Gendered Language used in Umaira Ahmad’s Urdu Novel “Meri Zaat Zarra-E-Benishan”: A Feminist Stylistic Analysis

Abstract

Feminist stylistics analyzes how language uses gender to create subtle meanings that, in turn, unconsciously embed biased images in our minds of people and the world. Mills’ Feminist stylistic model (1995) analyzes the linguistic structures being exploited or subjugated concerning male or female and the related gender terms and values present in the text. Text is analyzed at three levels of word, sentence, and discourse to flag the gender issues within the text. Mills’ model is applied to the Urdu novel “Meri Zaat Zarra-e-Benishan” written by Umaira Ahmad which is a story of Saba and her difficulties in her life. The text reveals how females in Pakistani Society endure difficulties to survive and are subordinate to males and their language is different from males. The writer has followed the norms and values of Pakistani society in describing female characters and the language they use. The overall study elaborates the way sexism and gender discriminatory messages, linguistically illustrated, are conveyed. Moreover, the assumption of only male writers being responsible for the negative portrayal of females in the text is falsified as the writer being a female manifested the negative portrayal of females.