Subalternity and Displacement in Rafia Zakaria’s “Upstairs Wife”: A Critique upon Pakistani Fiction

Abstract

The study explored the themes of subalternity, displacement, and resistance in Rafia Zakaria’s book “Upstairs Wife”, which is set in Pakistan in the 1970s and 1980s against a backdrop of sociopolitical unrest. The research examined how characters—especially the heroine Amina—maneuver through overlapping kinds of oppression and marginalization within a patriarchal, economically stratified, and politically unstable society through careful reading and thematic analysis of the text. The research highlighted the widespread injustices and inequities that marginalized groups in Pakistani society must contend with, such as economic precarity, gendered subalternity, and religious othering. In addition, the research looked at the several ways that characters have been displaced on a physical, emotional, and political level. The research clarified the intricate processes of power, identity forms, and resistance among disadvantaged groups by examining the connections between subalternity and displacement. The findings provide insights for future study and scholarship on literature, identity, and power relations, as well as to larger conversations about social justice, empowerment, and human rights in Pakistan and throughout the world.