THE MESTIZO VOICE IN TAHMINA ANAM’S THE

BONES OF GRACE AND MORENO-GARCIA’S MEXICAN

GOTHIC:A COMPARATIVE STUDY

By

Muhammad Babar Mumtaz

Reg. #S2lAl4G43002

Supervised by
Muhammad Ajmal Khan

Master of Philosophy
In
English Literature
At

Riphah International University,

Faisalabad Campus, Faisalabad (Pakistan)

January, 2023
 THE MESTIZO VOICE IN TAHMINA ANAM’S THE
BONES OF GRACE AND MORENO-GARCIA’S MEXICAN
GOTHIC: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

By

Muhammad Babar Mumtaz

Reg. #S2lA2l4G43002

Supervised by
Muhammad Ajmal Khan

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of

Master of Philosophy
In
English Literature
At

Riphah International University,

Faisalabad Campus, Faisalabad (Pakistan)

January, 2023
 APPROVAL SHEET
SUBMISSION OF HIGHER RESEARCH DEGREE THESIS
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Program Title: Master of Philosophy in English Literature, M.Phil. (English Literature)
Faculty/Department:English Literature
Thesis Title:The Mestizo Voice in Tahmina Anam’s The Bones of Grace and Moreno-
Garcia’s Mexican Gothic: A Comparative Study
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to profoundly praise the Almighty ALLAH SWT
for enabling me to see this great moment. I would like to thank and express my deepest
gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Dr. Muhammad Ajmal khan and co-
supervisor Dr. Muhammad Asif Shafi who gradually helped me in every way which I
needed to go through all difficulties. I have been extremely honored to have a supervisor
who cared so much about my work, and who responded to my questions and queries so
promptly. I am really thankful to him and without his excellent guidance this thesis would
not have been possible.
I would also like to pay my gratitude to the rest of the faculty members of Riphah
International University Faisalabad Campus, who have gradually offered their time,
expertise, wisdom and encouraged me to complete my thesis work in a better way.
 DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to my parents for always believing in me, inspiring me, and
encouraging me to achieve my goals.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
S
1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.....................................................................1
l.l Background of the Study...................................................................................1

l.2 Thesis Statement...............................................................................................5

l.3 Significance of study.........................................................................................6

l.4 Objectives..........................................................................................................6

l.5 Research Questions...........................................................................................6

l.6 Delimitation of Study........................................................................................6

l.7 Chapter Division...............................................................................................6

2. CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE.................................................8

2.l Women in Literature.......................................................................................10

2.2 Women in Western Literature.........................................................................10

2.3 Women in South Asian Literature...................................................................13

2.4 Women in Pakistani literature.........................................................................17

2.4.l Relationship between Human Conditions and States of Being/Mind...........21

2.4.2 Social Identity..............................................................................................21

2.4.3 Cultural Changes..........................................................................................23

2.4.4 Ethnic Identity and Cultural Belongings......................................................23

3. CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...................................25

3.l Female Circumcision.......................................................................................26

3.2 Origin and Evolution.......................................................................................27

3.3 Social Structure and Clitoridectomy:..............................................................29

3.4 Race, Class and Identity..................................................................................32

3.5 Research Methodology....................................................................................35

4. CHAPTER FOUR :TEXTUAL ANALYSIS........................................................36

4.l Mestizo Voice in Anam’s The Bones of Grace...............................................36

i
 4.l.l Zubaida as “mestiza.....................................................................................37

4.l.2 Zubaida Amphibian......................................................................................37

4.l.3 Zubaida Mental and Physical variation........................................................38

4.2 Race, Class and Identity Issue in The Bones of Grace....................................40

4.2.l Cultural Identity...........................................................................................41

4.3 Female Circumcisionin in The Bones of Grace..............................................45

4.3.l Genital Mutilation Consequences.................................................................46

4.4 Mexican Gothic: An Allegory of the New Mestiza.........................................52

4.4.l Anzaldúa and La Mestiza.............................................................................55

5. CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION&

RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................61
5.l Summary.........................................................................................................61

5.2 Findings...........................................................................................................61

5.3 Conclusion.......................................................................................................62

5.4 Recommendations...........................................................................................63

6. REFERENCES.......................................................................................................64

ii
 ABSTRACT
This comparative study examines the representation of the mestizo voice in Tahmina
Anam’s The Bones of Grace and Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic. Through the
analysis of these contemporary novels, the study explores how the mestizo protagonists in
each work grapple with issues of identity, race, and cultural hybridity and the issues that
they have to face are the race and gender both and it leads to a structure of double
marginalization such as colonialism and patriarchy. Both novels highlight the
complexities of being of mixed heritage in a globalized world, where questions of
belonging and authenticity are often contested. The study argues that by foregrounding
the mestizo voice, Anam and Moreno-Garcia challenge dominant narratives of purity and
homogeneity, and instead celebrate the richness and diversity of human experience. The
mestizo is considered almost as a separate “species” that only fits into their discourse
when concerned with cultural pluralism or democracy but is not considered as a desirable
trait for individual human beings. The theoretical framework for the present study is
drawn on feminist notions like pluralistic liberalism, patriarchy, exploitation and
harassment propounded by Gyateri Spivak . The present study finds the position and
status of women in a patriarchal society and pluralistic liberalism through the mestizo
voice.
Keywords: Mestizo voice, Hybridity, creolization, Mongrelization, Metissage,
Patriarchy, Harrassment.

iii
 CHAPTER l
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
This research comprises the narrator cum female lead Zubaida in Tahmima
Anam’s The Bones of Grace (Anam,2016) and Noemí Taboada in Mexican Gothic
(Garcia,2020) and the both noves are presented from the lens of mestizo voice which is
much more than an interesting subject about women’s identity. Zubaida and Noemí, the
protagonists of both novels are “mestiza”, the term elaborated by the American cultural
theorist Gloria Anzaldua (Khutia, 2021). The novel, Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-
Garcia (2020),is a new take on the postcolonial horror story from the mestizo angle.
Through the characters of Noemi and Catalina, Moreno-Garcia is also criticizing the
gothic genre’s inclination to treat its women of color as props or supporting characters.
Noemi and Catalina fully demonstrate the capacity of mestizos and others of mixed race
to penetrate and take to pieces the traditional systems set up by their tyrant .Throughout
her novel, Moreno-Garcia takes the familiar gothic trope, argument with the “other”,
(generally a darker foreigner), and flips it. In Mexican Gothic, the people which are
supposed to fear, are the white people. Zubaida in Tahmima Anam’s The Bones of
Grace(2016) is much more than a diasporic subject. Zubaida is presented by Anam as an
“adopted” woman literally and metaphorically. Zubaida has more than one characteristics
which exists horizontally. As a “mestiza”, she productively straddles the dual and an
array of contradictions. Anam thus fictionalizes the contours of identity shape of a
Bangladeshi woman who digs deep into the intricated roots of her origin, comes to terms
with her amphibian way of life, and build ups a new consciousness.
l.l Background of the Study
This thesis is based on the mestizo voice in Tahmina Anam’s The Bones of
Grace(2016) and Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The Bengal Trilogy's
concluding book, The Bones of Grace (2016) by Tahmima Anam, also contains a brief
summary of the trilogy's first two books. It looks at the difficulties of Zubaida's life as
well as her search for her origins and identity. Tehmina Anam has presented in The Bones
of Grace(2016) a realistic portrayal of Bangladeshi culture and a woman in a patriarchal
society where women are primarily seen as a source of sensual pleasures.
Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is also done a lot to undermine
the narrative of the endangered woman. Rather of being unaware of any danger and then
plunging headfirst into tragedy, both Noemi and Catalina immediately understand the

1
circumstance they are in and make preparations to take action. The following is what
critic Sarah Whitney has said about the narrative's pervasiveness: Success of the narrative
is the fact that Woman in Peril has been remade so often in popular culture which shows
how powerful it still is... The heroine's portrayal has changed rhetorically, and she is now
seen more as a survivor than a victim. Despite the extensive history of the word
"survival,"..., its current vogue in post feminism also signals the profound cultural
influence of therapeutic discourses. These discourses map a narrative in which a
traumatized subject moves from psychological fragmentation to health. By designating
oneself as a survivor, the subject symbolically leaves her tragedy in the past and absolves
it of any power to define her.
Women’s identity is in the hands of patriarchy and more they are the victims of
the male member of society. Women are bound to remain in the four walls of the house
and are not allowed to take part in any public or private affair. Most of the women in
patriarchal societies have to face the discrimination due to ideological differences of both
sexes. Patriarch is not defined simply as it is working in various dimensions. In her essay
“On Patriarchy” Veronia Beechy elaborately gives the details of patriarchy in multi-
shapes of feminism. Patriarchy along with the biological differences among women and
men is related by the revolutionary radical feminists and in their view power relationship
between the two sexes is created by female dependency on male for reproduction (Berry,
2017).
Depending on where, why, and who it addresses, as well as the power structures it
attempts to challenge, it alters its register and pitch. A language in creation, poised
between English and Spanish, is spoken by the mestizo voice. Finally speaking via a
voice that had hitherto been muted, the mestizo. The mestizo voice, however, also pushes
the boundaries of social structures and explains how a culture in transition is being
formed(Minks, 2013).
The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016) deals recounts the stories of three generations of
women from the geographically "Third-World" family Haque. Therefore, "decolonizing
feminism" and the "acknowledging of diversity," as promoted by Mohanty, are two of the
Anam's key priorities. The West has traditionally seen "Third-World women" as a
homogeneous category, as the term implies a "position without a subject," misled by its
"white solipsism." Additionally, if the women are Muslim, it becomes a "triple
colonisation" of "Oriental, woman, and Muslim," which is similar to Spivakian
constructions of "poor, black, and female."

2
 The title suggests that The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016) is concerned feminism's
primary concerns have always been related to the development of female identity, with
"the question of identity and female consciousness." While I will not ignore the
disparities between the sexes, I do favour performative over essentialist interpretations of
the female subject. I thus analyse the Hoque women using Gardiner's opening metaphor,
"female identity is a process." That raises issues with "being" and "becoming"
considerations.The present study will explore the position and status of women in a
patriarchal society. The character of the protagonist, Zubaida is the medium through
which the plight of women is depicted in the present study. The representation of women
is too charming to make the reader smile. The honor killing is the most dominant element
of the selected text of the novel that shows the women all the more pathetic. The
exploitation of women on the basis of social, cultural and religious matters is the order of
the day and Zubaida is the true representation of all such women who suffer at the hands
of patriarchy in Pakistani patriarchal society. The present study also tries to find out
Anam’s understanding of the postcolonial Bangladeshi feminism and a true representation
of women in Bangladeshi English fiction.
Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic (2020) novel is not regarding "survivorship" or
"healing." Noemi and Catalina only employ their agency when absolutely necessary.
Their tale is one of perpetual struggle brought on by race and ancestry, not of overcoming
pain and healing. Both of them were raised in a colonial culture that despises them
because of their mestizo ethnicity. No matter what, they will keep fighting like they
always have.(Moreno-Garcia, 2020).
Throughout this piece, Noemi battles not just her human colonists but also a
natural colonising power at one point: the mushroom. The Doyles are totally fixated with
mushrooms. In fact, the mushroom serves as the colonizer's emblem frequently
throughout the book. Noemi and Francis, Virgil's younger brother, are talking about
mushrooms. Francis responds to Noemi's objection to eating the mushrooms by stating
that they are wonderful but "Mushrooms usually grow over dead things in a way," despite
the fact that they are a fungus that grows over dead things (Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.98).
Francis is at ease with the idea that mushrooms take control of dead creatures, but he
ignores the possibility that mushrooms are frequently the actual cause of the organism's
demise. This way of thinking is a reflection of the colonizer's character. They frequently
use a "dead" or "savage" civilization as justification for invading others, yet just like

3
mushrooms, they do not revive but rather devastate the country they are colonizing
(Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.98).
Colonization's heritage is buried far beneath our feet in the dirt. Many European
and Spanish invaders mated with Mexico's indigenous inhabitants as a result of this
colonialism. Our culture and the soil have both been infused with the centuries' worth of
bloodshed. The "mestizo" was the result of this racial and ethnic mixing, according to
numerous ethnographers and anthropologists. Every Native American who was killed
deliberately or made to labour as slaves by European colonists lies just beneath us, yet
most of the time we are oblivious to their cries for help. It is no secret that for most of its
history, Mexico has been a region of the Americas that has seen bloodshed and conquest.
Spanish and English conquerors robbed and abused the Indians for their labour and their
nation's natural riches hundreds of years ago, and they continue to do so now(NIA et al.,
2021).
They had been exiled from society, just like every group of people who could not
be classified as white. However, the mestizo was still necessary for the colonial countries'
economies to run smoothly. In the end, the term "mestizo" was used by European
invaders as a further means of discriminating against people of "mixed" ethnicity and
maintaining the racial hierarchy. The colonial elite could no longer ignore the mestizo
populace throughout the seventeenth century. The mestizos were incorporated into the
system and philosophically ranked between the white proletariat and the urban Indian
proletariat because they were by this point too numerous to ignore and too crucial to the
city's economic functions to be excluded, as John Chance explains in his article "On the
Mexican Mestizo"(Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.159).
The mestizo population was given some social mobility, but they were
nevertheless subject to prejudice on a daily basis. The postcolonial horror narrative is
reimagined from the perspective of the mestizo people in Silvia Moreno Garcia's book
Mexican Gothic(2020). As invaders do, the European powers decided to give the sizable
mestizo population an official place on their racial hierarchy since they could no longer
ignore it. The story is set in 1950s Mexico City and the surrounding countryside, and the
main character, Noemi, a socialite and master's student from Mexico City, gets a letter
from her recently married cousin. Catalina, Noemi's cousin, urges her in this letter to go
see her new husband's family at their secluded mansion to rescue her from them. The
mestizo population was given a position in between the pure Indigenous population and
others who were not deemed "black" like them.

4
 Their scary, huge home just so happens to be situated atop a mine where all of
their sadly deceased Mexican laborers perished many years ago. The entire book is a
claustrophobic examination of what colonial power—even declining colonial power—is
capable of doing to Indigenous people in the areas it colonises. Due to her mestizo origin
and what the Doyles view as "nosey" conduct, Noemi is quickly made to feel
uncomfortable. Virgil Doyle, Catalina's new husband, is charged of poisoning her.
Naturally, Noemi is alarmed by this and dashes to the mansion to either save her cousin
or at the very least learn what is going on. Catalina, a relative of Noemi, wed into the
English family of the Doyles, who became wealthy by mining silver in Mexico(Moreno-
Garcia, 2020 p.98).
Virgil and the rest of the Doyle family would typically be viewed as the upright,
Protestant white folks, yet they are actually the cause of concern. In contrast, as Noemi
and Catalina's status deteriorates, it is evident that colonial forces continue to exert a
sneaky grip over the colonised. However, Noemi and Catalina, who are of mestizo
descent, manage to undermine this authority and appropriate part of it for themselves. The
Doyles are the "other" in this situation; they are a worry for Noemi and Catalina, who are
struggling to assert themselves and have agency in their own nation. In her book,
Moreno-Garcia twists the typical gothic motif of confrontation with the "other," who is
typically a darker foreigner. In Mexican Gothic(Gracia,2020) the white folks are the ones
we should be afraid of. Throughout a VOX interview, Moreno-Garcia adds, "So you see
that going on in gothic fiction. The individual who is not an Anglo-Saxon Protestant,
upstanding, manly, white person, is always a cause of concern for people in many ways.
Even if they aren't the main antagonist, they nonetheless cause fear in some way(Moreno-
Garcia, 2020 p.98).
l.2 Thesis Statement
Tahmina Anam’sThe Bones of Grace(2016) and Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia
Moreno-Garcia propounds enough material to study the novels in the mestizo voice
paradigm. Nnaemeka argues that victimisation and agency are not mutually incompatible
in light of the difficulties women confront; victims may act as agents to drastically alter
their own life as well as that of others. One of the main objectives is dispelling the myth
that Third-world women's identities are unified and monolithic.

5
l.3 Significance of study
This study discusses the mestizo voice in Tahmina Anam’s The Bones of Grace
(2016) and Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This research will also be
beneficial for feminism research in the future. The study will also have societal impact.
The current study will be important because it will reveal how women are perceived in a
patriarchal society where andocentric culture gives women some measure of autonomy.
l.4 Objectives
The present study has following objectives:
1. To understand women´s empowerment through the mestizo voice in Tahmina
Anam’s The Bones of Grace and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2. To highlight the mestizo voice of women in an androcentric and Bangladeshi
patriarchal society.
3. To find out the mestizo voice in Grace and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-
Garcia.
l.5 Research Questions
The present research aims to find the answers of the following questions:
1. How is the mestizo voice discussed in the novels The Bones of Grace and
Mexican Gothic?
2. How do women live in a patriarchal society and pluralistic liberalism through the
mestizo voice in The Bones of Grace and Mexican Gothic?
3. How is the construction of female identity made in The Bones of Grace and
Mexican Gothic?
l.6 Delimitation of Study
The present study is limited to the text of the novel The Bones Of Grace(2016) by
Tahmina Anum and Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The present study is
analytical and will use the mestizo voice in Tahmina Anam’s The Bones of Grace(2016)
and Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.It is further delimited to the female
characters.
l.7 Chapter Division
 The first chapter comprise of introduction of the mestizo voice with reference to
the questions posed in the thesis.
 The second chapter review and scrutinized all the relevant literature.
 The third chapter deal with research methodology and theoretical framework.

6
 The fourth chapter explore female characters in the selected novels to see the
problems of the mestizo voice.
 The fifth chapter have a brief look at all the chapters to find out the answers to the
questions in the thesis. In the end references given.

7
 CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This research is a deep study, with more than one theoretical dimension. As the
research undertakes the mestizo voice in Tahmina Anam’s The Bones of Grace (2016)
and Mexican Gothic (2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, women identity, social and political
conditions. This research lays historical discourse for feminism post-colonial nation. In
postcolonial societies the contemporary literature is gaining the zenith of glory as a
literature of resistance to patriarchal mind set. Particularly the fiction produced by the
postcolonial feminists is throwing the light on the women’s resistance who were
marginalized in postcolonial societies. Spivak advocates and supports the social
construction of patriarchal societies by the process of colonization. Although the
patriarchal societies have succeeded to get the freedom from the brutal hands of their
colonizers, yet their women are failed even today in getting the emancipation. They are
still treated like slaves and bear the torture by the brutal clutches of their masters. The
issues related to women like burning, battering, humiliating, physical, mental and sexual
abuse, acid throwing, honor killing, rape, harassment, violence and patriarchy are being
investigated through literary medium by the postcolonial feminist writers. Rahman (199l)
highlights the ideology of English writers in Pakistan in his book “Pakistani English:
Some Phonological and Phonetic Features”:
This liberalism does not have a political agenda or follow a clear-cut intellectual
theory. It's possible that colonialism had an ideological impact on English literature.
They do not have a mediaeval or Islamic worldview. It is just a more or less hazy
agreement of view about the merits of democracy in politics and a non-orthodox
interpretation of Islam in religion. It is anthropocentric, secular, and liberal in certain
ways(Rahman, 1991, p.231)
Berry, (20l7) women’s identity is in the hands of patriarchy and more they are the
victims of the male member of society. Women are bound to remain in the four walls of
the house and are not allowed to take part in any public or private affair. Most of the
women in patriarchal societies have to face the discrimination due to ideological
differences of both sexes. Patriarch is not defined simply as it is working in various
dimensions. In her essay “On Patriarchy” Veronia Beechy elaborately gives the details of
patriarchy in multi- shapes of feminism. Patriarchy along with the biological differences
among women and men is related by the revolutionary radical feminists and in their view

8
power relationship between the two sexes is created by female dependency on male for
reproduction.
Sieder& Sierra (2010) more and more women are uniting to establish venues
where their opinions are heard and important after being historically marginalised from
political and economic spheres. Latin American women have a long history of being
socially, politically, and economically marginalised. Women from rural and indigenous
areas are worse off. Talking about initiatives that enable decision-making capacities to
challenge the existing power structures becomes pertinent in this setting. Indigenous
women in Mexico have some of the greatest poverty rates, they lack access to basic
services, and they are denied basic rights. "We suffer from persecution, harassment,
imprisonment, and the denial of our potential for conversation as indigenous women by
the Mexican state," said indigenous Mexican activist Sánchez Jacob in 2005. A person's
ability to make independent decisions and exert authority in society in Mexico appears to
be severely constrained by both being indigenous and being a woman.
Ifekwunigwe, (2020) within a the fact that Mexican culture has worked tirelessly
since the Revolution to honour the working classes, the campesinos, and the Indio the
mixed heritages of race and class that shape Mexican identity is undoubtedly one of the
reasons the Zapatista revolt has captured the attention of the country's people. Contrarily,
in the Mexican context, mestizaje (race mixing) aids in the formation of a nationalist
discourse's core.
Pérez-Torres, (2006) uses In the narrative, there are several instances of the role of
the oppressed woman, including Cleófilas's wife and mother, the telenovela Maria de
Nadie, and the folklore of La Llorona. Illustrations from the film Giant and works by a
variety of Chicano authors, such as Villanueva, Acosta, Cervantes, and Cisneros, are used
to demonstrate how a mestizo voice has developed. Soledad and Dolores, her next-door
neighbours, who embrace the "ideology of male-focused, romanticised suffering," do not
give Cleófilas a voice (p. 76). I shall concentrate on the development of the mestiza voice
and Sandra Cisneros' short tale "Woman Hollering Creek" in this essay, even if the author
analyses each work separately. Cisneros "provides a motivating vision of how an isolated
individual might achieve voice via the collective efforts of mestiza women working in
common cause," in contrast to the "masculinity, sexism, and homophobia" (p. 66) of
Acosta's works (p. 74). Through the main character Cleófilas and how societal duties may
silence women, Cisneros explores the place of Mexican women.

9
2.l Women in Literature
Most probably we can see in feminist fiction, there are female protagonists who
are in the search of self and often this search of self- awareness leads them to conflict
with a masculine and male dominated culture. Sometimes these novels have been harshly
criticized and even mocked due to their non- traditional protagonists (female characters)
(Peter, 20l0).
2.2 Women in Western Literature
The Western World's late eighteenth century was the birthplace of feminist
philosophy. One of the most significant works in the history of feminism is A Vindication
of the Rights of Women,(1792) with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, written by
the English author Mary Wollstonecraft. In her work she explains how society system
makes a huge difference between rights of men and women. She claims that women are
not inferior to men rather they have equal abilities but in our society, society values and
educational system do not allow them to express their abilities. Women are not born for
just domestic chores, mothering, and obedient wives but they have their own rights, their
own wills, their own dreams, their own personalities, their own identity, and as a human
being they are equal to men. As Wollstonecraft says that
Women are taught from an early age and by their mothers' example that a little
knowledge of human weakness, properly referred to as cunning, softness of temper,
outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain
for them man's protection; and if they are beautiful, everything else is unnecessary for at
least twenty years of their lives (Wollstonecraft, 1792, p 19).
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly (1797-1851) had been flourished her fiction with
Gothic elements. Her most famous novel Frankenstein(1818) describes psychology of
distinct characters, imbuing her horror and fulfills the realistic events of life which
attracted the intentions of audience. Similarly, in the mid phase of nineteenth century,
Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) and Emily Bronte (1818-1848) inspired by Lord Byron
portrayed romantic characters in their novels. Byron presents grim, passionate and cruel
protagonist in his poetry and masterpieces similarly, Charlotte Bronte interprets ferocious
character of Rochester in her novel Jane Eyre. Jean Rhys has represented the journey of
Jane Rhys to a mad woman Bertha Mason in her novel Wide Sargasso Sea(Rhys,1966).
This novel ponders over the miserable journey of a Jamaican lady Antoinette Cosway to
an insane lady Bertha Mason. Antoinette had paid the cost of her love with an English

10
man Mr. Rochester who betrayed her by marrying another English woman. Mr. Rochester
travelled towards his homeland England with his wife Antoinette Cosway. This novel has
been portraying the racial discrimination and inferiority complexes which black or
Jamaican people faced due to slavery. Antoinette was lady whose rights were snatched by
a white woman and this is the cause of her insanity; and named as Bertha Mason a mad
woman. At the end of the novel, Bertha tried to attempt suicide, burnt her own house and
thrust dagger in Rochester chest. This novel is the true depiction of feminism and females
who oppressed by their own families or society
Women started creating literature in the Western world as early as the end of the
seventeenth century, according to the history of women's writings. Women's traditionally
suppressed voices started to emerge in popular literature. Aphra Behn (1640-1689) is
regarded as the first English woman writer who advocated for women and herself. Her
most famous work, Oroonoko: or The History of the Royal Slave (1688), is regarded as a
prosaic romance. This work is regarded as the first English novel in which a woman
writer expresses empathy for the plight of slaves.
The eighteenth century is supposed as the glorious age of fiction in which women
raise their voices against patriarchal norms through fiction. The initial stages of fiction
were created by men entitled as ‘romances’. Actually, men have become popular after
developing the fiction like Pamela; Or, Virtue Rewarded(1740-1741). On the contrary,
female narrators composed oppression in the form of fiction and tried to expose brutal
face of patriarchy. In this time period, the realistic personages were represented through
illusionary characters in various novels.
In the past, females were not allowed writing fiction or if they could write
anything it was published by saying that females created blemished and flawed things.
That’s why some females used pseudonym in order to publish their masterpiece. Mary
Ann Evans created fiction with her pen name of George Eliot. She gets fame through her
novel A Mill on the Floss (Eliot,1860). In this biographical novel, Eliot tries to portray
worst condition of females in patriarchal society. Moreover, Jane Austen with the help of
her novels depicts ridiculous conventional norms of society in which females are
expected to marry a handsome rich guy and produce children. Her novels Pride and
Prejudice (1813), Emma (1815), Mansfield Park (1814), Sense and Sensibility
(1811)explore the behavior of patriarchy with females.
Another feminist Kate Chopin published The Twentieth Century: The
Awakening(1899) which illustrated sexual discourse. This book was banned by novelist’s

11
hometown library because the protagonist did not fulfill the traditional norms of
patriarchy and did not accomplish her duties as a wife or as a daughter. Similarly, Edith
Wharton had published her book The Age of Innocence(1920) when females get equal
rights of vote and marriage in United States. Her book won Pulitzer Prize because this
book becomes the voice of females.
Like Edith Wharton and Kate Chopin, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is the author
and an essayist who demonstrate voice of oppressed females through her books and
masterpieces. She starts writing in 1915 with her first novel The Voyage Out(Woof,1915)
which is completed after seven years. Woolf had been written journals in the Times
Literary Supplement which provoked her interest towards feminism.Woolf, as a young
novelist, created masterpieces having rumination of feminism. Her novel
Mrs.Dalloway(1925)has contemplated the issues of World War 1 and issues which a
female faced in a society. Mr. Warren Smith renders the physical and psychological
disturbance due to war. He remembered the death of his closest friend in the war and do
not pay attention to his beloved wife Lucrezia who come from Paris to take care of her
husband Septimus Warren Smith. This novel exposes the idea of marriage which is the
name of little independence. This novel reveals the both conditions of females, their
repressive state and their independence. Clarissa Dalloway rejected the proposal of her
beloved Peter Walsh because he does not allow spending an independent life. He bounds
her lot of restriction as a possessive boyfriend. Clarissa broke away the chains of Peter’s
restrictions and married a rich guy Mr. Richard Dalloway who allows her to spend time in
a separate room and does not put restrictions on her wife.
We see that Mrs. Dalloway(Woolf,1925) is the commemoration of Virginia
Woolf’s feminism. Women are supposed to be a supporter of man who understands him,
stands with him in thick and thin; and take care of his family and house. On the contrary,
a man has only a duty to earn money and feed his family. Like Mrs.
Dalloway(Woolf,1925),Woolf talks about feministic aspects in her essay A Room of
One’s Own in which she discusses about educational and literary issues of females.
Virginia Woolf has demonstrated the unequal distribution of rights of men and women by
exposing: “The essential problem of the real nature of woman and the genuine nature of
fiction remains unanswered. You will find that a woman needs money and her own space
in order to create fiction”(Woolf, 1929, p. 25).
Woolf raised question that what are the differences between men and woman?
Why men achieve all resources, they have right to create fiction, they have to right sit in a

12
separate room and collect their intellective thoughts for fiction; while women are not
knowledgeable and intelligent as men are.
They have only a duty to take care their men’s houses. Woolf pointed out that it is
important for women to become independent and become economically strong. They do
not rely on man for creation of their masterpieces, they have right to write fiction. A
woman cannot get privacy that’s why she does not able to write something. Woolf wants
to pay tribute these women who have established the traditional writings of woman which
Woolf follows. In the past, fiction was created by men and women are consumers which
are made by male authors.
2.3 Women in South Asian Literature
Shashi Deshpande is a famous Indian feminist; she has won the Sahitya Akademi
Award given by the Indian Academy of arts and letters for her outstanding writings in 24
Indian major languages in 1990. She has also been selected for the award of Padma Shri
for her contribution in culture and shortlisted for Hindu literary price for the novel
Shadow Play. Her fifth novel That Long Silence (Deshpande,1988) is her famous novel,
the main character of this novel is Jaya who is very innocent girl, she grows up in the
very traditional environment of India, she is very clever, intelligent and keen observer but
she has no right to speak up, no right to express herself and her ideas which are based on
her keen observation and thinking. She has no interest in cooking and other households,
she likes to read, learn and write but her grandmother does not like her thinking, she does
not allow her to read more and write novels even her grandmother orders her to learn all
the households and learn the skill how to impress her in laws especially her husband. In
fact, Jaya has individuality, her own dreams, and so many skills but she cannot fulfill her
dreams just because she is a female not a male. As she grows up, she knows that nobody
likes that she express her individuality, and her skill so he keeps hide her skills and
individuality. After the grade 12, Jaya marries to Mohan, a successful business man. Her
marriage life is also totally affected by patriarchy, Mohan does not allow her to express
her point of view even he does not show his love in front of her. She lives her life as a
worker or a maid; she has no right to speak up even in the family of her in laws. They are
not living a happy married life but they are forced to their married life to live. After
marriage, she writes some articles in hidden from her husband, one of them is published
but her husband does not show any expression on her ability and her success. She proves
herself a good mother and an obedient wife but in the duties as a mother and as a wife,

13
she has lost her abilities. Mohan does not consider her as an individual who has her own
wills even during sex he does not notice her allowance and her rejection, she is forced to
keep silent. In short, Indian society and its traditions force women to keep silent even in
every situation.
In an article Role of Women in Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence (2017),
Lakshmipraabha, Mariselvi and Umamaheswari focus on the women place in South Asia
especially in the society of India, they argue that Shashi Deshpande is a well- known
Indian feminist who highlights the real picture of Indian society and Indian women
especially house wives as she portrays the real picture of female in That Long
Silence(Deshpande,2017). As they confront in their article, “the formation of gender and
patriarchy in a culture where Deshpande sets the conflict of her female protagonists is a
recurring theme in her books.” (Lakshmiprabha et al., 2017, p.256). This article also
shows the resistance of Deshpande against male dominated society because male
superiority in any society becomes the emergence of patriarchal culture in society and
patriarchal culture creates women oppression, women place in society as other, and the
reason of women’s silence. Deshpande is not in the favor of patriarchal culture and
violence on women. As they argue, “Jaya was a conventional woman who was forced to
maintain her quiet, submit, and assume a socio-psychic nature. Being a lady who was
marginalised by her family” (p . 256). Jaya could break her silence but the traditions of
society stop her, she should speak up on her condition, she should break her silence and
become a strong woman. In short society’s traditions do not allow her to break her silence
and to fight against her rights.
The Kite Runner (Hosseini,2003), the hottest version and the deepest touch to
Khaled Hosseini's best-selling book, is also about gender problems, and A Thousand
Splendid Suns (Hosseini ,2007), a captivating narrative of three generations of Afghan
women and their extraordinary perseverance, is also about women oppression. From the
early 1960s through the early 2000s, Afghanistan was home to A Thousand Splendid
Suns. Mariam, a little girl from the 1960s, lives in Herat, a tiny Afghan town. Mariam is
extremely close to her parents. She lives with her sad mother, Nana.Nevertheless, her
father Jalil is a very wealthy and prosperous businessman. Mariam, his sole
undocumented kid, is visited by him because "Mariam was five years old the first time
she heard the phrase harami" (Hosseini, 2007,p.1). Harami is used due to illegal child.
Mariam adores her father, wants to meet him on daily basis, wants to enjoy the beauties
of life with her both parents. When Jalil wishes her 15th birthday she makes a demand for

14
movie. Which he admits but he never takes her to cinema and her wish remains
unfulfilled. Mariam goes to visit Jalil’s home without the permission of Nana. She feels
very excited because she is going to see the colorful life of her father but she does not
find him anywhere. She spends night in street. In the morning, when she comes back
hopelessly and the most heart-rending scene is waiting for her. She finds her mother,
dead. Nana commits suicide, because Mariam does not hear her and goes away to Jalil’s
house.
After the death of Nana, Jalil shifts Mariam to his own house. In that place, where
Mariam was returned hopeless only one day back, Mariam does not find any charm in
Jalil’s house because now she was suffering with a big loss, the loss of her mother.
Mariam faces cruel behavior of Jalil’s wives. All of three wives force Mariam to marry
Rasheed. Rasheed treats him well in the start but later on when Mariam is unable to give
him a child, he starts beating him cruelly. There is another character observed in the
novel, Laila, she belongs to a nice family but her life is very much affected by the wars of
Afghanistan. She loses her two brothers in the war. She is very much attached with her
neighbor, Tariq. Later on she finds herself in love with Tariq. When she tells Tariq that
her parents have decided to shift to Pakistan, they both become sad. Then they make love
with each other, romantically. While they are ready to shift to Pakistan, a rocket hits to
Laila’s house, her parents die and Laila gets injured. Rasheed and Mariam look after
Laila.
Their joy, however, was overshadowed in September 2001 by the news of the
American invasion of Afghanistan. Laila visits Mariam's old house after the American
invasion and is able to deal with her sadness over Mariam's slaying. Then a total stranger
named Abdul Sharif informs Laila that Tariq has passed away. Laila was carrying Tariq's
kid at that time. In her panic, Laila makes the decision to wed Rasheed. She complies.
She later gives birth to Aziza, a daughter. After a while, Laila gives birth to Zalmai, a
boy. She once finds Tariq waiting at her door. Laila establishes a new life with Tariq in
Kabul, where she also serves as an educator at an asylum where Aziza had resided,
becomes mother. Rasheed hits Laila with a shovel after discovering Tariq and his wife
together. Mariam kills Rasheed and turns herself in to the Taliban in order to save Laila.
Tariq and Laila take their kids to Pakistan after Rasheed's passing. Tariq and Laila are
finally beginning the life they have always desired by getting married in Pakistan. Later,
both of Laila's kids gave Tariq a hearty embrace and settled into their new home.
(Hosseini, 2007, p.7-9).

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 In an article Feminism in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns (2019),
Dr.E.V.Ramkumar and Ms.Suba contend that Hosseini’s main or primary focus in the
novel is to portray the reality of women in Afghan society, to portray how women are
victimize by the hands of men and sometimes also by the hands of women, how women
are forced to marry with an old men, how women are beaten in their own home by the
hands of their husband and also how a woman can create courage in herself to fight
against male in the form of husband or father. This novel is totally connected to the real
conditions of Afghan women in Afghani society. Women in Afghanistan is not
considered human being, they are considered as other, “they were treated as objects, not
beings” (Ramkumar &Suba,p.344).
If I talk about the place of women in Kashmir, Women of Kashmir have been
made victims of different atrocities by the military and paramilitary forces. They have
born more painful moments than men because the entire problems which have been seen
by men have also seen by women. Being women they faced some extra oppressions, they
have been made victim of sensual pleasure by military and paramilitary forces, Mr.
Naseer Khan comments (2014) in article ‘Kashmir, Militarization, and Women in
Conflict: A Study of Curfew Night”, that the women have been the victim of every field of
lifer either it be social, economic, political, or any other. They have been discriminated on
the basis of their gender but from last decades the women of Kashmir have seen more
brutal and inhuman attitude from military and paramilitary forces. The author says “A
silent spectator, she was tortured, slaughtered, disfigured, and raped. Numerous studies
have demonstrated how her problems have been made worse by callous authorities and
social standards” (Khan, 2014, p. 255). Women have rarely taken part in resistance
against the military oppressions but still they faced the most horrified part of life. They
have borne the pain of psychological disorder, mental illness, physical torture, and exile
as well as the brutal rapes.
The place which was considered heaven on the earth is now the most populated
military region, it can be said that it is the biggest and beautiful prison in the world.
Indian government has passed multiple laws which have given the full authority to
military and paramilitary forces. They utilize their forces illegally because the
government has given free hands to them. They kill someone and blame him/her to be a
terrorist or involve in any terrorist activity. The author of this article gives the reference
of a story from the memoir, when a late night marriage was encountered by military
forces and they opened fire to the groomsmen. The military forces raped the innocent

16
injured bride and her female helpers and left them to die there. All the groomsmen were
injured and some were shot down to death. These are some examples which we find in
the literature of Kashmir that the women of Kashmir have faced more pain and brutality
than man(Khan, 2014, p. 256).
2.4 Women in Pakistani literature
The element of patriarchy in Pakistani society has caused a complete dismissal of
women. Male strength pattern becomes a variable making the other sexual orientation
savagery. Women are considered to be inferior to being dominated by men to improve
things and, in most instances, to the more terrible. Women cannot raise their voice against
inhumanity by people who are responsible for their physical being, such as mothers,
brothers, and after marriage, spouses and their male relatives (Ibrahim, 2005). So many
Pakistani writers uncovers the reality and place of women in the society through their
works, most important names are Bapsi Sidhwa, Bina Shah, and Sara Suleri.
Bapsi Sidhwa is an important Pakistani feminist writer; her most important work
is Ice Candy Man (1980). She belongs to Parsee family, so being a Parsee, she is well
known about the history of Parsee community. In the Ice Candy Man(Sidhwa,1980) she
confirms the themes of partition, feminism, doubly marginalization of women, arranged
child marriages, and sex slavery. Lenny is the protagonist of the novel who is 4 years old
at the beginning of the novel; she belongs to the Parsee community and lives in Lahore
with her family and her Ayah, Ayah is also the main character of the novel. During the
incidents of bloody partition, Ayah faces the punishment of those crimes whish she did
not commit just because she is a woman and women are punishing due to the crimes of
others the crimes of their male relatives. Ayah belongs to Hindu religion and Ice Candy
Man belongs to Islam, at the start of the novel he likes Ayah but when the bloody
incidents of partition between India and Pakistan are increasing, he starts to hate her due
to the actions of male Hindus and Sikhs. He compels her to stay, where prostitutes live
after seeing his sisters’ dead bodies with cutting their breasts in the bloody train at the
route of Amritsar to Lahore. She finds the punishment of a crime about which she is
unaware. On the religious basis ice candy man takes revenge from her of the incident
which happened in India. In the same way in my selected novel women are punished for
the crimes of their husbands and sent to the island. Those women who are in the island for
a crime are compelled to marry a person, who has committed a crime and lives in the
prison as a criminal.

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 Arunima Dey argues in an article named The Female Body as the Site of Male
Violence during the Partition of India in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy- Man (2018) that how
women become the target of violence and oppression by the hands of men during the
partition. Women were only considered the bodies of enemies rather beings, “Ayah’s
abduction and bodily violation are results of personal jealousy and nationalism” (Dey,
2018, p. 27).
Sara Suleri’s Goodyear is an important American Pakistani feminist writer, her
highly famous work is Meatless Days (1989) which is about her own life, it is considered
a memoire. In the novel, story revolves around herself, her mother, her sister Ifat, her
father, importantly her dadi, and some other characters. Meatless Days (Suleri,1989) is
written in the perspective of feminism, the character of mother, sister Ifat, and dadi
mostly busy in domestic chores, character of mother is associated with Mr. Ramsay.
Characterization of women characters in the novel asserts women place in the society as
well as this novel highlight the patriarchal system in the Pakistani society.
Suleri uses the example of her family to present the patriarchal family system in
the Pakistani society; she confronts the male dominated society by presenting the
institutionalization of marriage, male dominated family, and female’s connection with
obedience. Men snatch women rights easily; they snatch their identity, their individuality,
their freedom of choice, their right to get education, and sometimes even they snatch their
children who are the part of their body but the expectation from women is to keep silent
and show their obedience in every situation. In patriarchal societies, women have not
their own identity rather they are known by the name of their father or husband, their
identity is connected with the name of their father or husband. Women have no right to
choose their life partner, in the novel; the incidents of grandfather’s and grandmother’s
marriage highlight the negation of women’s rights, their own wishes, their wills, and their
own choices. The character of father suppresses the character of mother in the novel
which highlights the women place in patriarchal Pakistani society and also highlights that
how men ignore women’s rights; men can never understand the situation and feelings of
women in male dominated society. In short, Suleri proves that there is no respected place
for women in Pakistani society through the character of mother who is always busy in
domestic chores, in the care of her husband and children but there is no place to express
her own feelings, wishes, and wills in males dominated Pakistani society (Suleri
Goodyear, 1989).

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 Muhammad Nawaz comments on this novel in an article titles Motifs of
Patriarchal Touches in Meatless Days (2019), according to his view Pakistani society is
patriarchal society in which women are not treated well and they have no rights to make
decisions about anything, “norms of traditions prevalent in Pakistan always favor male
member of society” (Nawaz, 2019, p.556). This novel is the fine example of Pakistani
patriarchal society.
Bina Shah is well known Pakistani author and columnist who flourished her
masterpieces with the ideas of feminism; and also represents Pakistani culture. She
becomes famous as orator of empowerment of female in Pakistan and defended Pakistani
females from superstitious denunciation of patriarchy. Bina Shah has tried to demonstrate
woman’s liberation through her novel Before She Sleeps (2018). As Uzma Aslam Khan
portrays a fictional Andaman Island where prisoner faced different types of punishments,
Shah’s novel Before She Sleeps depicts brutality of patriarchy and women as objects for
males.
This novel evaluates the situation of twenty second century generation, where
Pakistan especially city of Karachi faced challenge of war and people is migrated towards
safe places. The new territories came into existence with consolidation of megacities such
as Karachi; and females perform role as breeding machines. In this novel, female
population is demolished by certain kind of incurable HPV disease. They are allocated
with more than one man in order to increase population of earth with certain kinds of
drugs which help them for more fertility. Females faced strict rules and regulations by
patriarchy.
The effects of British colonisation led to even more social transformation at
practically all levels, which had an impact on women as well. Women began to
understand that the denial of many rights was done on purpose to keep them from
participating fully in society. This insight was brought forth by Muslim women in India
gradually acquiring contemporary education. This resulted in the gradual but steady
opening of public venues for women. Muslim women experienced this transformation,
albeit to a lesser extent than their sisters who are Hindus. However, the transition brought
to social and domestic issues for the local women. Feminism was created as a result of
their desire for equal rights and individuality, which was further strengthened by women's
involvement in Indian liberation struggles. For this precise reason, third world feminism
and postcolonial feminism are frequently associated. The fiction created in Pakistan is a
continuation and expansion of the literature created in India under the colonial masters.

19
As a result, it has inherited both the advantages and disadvantages of Indian literature
written before to the end of colonial control in Indo-Pak. A portion of this wider corpus of
literature has dealt with feminism. All of this qualifies Pakistani literature as postcolonial
literature. Pakistani authors have depicted the life of Pakistani women as being
constrained by social, economic, and religious norms.
These positions reflect both traditional and contemporary expectations of women.
In Pakistani fiction, women are shown as evolving and changing with time. The majority
of the time, they are represented as round figures that are originally constrained and
constrained by the chain of traditions and norms. Additionally, they are portrayed as
being possessed by the artificial societal taboos that are employed to rule the lives of
women. In such situations, writers demonstrate how women find themselves in a
multifaceted predicament. These positions reflect both traditional and contemporary
expectations of women. In Pakistani fiction, women are shown as evolving and changing
with time. They are primarily shown as rounded people, originally constrained and
constrained by the chain of conventions and traditions. They were colonised and labelled
as the silent majority (subalterns) and the 'others'. This subcontinent's earlier customs are
partly responsible for this subaltern status. These taboos were strengthened even more by
the influence of the Muslim and Hindu religions. In response and as a means of defending
their cultural ideals, the postcolonial males attempted to recolonize the bodies and minds
of their women. As a result of post-colonialism, women were expected to continue to bear
the burden of cultural values. But the same has also elevated contemporary realities and
created a fresh awareness for women. Pakistani authors highlight this element in their
stories by giving women characters prominent roles. These women's personalities
undergo a steady psychological transformation from a sad, sobbing, and subordinate lady
to a self-assured and powerful woman.
This awareness first emerged in Pakistan with the founding of the Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan Academic Society. It was strengthened even further as a result of the Pakistani
independence struggle, in which women were encouraged to take a crucial part.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the forerunner of women's rights, pushed for women to have an
equal voice in all aspects of society. Following independence, these early female role
models continued to fight for women's rights, and in 1948 they succeeded in securing
women's property rights in Pakistan. Mumtaz Shahnwaz depicted this Pakistani women's
movement in her 1990 novel The Heart Divided, which might be considered the precursor
of Pakistani feminist works in English. This was done before the country's division.

20
And very quickly, this spirit of freedom faded away, and women were once again
restricted to the confines of their homes, losing the prestige they had worked so hard to
achieve. As a result, organisations like Women Action Forum were founded to fight
against the passing of legislation that discriminated against women. But discrimination
against women was still present in literature. Pakistani authors have always been aware of
this necessity when writing their works of literature.
2.4.l Relationship between Human Conditions and States of Being/Mind
According to Wilson (1956), there is a strong link between states of being or mind
and human conditions at a particular time within some specific conditions. Human
conditions vary according to the contemporary milieu which are influenced by some past
events as well (Wilson, 1956). The list of these conditions, which are related to the
refugees as well as immigrants, is comprised of feelings of estrangement, discontents with
social and cultural practices, feelings being an outsider or stranger, loneliness, and
various kinds of miseries (Anderson, 2000, p. 27). The refugees suffer from these worst
conditions without taking into account the factors of gender, background, motherlands,
race, and ethnicity. In the situations when refugees around the different areas of the war
torn territories wander here and there in search of some protection and survival, the
aforementioned conditions turn into states of being. These human conditions contribute a
lot in terms of the construction of refugees’ existence in the new milieu where life is full
of psychological and some other various kinds of complications (Wilson, 1956).
2.4.2 Social Identity
A clear, static, and compact identity of any person in this world is the most
precious thing in this fragmented yet modern world order. As per Anderson’s (2000)
views about the concept of identity of refugees and immigrants, the psychological
complexities of such people are strongly, greatly, and directly influenced by the
construction of social identity (Anderson, 2000, p. 27). The state of being or mind and
well-being of any person can be easily influenced by the social identity within the
respective milieu. The identity or self of any person cannot be elucidated individually or
separately, as Mead (1934) is of the view that the self of any person is “a product of
social interaction and that we see ourselves as others see us” (Mead, 1934, p. 71).
Moreover, in order to convey the fact that self-concepts of people are directly and clearly
mirror the evaluations of others in the milieu, Cooley (1902) presents his comments about
this concept and gives it the name of looking glass self or self-concept (Cooley, 1902). In

21
the same way, Jenkins (1996) believes that social identity is the product of both social as
well as individual factors.
And very quickly, this spirit of freedom faded away, and women were once again
restricted to the confines of their homes, losing the prestige they had worked so hard to
achieve. As a result, organisations like Women Action Forum were founded to fight
against the passing of legislation that discriminated against women. But discrimination
against women was still present in literature. Pakistani authors have always been aware of
this necessity when writing their works of literature.dispel stereotypes that apply to
particular groups of women; (c) document the multifaceted identities and oppressions of
women of colour as well as within-group differences; (d) list the resiliency, agency, and
survival skills exhibited by women of colour; and (e) suggest activism and
"decolonization" strategies based on the experiences of people of colour. Women of
colour offer perspectives on topics that frequently go unnoticed by people in privileged
positions since they have had to follow norms essential for survival while yet managing to
find some kind of acceptability within dominant culture. Native American feminists
discuss how the U.S. government colonised and Europeanized Native American
populations, ruined lineal family structures, eliminated women's respected roles and
authority, deprived Native Americans of their land and autonomy, and contributed to
issues characterised by internalised oppression like drug abuse and violence against
women.
Establishing woman-centered customs and recovering indigenous women's
knowledge, culture, and faith are examples of decolonizing activities. Asian country of
origin, language, immigration motivations (such as economic opportunity or freedom
from political oppression), generation in North America, level of acceptance of Asian
cultural values like Confucianism and collectivism, and histories of racism and exclusion
in North America are just a few of the factors that affect the multiple identities of Asian
American women.
Asian American feminists have brought the conventional stereotypes of Asian
women as submissive, docile, or exotic, alluring sex objects to light and are working to
replace them with more empowered ones that are rooted in Asian cultural origins. Critical
race feminisms and multiracial feminisms have also explored and enlarged on the
significance of addressing numerous and overlapping identities and oppressions. They
emphasize how social position, power, and geography have a significant effect on how
the frameworks of race, class, gender, and sexuality are perceived. They also point to the

22
interconnected identities and oppressions. Relationships between white women and
minority women are influenced by systemic power inequalities, which are a result of the
interaction of several identities and social structures that both contribute to oppression
and opportunity.

2.4.3 Cultural Changes

The idea of culture is explained by the various authors and critics in different
ways. As culture helps to comprehend the identity of people, in the same way, the
refugees’ complex existence in the new milieu is also influenced by their cultural
belongings. Anderson (2000) puts that culture can be defined as the combination of one’s
ethical and moral rules, cultural traits and values, complete set of institutions in which the
lives of human beings is comprised of motives and some particular meanings which
contribute to the construction of an inclusive social system (Anderson, 2000, p. 28). The
human behavior and his existence in this world are strongly influenced by the culture he
is part of. s claims that the interpretation of human experiences and the guidance of
actions are explained within the fabric of meanings which are constructed by culture
(Geertz, 1973, p. 145).
The presence of new cultural and social activities is the major reason which
compels the refugees to suffer physically as well as psychologically. It becomes
inevitable for the refugees to become oblivion in terms of their cultural and social
practices and show some attachments towards them while living in new as well as foreign
and alien territories. The disorientation of refugees’ lives in terms of cultural dimensions
can happen temporarily as well as permanently depending upon the intensity of
contemporary situations. It is pertinent to mention that the psychological conflicts of
refugees are complicated as well as intensified because of the cultural disorientations. The
cultural changes play a vital role in the states of being, adaptation cycle and transition
related changes in the lives of immigrants and the migrants(Geertz, 1973, p. 149).
2.4.4 Ethnic Identity and Cultural Belongings
In the dislocated lives of refugees, ethnic identity along with cultural belongings
are of utmost importance to take into account because these two factors can be used to
increase as well as decrease the sufferings and dilemmas of refugees. Novak (197l) claims
that the prestige of ethnic identity also unswervingly impacts the social, economic, and
psychological life of refugees while leaving some significant consequences (Novak, 1971,
p. 29). The ethnic identity of refugees is linked with the psychology of refugees. The

23
various kinds of western forces are used by the West in order to exploit the refugees while
affecting the ethnic identity and cultural belongings of refugees. This practice is used as a
powerful and effective tool in terms of increasing the psychological pain of refugees and
to deteriorate their idea of a static identity. Through the exploitation of these two factors,
the refugees are unable to find peace of their mind body in the new countries of
settlements. Jenkins (1997) presents his observations within the domains of cultural
contents of ethnicity and states that in terms of the understating of one’s ethnic
identification the idea of cultural belongings is a substantial construct (Jenkins, 1997).
Cultural belongings and ethnic identity share a strong link in order to illustrate the
psychological complexities of refugees.
To become a prominent member of any society we influence our endeavors and
as humans it is quite natural to want a prominent identity in a society. This kind of
behavior of humans have been thoroughly explained by many psychologist in a
theoretical manner. Generally speaking, membership relates to a feeling of connections
and commitment to a social group or system within which a person feels appreciated or
significant and also senses a fit, perceived legitimacy, and a sense of pride as a member of
a community. According to this research, feelings of being a part are linked to a variety of
favorable psychological and academic results. Lower levels of despair and anxiety are
connected to improved health and a stronger sense of connection to or belonging.
However, a lot of the research in this field demonstrates the benefits of belonging to a
school or institution. For instance, a larger sense of community participation is linked to
higher levels of motivation for learning among college students generally and graduate
perseverance, especially among students of colour. Most of the literature in this field is
quantitative, so we have growing evidence of the empirical link between racial and ethnic
belonging and a range of mental health indicators, including lower rates of depression,
race-related stress, and higher psychological well-being. Race and ethnicity are
significant social identities to which people belong. A number of racial and ethnic identity
theories have discussed sense of belonging as a central dimension. At this time, there is
little information about the multiple aspects of racial and ethnic belonging and how group
members experience them collectively. Findings from these studies are helpful in better
understanding the relationship between the degree to which one feels connected to and
pride in one's racial or ethnic group and well-being.

24
 CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical framework for the present study is drawn on social construction,
race, class and identity in Tahmina Anam’s The Bones of Grace(2016) and Mexican
Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia(2020). The present framework also examines how
women are treated and their place in patriarchal society. Concepts of hybridity,
creolization, mongrelization, and mestizo voice are challenging subjects in the United
States, where concepts about race and identity politics originate from the precise
specificity of the one-drop rule. In a Mexican setting Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia
Moreno-Garcia, are contrast, mestizo voice a nationalist discourse's central theme is
influenced by ethnic diversity. This identity participates in the ongoing conversation
between ethnic, social, and national discourses in the United States. The fact that Mexican
culture has always strived to honour the working classes, the campesinos, and the indio
the diverse heritages of race and class that comprise Mexican identity is undoubtedly one
of the reasons the Zapatista rebellion has captured the attention of the Mexican people. Of
fact, the one-drop rule understates how much more multicultural American society and
culture have always been. Additionally, mestizaje in Mexico turns out to be considerably
more complicated than official discourses that elevate the indigenous imply. When
claiming the mestizaje of Chicano ethnic identity, authors and critics battle (like Gabriel)
with these various registers of simultaneous praise, celebration, and condemnation.
Chicano cultural artefacts aid in tracing the complicated and varied processes of racial
identity by expressing ideas of mestiza(Khutia, 2021).
Anam’s (2016) character Zubaida is a ’marine paleontologist’. She is a “mestiza”,
the term elaborated by the American cultural theorist Gloria Anzaldua. Zubaidais
presented by Anam as an “adopted” woman literally and metaphorically. Zubaida has
more than one identity which exists horizontally. As a “mestiza”, she successfully
straddles the binary and an array of contradictions. Anam thus fictionalizes the contours
of identity formation of a Bangladeshi woman who digs deep into the complex roots of
her origin, comes to terms with her amphibian existence, and develops a new
consciousness (Khutia, 2021).
Anam’s (2016) character Zubaida is a true “mestiza” as she moves through many
transitions, liminalities, and inbetweenness in her life. Though Zubaida relentlessly
struggles with the issues of belongingness, she does not create “imaginary homelands” for

25
herself. Straggling between Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the United States, she acquires
self-knowledge not by showing disregard to her troubled past, the disturbed space of her
country but by sharpening and refining her ‘self-knowledge’ through an inquisitive and
forensic digging of her past. The different strands of conflict mirror each other and exist
parallelly in Zubaida’s consciousness. Herself becomes the site where things get
produced, reproduced, assimilated, and she ends up with new ways of contending with
her problematic identitarian states (Khutia, 2021).
The present framework is mixture of Mexican Americans (MAs) and South Asian
feminisms. The theoretical framework for the present study is drawn on feminist notions
like social construction, race, class and identity propounded by Spivak. The present study
explores the social construction, race, class and identity and status of women in a
patriarchal society. In postcolonial societies the contemporary literature is gaining the
zenith of glory as a literature of resistance to patriarchal mind set. Particularly the fiction
produced by the postcolonial feminists is throwing the light on the women’s resistance
who were marginalized in postcolonial societies. Spivak advocates and supports the social
construction of patriarchal societies by the process of colonization. Although the
patriarchal societies have succeeded to get the freedom from the brutal hands of their
colonizers, yet their women are failed even today in getting the emancipation. They are
still treated like slaves and bear the torture by the brutal clutches of their masters. The
issues related to women like burning, battering, humiliating, physical, mental and sexual
abuse, acid throwing, honor killing, rape, harassment, violence and patriarchy are being
investigated through literary medium by the postcolonial feminist writers (Khutia, 2021).
3.l Female Circumcision
Social structure which is a process to the disadvantage of women, race, class and
identity thinking, sometimes due to lack of knowledge and deficiency, are used by the
male subjugated society to keep on repressing the meager in general and especially
women in the name of religion and one of these customs is female circumcision. Female
circumcision is usually understood as the elimination a few or every part of the female
genitals.
Acc0rding to Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garciais also doing much
to subvert the story of the endangered woman. Rather of being unaware of any danger and
then plunging headfirst into tragedy, both Noemi and Catalina immediately understand

26
the circumstance they are in and make preparations to take action. This is what critic
Sarah Whitney has to say about how prevalent the story is:
The popularity of the woman in peril narrative remains strong as evidenced by its
repeated iteration in popular culture... the depiction of the heroine has changed
rhetorically; she is no longer seen as a victim. then a survivor... While the term ‘survivor’
has a long history..., its current vogue in post feminism also signals the profound cultural
influence of therapeutic discourses. These discourses map a narrative in which a
traumatized subject moves from psychological fragmentation to health. By designating
oneself as a survivor, the subject symbolically leaves her tragedy in the past and absolves
it of any power to define her (Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.355)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia(2020) is not about “healing” or to have
"survived". Noemi and Catalina only employ their agency when absolutely necessary.
Their tale is one of perpetual struggle brought on by race and ancestry, not of overcoming
pain and healing. Both of them were raised in a colonial culture that despises them
because of their mestizo ethnicity. No matter what happens, they will keep fighting like
they always have.
Women characters as portrayed by Tahmina Anam in The Bones of Grace(2016)
has been attempted. Anam addresses the female themes, particularly the oppression of
Bangladeshi women due to their religion, gender, and class as well as their efforts to build
an identity by opposing Bangladeshi patriarchy In order to respond to the research topic,
this study primarily uses the technique of close reading of the chosen text and the reading
of postcolonial feminism's theoretical concerns. First and foremost, one gains a thorough
comprehension of postcolonial feminist theory, which serves as the theoretical and critical
basis for my research. In addition, the current study analyses the new in order to conduct
a thorough analysis of the research issue in the context of the conceptual framework. The
study attempts to provide conclusions that emerged from my critical readings of the text
and the described analytical frame work in the interpretation of the text of the novel.
3.2 Origin and Evolution
As feminism is the subject of this study, it is important to begin with its
fundamentals before moving on to its more developed branches in order to comprehend it
better. In the discussion of the first wave of feminism, Virginia Woolf and Simon De
Beauvoir emerged as the first wave feminist writers with their respective works The
Second Sex and Room of One's Own. Different "feminist conceptions" (Tong, 2009, p.l),

27
including liberal, radical, Marxist, psychological, social, colonial, eco-feminist, and many
more, came into being as feminism. Feminism begins as a movement for women's rights
and against unfair treatment of women in all spheres of life. With the passage of time, all
the shoots erupted from various perspectives and in various communities, in accordance
with the demand. The first wave, which was based on the idea of female equality and
rights, appeared in the 19th century. The second wave, which was based on the idea of
radical and liberal feminism as a stance for freedom, appeared in the 1960s. The final
wave, which was based on the idea of colonial and post-colonial ideology of black and
white, orient, and occident, appeared in the 1990s and later. The union of time and waves
creates division in feminism.
By emphasizing how real Noemi and Catalina's experience is, Moreno-Garcia
subverts this stereotype. By taking this course, Moreno-Garcia makes the Doyle men's
claims of sickness or lunacy even more pernicious. This book's place in the gothic
literature subgenre is further cemented by Noemi and Catalina's struggle against the
darkness. They acquire the upper hand and the ability to win since they are well aware
that the males are attempting to gaslight them. "Gothic tales revolve around worries about
self-hood and imprisonment, depicted through odd or exaggerated happenings that may or
may not be justified as manifestations of the generally female lead character's
imagination," says Rubenstein in her study on the subject.(Tong, 2009 p.311). In most
gothic novels, the female heroine and the reader are left wondering if everything actually
happened or if it was all in her head.
The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016) is set in the present day, in contrast to the
previous two books in the trilogy, which discuss the Bangladesh Liberation War's pre-
and post-war periods. Whether or not you've read the prequels to what is sometimes
referred to as the Bengaltrilogy, you may still enjoy The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016).
Despite the fact that this book is postmodernist, I chose to approach it from a postcolonial
viewpoint since it is tied to historical happenings and uses retellings of the past to
understand the present. It looks at the difficulties of Zubaida's life as well as her search
for her roots and identity.
Lagji asserts that plst colonialism exaggerates the issues of power and knowledge
from the perspective of the human condition. "Postcolonialism tackles such
epistemological and agency concerns generically; that is, as questions that are pertinent to
a generalised "human condition" or a "global situation." (Lagji, 2019p.168).

28
 Zubaida's rise is linked to her suffering and her search for her roots, and how she
eventually decides to find solace in her adopted land where she feels more at home than at
home as a palaeontologist, which Anam highlights in her work, is how this study
illustrates Zubaida's struggle as well as her ongoing quest for her roots and identity. In
this scenari , feminism is the personification of post colonialism. Women, on the other
hand, are "double colonised" in the postcolonial age, making them the greatest victims of
war. Postcolonial misogyny continues to deprive women of their rights in the same
manner as colonisers deprive the colonised of all their rights. "Woman has to introduces
herself through dancing into the text as well as into the world and history. Woman must
write for herself, write about women, and reintroduce women to writing, from which they
were forcibly ejected for the same reasons, under the same laws, and with the same
terrible result in mind. They were imprisoned by colonisers throughout the colonial
period, and men in authority have continued to imprison them in innovative ways
throughout the postwar era. As a consequence, they are "twice colonised," yet women
have shown themselves by their fortitude (Cixous, 2009).
As a consequence, Anam's works might be described as "metahistorical"
depictions of women's unrecorded history before to, during, and after the Bangladesh
Liberation War. Helene Cixous emphasises the importance of history by utilising the
voices of women to highlight their hardships and successes, something male authors often
omit in their work. As a consequence, Anam has portrayed women as repressed members
of our society and culture who may speak for themselves by their actions and triumphs.
Tahmima Anam's The Bones of Grace and Trilogy exemplify Cixous' thesis on the
importance of writing by and for women. Anam chooses to relate the tale despite
receiving criticism for not completely portraying it from both her own and the lady's
perspectives.
3.3 Social Structure and Clitoridectomy:
African civilizations have had cultural traditions that have characterised them as a
unit and served as their guiding principles throughout history. This is possible because
cultural prejudices and gender discrimination are frequently visible in the space between
power and its manifestation. However, a few of these clients are handled by certain
powerful elements of society, particularly men.
Noemi arrives at the dilapidated estate to a rather cold welcome from Catalina's
husband Virgil and the small crew. Noem Taboada, a young socialite played by Moreno-

29
Garcia, is offered the chance to fulfil her ambitions of attending university if she will fly
to "High Place" to check on her cousin, Catalina, who has been sending bizarre,
worrisome letters that imply she is either terribly ill or in grave danger. Noemi finds her
cousin's vulnerability and the vehement objection others have to her spending time alone
with Catalina to be even more unsettling(Moreno-Garcia, 2020p.12).
Noemi is determined to uncover the region's past and release her cousin from the
clutches of her strangely seductive husband and the curse of "High Place," with Francis'
hesitant assistance. This book is very disturbing! Both the mood and the images are
wonderfully vibrant and scary. The home itself, which provides no contemporary
amenities and lacks even the most basic necessities, completes the picture by appearing to
be falling apart at the seams. Wait till you see Virgil's elderly Uncle Howard if that isn't
scary enough for you! Noemi almost instantly starts having incredibly vivid, intensely
sexual, and lurid dreams or hallucinations. This is a "re-imagining of the classic Gothic
suspense novel," according to the blurb. Consider the definition of the phrase "re-
imagining" in light of that statement. This is dismissed by Virgil as "sleepwalking"
experiences. However, as time goes on, the environment in the home grows even more
cramped, and the attitude of the employees toward Noemi never warms. While it could
have appeared that they were attempting to frighten Noemi away, they are really getting
more and more adamant that she stays within the home. Noemi is captivated by the tales,
Virgil, and the youngest family member, Francisthe sole kind face on the entire estate in
spite of how terrifying that possibility may be(Moreno-Garcia, 2020p.32).
Through the intriguing process of researching her ancestors, she eventually
discloses the story of Zubaida's twin sister, who was kept by her mother while Zubaida
was given to Maya as an adopted child. It also demonstrates how repressed women are by
society and their family, even if they are bright and self-sufficient. The truth of Fatema
Ansar, Zubaida's birth mother, comes to light thanks to her quest. Despite this, the
narrative thematically compares the protagonist's life story to that of the wandering
whale. Her mother's struggle and survival in the face of the prevailing society is also
shown. This is why it requires "courage to say farewell to the past, whatever the cost of
such voyaging, whatever longings and emotions were left behind in the ruins." And for
this to happen, there has to be a transgression, limb loss, or an aquatic experience"
(Anam, 2006 p.396)
However, the predicament of women who fled their own countries to seek
employment abroad forces them into a harsh existence as modern-day sex slaves in

30
brothels and the homes of their owners. Through Anwar, a male voice in the book, Anam
has alsol sholwn the unflattering truth olf "capitalism," and throlugh his utterances, the
essential truth of the labourers' lives in Dubai and its towers has also been
revealed.Gayatri Charavorty Spivak states:
“It is obvious that being poor, black, and female comes with three consequences.
The subaltern is able to converse. What must the elite do to keep an eye on the
development of the subaltern? In this situation, the word "woman" seems to provide the
biggest challenge.” (Spivak, 2015p.90).
The West is neither amassing "knowledge" nor doing "research" on the Third
World in order to further their own political and economic goals and to dominate in a
modern version of colonialism. In order to establish their "superiority," the West employs
"research" as a colonial tool to classify the Third World as "others." Women's situations
in the Third World are worse than those of any other group. Spivak cleverly demonstrates
in the piece how Third World women are not only oppressed and criticised by the First
World, but are also mercilessly discriminated against by their own men and culture.
Spivak accurately portrays the so-called "elite," who are in actuality the ruling class, as a
postcolonial feminism and how they misuse control over women. Spivak observes the
West's "thirst for subjectivity" in his criticism of the West and sees agency or freedom of
action as a linguistic fabrication. Furthermore, "epistemic violence" reveals itself in the
exclusion of certain voices from Western discourse, and Spivak claims that she is not
immune to it. In her piece, she uses Sati to demonstrate how women are subjugated by
both white and dark males. She combines modern theorists such as Jacques Derrida,
Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Karl Marx, and Antonio Gramsci into the essay and
agrees with his thesis that one's language simultaneously alters and shapes one's ideology
and identity(Sati, 2019).
Beauvoir depicts women's life in a variety of "situations," from childhood to
maturity. In the final chapter of the book, Beauvoir stands up and calls for the economic
empowerment of women. On the other hand, Spivak's admiration for women is shared by
French feminist Simone de Beauvoir. In The Second Sex, Beauvoir illustrates how
women are blamed by society even though they are the victims of the same patriarchal
system, regardless of whether they live in the First World or the Third World.
Additionally, Beauvoir and Spivak both use the generic term "other" throughout the book,
which is applied to women by the world that is predominately male in order to rule over
them. If a woman can sustain herself, no one can stop her, in Beauvoir's opinion, and this

31
support is the manifestation of economic progress and success. Beauvoir, however, raised
her voice against patriarchy long before women were permitted to do so. In this instance,
Beauvoir is regarded as one of the early feminists in the feminism revolution who speaks
the stinging reality to the world in the voice of a woman. She says that by treating women
differently depending on their gender, men are denying their own humanity because they
see themselves as the "subject" or "self" and women as the "object" or "other." In her
writing, Beauvoir explores how "female people" are seen by males as having a lower
status in society and questions women's role in it.
3.4 Race, Class and Identity
Because it seemed that feminism was solely addressing the difficulties of women
in Western nations, postcolonial feminism emerged as a response. Feminism, in its most
basic form, is a set of beliefs and movements aimed at defining, creating, and obtaining
equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women. This includes
striving for gender equality in the workplace and in school. Postcolonial feminism, which
began as a critique of feminist theorists in developed countries, seeks to explain how
racism and the ongoing political, economic, and cultural ramifications of colonialism
affect non-white, non-Western women in the postcolonial world.
Those who concentrated on ethnicity wrote about women who might not have
been classified as "black," but rather as "ethnic minority" women of the Western
countries, including women who migrated there; those who concentrated on race typically
wrote about black women or women of colour who were living in those countries.
Different ideas and methods of approaching the phrase were used by feminists who
focused on issues of race, ethnicity, and imperialism. Lastly, those who wrote about
imperialism and colonialism focused on ‘Third World’ women who became residents of
the Western countries, as well as women who lived in the developing Third World
countries.
Some writers reject the term “race” because it only affirms the non-existent basis
or races; similar uncertainties have arisen with the usage of the terms ‘black’ and
‘ethnicity’. Some feminists argue that the term ‘Third World’ is another discriminating
label that puts diverse women and their cultures into a monolithic group, which ironically
presumes that anything non-Western is marginalized and outsider. On the other hand,
some writers, like Spivak, attempted to shake up the imperialist binary associated with

32
opposed terms “First World/Third World.” They wanted to reconfigure the marginal
without offering just an outsider position, but an integral vantage point as well.
In order to deconstruct texts or textualities that have served as a rhetorical
framework to justify colonial expansion, Spivak employs Derridean deconstruction. She
uses the concept of "worlding" as an example of how key features justifies colonial
expansion and thus intersects post colonialism with deconstruction to have a wider
political significance for verbal engagements and hermeneutics. Standard feminist theory
is repositioned in a post-Marxist, postcolonial, and postmodernist framework thanks to
Spivak's deconstructive feminism. Spivak’s essay “Feminism and Critical Theory” deals
with the relationship between feminism, Marxist theory, psychoanalysis, and critical
theory, all while focusing on the role and position of women in society. It is divided in
four parts: a script of a speech, a reflection of that speech, and “intermediate moment”,
and “something like the present.” In part one, she acknowledges the importance of
definition, as well as its relation to women; part two includes the importance of race in
critical theory, and she relates to the feminist argument of identification; following that,
Spivak analyzes race and studies Margaret Drabble’s “The Waterfall”; she concludes the
essay with a short summary of women’s fiction.
The head of the household, Howard Doyle, utilises his position of authority to
make Noemi feel uneasy and conscious of her race right away. Noemi is faced with the
family's fixation on race and eugenics when she first sits down to eat with her cousin's
new family. I think they represent your Indian origins rather than the French, Howard
says without delay. Miss Taboada, you are a lot darker than your cousin. both your hair
colour and complexion. Do you not have some Indian blood? the majority of the mestizos
in this area. Compared to Catalina's, they are substantially darker(Moreno-Garcia,
2020p.29).
In contrast to how they and many other persons of mixed ethnicity are sometimes
portrayed, mestizos go back and forth between the two worlds. Noemi and Catalina
effectively demonstrate how mestizos and other people of mixed race may ingratiate
themselves into and overthrow the conventional structures put in place by their
oppressors. Once identified, their mobility allows them to sneak into places where the
coloniser still has control and eventually destroy those systems, maybe using fire. It (the
mestizo) is not merely caught between two worlds to which it does not belong and into
which it cannot dissolve, Rafael Perez-Torres writes at the conclusion of her own study.
Between those realms, it travels. Chicano culture does not represent a classic example of

33
mestizaje It enacts that self-definition in a variety of ways in its quest for identity”
(Moreno-Garcia p.172).
The marriage of Anam's companion did not meet the requirements for child
marriage, but it was an early union in accordance with Bangladeshi marriage law. The
patriarchal society in South Asia holds that females should be married young for a better
future. Though a lot has changed since then, it is still believed that marriage is the best
way tolive a happy life, especially for women, regardless of whether they come from a
lower class or an upper class background. The married couple's favourite dish, shrimp
curry, was prepared by her mother-in-law, according to Anam. She claimed to have gone
to her in-laws' residence for lunch. "Make sure you give my kid the largest shrimp," her
husband's mother said as the food was being delivered” (“The Curse of Early Marriage”).
Although Zubaida's mother's position was different from Zubaida's when she got married,
both of them experienced the plague of marriage. Anam really criticises the stereotyped
assumptions society has about women. According to Anam, even though early marriages
are less common than they formerly were, they are nevertheless common in rural areas
today. Anam, a close friend who graduated from college in the United States and was
married in her twenties, similarly emphasises the psychological torment endured by her
in-laws.
The main distinction between Zubaida and Anam's friend in The Bones of
Grace(Anam,2016) is that Zubaida wed Rashid by abiding by her foster parents, but
Anam's friend wed her adored. However, in the case of pain, the scenario in every
woman's life appears to be the same. Although there may be differences in how people
suffer, the reality is the same. The burden that lower class, indigenous, and subaltern
women face in the name of marriage is experienced by Anam's companion even though
both she and her husband come from upper class families.
Spivak defines "epistemic violence" as a tactic used by society to stifle the voices
of the downtrodden in order to subjugate them. Anam, on the other hand, emphasises the
subordination of other voices in The Bones of Grace. Zubaida's voice is also ignored in
The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016). The "epistemic violence" silences Anwar's voice, as
well as the voices of her biological mother, twin sister, and shipyard workers. Spivak
(1984). She has discovered that patriarchy causes "epistemic violence" (Spivak 84).
Even the Greek goddess Athena, who was not immune to "epistemic violence," is
referenced by Spivak. Furthermore, Zubaida's tragic circumstances are analogous to
"mythic sati" (Spivak l03), a figure in Hindu mythology who undergoes "epistemic

34
brutality" despite being god's bride. As a consequence, forgetting is common among
colonial subjects, and the colonial "subject" is transformed into the postcolonial "object"
who reigns over the subordinate due to their amnesia. Figures such as the goddess
Athena, whom Spivak defines as "father's daughters, self-professedly uncontaminated by
the womb," may be used to create women's ideological self-debasement, as opposed to a
deconstructive attitude toward the essentialist subject (p.103).
3.5 Research Methodology
The present research is qualitative and the mestizo voice in Tahmina Anam’s The
Bones of Grace (2016)and Mexican Gothic (2020)by Silvia Moreno-Garciaso the text of
the novels as primary source for data collection would be exhaustively and intensively
scrutinized keeping the objectives and parameters of the research in view. While the
secondary data in the form of articles, review, research paper and research thesis by other
scholars available in libraries and on electronic media would also be consulted to support
and establish my thesis. More over the studies carried out in the field of psychoanalysis
would also be incorporated into my study for interpret the female condition and natural
perspectives. Bibliography and references would be furnished in APA format as
recommended by the university.

35
 CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER FOUR :TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
This chapter is grounded on the textual analysis of the primary text Tahmina
Anam’s The Bones of Grace (2016) and Mexican Gothic (2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
under Spivak’s theoretical insights. The current research deals with women’s position and
status in the patriarchal world. The purpose of this chapter is to unearth the hidden aspect
of the primary text and find the answers of my research questions, position and status of
women in a patriarchal society

4.l Mestizo Voice in Anam’s The Bones of Grace

Anam’s The Bones of Grace (2016) is Bengal Trilogy, effloresces gracefully with
the weaving of Zubaida Bashir’s life journey, her dig into the past for personal and
archeological discovery, the healing of the bruises, breaks, and damages of the 1971
Liberation War. Zubaida the narrator in “The Preludes” makes it clear that she is
“adopted” and that her biological identity is uncertain. Throughout the novel, the
protagonist has been in search of that root. The novel moves away from the nationalist
narratives of Bangladesh which mainly gaze on the tropes of conflicts, casualties of war,
violence, human sacrifice, etc. The novel rather raises questions “about history, about
belonging and identity” (Spivak, 2021 p.34).
Anam’s The Bones of Grace (2016) novel shows “a transgressive love for
transnational’s, as she finds herself situated between a pretentious, progressive home and
an indifferent, detached host-land” (Anam,2016 p.163). According to her, Zubaida
transcends her entrapment in the homeland/hostland binary through her “transgressive
love for transculturalism” (Anam,2016 p.163). The narrator cum female lead Zubaida in
Anam’s The Bones of Grace(2016)is much more than a diasporic subject. Zubaida is a
’marine paleontologist’. She is a “mestiza”, the term elaborated by the American cultural
theorist Gloria Anzaldua. Zubaida is presented by Anam as an “adopted” woman literally
and metaphorically. Zubaida has more than one identity which exists horizontally. As a
“mestiza”, she successfully straddles the binary and an array of contradictions. Anam thus
fictionalizes the contours of identity formation of a Bangladeshi woman who digs deep
into the complex roots of her origin, comes to terms with her amphibian existence, and
develops a new consciousness.

36
4.l.l Zubaida as “mestiza
Anam’s (2016) character Zubaida is a true “mestiza” as she moves through many
transitions, liminalities, and inbetweenness in her life. Though Zubaida relentlessly
struggles with the issues of belongingness, she does not create “imaginary homelands” for
herself. Straggling between Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the United States, she acquires
self-knowledge not by showing disregard to her troubled past, the disturbed space of her
country but by sharpening and refining her ‘self-knowledge’ through an inquisitive and
forensic digging of her past. The different strands of conflict mirror each other and exist
parallelly in Zubaida’s consciousness. Her self becomes the site where things get
produced, reproduced, assimilated, and she ends up with new ways of contending with
her problematic identitarian states.
Anam’s (2016) character Zubaida feels that she is a part of everywhere she has
been to and yet she is nowhere. She is and is not a “part of all she met”: “[I] had spent a
large portion of my life dividing myself apart, with nobody to grasp the sum of all pieces
as I gave a little to this person and a little to that, and nobody to draw the connections …”
(Anam,2016 pp.339-40). The “Trishanku state” of Zubaida is best expressed by her while
she refers to her amphibian existence to her friend Bettina: “persons who constantly lived
abroad while keeping a portion of themselves Our secret name for folks like us was
amphibian. People in between were signified by "Amphibian.",” (Anam, 2016 pp.14-15).
4.l.2 Zubaida Amphibian
Though Zubaida claims that she is an amphibian, she does not live merely “a
double life, reflecting her dual life strategy” (Zug). She has multiple identities that exist
parallelly and she tries more than one strategy to cope with the multiplicity. More than
one phenomenon helps Zubaida deal with her contradiction and ambivalence: the first is
the skeleton of the whale Ambulocetus named Diana found in the archeological “dig” at
Dera Bugti; the second is Zubaida’s lover Elijah; the third is an abandoned ship named
Grace and the last is Zubaida’s sister’s daughter Shona. The archeological discovery of
the bones makes Zubaida cognize the condition of the tetrapod whale Ambulocetus “who
both walked and swam… a creature accepting its dual nature, its affinity to both the
comforts of land and the pull of the seas” (Anam, 2016 p.20).
It metonymically expresses the ambivalence of Zubaida and her attractions to the
multiple points of her life. Whales prefer to go back into the sea. Like them, Zubaida goes
back to go forward. Unlike others, she decides to dig into her past as it may assist her in

37
“bucking history she countered” (Anam, 2016 p.48). Ambulocetus’ story echoes her story.
She is full of “randomness” (Anam, 2016 p.395), always unpredictable and at her will.
Like the Ambulocetus, her story is also to be and to become through many places,
many identities, and many phases— each surviving, showing possibilities of never giving
up: “It is not an extinction narrative. The narrative of Ambulocetus is one of change, of
becoming, of jumping from one type of being to another type of being, and of abandoning
history in favour of the vast expanse of the possibilities” (Anam, 2016 p.390).
At a symbolic level, the bones become Zubaida’s “talisman, reflecting the future
and the past” (Anam, 2016 p.403). While looking at the bones intensely, an epiphanic
moment arises in her. At that moment, she visualizes the lives of animals that have come
before and after Diana. And at the same time, the people she has loved and lost have
appeared in her vision. The bones become the essence of her realization and learning
experience: “Everything that endures is in the atavism of her bones, fifty million years of
history encased….” (Anam, 2016 p.403).
By imagining herself as a composite whole, Zubaida wants to make peace with her
restlessness: “I'd work with fragments and picture the whole, filling in the gaps left by
history, and this was as it should be since our knowledge of the past could only ever be in
bits and pieces, left for us to piece together” (Anam, 2016 p.360). Elijah Strong to whom
the entire novel is addressed is Zubaida’s ineluctable “other”. Elijah mentions Zubaida’s
duality on her face: “You are an intermediate species, like Ambulocetus” (Anam, 2016
p.34). She always looks to him for solace and inspiration during the torturous moments of
her aloofness. While Zubaida is apprehensive, ambivalent, complicated, and nonchalant,
Elijah is still, resolved, decided, and rooted.
4.l.3 Zubaida Mental and Physical variation
Zubaida mentions the difference: “I had never seen a stare that was so clear and
unambiguous, since most people prefer to have at least two locations in their minds at
once. Instead, you were standing there as if roots had grown around your feet” (Anam,
2016 p.9). It is Elijah who frequently emancipates Zubaida from her feeling of in-
betweenness. He is the present who comes between Zubaida’s past and future. Zubaida
acknowledges that Elijah has a shaping influence on her: “You will always remain the
making of me” (Anam, 2016 p.407).
The decommissioned ship Grace becomes instrumental in drawing Elijah, Anwar,
and Shona close to Zubaida and it becomes a vital catalyst in the furthering of the novel’s
plot; in the progression of Zubaida’s life; in unveiling her true identity. The ship becomes

38
the melting pot of the past and the present and of the different cultures she straddles in,
and it seems to be an anchor to her multiple existences. Further, the ship symbolizes the
memory of Zubaida’s good days. The ship is a metaphor for her floating identity and her
existence: “Like houses and villages, boats stand for the basic social units of a family or
community” (Anam, 2016 p.391).
The image of the whale and the ship are crucial in the novel to understand
Zubaida’s constant mental and physical shift and variation; her dilemmas and impasses
regarding the determination of her identity; her constant entanglement with such
dilemmas; her negotiations, appropriations and her subsequent instrumentality in the
complex developments around her. Zubaida realizes that Diana is not complete; Grace is
not complete; she is not complete. She faces her lacunae and presents it truthfully which
emancipates her from all her negativities her incompleteness, her ambivalence, and her
rootlessness. Like Diana, she is “incomplete yet magnificent”. She becomes the essence
of the novel the bone, the backbone, the “bone of grace” in the novel. Shona is Zubaida’s
biological sister Meghna’s daughter with whom Zubaida establishes blood relations.
Metaphorically, Shona is like the salvaged fossil of Ambulocetus. As the discovery
of the whale Ambulocetus’ fossils inform us about the former’s evolution and habitat,
Shona helps Zubaida understand the mystery of her birth. Shona is the key to her
biological root, the antidote to her crisis. The “horizontality” of Zubaida’s identity
reaches a new height as she discovers her lineage and achieves, towards the end of the
novel, a “borderland consciousness”, and consequently her dualities overlap. Though
trapped initially, the working of Zubaiba’s consciousness finally “breaks down duality”,
“heals the split”, “transcends” in favor of a “collective consciousness” or “mestiza
consciousness” (Anam, 2016 p.80). We comprehend fully the internal and external
clashes of Zubaida’s life, her “lived experiences” and the “implications of those
experiences” (Anam, 2016 p.8). Infused with “mestiza consciousness”, Zubaida is no
longer a “nowhere woman”. She gets freed from her conflicts and contradictions and is
relieved of the burden of ambivalence and her “Trishanku state”.
Since long time women are subjugated by men and are treated like slaves who
have no rights. Feminist movement started gaining momentum after the industrial
revolution in Europe as well as many other movements for the downtrodden and
oppressed classes. As a result of these movements the Western women’s position and
status is far better than the women living in other parts of the world. Women’s condition
living postcolonial societies is worst because of the impacts and effects brought by

39
patriarchal approach and colonialism. Women are forced to perform their gender duties so
that they may live under domination. Masculinity wants to see women as submissive,
weak, obedient and silent subalterns. As Spivak (1999) says:
“Instead, it is the conceptual construction of gender that sustains male supremacy,
both as a subject of colonial history and as a subject of insurgency. The route of sexual
difference is harmed on two levels inside the veiled itinerary of the subaltern subject. If
the subaltern in the context of colonial production lacks a history and is silent, the
subaltern as a woman is put in a far worse light. The question is not whether or if women
engage in insurgencies or the rules guiding the sexual division of labour, for which
"evidence" exists” (Spivak, 1999, p.28)
In postcolonial societies the contemporary literature is gaining the zenith of glory
as a literature of resistance to patriarchal mind set. Particularly the fiction produced by the
postcolonial feminists is throwing the light on the women’s resistance who were
marginalized in postcolonial societies. Spivak advocates and supports the social
construction of patriarchal societies by the process of colonization. Although the
patriarchal societies have succeeded to get the freedom from the brutal hands of their
colonizers, yet their women are failed even today in getting the emancipation.
4.2 Race, Class and Identity Issue in The Bones of Grace
The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016), while being a postmodern work, continues to
centreon the problem of identity in the postcolonial era, and not just the protagonists but
other characters also face difficulties in trying to create their identities and fit in. Identity
is fluid and always in transition. Actually, the identity problem is a result of the soul's
simultaneous exile and belonging. In a similar way, I dentity is deeply established in
culture, country, religion, and—most importantly—in the sense of who each person is.
Anam examines the struggle of women in a patriarchal society with the covert repression
of culture and society from Zubaida. However, a person's identity is forced upon them by
nationalism, culture, and religion.
Even though Zubaida's sense of belonging to her roots is different in The Bones of
Grace(Anam,2016) Anam explores the problem of identity in a postcolonial setting
through this character. Even if a sense of belonging is where identity first begins, the
postcolonial world has linked it to nation, community, and religion. Zubaida becomes a
new person as a result of her root-related urges, and as a result, her identity is always
changing. Anam highlights the miseries of women by showing how hard it is for them to

40
find their identities in a postcolonial environment. Identity is nothing more than a variable
that is always changing. It concurrently alters people's thoughts and moulds their mental
processes. Hall states:
“This viewpoint calls into question the very legitimacy and authority that the word
"cultural identity" asserts. Perhaps we should think of identity as a "production" that is
never done, always in process, and always formed within, not outside, representation,
rather than as an already attained fact that the new cultural practises then convey”(Hall,
1994 p.110).
Therefore, "cultural identity" interferes with authenticity and authority. In other
words, it is possible to assert that "cultural identity" is what gives the masses their sense
of superiority and hierarchy. According to Hall, identity is a "production" that is never
finished and is always in progress rather than an established truth. The concept of
"cultural identity" as a process of identification raises problems with authority and
authenticity. Additionally, "cultural identity," in the sense of one shared culture, a type of
collective "one real self," lurking within the many other, more flimsy or forcibly imposed
"selves," is something that people who have a similar genealogy and history share.(Hall,
1994 pp 110-111).
4.2.l Cultural Identity
Anam depicts the adventures of the identities in various locations via the persona
of Zubaida, revealing how the procedure produces a light of hope amid the lost souls.
According to Hall, one genuine self is concealed beneath many fabricated "selves" in the
name of "cultural identity," and it is linked to a common shared past and genealogy. The
wandering whale's search process in The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016) figuratively
represents palaeontologist Zubaida's search for her roots and for herself.
Anam utters: You can't possibly return home, in my opinion. I don't think you can
go [globally] and stay the same. So few of us stay in the same place from birth till death.
They significantly transform who we are. (Kidd) gestures I don't believe it's only the
immigrant's health. It is a symptom of contemporary living.
As a result, Anam presents her perspective on identity, which presumably applies
to all of the trilogy's protagonists. When her marriage to Rashid does not work out, she
departs from accepted societal norms and divorces Rashid. After the unfortunate
encounter in Baluchistan with her coworkers, Zubaida returns to Bangladesh and marries
Rashid. Even though she had a Native American boyfriend named Elijah, she was forced
to wed Rashid at her foster parents' insistence (Anam, 2016 p.110).

41
 By learning about her original mother, Fatema Ansar, and her twin sister, who she
had been seeking for ever since she first developed consciousness, she comes face to face
with the realities of her existence. Despite the fact that her foster parents and society now
see her as flawed, she voluntarily makes the choice. As a result, Zubaida's identity
evolves throughout time as she searches for her origin. Identity holds the testimony of the
past, and Anam's 2016 novel The Bones of Grace emphasises the past's conjunction with
it from a fresh angle. She therefore becomes who she is, travels to Chittagong to film a
documentary about the life of ship breakers, learns the crucial information, and returns
with newfound knowledge of her life through Anwar.
Hall asks how identity tells its history. From this vantage point, it is possible to
assert that because identity is tied to one's own self, it speaks to the past in a variety of
ways. Zubaida knows the truth about her background and how it relates to who she is
now. Not an identity rooted in archaeology, but rather in the retelling of history, says
Hall? (Hall, 1994 p.111).
In The Bones of Grace, Zubaida says:
“Anwar may not have sought out Megna if he hadn't worked on that construction
site, and if he hadn't done that, I might not have known anything about my background”
(Anam, 2016 p.75).
Concerning the subject of identity crisis, Bhabha emphasises that hybridity exists
in the third space and is both actual and psychological. Anwar informs Zubaida about her
background, which occurs as a result of her appearance. She has the same features as her
twin sister, and Anwar is taken aback when he sees her. Anwar then tells her the tale of
her birth mother and twin sister. It attempts to investigate the cultural idiosyncrasies that
exist inside the postcolonial context. As a result, identity retells the past. Anam explores
the tension and crises of her identity via the character Zubaida.
In Anam's trilogy, the identity of Zubaida and many others may also be revealed
as "liminal" entities. The evolution of identity is influenced by colonial power. As a
result, hybridity is a colonial power instrument. According to Bhabha, "this liminal
moment of identification escaping likeness provides a subversive strategy of subaltern
agency that negotiates its own authority via a process of iterative 'unpicking' and
incommensurable, insurgent relinking" (Bhabha, 1994 p.265). Bhabha's idea helps
Zubaida find a place in both her conjugal and lonely lives. He associates "the liminal
moment of identification" with power that controls "subaltern agency." Zubaida's
sufferings in The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016) may also be highlighted by linking to the

42
colonial authority that masquerades as society and patriarchy. Here, Zubaida exemplifies
"subaltern action" in the face of crises imposed by patriarchal "power." Bhabha claims
that:
“Hybridity is a symptom of colonial power's production, its changing forces and
fixities; it is the label given to the strategic reversal of the process of dominance via
disavowal” (Bhabha, 1994 p.159).
Furthermore, Bhabha has investigated the reality of identity as it relates to
hybridity in the postcolonial age. It creates discriminating identities in order to
conceptualise the superiority of "pure" and "original authoritative identity." Hybridity is a
source of colonial power, allowing for a new kind of rule via denial. Bhabha (Bhabha,
1994, p.159).
Bhabha underlines in his book The Stereotypical Judgment of Patriarchal Society
Upon Women that the mottoof colonial control was to establish their perceptions among
the objects. Likewise, postcolonial patriarchy attempts to impose its monolithic notions
on women. Women are scrutinised and expected to perform in accordance with societal
norms. As a result, society's expectations of women serve as a weapon to control them.
Bhabha sheds light on:
“For the colonial hybrid is the articulation of the ambiguous space where the ritual
of power is performed on the site of desire, a negative transparency that makes its objects
both disciplinary and disseminatory, or, in my mixed metaphor, disciplinary and
disseminatory” (Bhabha, 1994 p.160).
The "authority" expects the "objects" or "subaltern agency" to follow their so-
called discipline and dissemination. Bhabha discusses colonial rule's goal as a "negative
transparency" that persists even after colonialism as a postcolonial idea of governing
others.
Thus, Anam's illustrates how "authority" emphasises its dominance over
"subaltern agency." The effect of history on identity plays a disastrous role in the
transformation of oneself to another. Anam (2016) shows this point of view using
instances from The Bones of Grace (Anam,2016) Zubaida was even chastised by her
foster parents for choosing to divorce Rashid rather than stay in an unsuitable
relationship.
"There are also essential areas of profound substantial difference that comprise
'what we truly are,' or rather 'what we have been' since history has interfered," Hall
writes. (Hall, 1994 p.112). Furthermore, it initiates the transformation of a person's traits

43
from one being to another. According to Hall, the changes in Zubaida's life impact and
transform the persona that Anam creates.
Furthermore, Anam (2016) has included autobiographical themes in The Bones of
Grace. Zubaida's narrative is identical to her own. Anam says:
“This is what I meant: it isn't so much limited by a certain past. It's more about
belonging and migration. Though I enjoyed writing the previous two volumes and
considered them essential, I felt obligated to create a narrative that had never been told
before” (Anam, 2016 p.75)
Her thesis earned her a PhD in anthropology from Harvard University in 2005.
She later earned a master of arts in creative writing from Royal Holloway, University of
london. Anam discusses her thoughts about writing the third book and how it relates to
her. In some ways, Zubaida's exile is linked to her exile from Bangladesh. Anam was
born in Dhaka on october 8, 1975, to Mahfuz Anam and Shaheen Anam. She went to
Paris when she was two years old, when both of her parents were hired by UNESCO.
Anam has spoken about her soul, wanting to fit in the world, via Zubaida, as Zubaida,
born in Bangladesh and educated at Harvard as a marine palaeontologist, tries to fit in the
world by her quest for her identity. She grew raised in Paris, New York, and Bangkok,
learning about the Bangladesh liberation War through her family since her father was a
fighter in the conflict. She obtained a scholarship to Mount Holyoke College when she
was 17, and she graduated in 1997.
The problem of place belonging is irreversible. Said emphasises the reality of
exile, which Anam also emphasises in her trilogy. "Exile is curiously appealing to think
about but dreadful to endure," he writes. Anam effectively conveys this sadness via
Zubaida in her art. It is the unhealable divide caused between a human person and a
native location, between the self and its actual home". Exile is a dreadful state for the
soul, and it is linked to a sense of belonging.
Than some degree, exile is preferable to establishing a new identity. Although it is
not relevant in every case, it does act as a starting point on occasion. Zubaida, on the
other hand, feels more at home in her adoptive country than in her own. Zubaida was
called after Zaid because Maya (Zubaida's mother) adored Zaid, Sohail's (Zubaida's
uncle) kid, as if he were her own. In The Good Muslim, however, she failed to free Zaid
from the madrasa Huzoor's paedophilic clutches, and Zaid was killed while attempting to
save Maya. Maya is devastated by the pain and loss of her kid, but she wants to keep Zaid
in her life, so she named her daughter Zubaida after him. Belonging to Zaid causes Maya

44
grieve, yet in exile, she loves her daughter, Zubaida, to compensate for the loss. For
Zubaida, exile is a blessing and a chance to reclaim her identity and reclaim what she has
craved her whole life. "The sadness of exile lies in the loss of touch with the firmness and
then satisfaction of earth: homecoming is out of the question," Said maintains (Anam,
2016 p.l79). "Exile is sometimes better than remaining behind or not getting," he
c0ntinues, "but only occasi0nally" (Anam, 2016 p.178).
4.3 Female Circumcisionin in The Bones of Grace
Unlike the previous two books in the trilogy, which are set before and after the
Bangladesh liberation War, The Bones of Grace is set in the present day. The Bones of
Grace (Anum,2016) may be appreciated without having read the prequels of what is
commonly referrld to as the Bengal trilogy. It delves into the nuances of Zubaida'slife, as
well as her search for identity and origins. Despite the fact that it is a postmodernist book,
I have employed a postcolonial viewpoint here since it is linked to historical happenings
and a retelling of the past to uncover the present.
"By her own movement, a woman must bring herself into the text as well as the
world and history." Woman must write about women and bring women back to writing,
which they have been pushed away from as brutally as they have been forced away from
their bodies for the same reasons, by the same legislation, with the same tragic purpose."
By analysing Anam's The Bones of Grace, this study illustrates Zubaida's struggle as well
as her perpetual quest for her roots and identity. The rise of Zubaida is related to her
suffering and her quest for her roots, and how she finally decides to find solace in her
adopted land where she feels more belonged than home as a palaeontologist, which Anam
highlights in her work. (Cixous, 1976, P.875,).
As a result, Anam's (2016) works might be described as "metahistoric" depictions
of the hidden history of women before, during, and after Bangladesh's liberati on War.
Cixous (1976) highlights the value of history through the voices of women, highlighting
their sorrows as well as accomplishments that male authors omit in their language. Thus,
Anam has portrayed women as subalterns in our society and culture, with their own
voices and the ability to communicate via their actions and achievements. Cixous
emphasises the significance of women's writing from a female viewpoint, which is seen
in Tahmima Anam's The Bones of Grace (2016) and her Trilogy. Though Anam has been
chastised for not presenting history authentically, she prefers to tell the tale from an
individual's and, indeed, a woman's point of view.

45
 "Diana has brought me back," Zubaida says in The Bones of Grace (Anum,2016)
after divorcing Rashid and returning to America to complete what she left unfinished in
the meantime (Anam, 2016 p.l). Spivak (1998) demonstrated that women have voices that
are ignored by patriarchal culture, and that women may gain triumph by protesting
vocally as well as via heroic acts.
This is the narrative of Zubaida, the protagonist of a golden age, the third
generation of Rehana. Thus, her career as a palaeontologist gives her the boldness to
challenge society and culture. The Bones of Grace (Anum,2016) is quite different from
the previous two books of the trilogy, although it is still interconnected. Anam has shown
the dilemma of Zubaida discovering her inner self while also yearning for her genuine
love and her true root. (Anam, 2016 p.1).
4.3.l Genital Mutilation Consequences
It also exposes her mother's struggle and survival in the face of a crucial society.
Though this work contains a variety of backdrops, it ultimately depicts a soul's struggle to
survive in the world. As a result, Maya subsequently reveals the tale of Zubaida's twin
sister, who was kept by her mother while Zubaida was given to her as an adopted kid,
during her inquisitive quest for her roots. It also illustrates the plight of women in the
confines of society and family, even when the lady is educated and free-spirited.
Zubaida's investigation reveals the truth about her birth mother, Fatema Ansar. (Anam,
2016 p.1).
Despite this, the narrative thematically parallels the protagonist's life story with
the life history of the walking whale.
“And for this to happen, there had to be a transgression, an abandoning of limbs,
whatever such voyaging may have cost, whatever longings and loves were left behind in
the ruins, an adventure into water, and the bravery to say good-by to the past,” (Anam,
2016 p.396).
Nonetheless, the situation of women who left their home country to work in
another nation to provide for their family and future forces them into a harsh reality as
contemporary sex slaves in the owner's house and brothels. Anam has also highlighted the
unpleasant reality of "capitalism" via Anwar, a male voice in the narrative, and through
his utterance, the fundamental truth of the labourers' lives in Dubai and its towers.
According to Spivak (1998), "Can the subaltern speak? Clearly, if you are poor,
black, and female, you will experience it in three ways" (Spivak, 1998 p.90). What must

46
the elite do to keep an eye on the subaltern's ongoing construction? In this situation, the
term "woman" seems to be the most troublesome.
Women have the worse living conditions of any creature in the Third World.
Spivak (1998), as a postcolonial feminist, delineates the realities behind the so-called
"elite," who are truly the ruling class, and how they subjugate women. Third-world
women are not only ruled and assessed by the First World, but they are also ruthlessly
discriminated against by their own men and culture, as Spivak (1998) portrays in the
essay in a nuanced manner.
The West is accumulating "knowledge" or "research" on the Third World not for
the Third World's development, but for their own political and economic interests in order
to dominate in a modern colonial manner. Criticizing the West, Spivak discerns agency or
freedom of action as a creation of language and also comments about the "thirst for
subjectivity" of the west. "Research" is a colonial tactic used by the West to demonstrate
their "superiority" over the Third World. She incorporates current theorists such as
Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Karl Marx, and Antonio Gramsci into
the essay and follows Jacques Derrida's belief that one's language transmutes and moulds
one's ideology and identity.
Spivak (1998), on the other hand, exhibits the same admiration for women as
French feminist Simone de Beauvoir. In The Second Sex, Beauvoir (1949) portrays how,
whether in the First or Third World, women are blamed by society while being victims of
the same patriarchal system. Furthermore, "epistemic violence" happens as a result of the
marginalisation of particular voices within Western discourse, and Spivak (1998) asserts
that she is not immune. Furthermore, Beauvoir, like Spivak (1998), uses the popular
phrase "other" in the book, which is imposed on women by the male-dominated culture in
order to rule over them. Using Sati as a metaphor, she depicts women's servitude at the
hands of both white men and brown men.
According to her, man denies humanity by thinking himself the "subject" or "self"
and designating woman as the "object" or "other" in his gender treatment of women.
However, Beauvoir (1949) speaks out against patriarchy in a time when no woman was
permitted to do so. Beauvoir analyses women's roles in society and shows how "female
people" in the book have a subservient place in society to the males. Beauvoir depicts
women's lives in different "situations" from infancy to maturity. In this situation,
Beauvoir is seen as an early feminist in the feminism movement, bringing the unpleasant
truth to the world in the voice of a woman.

47
 Furthermore, Zubaida comes from an affluent Bangladeshi family, and despite
being a contemporary independent woman and a Harvard graduate, she is unable to stand
out for or against her family when it comes to picking a life mate. Anam's (2016) The
Bones of Grace depicts the struggle, survival, and successes of Zubaida'slife via the
protagonist's voice, which demonstrates the main ideas of Spivak and Beauvoir. The
society, disguised as her family, really forces her to do so, and she is unable to
communicate. She writes to Elijah since she is unable to say no in her marriage. Zubaida's
life is complicated when she returns to Bangladesh and marries her childhood friend
Rashid, despite her feelings for Elijah Strong, who resides in the United States. Zubaida is
significantly more self-sufficient here:
“I would have been able to proceed through this period with more confidence, the
courage to break old threads and strengthen new ones, but suddenly, in the aftermath of
this spectacular failure, I became an obedient orphan once again. I'm not telling you this
to hurt you, Elijah, but to explain that leaving Rashid was like leaving behind my
childhood, and because I was a person whose life began with her own life, rather than,
like you, with a family tree that stretched back generations, I clung to every piece of my
past, unable to forget or let goof a single thing,...” (Anam, 2016p.79).
In The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016), Anam also summarises her thoughts on class
discrimination against women and minorities. She highlights the plights of Zubaida's twin
sister and Anwar, a labourer. As an adopted kid, Zubaida honours her family by accepting
to Rashid's foster parents' marriage proposal. And it is once again shown that the
subaltern cannot talk since no one can hear her. In the narrative, Anam also examines
"capitalism" as a reader's humanitarian ideas. While describing the prejudice and brutal
labour, she adds, "First and foremost, there is the question of class." Here, Zubaida is
more autonomous, makes her own decisions, and has a great affection for Elijah, but she
is still unable to express herself and prefers to please her foster parents. As a result, she
attempts to reciprocate her parents' affection, which has cost her a miserable wedded life.
(Anam, 2016 p.79).
Referring to class and "elite," Spivak, (1998) also says: "Certain variants of the
Indian elite are at the best native informants for first world intellectuals interested in the
voice of the other. According to her, class concerns are established to discriminate against
others and are also linked to "capitalism." However, one must argue that the colonised
subaltern subject is irreversibly diverse." Spivak (1998), p.79. Though the "elite" are
nothing more than an instrument of colonisation, they also serve as colonisers to their

48
society's subalterns. Anam purposefully depicts the same situation as the parlour ladies in
The Bones of the Grace, (2016) via the lives of Anwar and other labourers in Dubai who
fled their nation for a brighter future and a better life, only to accept the awful reality of
life.
In her opus, The Second Sex, she claims that women's lives are more critical and
dissonant than men's. Spivak (1998) defines "elite" as "powerful foreign groups" who
may be likened to the owners of skyscrapers in The Bones of Grace, (2016). It is also
shown via Zubaida's biological mother's in-laws in The Bones of Grace. Women's
independence becomes a challenge. In many respects, society has long overlooked
women's difficulties. However, women continue to rise via their actions and achieve
triumph, while being mostly suppressed by the same society. As a result, patriarchy
creates a labyrinth in the lives of women. When a woman becomes perplexed in the man-
made labyrinth, the same patriarchy judges and curses her. "For when she starts her adult
life, she does not have the same history as a male; she is not perceived in the same
manner by society; the world presents itself to her in a different viewpoint," Beauvoir
claims (Spivak, 1998 p.69l). According to Beauvoir, a woman's life circumstance differs
from that of a male.
Women are constantly condemned and cursed in patriarchal societies, despite the
fact that they are not to fault for what occurs. In The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016), Anam
has revealed the truth about women's struggles. Zubaida has their own problems that
demonstrate both the positives and weaknesses of being a woman. In The Bones of Grace
(2016), Fatema, Zubaida's biological mother, was mocked and humiliated by her in-laws
for the murder of her husband. Her choice to divorce Rashid and return to Cambridge has
taken a lot from her, but she has trust in continuing and keeping going to gain hold of her
newly obtained identity, which is a continual process and which is altering through time,
filled with hope to find her lost love.
Zubaida was in the similar scenario at her in-laws' residence in The Bones of
Grace(Anam,2016). Women are compelled to conduct household chores, and even the
little freedom that women have is not tolerated by males in society. When a woman goes
against the grain and seeks advancement, she is hindered by social and religious taboos.
Men want to admire everything outside since they are kept busy at home. "The curse that
befalls woman as vassal consists, as we have seen, in the fact that she is not authorised to
do anything; as a consequence, she persists in the futile pursuit of her true life via

49
narcissism, love, or religion," says Beauvoir (Beauvoir, 1949 p.689). Religion, love, and
narcissism all urge women to remain at home.
The patriarchal society in South Asia believes that females should marry young
for a better future. In The Bones of Grace, Zubaida's true mother, Fatema, is mocked by
her in-laws as a bad omen for them, and her twin sister confronts the worst reality by
travelling to Dubai. This belief has evolved significantly, but it is still held that marriage
is the only way to live a happy life, particularly for women, whether from the poor or
higher classes (Anam, 2016 p.79). They all sought to defy the conventions and suffered
horribly as a result of patriarchy.
Anam's friend's marriage did not meet the standards for child marriage under
Bangladeshi marriage law, but it was an early marriage. While Zubaida's mother's
position was different from Zubaida's, both of them faced the curse of marriage. Anam, in
fact, criticises society's stereotyped assumptions about women. Anam believes that,
although the frequency of early marriages has dropped, it is still prevalent in rural areas.
"She claimed she went to her in-laws' place for lunch and that her mother-in-law had
served shrimp curry, a favourite of the newlywed pair," Anam writes. "Make sure you
give the largest shrimp to my kid," her husband's mother said as the dishes were being
delivered (Anam, 2016 p.79). Anam, on the other hand, emphasises the mental torment of
her close friend's in-laws, a US college graduate who married in her twenties.
However, in the case of hardship, every woman's life seems to be the same. The
manner of suffering may change, but the images are the same. Although Anam's friend
and her husband come from upper-class families, her friend faces the same curse that
lower-class, indigenous, and subaltern women do when they marry. Anam, on the other
hand, emphasises the subordination of other voices in The Bones of Grace(Anam,2016).
She has discovered that patriarchy causes "epistemic violence" (Spivak p.84). In The
Bones of Grace, Zubaida is similar to Anam's friend, with the exception that Zubaida
married Rashid by following her foster parents, while Anam's friend married her adored.
According to Spivak, society creates "epistemic violence" to govern the subaltern
by marginalising their voices. Furthermore, the painful events in Zubaida'slife are
reminiscent of "mythic sati" (Spivak, 1998, p.l03), who suffers from "epistemic violence"
while being the wife f God in Hindu mythology. Zubaida's voice is likewise neglected in
The Bones of Grace. As a result of thoe "epistemic violence," the voices of her birth
mother, twin sister, and shipyard workers, as well as Anwar, go ignored (Spivak 84).

50
 In this issue, criticizing Freud, Spivak states: “I am fascinated, rather, by how
Freud predicates a history of repression that produces the final sentence. Spivak,
(1998)remarks “Figures like the goddess Athena- ‘father’s daughters, self-professedly
uncontaminated by the womb’-are useful for establishing for women’s ideological self
debasement, which is to be distinguished from a deconstructive attitude toward the
essentialist subject” (Spivak, 1998p.103). It is a history with double origin, one hidden in
the amnesia of the infant, the other lodged in our archaic past, assuming by implication a
preoriginary space where human and animal were not yet differentiate (Spivak,
1998p.92). Spivak even mentions the Greekgoddess, Athena, who was even not out of
the “epistemic violence.” Hence, the amnesia among colonial subordinate is a common
phenomenon and the colonial “object” becomes the postcolonial “subject” to be ruled
over the subordinate by their amnesia.
Even after divorcing Rashid in The Bones of Grace(Anum,2016), Zubaida remains
unmarried, and her feelings for Elijah haven't altered. Spivak defines human as woman
and the animalistic treatment she receives from the "subject" as the guy who governs her.
Women's lives are not easy, as they are governed by both patriarchy and imperialism.
Apparently, males rule over women as masters because they have learned from the past
and by practising, they become superior, in this instance Zubaida's in-laws and husband,
who are not harsh, but rather kind and superior. Furthermore, the power of a woman's
love is greater than everything else in the world. Though they are cursed, chastised, and
shouted at by the patriarchy, they are nevertheless capable of loving not just others but
also themselves. In The Second Sex, Beauvoir emphasises the power of women's love as
follows: Beauvoir reflects on women's sacrifices as well as their strength.
Despite this, women may ascend, as Zubaida does towards the conclusion of the
story, by choosing to follow her goals as a palaeontologist in the nation where she feels
more at home (America) and to reunite with her lost lover rather than her own motherland
(Bangladesh) as an obedient orphan. "Between patriarchy and imperialism, subject-
construction and object-formation, the figure of the woman fades not into a pure
emptiness, but into a violent shuttling which is the displaced figuration of the 'third-world
woman' stuck between modernity," writes Spivak (1998). (Spivak, 1998 p.102). "On the
day when it will be possible for woman tolove not in her weakness but in her strength, not
to flee herself but to discover herself, not to abase herself, on that day love will become a
source of life and not fatal peril for her, as it is for man" (Spivak, 1998 p.679). Tradition

51
and the process of "subject-construction" and "object-formation" lead to the
disappearance of women.
According to Spivak, a woman's true power resides inside herself. Nobody can
stop her from falling in love with herself. Beauvoir further expresses: If the challenges are
more visible in the case of an independent woman, it is because she has chosen combat
over acquiescence. Nonetheless, Anam demonstrates that women may gain triumph not
just via vocal protest, but also by heroism, as shown by the figure of Zubaida. All of life's
issues find a quiet answer in death; a woman who is preoccupied with living is therefore
more at odds with herself than she whoburys her will and ambitions, but the former will
not accept the latter as normal (Spivak, 1998 p.695-696). Women's lives are not as easy
as men's, yet they may still succeed. Anam's The Bones of Grace brilliantly depicts a
woman's qualities and achievements. Following in the footsteps of Spivak and Beauvoir,
Anam has shown that women can and cannot talk at the same time. As a result, despite all
challenges, complexity, and difficulties in life, women are ignored by the patriarchal
system and society, but they do have voices.
4.4 Mexican Gothic: An Allegory of the New Mestiza
Silvia Moreno-Garcia published the horror novel Mexican Gothic in 2020.
Moreno-Garcia was born and raised in Mexico, but she moved to Canada, where she
completed a master’s degree in Science and Technology Studies, and now resides in
Vancouver. Moreno-Garcia was inspired to write the novel after travelling to Mineral del
Monte, a mountain town located in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo. Mineral del
Monte was home to several large mining operations that fell under Spanish and British
control. The British presence even earned the town the nickname, “Little Cornwall,” as
the appearance of the town became increasingly British as a result of the colonial
influence. Moreno-Garcia visited the English Cemetery in Mineral del Monte during her
travels, and she found the misty, rainy setting of the cemetery in the cold mountains to be
fascinating: “The trees are tall, and there are all of these gravestones with English names.
It was like something out of a Hammer Film, like you would expect Christopher Lee to
walk around in the background. It was just a very interesting location that I remembered
for quite a few years afterwards” (“Silvia Moreno-Garcia”). These impressions of Mineral
del Monte provided Moreno-Garcia with the historical backdrop for her depiction of El
Triunfo, a ghost town in Baja California, where the events of Mexican
Gothic(Gracia,2020) take place.

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 The novel takes place in 1950 and follows a young woman who journeys to El
Triunfo after receiving a ghastly letter from her cousin, who claims her husband wants to
murder her. The protagonist, Noemí Taboada, is a 22-year-old socialite whose father
owns a highly profitable paint manufacturing business in Mexico City. Although she
plays piano and studies anthropology at her university, most of Noemí’s life revolves
around costume parties and romantic flings with men that fail to hold her interest.
However, the receipt of a letter from her cousin Catalina presents Noemí with the
opportunity to prove her resolve to her father. Noemí takes a train to El Triunfo, where
Catalina lives with her husband Virgil Doyle in his family’s dilapidated mansion, a
sprawling English estate named the High Place, near the family’s nonoperational silver
mines.
As she investigates Catalina’s plight, Noemí receives a cold welcome at High
Place from everyone except Francis Doyle, Virgil’s kind and gentle cousin. Between
debating Howard, the family’s elderly patriarch, on the subject of eugenics and exploring
the nightmarish levels of decay within High Place, Noemí bonds with Francis and meets
Marta Duval, an indigenous healer in El Trinfo, who sells Noemí a tincture for Catalina
and explains the mysterious curse that haunts the Doyles. Through Marta Duval, Noemí
learns the family has a long history of incestuous marriage and that Ruth, Howard’s
daughter and Virgil’s sister, tried to murder everyone at High Place after her father killed
Benito, her one true love, because he was the nephew of a Mexican miner who once led a
strike against the Doyles.
Noem finds Ruth's spirit still haunts High Place via a series of horrific visions.
Noem tries to flee the estate and return with her father to save Catalina, sensing danger.
Nonetheless, Virgil intercepts Noem and takes her into Howard's bedchamber, where the
frail old man lies nude on his bed above the blankets. The Doyles disclose that they have
no plans to let her leave. Indeed, Howard discovered a rare fungus with the potential to
cure and lengthen life a long time ago. It is very powerful in the Doyle lineage, which
explains their incestuous past. The mushroom's spores have infiltrated the mansion,
developing a symbiotic connection with the structure and its residents. It also permits
some influence over humans who have breathed its spores, which explains the disease
that devastated the mine employees.
The spores gather and store memories, and Noem's visions are truly the darkness,
the family's collective memories. Howard sacrificed his first wife, Agnes, by
transforming her mind into a real centre for the spores. In truth, Howard is about 3oo

53
years old. He possesses the ability to turn his memories into darkness and dwell in the
body of a descendent. However, their plan to acquire immortality was thwarted since the
Doyles' history of inbreeding has resulted in sterility. As a result, Howard studied
eugenics in order to marry outside of the family. Outsiders respond to the spores
differently, with some developing fevers and dying, but Noem seems to be more
complimentary than her cousin - and Noem's inherited fortune will replace the Doyles'
diminishing resources, enabling them to restart their silver mines.
The frightening tales that are told to children around smoky campfires or tucked
under the covers before bedtime are, in essence, instructional. From the familiar fiends
that lurk in the shadows of fairytales to the homegrown monsters of urban legends that
children repeat to each other in whispers, the horror contains some kind of lessondo not
wander into the darkness alone, do not talk to strangers, do not be too bold, and so on.
Gloria Anzaldúa touches upon the teachable element of this genre in Borderlands/La
Frontera as she retells her early memories of a ghostly figure that haunted the gulf where
she was raised:
An abandoned church was only down the road from our home. The Mexicanos
knew that if they went down the road late at night, they would see a lady clothed in white
floating about, staring out the church window. She would pursue anyone who had done
something wrong or were terrified. La Jila was her Mexican nickname. Some mistook her
for La Llorona (Moreno-Garcia p.35).
Upon revisiting these childhood impressions as an adult, Anzaldúa supposes the
scary stories were designed “to ‘protect’ members of the family, especially girls, from
‘wandering’” (Moreno-Garcia p.36). As Anzaldúa shows, the fear instilled into children
through such scary stories becomes a control device, an instinct to repress what the adults
deem as bad behavior. However, while fear protects children from danger in some cases,
fear also becomes stifling or debilitating in others. In particular, this kind of paralyzing
fear arrests the self-actualization of young girls who are trained to be wary of ever leaving
the realm of domesticity to pursue something more in life. Horror usually cautions them
to be fearful – but, in a subversive way, it also presents them with the opportunity to be
brave.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic(2020) is one novel that subverts the
traditional function of scary stories as precautionary tales. In many ways, the novel is a
grownup reinterpretation of fairytales that center upon a damsel in distress except rather
than punishing the female protagonist for not being complacent, it rewards her for taking

54
action on her own behalf. Additionally, the novel addresses themes related to
colonization, and it importantly focuses on the heroine’s self-actualization as a young
woman with both Spanish and indigenous roots. Indeed, through the symbols that
manifest these themes into the corporeal world of the novel, Mexican
Gothic(Garcia,2020) reads as an allegorical representation of Anzaldúa’s conception of
the New Mestiza.

4.4.l Anzaldúa and La Mestiza

Through the symbolic mechanisms of this suspenseful tale, Moreno-Garcia paints
a damning portrait of European colonization in Mexico. The incestuous Doyle family
represents the greed of historical colonizers and their economic descendants, the
international capitalists who still exploit the land and people of Mexico for profit today.
"By the end of the nineteenth century, strong landowners in Mexico, in collaboration with
U.S. colonisation firms, had dispossessed millions of Indians of their lands," Gloria
Anzalda says. Mexico and its eighty million residents are now nearly entirely reliant on
the US market. The Mexican government and affluent farmers have formed alliances with
American companies like as American Motors, IT&T, and Du Point." (Moreno-Garcia
p.10).
Although the Doyle family is from England instead of the United States in the
novel, Moreno-Garcia’s portrayal of the Doyles as English points to the British
colonization of the Americas, which resulted in centuries of devastation to indigenous
populations beginning in the early seventeenth century. It seems Moreno-Garcia is aware
of this legacy, as she represents the historical origins of colonization through the character
of Howard and the persistence of corporate colonization to this day through the character
of Virgil, Howard’s more charming but equally nefarious son.
In Mexican Gothic(Gracia,2020), the business of mining silver connects the
generations of Doyle men. The patriarch Howard relocates his household to Mexico,
planning to extract silver from the mountains near El Triunfo while also pursuing
immortality in secret, and commences the process of Anglifying both the landscape and
native population. A white supremacist, Howard bans the Spanish language on his
property; indeed, despite living in Mexico, none of the Doyles – expect for Francis –
speak Spanish. As Francis tells Noemí, “It’s all very English. Um, that’s what Uncle
Howard wanted, a little piece of England. He even brought European earth here”
(Moreno-Garcia p.28).

55
 This linguistic anglicization reflects the way in which dominant colonial powers
eviscerate difference and establish homogeny. This privileging of the homogenous
colonial identity manifests in the novel through the Doyles’ incestuous marriages.
Moreno-Garcia writes, "[All] the individuals in the family appeared to have the identical
physiognomy, which she dubbed 'the Doyle look' in her brain." Like Charles II's
Habsburg jaw, although not nearly as frightening. That was a severe example of
mandibular prognathism." (Moreno-Garcia p.173).
Like the Habsburgs, one of the most prominent royal houses in Europe, the Doyles
literally perpetuate a pure, homogenous version of themselves into the future through
incest. The herald of the Doyle family, a prominent decoration in High Place, visualizes
this phenomenon. The Doyles’ ancestral crest is a serpent consuming its own tail, the
ouroboros, a popular Gnostic symbol of birth, life, death, and rebirth. As Virgil explains
to Noemí, “The snake eats its tail. The infinite, above us, and below” (Moreno-Garcia
p.121).
Moreover, as Noemí observes upon discovering Howard’s scheme to steal her
blood and life energy, “The serpent does not devour its tail, it devours everything around
it, voracious, its appetite never quenched” (Moreno-Garcia p.334). Certainly, the sickness
caused by the spores of the Doyles’ mushroom devastates the physical environment and
the health of the locals but, on a deeper level, this destruction encapsulates the genocidal
impulse for erasure that always accompanies colonization in some shape or form:
“The essence of colonization: rip off a culture, then regurgitate its white version to
the ‘natives’” (Moreno-Garcia p.48). Colonization, as illustrated by the Doyles, destroys
everything that is not exploitable, leaving behind a wake of decay once all profitable
resources have been exhausted. As Marta Duval says, “[The] fact is everything they touch
rots” (Moreno-Garcia p.96). In this way, Moreno-Garcia fundamentally symbolizes
colonization as rot.
Furthermore, in contrast to Howard and Virgil, Moreno-Garcia characterizes the
novel’s heroine, Noemí, as what Gloria Anzaldúa refers to as the New Mestiza. In
Anzaldúa’s words, “[A]n Aztec word meaning torn between ways, la mestiza is a product
of the transfer of the cultural and spiritual values of one group to another” who stands “on
both shores [of opposite banks] at once” and “see[s] through serpent and eagle eyes”
(Borderlands 78-8). Indeed, when Howard inquires why Noemí is much darker than her
cousin Catalina, Noemí flatly replies, “Catalina’s mother was from France. My father is

56
from Veracruz and my mother from Oaxaca. We are Mazatec on her side” (Moreno-
Garcia p.44).
The Mazatec are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit a mountainous
region in Oaxaca known as the Sierra Mazateca. An important part of religious rituals in
the Mazatec tradition involves the use of entheogens, or psychoactive substances such as
plants and fungi, by the Mazatec shamans (Moreno-Garcia p.287). This connection
between Noemí’s heritage and the shamanic cultivation of entheogens in the Mazatec
culture serves as a plot device that explains Noemí’s tolerance for the Doyles’
mushrooms. But, more importantly, it shows that Noemí in the vein of Anzaldúa’s
concept of the New Mestizais willing to embrace indigenous culture despite being
socialized by colonial forces to perceive such cultural practices as backward superstition.
"Within us and within la culturachicana, frequently held views of the white culture
fight commonly held beliefs of the Mexican culture, and both attack commonly held
beliefs of the indigenous culture," Anzalda writes (Moreno-Garcia p.78). Before Noem
leaves High Place to get a tincture for Catalina from Marta Duval, Virgil emphasises that
no doctor in El Triunfo is better than the family's private doctor: "There's a reason why
my father brought his own doctor from England, and it's not because the health care in
this place was magnificent. The town is impoverished, and the inhabitants are crude and
unsophisticated. It's not a town overrun with physicians" (Moreno-Garcia p.77). Noem,
influenced by Virgil, the spokesperson of homogeneous European conquerors, originally
regards indigenous healers as "two steps away from witchcraft" (Moreno-Garcia p.91).
As Anzaldúa remarks, “Most Mexican Americans, having swallowed the whites’
contempt for indigenous medicine, did not believe that curanderas could restore the soul
and heal the body” (Moreno-Garcia p.31). Yet, Noemí comes to view Marta Duval not as
another folkloric figure in an anthropology textbook “The first book that had gotten
Noemí really interested in anthropology had been Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among
the Azande” (Moreno-Garcia p.91) but rather as a valuable source of precolonial wisdom.
Marta Duval transmits necessary information about how exactly the Doyles’ released a
plague of disease and destruction upon El Triunfo. Additionally, Marta Duval’s tincture is
the only medicine that successfully resists the spores of the Doyles’ mushrooms. At the
upshot of the novel’s events, Noemí’s skeptical comment to Marta Duval during the first
moments of their meeting “So you’re a healer and a storyteller” (Moreno-Garcia p.93)
turns out to be profoundly true. Both the tangible medicine that Marta Duval concocts for

57
Catalina and the stories of the past that Marta Duval relays to Noemí are crucial for
Noemí’s escape from High Place.
Noemí’s most distinguishing character trait as the novel’s protagonist is her
resourcefulness. Throughout all of the novel’s twists and turns, Noemí always makes the
right decision at exactly the right time. Although her multifaceted heritage as a mestiza
woman grants her the tools to deftly navigate sticky situations – for example, she speaks
in Spanish to communicate with Catalina and Francis in secret among the monolingual
Doyles – she importantly survives by the virtue of making her own choices. Indeed,
Noemí has allies in supporting characters such as Francis and Marta Duval, but her
agency as an individual allows her to ultimately save the day.
The power of her agency is such a force of reckoning that it proves to be
transformative for others, especially Francis. Francis, although bound to his family’s
insular way of life via literal toxic enmeshment, remains open to the possibility of
communicating with others unlike himself through his bilingualism; his bond with Noemí
prompts him to evolve his sense of justice to the point of being able to take action against
his malicious family members. Through the vehicle of Francis’ character growth,
Moreno-Garcia demonstrates that non-mestizas do not experience the same kind of
identity-based trauma that mestizas experience as a result of colonization; however, they
are still capable of understanding and supporting mestizas by actively listening,
embracing difference in a non-appropriative manner, and decentering themselves, as
Francis does at the end of the novel. As Anzaldúa explains, “One of your jobs as a writer
is to reveal the dualistic character of the dispute between whites and people of colour, the
false idealised images and other desconocimientos that each group possesses but would
rather ignore, and to advocate a more holistic viewpoint” (Moreno-Garcia p.146).
Indeed, while no one has forgotten that “the world might indeed be a cursed
circle” (Moreno-Garcia p.409), the novel concludes in a place that resembles Anzaldúa’s
holistic perspective. Having finally escaped High Place, Noemí resolves to be hopeful in
spite of the many trials ahead:
She believed that the future could not be foreseen, nor could the form of things be
divined. It was ludicrous to believe otherwise. But they were young that morning, and
they had optimism. I wish the world could be changed to be kinder and nicer. So she
kissed him again, just for good measure. When he looked at her again, his face was filled
with such joy, and the third time she kissed him, it was out of love. (Moreno-Garcia
pp.409-410).

58
 Noemí knows the process of negotiation the internal negotiation of the different
parts that culminate into her own personal identity, as well as the external negotiation of
racial difference that shapes her relationship with Francis is never-ending work.
Nevertheless, despite knowing that she will face inevitable obstacles, Noemí has faith in
the sustaining power of love. In this light, Moreno-Garcia’s novel is an allegory for the
self-actualization of Anzaldúa’s New Mestiza, a person who despite the pain of moving
through the world still believes that a beautifully intersectional, multicultural society is
possible.
It has a centre node, a hub tree, and a mother tree." Moreno-Garcia (2020) refers
to mushrooms as colonisers while also providing us with the foundation to see English
colonisers as fungi. One who controls and affects a body from a single point of control.
The Doyles are not just a metaphorical fungus that has exploited the earth on which they
have landed, but they are also in an actual symbiotic relationship with a fungus. This
fungus is known as "the darkness," and it can be found throughout the house: in the walls,
beneath the floorboards, and, finally, in the blood of the occupants. The darkness has the
power to retain the awareness of everyone it comes into touch with, almost as if it were an
organic hard drive. At one point Francis tries to explain how this works to a clearly
puzzled Noemi: I've told you about the darkness. I haven't informed you about my
ancestors. We're unique. The fungus forms a link with humans and is not harmful. It has
the potential to make us immortal. Howard has lived countless lives in several bodies. He
transfers his mind to the darkness and then returns to life in the body of one of his
offspring. Moreno-Garcia (Moreno-Garcia, 2020, pp.212-13)
Howard Doyle has effectively survived for a century or two by uploading his
mind to the void and then putting himself into the body of one of his fortunate children.
This permits the original coloniser to carry on his heritage through generations since he is
truly immortal. This story element also represents how colonialism's legacy may be
carried down through generations. Noemi realises that the gloom's centre point is really
Howard's first wife Agnes's corpse, and it spreads from her to the family mausoleum and
around the home. Noemi understands Agnes' consciousness has been bound by the
darkness for a long time. Noemi decides to act and throws the light at the corpse's
(Agnes') face. It quickly ignited the mushrooms around Agnes' head, forming a fire halo...
Virgil yelled... Agnes was the darkness, and they were the gloom, and this abrupt harm to
Agnes, to the web of mushrooms, must be like neurons sparking. Noemi, for her part, was
startled awake, the blackness pushing her away (Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.290).

59
 Noemi uses the fire to purify not just Agnes of the darkness and, eventually, her
incarceration, but also to clear this portion of Mexico once and for all of the vestiges of a
colonial army. Fire is often used as a weapon against tyranny, therefore it is appropriate
that someone of mestizo descent has freed this town of the English coloniser. Noemi and
Catalina's struggle with the darkness is fully gothic in and of itself, further cementing this
novel's position in the genre. "Gothic tales revolve around worries about self-hood and
imprisonment, depicted via odd or exaggerated happenings that may or may not be
justified as manifestations of the generally female lead character's imagination," says
Rubenstein in her study on the topic (Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.311).
In general, the female protagonist and the reader are left wondering whether or not
everything transpired in the woman's mind in a lot of gothic novels. Moreno-Garcia
subverts this cliche by emphasising Noemi and Catalina's experiences. By taking this
path, Moreno-Garcia makes the Doyle men's accusations of lunacy or disease all the more
sinister.
They acquire the upper hand and the capacity to conquer by knowing full well that
the males are trying to gaslight them. Noemi and Catalina were considerably more than
just victims in this narrative, and they accomplished far more than simply surviving.
Instead of being obedient to the desire of the coloniser and assimilating into the Doyle
family, they maintained to be themselves and struggle. Noemi exploited her pride and
knowledge of her own cultural background to undermine Doyle's influence over her and
Catalina. They discard many of the traditional clichés that accompany female characters
in gothic literature while doing so.
Noemi and Catalina not only fled and survived the conquering army, but also
completely destroyed it by defying these preconceptions. Noemi and Catalina thoroughly
demonstrate the power of mestizos and other people of mixed race to enter and
deconstruct the oppressors' established structures. "It (the mestizo) is not merely trapped
between two worlds to which it does not belong and into which it cannot dissolve,"
Rafael Perez-Torres concluded in her own study. It travels between the two worlds.
Chicano culture, as a sort of mestizaje, does not represent a paradigmatic desire for self-
definition: it enacts that quest in a variety of ways" (Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.172).
Mestizos are not "trapped" between two worlds, as they and many other persons
of mixed race are sometimes described; they migrate between both. Once identified, their
mobility allows them to enter places where the coloniser still has authority and eventually
destroy those systems, using fire if necessary (Moreno-Garcia, 2020 p.172).

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 CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION&

RECOMMENDATIONS
5.l Summary

The present study explores the mestizo voice in Tahmina Anam’s The Bones of
Grace(2016) and Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. About race and
identity politics emerge from the fine specificity of the one-drop rule, notions of
hybridity, creolization, mongrelizing, and metissage are difficult topics. Tehmina Anam is
a renowned Pakistani Bangladeshi, novelist. Tehmina Anam has presented in The Bones
of Grace(Anam,2016) a true scenario of Bangladeshi society and the picture of women in
a Bangladeshi Patriarchal society where women are seen as a source of carnal pleasures
only.Mexican Gothic(2020) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia presented with a fresh take on the
postcolonial horror story from the mestizo point of view.The mestizo is considered almost
as a separate “species” that only fits into their discourse when concerned with cultural
pluralism or democracy but is not considered as a desirable trait for individual human
beings. The theoretical framework for the present study will be drawn on feminist notions
like pluralistic liberalism, patriarchy,exploitation and harassment propounded by, Gyateri
Spivak. The present study will explore the position and status of women in a patriarchal
society and pluralistic liberalism through the mestizo voice.

5.2 Findings

The study found the aforementioned chapter of this current study reflect that in
this literary piece of fictions the mestizo voice in Anam’s The Bones of Grace(2016) and
Mexican Gothic(2020) by Moreno-Garcia. In depth evaluation of the selected fictional
piece of literature proves that Tahmina Anam has depicted the narrator cum female lead
Zubaida is much more than a diasporic subject. Zubaida is a ’marine paleontologist’. She
isa “mestiza”, the term elaborated by the American cultural theorist Gloria Anzaldua.
Zubaidais presented by Anam as an “adopted” woman literally and metaphorically.
Zubaida has more than one identity which exists horizontally. As a “mestiza”, she
successfully straddles the binary and an array of contradictions. Anam thus fictionalizes
the contours of identity formation of a Bangladeshi woman who digs deep into the

61
complex roots of her origin, comes to terms with her amphibian existence, and develops a
new consciousness. Analyzing the difficulties, survival, and successes of women in the
light of Anam's The Bones of Grace(2016). I adapted the concepts from Gayatri Spivak's
article "Can the Subaltern Speak?" (1998). I demonstrated my thesis by stating that,
although women are viewed as subordinates, they have voices. At the same time, I've
defined the war for women in the postcolonial and modern eras. Thus, Anam gives her
perspective on identity, as do all of her characters in the trilogy. Anam has included
personal aspects in the work, speaking about her spirit and attempting to fit in with the
world via Zubaida. Anam discusses her thoughts about writing the third book and how it
relates to her. In some ways, Zubaida's exile is linked to her exile from Bangladesh. To
conclude this paper, I want to say that women can speak up and achieve their goals by
challenging age-old norms, and identity is a continuous process that evolves over time.
Zubaida's identity reflects her cravings for her roots and evolves over time, making her a
strong woman in the postcolonial world.

5.3 Conclusion

Analyzing a gothic novel written more than two hundred years after the genre's
inception and from a different culture across the Atlantic has allowed me to notice several
important contours of identity formation and their access to typically coded masculine, as
well as the evolution of these concepts over the past two hundred years. Using Moreno-
Mexican Garcia's Gothic, I have noted the ways in which women in more modern eras
and Latin American countries experience fear in many of the same ways that women in
eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe did. While cultural variations effect fear
socialization in different ways, women writers of gothic fiction most commonly find
dread in patriarchal tyranny and gender stereotyped roles that restrict their agency, access
to education, and control over their own bodies. Moreno-Noemi Garcia's battles the
expectation that she will become a wife and mother right once, the danger of marriage
and pregnancy that the Doyles impose on her, and the power over her body and mind that
the darkness grants Howard and Virgil.If I had expected an evolution in the root cause of
women's terror between Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho and Moreno-Mexican Garcia's
Gothic, I would have been disappointed; while the naming of the fear may have changed
in the last two centuries (the fear of lost purity has become simply the fear of violation),
the cycle of fear that men enact on women has continued to use the same methods to
avenge their deeply rooted fear of women's power. While this work spans time and

62
cultures, the dread that women face in a male-dominated world is constant. However, the
development of women's education, access to it, and cultural attitudes of it has been less
negative. While Radcliffe's heroine dealt with and survived terror through domestic
education and spatial knowledge, and Shelley's Elizabeth and Safie were academically
educated as a means to enable male education, Moreno Garcia's Noemi actively pursues
higher education and is fighting for the ability to get her Master's degree at the start of the
novel. In these works, the amount of education that is socially acceptable for women has
gradually increased; although Noemi's family is strongly opposed to her objectives, the
fact that she was permitted to attend university at all is something neither Radcliffe nor
Shelley could have dreamed for. Noemi's education, like the other two books I examined,
gives her the upper hand in her gothic position and physically rescues her from the
domestic servitude of marriage into the Doyle family. While the source of women's terror
and their experiences with this never-ending cycle of terror have not changed, the level of
access to education that they can achieve has, and has transformed the gothic heroine
from a brave but beautiful face to whom the action happened into an active, independent
woman who rescues not only herself, but others who rely on her.

5.4 Recommendations

Understanding and debating the evolution of the gothic genre from its inception in
the late eighteenth century illustrates how the genre has remained tremendously relevant
and an essential conduit for highlighting societal and cultural anxieties and inadequacies.
Latin American gothic combines traditional themes with "indigenous beliefs and colonial
folktales, resulting in a new interpretation of a Gothic villain that challenges how these
people have hitherto been envisioned..." but rather invokes the Gothic to speak of
something else, which may explain why reviewers perceive the text as failed at times
since it does not follow the norms or storyline of a Gothic tale.

63
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