Gender Representation in Nepalese Folktales
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Department of English
Abstract
Folktales, the most popular form of Nepalese folklore in Nepal, are replete with
the characters that perform their traditional gender roles on the basis of socio-cultural
structure of Nepalese society that is shaped by the ideology of patriarchy. They are one of
the key sites for gender construction in Nepalese society for they are backed up bythe
cultural gender constructions of women as essentially inactive, lacking in volition and
action, and always seeking to gain favour of the males as a strategy for survival. They are
expected to be beautiful, submissive and tender, sacrificing their personal desires for the
good of their husband, family and society. They have to comply with the rules and
principles of modesty and myth of femininity. Moreover,they are the victims of
ambivalent representation as divine manifestation as well as an incarnation of an evil.
However, despite being victims of socio-cultural ideology at times they challenge this
socio-cultural construction of gender veering towards trickster role which is a strategy for
survival as well as a justifiable response to oppression. For survival in unusual situation,
they devise different strategies which ultimately subvert their culturally-assigned gender
roles, limitations and expectations. As a discourse of subversion in folktales, trickster role
dramatizes the possibility of refashioning the truth about construction of gender in
Nepalese society conferring upon them the position of agency, courage, protectiveness
and power for violence.