Subversion of Patriarchal Norms in Arthur Halley's Hotel

Abstract

This research analyzes Hailey’s Hotel as the defiance of social norms through the lady characters of the novel, i.e. Christine Francis, Duchess of Croydon and Marsha Prescott. What made them to live a life with constant struggles are the matters of concern in this research. Theories of feminism are taken as the methodological tool particularly the concept of Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, Simon de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter and Judith Halberstam to foreground the struggle of females and their attempt to release themselves from the clutches of patriarchal discriminatory normativities so as to live a life with independence and without any restrictions within the society and domesticity. It is Christine Francis’s female masculine attitude to live the life of her own, not designed by the patriarchy. It is her own choice to live her life in the circumstances she is living. The Duchess of Croydon dominates the male characters and often makes the decision of her own. Similarly, Marsha, despite being nearly raped by four men in the hotel, struggles a lot to protect herself and protest against the patriarchal norms. Thus, due to their valiant nature, they have lived the life of constant struggle. Their reluctant attitude to subvert the male oriented social norms and cultural values are the hallmark of the novel.