Abstract-The definition of gender has been a source of great controversy. As Michel Foucault argues in The History of Sexuality, since the seventeenth century the Western outlook upon sexuality is rather in the form of suppression due to certain ideological manipulations through the rise of capitalism. This understanding of sexuality was directly connected to one's biological condition which determined whether the individual was a man or a woman, never leaving place for the in between. With this perspective, the repressed society founded upon the sacred bonds of marriage and the institution of family cut out roles for both men and women which defined their gender roles. These roles were mere performances, as Judith butler would argue later on, however, they had great impact upon the formation of identities for a long time. I argue in alliance with critics such as Stuart Hall that the conception of identity does not have an ultimate ending since it constantly transforms, shifts and takes up new meanings along the way. I further assert that gender, as a vital part of identity formation, carries the same essence, however, it cannot be restricted neither to biological nor temporal nor spatial limits. In order to demonstrate the transformative and transgressive stance of gender and identity, I intend to explore how the novels Pinhan (The Mystic) by Elif Shafak and Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf cross the thresholds of time and space. The two androgynous protagonists of the novels express the uniqueness of identity formation in terms of gender in spite of the differing repressive societies they live in. Even though both novels were written by authors from different eras and different cultural backgrounds, they take upon a similar approach to the issue of gender in their own unique ways.
Feminist authors have long been trying to alter the patriarchal structure of the Western society through different aspects. One of these aspects, if not the strongest, is the struggle to overcome centuries long dominance of male authors who have created a masculine history, culture and literature. As recent works of women authors reveal, the strongest possibility of actually achieving an equalitarian society lies beneath the chance of rewriting the history of Western literature. Since the history of Western literature relies on dichotomies that are reminiscences of modernity, the solution to overcome the inequality between the two sexes seems to be to rewrite the primary sources that have influenced the cultural heritage of literature itself. The most dominant dichotomies that shape this literary heritage are represented through the bonds between the concepts of women/man and nature/culture. As one of the most influential epics that depict these dichotomies, Homer's Odysseus reveals how poetry strengthens the authority of the male voice. In order to define the ideal "man", Homer uses a wide scope of animal imagery while forming the identities of male characters. Margaret Atwood, on the other hand, is not contended with Homer's poem in that it never narrates the story from the side of women. As a revisionist mythmaker, Atwood takes the famous story of Odysseus, yet this time presents it from the perspective of Penelope, simultaneously playing on the animal imagery. Within this frame, I intend to explore in this paper how the animal imagery in Homer's most renowned Odysseus functions as a reinforcing tool in the creation of masculine identities and how Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad defies this formation of identities with the aim of narrating the story from the unheard side, that of the women who are eminently present yet never heard.
The conception of identity has been studied through many different branches of humanities, in terms of language, ideology, psychoanalysis, sociology or history just to name a few. All theories come close in defining identity as an ever transforming, fluctuating and instable concept.. The term multiculturalism, which is usually preferred in trying to define the state of different cultures in the attempt of existing together, seems to be insufficient when it comes to the globalized world of the twenty-first century. Even though transnationalism was introduced by Randolph Bourne in the early twentieth century, its broader significance did not reveal itself in English literature until the final decades of the century. This study aims to explore the concept of transnationalism and its effect on the process of identity formation within different novels to demonstrate how individuals living in a globalized world construct a unique sense of identity while carrying certain features in common through this process.
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