LE3 .A278 2007

2007

Eustace, John

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

English

English & Theatre Studies

Using Judith Butler and Seyla Benhabib's theories on social constructivism and identity constitution, this thesis argues that Arundhati Roy’s novel The God of Small Things provides literary evidence for the possibility of individual agency and, indeed, self-determination in a socially constructed world. Specifically, it argues that the use of individual narrative, as a means of identity constitution, provides the opportunity for agency in the socially constructed role of motherhood. Each chapter discusses the experiences of individual female characters as a means of negotiating the relationship between the socially constructed role of motherhood and the individual experiences of mothering. This thesis concludes that one can find agency in the process of actively negotiating one's individual narrative.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:511