Gender and Power: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

Abstract

In this present study, Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World has been studied and explored in order to analyze the gendered power and biased positions of men and women they hold in society. The study aims to explore how the author has dealt with the imbalanced and discriminated conditions of the characters and prejudiced social behavior to enable and empower men to treat women unjustly. The researcher has applied Simon de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and Eagly’s Social Role Theory as the theoretical framework. I shall use the model of Critical Discourse Analysis of Fairclough as a research tool for this study. Females as the Others, inessentials, accidental beings, and biologically inferior are the direct targets of Simon de Beauvoir’s theoretical perspectives. While, Eagly proposes that gender roles are constructed on the basis of socialization. He says it deals with the psychology of the people to define and establish gendered identities in the culture. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how Elif Shafak depicts a society where women are oppressed, objectified, and discriminated against on the basis of their natural and biological differences in 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World. The study has followed the qualitative research approach and the findings attest that 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World is feminist writing, concerned with the prevailing and existing female issues in the society, the social, political, and cultural discrimination, and Elif Shafak has depicted thexi society to mark these issues. The narration of the novel reveals the female oppression, patriarchy, and control of men over women; psychologically, physically, and mentally