Scrutiny of Subversive Silent Narrative: A Counter- Subaltern Approach in Pakistani_x0002_Anglophone Feminist Writings

Abstract

The study aims at shedding light on the subversive silent narrative, in Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah’s short story ‘The Bull and the She_x0002_Devil’ (1958), using a counter Subaltern approach to G. C. Spivak’s theory. The focal point of this paper is a brief discussion on the narrative of the short story under the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s (1963) ‘Polyphonic Dialogism’. The study rejects the patriarchal mono-perspective of gendered hierarchy in the eastern traditions that disregard the female ‘voice’ by declaring it ‘absent’. The reflection of female voicelessness, in the short fiction, appears to be the Heroine’s Agency, which elevates her as a ‘Silent Hero’ and not a sub-ordinate, or as Spivak calls – A Subaltern. A special interesting case in point, is the exposition of the recovery of the lost female voices of the society as reflected in Hamidullah’s narrative, is determined in the research. Thus, the paper focuses on what seems to be a celebration of the dichotomy of gendered narratives, by exploring the literary techniques and devices used by the author. Conclusively, the research entails to Hamidullah’s transgression from the established narrative by presenting the subversiveness of the Female Voice