Female Identity Crisis: A Postcolonial Feminist Study of Mohsin Hamid’s The End of Innocence

Abstract

This study explores Mohsin’s The End of Innocence as a critique on patriarchy. Women subjected to an identity crisis, discrimination, and oppression in society through many forms. The study focuses on patriarchy as one of the major reasons for discrimination against women in the underdeveloped societies. The males of the society based on their gender and financial dependency have treated women as subjects and tools. The stark contrast of cultures and uncanny resemblance of discrimination, identity crisis, and oppression faced by women is one of the main components of this study. By restricting the movement and work of women in the public sphere, women made financially dependent on the males of the society, which in turn leads to gender-based discrimination in the private spheres. To reclaim power and reassert their identities, women form bonds with each other and gain financial independence as a counter-narrative to patriarchy. Women try to overthrow the system of oppression and subjugation. Using qualitative research methods this study examines the complex relationships between postcolonial feminism and more general feminist ideas that support gender equality by analyzing the text The End of Innocence through the lens of postcolonial feminist theory. This study explores the struggle of women in patriarchal societies to overcome gender-based discrimination. They form bonds to renegotiate their socially and culturally marginalized identities and empower themselves in both public and private spheres.