Malay Women's Roles In The Family And Their Responses To a Changing World-A Feminist Postcolonial Reading Of Ellina Binti Abdul Majid's Perhaps In Paradise
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Date
2007-12
Authors
Ibrahim, Syazliyati
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Abstract
Women in the family play multiple roles in order to ensure that the family
lives a peaceful and harmonious life. Inhabiting the family setting does not mean
that women are not affected by the changes that take place in their surroundings.
More often than not, the political decisions made affect the socialisation of the
people and as a result, women are also inevitably influenced.
Based on such a premise, it is the focus of this research to investigate how
the female characters in the novel Perhaps In Paradise manage their roles in the
middle class family and how they respond to the socio-political changes occurring in
their milieu. This novel which is penned by Ellina binti Abdul Majid is studied by
engaging the feminist postcolonial theory.
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The analysis uncovers that the roles played by the female characters in the
middle-class family are negotiated through the hegemonic practices of tradition and
religion. At times the characters are subordinated when they succumb to such
practices. Nevertheless, whenrthey do submit, they manage to preserve the family's
sanctity. On the other hand, in certain cases when they retaliate and choose to look
to the west for liberation, they could be marginalised in their own society. At other
times, the cultures of east and west can be negotiated to provide meaningful lives to
the characters.
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Keywords
Social sciences , The family, Marriage, Woman