CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXTS SHAPING FEMALE SOLIDARITY AS A SURVIVAL STRATEGY IN THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL AND THE HENNA ARTIST

Abstract

The current study paper explores the role of cultural and historical contexts in defining female solidarity as a survival measure in Hashimi’s The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and Joshi’s The Henna Artist. The novels are set in the context of patriarchal societies of Afghanistan and the post-independence India, where women are limited in their lives by strict gender roles, socio-historical trauma, and institutionalized male domination. Based on the concepts of Radical Feminism and Feminist Discourse Analysis (FDA), this paper holds that female solidarity in both works is not an alternative kind of sisterhood but a culturally constructed and historically necessary survival mechanism. By means of thorough textual analysis and interaction with the feminist literature, the article shows how combined oppression, intergenerational memory, and enforced silence dictated by culture make women establish bonds that allow them to survive, resist minimally, and be resilient. The results question individualistic theories about empowerment, and foreground solidarity, which is a structurally determined reaction to patriarchy.