Breaking borders: navigating gender norms and realities in Ali’s Brick Lane and Desai’s fasting feasting

Abstract

Monica Ali’s Brick Lane and Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting are contemporary novels representing the condition of South Asian women both as insiders and as outsiders. As South Asian women writers, both of the novels are influenced by the author’s experiences. These novels have been studied under postcolonial narratives and feminist standpoints. Even so, this paper aims to critically analyze South Asian Women's narratives navigating traditional gender norms, societal expectations, and the impact of culture on women both as insiders and outsiders. Through an in-depth examination of the characters, the research highlights the way characters respond to their gender discrimination pointing to the broader questions of whether the concept of gender is constructed or inherent. Moreover, the study mentions the double alienation and examines the formation of a male hierarchy within the household proving that domestic spaces work as constraint as well as empowerment for women referring to the practice of agency and resistance. Despite the settings, the characters' resistance led them to create their own identity in a new nation forming a sense of transnational identity. A comparison has been made focusing on the themes of agency, resistance, and transnational identity whether the characters accept the assimilation or form a new space of hybridity referring to Homi K. Bhabha’ Third Space. Furthermore, a parallel comparison has been shown between the two novels and the experience of the character’s dreams longing for a sense of belonging under the lens of the American Dream, in Ali’s Brick Lane and Desai’s Fasting, Feasting.