Exploring the Interplay of Shame and Oppression in Transgender (Hijra) Characters in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World: A Comparative Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20915860Keywords:
Shame, Transgender, Oppression, Shafak, Roy, South Asian LiteratureAbstract
Purpose: This paper deals with examining the ways in which both texts, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy and 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak use shame and oppression to organize the lived realities of transgender (Hijra) identities through the prism of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity.
Methodology: The comparative textual analysis of both the novels has been employed in this study. It draws upon the theoretical framework of shame and oppression to examine the portrayal of transgender (Hijra) identities. Spheres of shame, both internal and dictated through social exclusion, family rejection, and systemic violence are intertwined with acts of social exclusion.
Value: The analysis focuses on the ways in which shame is a widespread effect governing transgender embodiment, intelligibility and agency; on how oppression is practiced at intersectional axes of gender, class, family and law; and on the ways in which performativity is a practice that constitutes and destabilizes dominant gender norms.
Findings: The findings suggest that the roles played by shame and oppression are interrelated as they marginalize transgender (Hijra) characters and help in forming their identity and resistance in both novels.
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