A Semiotic Analysis of Anatomical Motifs in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Novels

Abstract

This research project, by looking at the anatomical motifs, fingers and toes used in the Pakistani novelist, Bapsi Sihwa’s three novels, Cracking India, An American Brat and The Pakistani Bride strives to explore the actual condition of females facing Pakistani society. It talks about how the female characters are suppressed, oppressed and dominated by an over- bearing nature of the males’ fingers and toes. There is a stark contrast between the fingers and toes of males and females representing the actual condition of them differently in the Pakistani society. In fact, females’ social status, rights, freedom, level of autonomy, their psyche and the state of vulnerability is all reflected in and through these bodily organs. This research tries to explore the role of these motifs in representing the overall state of being of the females in the Pakistani society by applying the semiotics, non-verbal communication coupled with feminist theories.