Fluid-gendered patterns and subversion of socio-cultural norms in woolf’s orlando and eugenides’ middlesex through the lens of butler's concept of performativity
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Date
2024
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Publisher
UMT Lahore
Abstract
The aim of the research is to explore the text Orlando (Woolf) and Middlesex (Eugenides)
through the lens of Butler’s concept of performativity that focuses on gender fluidity and identity
formation through the socio-cultural repeated acts. The theory of performativity investigates
Butler’s idea that gender norms are constructed and sustained within the society. The theoretical
application of performativity on the selected texts explores the challenges related to the
conventional understanding of gender by analysing the characters of the selected texts as
homosexual and fluid-gendered identities. The research explores the ability of performative acts
to both strengthen and subvert the dominant power structures by examining how the protagonists
navigate and breach socio-cultural norms, emphasizing the possibility for fundamental cultural
change and resistance. The methodology used in the research is qualitative approach that focuses
on the thematic analysis. The purpose of the research is to examine the subversion of gender
stereotypes in the selected texts. The significance of the research is to investigate the formation of
fluid gender identities which are regarded as unnatural entities by conventional wisdom.