

by Bapsi. We have also illustrated the text with the help of different author’s

quotations. We will select some quotes from the text which describes the attitudes,

behaviors, ideas, actions and interaction, opinions about women. And those textual

lines which represent the thought of characters. With the help of thought analysis, we

have also depicted the picture of the society of that time i.e. their values, customs and

culture.

3.2. Types of data:

This research will be based on both primary and secondary data. The secondary

data will be used to validly discuss and support the researcher claims and give more

knowledge about the topic.

This study presents the qualitative analysis of the novel to highlight those aspects

which are not only dominant in Pakistan but also in various other regions of the

world. And the oppression of women in such a male chauvinistic society has been the

main theme of many literary studies.

References

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Felski, Rita. Beyond Feminist Aesthetics, Feminist Literature and Social Change.

Harvard UP, 1989.

Ahmad, Z. (2012). Status of Women in Pakistani Fiction in English: A Study of

Pakistani Postcolonial Feminist Fiction. Islamia University Library Bahawalpur.

Grosz, E. (1995). "Sexual Signatures: Feminism after the Death of the Author", in

Space Time and Perversion, New York and London: Routledge.

Kellner, D. (2011). Cultural studies, multiculturalism, and media culture. Gender,

race, and class in media: A critical reader,

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