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Title REPRODUCING OR REJECTING REPRESENTATION: STEREOTYPES OF DISABILITY AND GENDER IN THE SELECTED FICTION OF ANGLOPHONE PAKISTANI WRITERS

Author(s) Nadia Sardar

Abstract In literature disabled characters are either nonexistent or they are portrayed as incomplete, silenced, and excluded beings and their lives as tragedies. Minimal representation of such figures in literature indicates the attitude of society towards disabled/differently abled individuals. Literature represents ideal, normal, and able-bodied characters as heroes while people with disabilities/differently abled characters and their experiences are pushed to the periphery. Even when they are included, they serve some purpose in promoting plot development. They or their experiences rarely form the core of the literary work in fiction. Intersection of disability and gender marginalizes women and pushes them to the borders of existence. They feel the disabling impact of society more than their male counterparts. Disabled women face othering on social, economic, political, educational and religious grounds. Works of fiction tend to portray the disabled characters especially disabled women as helpless victims and disability as lack and loss thus stereotyping disability as tragedy. The present study attempted to analyze the portrayal of disabled characters especially disabled women and representation of disability in Muhammad Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011), Bapsi Sidhwa’s IceCandy- Man (1988) and Kamila Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone (2014). Nandini Ghosh (2018), Rosemarie Garland Thomson and Ria Cheyne’s (2019) work on disability and representation of disability in literature provides the theoretical framework for the study. The goal of the study was to find whether the representation of disabled characters reinforces the ‘traditional’ view of disability, or it challenges the old views. The study also explored the impact of gender in producing social perception of disabled/differently abled characters

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2024-05-06

Subject English Literature

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Format MLA

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