Imagining female subjects: formation of the self of women in Diaspora

Abstract

This thesis aims to look at the formation of the self of women in diaspora in the selected diasporic novels. The novels which have been chosen to be a part of this research are as follows: Brick Lane (2003) by Monica Ali, Jasmine (1989) by Bharati Mukherjee and White Teeth (2000) by Zadie Smith. Moreover, this paper will also look at the problems involved in negotiating such identities through an exploration of the inevitable self or the other which takes place in the process of identity-formation. This dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter will introduce the issues related to the formation of subjectivity of women in diaspora which will be followed by three chapters and lastly the conclusion. From those three chapters, each chapter will discuss the work of each author to explore the way these female characters of each novel are persistently encountered by the crisis of holding or losing the roots, and the way they find their new self by breaking the cage of restriction and achieve independence. Finally, the fifth, the final chapter will be the conclusion of this paper where all of these novels will be compared.