From Resistance to Resilience: Feministic Development in Sidhwa‟s Heroines

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the ways and means that are employed by Sidhwa to reflect on the lives of Pakistani women through her heroines. Sidhwa‟s heroines undergo a specific patter of resistance and resilience by first surrendering to the existing norms and traditions but later on develop resistance to them and employ every possible mode of resistance and emerge as resilient women. Sidhwa‟s heroines are portrayed waging this struggle in a patriarchal set up of Pakistan where tradition and custom controls the body and movement of women and so undermines their socio-economic status. The struggle of women in Pakistani society is demanding and so needs to be explored as to how Pakistani women, as portrayed by Sidhwa, suffer physically and psychologically. This struggle of Pakistani women portrayed by Sidhwa aligns her with the feminist struggle all around the postcolonial world. This study critically analyses the selected passages of the text of Sidhwa‟s three novels titled The Pakistani Bride, Ice Candy Man and An American Bratand discovers the mode employed by Sidhwa to show resistance of women similar to those portrayed in postcolonial literature as suggested by Ashcroft.