REWRITING GENDER NARRATIVES IN KAMALA MARKANDAYA’S POSSESSION

Abstract

Through the analysis of Kamala Markandaya’s Possession, this paper delves into postcolonial gender narratives that question the colonial and patriarchal mode of thought traditionally shaping gender discourse and thus shows how social and cultural paradigms determine the postcolonial gender roles and power relations in the novel. The aim of the paper is to elucidate how the interconnectedness of race, class and gender redefines the very norms of gender identity, defying gender-stereotypical narratives. This paper discloses that gender roles are constructed by the social, cultural and historical context rather than biology itself. Therefore, femininity does not necessarily correlate only with female sex, just as masculinity is not inextricably linked only with male sex. Still, female energy is continually suppressed by the dominant masculine social framework. Furthermore, the analysis of the novel reveals that the Western vs. non-Western dichotomy can be likened to the male vs. female one – the colonizer assuming male identity, the colonized female one.