Representation of Female Experiences and Struggles in Ernaux's Novel Happening: A French Feminist Study

Abstract

This study examines the representation of female experiences and struggles in Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel Happening (L’Événement), focusing on the intersection of personal suffering and sociocultural constraints in mid-twentieth-century France. Drawing on Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist theory, particularly The Second Sex, the research explores how Ernaux articulates women’s psychological, emotional, and bodily struggles within a patriarchal society that criminalized abortion and silenced female autonomy. Employing a qualitative textual analysis, the study closely reads selected passages to reveal how Ernaux transforms a deeply personal experience of an illegal abortion into a broader feminist critique of gendered oppression, class inequality, and reproductive control. The findings demonstrate that Happening not only exposes the trauma and isolation endured by women facing unwanted pregnancy but also challenges dominant social, legal, and moral discourses that regulate female bodies and desires. By foregrounding lived experience, memory, and resistance, Ernaux’s narrative reclaims female subjectivity and highlights a collective feminine struggle for autonomy and self-definition. This study contributes to feminist literary criticism by addressing the underexplored dimensions of women’s experiences and resilience in Happening, extending existing scholarship beyond abortion as a singular event to encompass broader sociopsychological and ideological constraints shaping women’s lives.