A Transitivity Analysis of Woman Representation in “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust”

Abstract

One of the concerns of feminist linguists is to examine the language which is used to represent men and women of a society. The study in hand has considered this issue and tries to explore the language used by the female author dealing with issues of women of Pakistan. Shahla Abdullah's “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust” is analyzed from the lens of the transitivity model. The emphasis is laid upon the woman's portrayal and the ideological representation through the transitivity patterning. The three steps analysis as given by Burton (1982) has been followed for the analysis of the data. Material and mental processes have been used dominantly with the frequency of 42.4% and 17% respectively which depicts the struggle of Pakistani women against oppression and marginalization. The findings demonstrate that the narrative constructed by Abdullah is the reiteration of the stereotypical woman who suffers due to the patriarchal setup and the hegemony of the male counterpart. The study concludes that being a woman, Abdullah could not deviate from the set norms and hence, is unable to construct a new discourse to inspire and empower the woman belonging to the underprivileged sect of society.