HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY, PATRIARCHAL DOMINATION AND WOMEN’S RESISTANCE IN SYED WALIULLAH’S TREE WITHOUT ROOTS

Patriarchal
society’s figureheads very often endeavor to control women to establish their
dominance. At times they use conventional concepts regarding gender roles,
legitimized by the society, to force women into acting in a designated manner.
Based on such roles, they divide women into the ‘madonna’ and the ‘whore’. This
dichotomy acts as the axis of power for those who wish to dehumanize women and
manipulate their actions. A very similar notion can be seen in Syed Waliullah’s
novel Tree Without Roots. As we go through the novel, we see how the
protagonist Majeed uses the existing concept of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’
behavior to categorize different women as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and ultimately
controls their fate. He also misuses and misinterprets some religious practices
such as Sufism for his materialistic gains. This paper shows how Majeed being
the upholder of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ forces all the women in the novel to be
subordinated under him. It is also seen how he, together with few other male
characters, objectify and dehumanize women in the novel and thus makes the
process of subordinating even smoother. Besides, the paper also focuses on how
the subordinated women offer resistance to the fearsome tyrant, thus ending the
novel with a sliver of poetic justice.