Gender Performativity in D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers

Abstract

The present thesis explores Lawrence’sSons and Lovers from the perspective of gender performativity. The gender perspective is related to the idea of gender identity in the society. Gender is not a natural and predetermined category, but it is the result of what roles men and women perform. For instance, men are assigned the role as bread earners for their family whereas women are assigned the role of the caretakers of their family and their homes. For the investigationof Lawrence’s novel, this research uses Judith Butler’s concept of gender trouble and performativity of sex. This researchconcludes that this novel questions and attempts to subvert the traditional notion of gender roles. The novelist has provided traditional masculine role to a female character and feminine role to some men. On the one hand, a woman has become the head of the family and also is in contact with the outer world and on the other hand, a man performs feminine roles like taking care of family members instead of accomplishing brave deeds and is limited only inside his home. With this, Butler’s claim gets various evidences from this book that gender is just the construction of our practices in the society. Keywords; Gender, Performativity, Masculinity, Feminity, Subversion