Gynocritical Transitivity Analysis of Typhoon and The Pakistani Bride: A Case Study of Women Empowerment

Abstract

Violence against women has been a subject under discussion for centuries (Sinha et al., 2017). Empowering women and similar discourses have formulated the gynocriticism model to discuss the psyche, writings, language, body and culture of women (Hartanto & Roifah, 2020). The present study aims to explore the linguistic items that depict the struggle of women against abusive treatment disguised as women suppression and violence incarnated in Pakistani patriarchal society. The study is significant in empowering women against harassment and abusive treatment. The selected linguistic items from Qaisra Sheraz’s “Typhoon” and Bapsi Sidhwa’s “The Pakistani Bride” have been taken as a sample for the study. Showalter’s Gynocriticism (1981) and Halliday’s Transitivity model (2014) have been incorporated for analyzing the linguistic items embedded in the text formulating the ideology of women's struggle against suppression and violence. Convenient sampling strategy has been employed to study the linguistic items used by the characters that formulate their ideologies. The major characters, Zaitoon, Carol, Miriam, Qasim, Nikka, Farukh and Major Mushtaq from “The Pakistani Bride”, Naghmana, Gulshan, and Chuadharani Kaniz from “Typhoon” have been selected. The results show that the characters have been dominated physically as well as mentally emphasizing relational processes. 46% material process, 32% mental and 22% relational process follow the linguistic items pertaining to nikkah, honour killing, open-mindedness, divorce, womanhood and personal opinion respectively. The research indicated material and mental linguistic stereotypes to be the cause of women suppression. It also indicated personal opinion as the only ideology empowering women. The notions of obedience to men and the rights of women as discrete units to be employed at the societal level have been found out as strategically employed tools against abusive treatment and harassment.