Assertion of Female Gothic in Hannah’s Little Face

Abstract

This research looks into the text Little Face by Hannah from the perspective of female gothic subject position. The major thrust of this research is to establish how gothic subjectivity of a woman is shaped and sustained by socio-cultural forces. This research puts forwards the finding that there is no single locus of female subjectivity. Socio-cultural norms and ideological trends determine how women are required to perform their roles and how they are supposed to relate themselves to the emerging phenomenon. In Little Face, the protagonist Alice is subjected to a harrowing situations. Her husband and mother in law condemn her as an insane woman. Her child is abducted. She does not know who has kidnapped her child. Another child is kept in the place of her child and she is told that her child is not missing. Her child in found on the cot. She laments sadly for the loss of her child. Nobody assists her in her search for her missing child. Rather her complaints are dismissed as outburst of her tantrums and crazy sentiments. Her neighbors too begin to count her as a crazy woman who upsets neighbors with her tantrums. Even she has to encounter indifference of some of the police officers and detectives. Despite all these setbacks, she manages to go ahead smoothly for the attainment of justice and good social standing. It is her adaptability and flexibility that help her to achieve good social standing, freedom and justice.