Muslim women’s identity in Orhan Pamuk’s Snow

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores hijab as a political discourse and discusses women’s character through a postmodern relationship with Orhan Pamuk’s Snow. In Snow, Pamuk presents Turkish Muslim women characters’ struggle during secular politics and portrays a struggle for their identity with and without hijab. A textual analysis of Pamuk’s Snow applies interdisciplinary approaches to examine Turkish women’s identity, their struggle for hijab, and the failure of secularism. To understand women’s role in politics, scholars like Khamis (2021), Axiarlis (2014), and others are prominent figures to theorize ideas of postmodernity (Muslim women’s alienation, conflict with self vs. other, a perspective of Muslims from east vs. west and Muslim identity with hijab vs. post/modern identity without hijab) and secularism (without hijab) in Muslim women’s context. To conclude, Muslim women’s self-identification and Pamuk’s writing influences under the East, and West ideas create a critical discussion, and questions about the postmodern idea of Muslim women. The hijab is closely concerned with gender targets, and the novel portrays women’s resistance in society. This burning issue catches our attention towards the women’s serious issue of suicide because of hijab politics.