Representing Gender in Ha Jin's Waiting: A Feminist Stylistics Reading

Abstract

Ha Jin’s Waiting exposes his biased attitude towards the women. While doing so, he gives all the positive attributes likewise, strong, healthy, powerful and so on to male and negative like weak, inferior, second sex and meek to female gender. He, further with the various sorts of derogatory words, phrases and discourse demeaned and devalued the female like Shuyu, Manna and other minor characters. The words like virgin, old, attractive etc. as a sexual suggestiveness, concubine as a prostitute, gender specific terms like men/wives, master/mistress to derogate women are frequently used by the male character to indicate the sexuality and social status of Shuyu and Manna. Those words which have used with negative connotation to women do not have male equivalent. Both of them are also described from selective language of hegemony and social order. The established male discourse uses the terms like ‘my virgin’, ‘my sweetheart’, and ‘my concubine’ only to control over the female’s body. These elements are applicable to scrutinize the patriarchal domination in terms of social role and position between male and female. Thus, the various sorts of words and linguistic terms that the novelist selectively used in the novel have dehumanized demeaned and devalued women.