THE PATIENCE STONE”: AN AFGHAN WOMAN DARING TO DISTURB THE UNIVERSE BUILT UPON HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY

Author (s) : S.Alamelu & R.Saraladevi, R.Vennila & P.Vasantha

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Abstract :
What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?" A difficult question to be answered for "those who have been faceless and voiceless for far too long." Societies, markedly gendered, construct a system where men dominate the whole contents of social life and never let women express their own feelings. Therefore, the answer of the question turns into "a problem that has no name". In the division of characteristics that govern sex-role stereotyping, women receive the worst of the deal. In establishing such a rigid difference between "male" and "female", society allocate to "female" all of the qualities that males think are undesirable. In short, women are meant to be inadequate, self-doubting, and essentially incapable of a strong, independent, and autonomous existence. The sex-role stereotype for women is a prescription for failure, for victimization, and in extreme cases for severe mental illness. Winner of "Le Prix Goncourt" (2008), Atig Rahimi, an Afghani writer, has explored such issues in his works mainly pertaining to the position of Afghan women in male dominated societies. He argues that the oppression of those in mostly developing countries is a devastating and under recognized injustice, that is the equivalent of slavery. Many Afghan women as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters have to survive as depersonalizing individual victims and live a life with feeling of nothingness. Furthermore, many women in Afghanistan experience violence, deprivation, and constraints on their freedom of choice and movement. In this paper, based on the facts, "The Patience Stone", one of Atig Rahimi's masterpieces, will be discussed by analyzing the unrestricted confessions concerning the repression of an unnamed Afghan woman whose condition is ignored by authorities or taken as the norm. However, Atig Rahimi by giving face and voice to one unforgettable woman in his novel, let her deliver everything she has kept, hid, and buried. This is the message of rebellion and challenge against institutions ruled by patriarchs.

Keywords : Hegemonic Masculinity

Conference Date : 17/09/2021

Pages : 257

Paper ID : IESMDT255