The Use of Irony as a Feministic Device to Deter Gender-Nationalistic Duo in Meatless Days

Abstract

The analogy of critical representation of the feminine issues prohibits the sustained continuation of the ideological manuscript of gender division in Pakistan. The Postcolonial nativity, the charisma of nationalism, the rigid concentration of aristocratic Westernization create a hard line between the social, cultural, and political identification of regional/national roles after the establishment of Pakistan. Bhabha (1994) reminds us that ‘postcoloniality is a salutary reminder of the persistent neo-colonial relations within new world order’(p.06). The structure of crucial gender boundaries is drawn in Pakistani society to promote the collective nationalistic consciousness in the wake of political achievements. Whereas, ‘the recesses of the domestic space become sites for history’s most intricate invasions’ (1994, p.09).This invasion confuses the ‘borders between home and world’ and combines the public and private to a more disorienting vision of life. This paper tries to recollect the gist of deformed gender rhetoric in the nationalistic restructuring of Pakistani society in Meatless Days by Sara Suleri. The paper concentrates on the artistic development in the course of the memoir to identify the irony of people as a dichotomy between the real and the fictional re-appropriation of Postcolonial Pakistan.

            Key Words:  Feminism, Nationalistic consciousness, Gender-boundaries,       

                                   Memoir, Irony, Postcolonial Pakistan.