The Ambivalent Vision Towards Women Liberation in Assia Djebar’s A Sister to Scheherazade (1987) and Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy (1990)

Abstract

Patriarchy and women oppression have always been an obstacle to women’s progress. Many studies were undertaken by feminist scholars on these issues. The present dissertation carries on the research on this topic which continues to be experienced by women. By reliance on Assia Djebar and Jamaica Kincaid’s novels A Sister to Scheherazade (1987) and Lucy (1990) we depicted the status of women who lived in a male-dominated society. The aim is to vehicle the idea that women are subordinated and oppressed by men, as they undergo oppressive social and cultural norms. Otherwise, women are not oppressed just by men but also by women especially traditional mothers who stick to the old social norms. As a result, this perpetuation of male subordination leads to the reinforcement of the patriarchal regime. However, throughout these two selected novels Assia Djebar and Jamaica Kincaid show that women are able to rebel against the patriarchal norms and challenge men’s control and power, therefore, sisterhood and solidarity are the force that might enable women to speak up their rights and break the restrictions imposed by the patriarchal codes. To sum up, through the novels we reflect the ambivalent status of women in oppressing each other and its effects on reinforcing patriarchy and women’s subversion, as a first vision. Then, we turn the scales to how women help each other through making a sort of sisterhood and solidarity between them and its consequences on women evolution and liberation as a second vision