FROM MISTRESS TO MALSHAN: CATALOGUING AND GENDERED LEXICONS IN DURRNI’S BLASPHEMY

Abstract

This paper examines how cataloguing is stylistically and ideologically used in the novel Blasphemy written by Tehmina Durrani through the theory provided by Sara Mills on Feminist Stylistics. In a mixed method that combines both the qualitative text analytical study and quantitative text, the study examines the systematic use of derogatory and demeaning language in the description of women in a manner that establishes patriarchal structures. A lexical table was created to record certain words and phrases that characterize women as belittled, objectified or dehumanized. The results show that the process of cataloguing does not only represent itself as a stylistic element, but a powerful ideological device used to establish an image of female inferiority and powerless in the story. The article supplies to feminist literary criticism because it brings out how language usage in South Asian fiction perpetuates gendered oppression and steers particular attention on the usefulness of cataloguing as a tool of the feminist stylistics analysis.