Women’s images as representing different views on feminism in the Elif Shafak’s novel “Three Daughters of Eve”

Abstract

The aim of this article is to observe female characters as a representation of different points of view on feminism in the novel by the Turkish writer Elif Shafak.In her work the issue of woman`s emancipation is challenged against the backdrop of Muslim culture. Therefore, the study of her prose is relevant for expanding the range of modern gender studios. In particular it concerns the novel “Three Daughters of Eve”, which has never become the object of scientific analysis. In this novel Turkey is highlighted as a country of contrasts: on the one hand, it is a modern state, in which secular and religious life are separated; on the other hand — in it there are stereotypical notions about the secondary nature of women in the family and in the society.The novel «Three Daughters of Eve» is a kind of female images` gallery. The work is based on two plot lines alternating between each other. The first is the real time of action — 2016 year. Here is a gala, on which the main character Nazperi Nalbantoglu (Peri) arrived with her daughter and her husband. The second plot line is the character’s memories of her life from childhood to studying in Oxford when she was looking for herself, trying to figure out her religious beliefs etc.The main heroine represents a conscious but passive position in defending women’s rights. Selma is an example of the total lack of beliefs. Mona loudly declares her position as a feminist, but she is rather a theorist of the struggle for women's rights. Shirin is a practitioner of feminism, since she embodies her beliefs in her life. At the end of the novel, Shirin gets freedom from gender stereotypes. The heroines’ points of view in the work prove that the struggle for the women`s rights have to take place primarily in their everyday life, and then feminist convictions will have the result.