Subversion of Traditional Gender Roles: A Study of Taslima Nasrin’s Shodh

Abstract

Taslima Nasrin’s phenomenal novel Shodh subverts and disrupts patriarchal normativity in order to highlight female agency. The novel projects the dynamic and courageous female characters who defy the traditional gender roles in Islam, based on patriarchal ideology which is conventional, destructive and biased. The gendered ideology is operating as the hegemony, which is the internalized concept of man as superior and woman as inferior. So, to disrupt the conservative, biased and patriarchal norms, consciousness of females and their rebellious activities are valorized in the novel through revolutionary female character: Jhumur who conceives a child outside of her marriage and passes him off as her husband's legitimate son. Thus, she revolts against traditional gender roles and liberates herself from the patriarchal domination so as to establish her identity and asserts her female agency and independence.