Mimetic Representation of Female Characters in ‘Their Language of Love’ by Bapsi Sidhwa

Shujaat Khan ,Muhammad Uzair Lodhi ,Hina Naveed

doi:10.7176/jlll/66-10

Abstract

Females always have been the topic of discussion under different aspects discussed in literature. From some last decades there have been some debatable titles in writing especially postcolonial literature. There are many female writers in this period of postcolonial. In Pakistan, the persons who have a name on the conversation of feminism; Bapsi Sidwa is a good name in them. Feminism is a broad topic to mentioning but it would be interested when telling about particular comparative analysis with the male author representing the society. It is very perceptible when the relation between them is like a master-slave relationship as Hegel believes, or having a balance between them. It depends upon many factors like the cultural effect of the society. Pakistani society has a patriarchal building block in it so its criteria of debate and the way the others take it, are different. This study helps to enhance the space for a female in a society described by Bapsi Sidwa. Life depends on the thought of society and it varies the representative style of the authors. Key Words : Feminism, Societal effect, Relationships, Memetic representation DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/66-10 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

Highlights

Bapsi Sidhwa started writing during the 1980’s, a time when women were supposed to be confined to the private background of homes but a time when there were almost no female postcolonial writers. Her writing gave a voice to females of the subcontinent and Sidhwa continued to write as an advocate for the female population of Pakistan
This is exactly the type of female that Sidhwa has depicted in her collection of short stories, Their Language of Love where “Each story intricately places the protagonists in a cusp of several cultural worlds where they must negotiate differences of language, class and creed” (Goodyear xiii)
In keeping with the spirit of the realistic representation the women are ones who say “ ‘Allah is merciful,’ a woman sighed and other women echoed her words” (11). These lines depict the usual attitude of Pakistani/Lahori women who go a saint’s shrine to pray and www.iiste.org present supplications at these shrines.The realistic portrayal of the female characters is supported by the realistic portrayal of even the male characters such as, “My brother leans forward, with all the ceremony of a courtier at a Mughal Darbar and mumbles something that sounds like a greeting, and something appropriate about the gift we bear” (24)

Summary

Introduction

Bapsi Sidhwa started writing during the 1980’s, a time when women were supposed to be confined to the private background of homes but a time when there were almost no female postcolonial writers. She represented a new type of female who created their own voice while not striving to overturn societal norms This is exactly the type of female that Sidhwa has depicted in her collection of short stories, Their Language of Love where “Each story intricately places the protagonists in a cusp of several cultural worlds where they must negotiate differences of language, class and creed” (Goodyear xiii). It is significant that Sidhwa’s novels revolve around women and their circumstances Her collection of shorts stories entitled Their Language of Love is centered on women of another caliber. The story is about Roshni’s physical as well as psychological journey After her arrival in USA she gains a confidence that she did not possess before as Sidhwa writes, “Roshni could scarcely believe that she, the ugly duckling of her family in Bulsar...she’s show off all this splendor to her relatives when they visited.

Methodological Framework

Literature Review

CONCLUSION