The role of linguistic devices in representing modern Pakistan in “Are You Enjoying?”

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the complex nature of both genders in the urban Pakistani society with the help of linguistic devices like foregrounding, backgrounding, deletion, presupposition etc. based on the agenda of Critical Discourse Analysis.  The research was conducted through Huckin’s analytic tool of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate how the author manipulated the text to carve out his motive in writing. It was qualitative research along with an assistance of quantitative research in the form of Corpus Linguistics, in which selected quotes and text were taken from the short story book “Are You Enjoying?” by Mira Sethi. The results of the study revealed that Mira Sethi’s short stories showed strong and progressive younger women playing roles in different settings who are quiet opposite to the traditional concept of women hood in Pakistan. The portrayal of men revealed how Pakistani men gel in together their religious upbringing and the sexual implications towards opposite sex. This research will help readers in developing analytical thinking while attempting to decode literary texts.