Critical
Discourse Analysis of Gender Inequality and Exploitation in “Our Lady of Alice
Bhatti”
Gender
inequality and exploitation has been prevailing in all societies of the world
since the ancient times and it is still there in the era of enlightenment and
awareness about the equality of rights among male and female sex. Majority of
the societies in the world are male dominated and women are treated just as an
object for pleasure there, not as esteemed creation of God. They are not given
equal rights as to the men and they are mostly exploited by the men existing in
their surroundings.
According
to a prominent sociologist Teun A. van Dijk this situation is the result of the
trends and approaches adopted by the members of the society. As the model of
van Dijk suggests that society, cognition and discourse are in close collaboration
with each other in shaping the attitudes and behaviours of the people toward
other people and sections of society. van Dijk presents a triangular model and
remarks that every discourse is influenced by society and cognition. Collective
thinking of the people living in a society forms the discourse which is adopted
and practiced by the whole society.
Besides this the choice
of words spoken to and for a specific matter or a group of people is also
significant in this case and these word choices are also based upon the general
thinking of the people of society. These words have significance at both the
macro level and micro level. We can further call them as global meaning and
local meaning. Global meaning or macro level is based upon the theme of the
whole discourse. While local meaning or micro level is related to the meaning
of a single sentence or speech in the discourse individually. So we can analyse
the inequality and exploitation adopted toward women through both macro and
micro level analysis.
If
we observe our own society we find that women are not given equal respect as
the men of society have and they are treated just as a property. They are
exploited by the males in their surroundings. This is because they are
considered lower than men and not given much reverent social status. The
language or words that are used while dealing them are also exploitative. This approach
towards women physically and verbally is the outcome of the general thinking of
society as considering them inferior to men. “Our Lady of Alice Bhatti” is a
highly admired novel by Muhammad Hanif with reference to the presentation of
women as an exploited community in a male dominated society. Being a Pakistani
writer Muhammad Hanif presents the discourse of his society where a woman is
treated as an object of pleasure and she is exploited both mentally and
physically because of her being inferior as per collective thinking of the
people present around her. This is the story of a Christian nurse Alice Bhatti
who is doing job in a hospital in Karachi. Along with her being a woman her
identity as a Christian adds oil to the fire in the process of her exploitation
by the people in her surroundings i.e. the Sacred Heart Hospital, Karachi.
There
are different examples and incidents which show the discourse of exploitative
attitude of men towards Alice Bhatti which make her the woman of such a society
where people have collective thinking against the women as a toy for pleasure. Alice Bhatti’s first visit to the psyche-ward is
significant in the whole novel as for as the treatment of women according to
social cognition is concerned. As there is a discourse through the collective
thinking of society that women are just to satisfy men’s physical instinct,
Alice Bhatti is treated both verbally and physically by mental patients to fulfill
their natural male desire. Along with this the language used by the mental
patients is important at macro and micro level in the context of gender
exploitation. She is welcomed and mocked at in these words:
“This way, Sister”
“Surprise them” “Reveal
yourself”
“We knew you were coming. We
were told.”(33)
Her first response and expression is like
this:
“Alice Bhatti looks at her keys and tries to hide her
nervousness behind a polite smile. She wields her clipboard like a shield, and
gives the old man a benevolent nod, like heads of state bestow on ushers before
moving on to guards of honour.” (33)
She faces the typical behaviour of the mad men and their
lustful desires. She is welcomed there in a mocking manner and dealt as a toy.
She is handicapped by them at the ward and she keeps on resisting for getting
free herself from their net.
Alice feels she is airborne for a long time, and then she
lands in the waiting arms of two men, who shout ‘Howzat!’ like deranged
cricketers.
They lift her up in the air. She feels exalted. And scared.
“Lord. Yassoo. Yassoo. Save me.” (34)
While happens all this, Teddy Butt (a police inspector –
who becomes her husband later on) comes there with his squad to rescue her and
takes her out of the Charya Ward.
This
incident leaves a great impact on the reader’s mind about the approach of male
towards female based upon the discourse as a result of the collective thinking
of society and he realises how the women are exploited by men. At macro level
it makes clear that women are taken as an object of fulfilling the sexual
desire by the society and even the mentally abnormal men in society try to
exploit women whenever they get a chance to do it. Different words used in the
above extract from the novel are significant at micro level also in the context
of exploitative discourse towards women. The word “sister” is significantly
ironic for the identity of Alice Bhatti. Keeping in view the real sense of
being a sister or even just as per her profession she is taken in an opposite
way and her identity is just as a woman who is the source of pleasure for men.
There is the use of adjectives, firstly “polite” describing her smile in the
reaction of words spoken by the mental patients and then “benevolent” with her
nod to the old man. These adjectives show her helplessness. We observe how a
woman is bearing the attitude based upon inequality so patiently because she is
forced to attend the patients in every kind of situation. Along with this
repetition is found when she calls “Yassoo” for rescue. We also observe
generalization in the words “Reveal yourself”. It shows they are treating her
just as a woman in spite of their nurse. They have general thinking about women
as the one who is there to satisfy them physically. So they just demand her as
per their male desires. The word “Howzat” makes Alice Bhatti’s identity vague.
She is not being taken as a human being here.
An important aspect of the novel which shows the discourse
of gender exploitation as the result of social cognition is that it reveals
about the operations of patriarchy. The very first interaction of Alice Bhatti
in the hospital with Dr. Pereira makes evident her real position in society
through the language that the doctor uses. She is sarcastically treated in
different ways - about her name, family and professional abilities. On an
occasion the doctor gets attracted towards her physically and she gets some
remarks from him that the author describes in the following way:
Ortho Sir moves forward in his chair, clasps his hands,
and fixes his eyes on the file in front of him. The alien on his head seems to
have decided to make this planet his home.
“Postnatal care?” His eyes are level with Alice Bhatti’s
breasts. “Inverted nipples. How do you deal with them? Should you deal with
them? Have you any personal experience to share?” Ortho Sir rolls his tongue
around his gum as if there might be nipples struck between his teeth. (9)
These remarks of the doctor illustrate at the macro level that
the women are treated in a uniform manner at all places and levels of society.
Being a senior doctor and an educated person Mr. Pereira should have treated a
woman or a nurse with an esteemed manner but instead of this he behaves
negatively. His male instinct overpowers his professional responsibility and
sensibility. He just behaves as a male person of such a society which has
collective thinking of exploiting the females as an object for physical
pleasure. This makes us realise that women are treated in an inhumane manner in
society at all levels. They are handicapped and they are considered to be the
source of fulfilling the male desires and this discourse is the result of
social cognition.
In Chapter seventeen of the novel while discussing about
marital relations Hina Alvi, a senior nurse, gives her remarks about men’s
approach toward women regarding compromise and understanding.
“Men don’t understand. Just remember that. They don’t.”
Hina Alvi, it seems, has had enough of the wisdom of the newly-wed. “I mean,
they might have a fine understanding of how a carburetor works or how a human
brain is wired, but ask them to understand your sadness on a sunny afternoon
and their brain starts doing push-ups. They want to physically lift your
sadness and smash it to bits. God, sometimes they want to tie RDX to your
sadness and put a timer on it. They think understanding means climbing up a
mountain and disappearing into a cave. And that man, your compromise, it does
seem that he was locked up in a cave for a very long time.”
This extract is also significant at the macro level which
can be declared as a complaint of a woman against the careless and gender
biased attitude of men. When we observe it at micro level, the words spoken by
Hina Alvi and especially the allusions given about men’s understanding are
significant in the matter of gender inequality.
After
having all the above discussion we can say conclusively that the novel “Our
Lady of Alice Bhatti” is the true presentation of the discourse of gender
exploitation as the result of social cognition in accordance with van Dijk’s
triangular model of discourse, cognition and society. The circumstances
highlighted in the novel are those that are observed and experienced in daily
life of the women of modern era. Muhammad Hanif has portrayed the character of
Alice Bhatti as the typical woman of his time who faces difficulties during her
stay in the society. She is the nurse who is victimized by the hospital
administration and also by the patients and even by their attendants too.
Triangular model of van Dijk can be applied on the novel through the incidents
and experiences that Alice Bhatti has to face while performing her services in
hospital as a nurse. It is also very much evident through the language or words
used toward Alice Bhatti in the whole story that there is a general thinking of
society about women’s being an inferior creatures and they are here for just
the comfort and pleasure of men. On the basis of this social cognition the
discourse of exploiting and using the women for the satisfaction the natural
instinct of the men is shaped and practised.
Works Citied
Hanif, Muhammad. Our Lady of
Alice Bhatti. Noida UP: Random House Publishers India, 2011. Print.
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