Female Agency In A Golden Age

In this thesis, I will examine female agency in Tehmina Anum’s novel A Golden Age (2006). Female agency refers to the ability of a woman to act for herself and make her own decisions.
Central to my exploration of this agency will be the role of the female both within a family and within society, and theories concerning gender performativity will ground this aspect. This exploration is based in the idea of female agency, and the choices that women have according to their gender and social roles.

Set against the background of the liberation war 1971, the novel is about an age of heroism, idealism and romance and a people’s struggle against oppression. A Golden Age is the story of a young Urdu speaking widow, Rehana Haque and her struggle to
It seems appropriate to begin the analysis of a thesis concerned with female agency with the analysis of the patriarch against whom the female character is argued to rebel.
This section will show how patriarchal control is exerted in protagonist Rehana’s life. I will show that how the male dominated structure of society attempts to quell her potential and tries to assert its
The very opening line sets the tone of the novel which is predominantly sad and nostalgic. It also highlights an absence of family and connections in the protagonist’s life. The protagonist Rehana is left with her two children after the demise of her husband. Her parents have died and her two sisters live far away in west Pakistan. It was not so long after the passing away of her husband that her brother in law Faiz Haque (whose wife was barren) offered to take her children, to which Rehana refused. She was already in a great turmoil, as she is now all alone to support and protect her children, when her brother in law took the matter to the court. The judge passed the verdict by saying that Rehana has not yet recovered fully from grief and, she is too young to take care of the children on her own. Her powerful and rich brother-in-law got victory over her as had no resources and money like him to bribe the judge. She lost the custody of her children, and they were taken to Lahore. It is not a rare phenomenon in patriarchal society to dominate female and suppress her voice and especially when she is a widow and has no strong financial support, it becomes worse. “Dear Husband, I have given up the only thing you left me” (pg.7). Widowhood strips Rehana of the power that she had as a wife, and losing her children deprived of her motherhood. She had no one, but children, so the children were meant everything to her. During this time,