Gendered Marginalization in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: Insights from Judith Butler and Michel Foucault
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24113/smji.v14i1.11658Keywords:
Gender Performativity, Biopolitics, Power and Identity, Cultural Norms, Societal Control, Arundhati RoyAbstract
This paper explores the theme of gendered marginalization in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness using the ideas of Judith Butler and Michel Foucault. Butler’s concept of gender as performance and Foucault’s idea of biopolitics help examine how power, cultural norms, and societal expectations shape and marginalize gender identities. The novel challenges the social and political systems that uphold inequality, offering a strong critique of the connections between gender, and class. This study shows how the characters' struggles against cultural and institutional oppression reveal the complex relationship between personal identity and societal control.
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