Exploring the Subaltern in Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train

Abstract

The research analyses the novel The Girl on the Train (2015) by Paula Hawkins using subaltern concepts, highlighting the degradation of women in the text. The study aims to explore how the women have been rendered voiceless and dominated by patriarchal concepts. The study attempts to identify these gaps and present the females as subalterns using subaltern theories of Antonio Gramsci, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, patriarchal concepts by Rita Felski and other concepts. The three first-person narrators of the novel- Rachel, Megan and Anna have been portrayed as negative and dominated by male ideologies. Rachel despite being the protagonist, has been attributed to many negative characteristics. On the other hand, the antagonist male, who manipulates all these women, commits fraud and murder has been shown as a positive character. Keywords: Episteme, feminism, gendered subalternism, marginalization, voicing