Abstract
The persecution of women has been a recurrent theme in literary works throughout history. Women’s behavior, in particular, has always been the reflection of societal norms, expectations, and power dynamics of different periods. The current study entitled “A feminist approach to Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees” examines Elif Shafak’s novel by utilizing a feminist lens. Shafak a prominent Turkish woman novelist is best known for portraying women's real situations in her novels. In addition, the paper explores the situation of women under the pressure of social and cultural conflicts using Simone de Beauvoir’s theory of women’s oppression. De Beauvoir a French existentialist philosopher and writer, is a key figure in feminist theory. Furthermore, the paper employs a textual analysis of the novel’s main female characters; Defne and Maryam who suffer from the effects of a patriarchal society. The study aims to answer crucial questions related to gender discrimination and the role of traditional beliefs and conventions in generating violence against women. Moreover, several studies have shown different aspects of this novel, except for the situation of women. Thus, this paper is an attempt to discuss the sufferings of Defne and Maryam from the patriarchy and gender stereotype of the Cypriot society in 1974. The methodology is qualitative, its primary sources are the excerpts from the novel and the character’s statements are analyzed.
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