Identity Crisis and Gender Performativity: Critical Discourse Analysis of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies

Abstract

This study provides a conceptual discussion by using Judith Butler’s theory of “Gender Performativity” that analyzes the tensions between self-identity and social identity. It proposes that identity is reflective of the correlation between the roles that people enact in society. The researchers scrutinized the role of gender and identity in the selected story of Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. It will be investigated in the light of cultural and feminist criticism as well as their theoretical concepts. This study is conducted by using descriptive-analytic methodology as well as the materials available in the valid libraries. To conclude, the application of Butlerian theories to the selected short story provides the best opportunity for creating a balance between gender and identity spheres. It endorses the theory that gender performance is not the real hallmark of one’s identity. Indeed, formulating identity based on gender performativity is not necessarily incompatible with domestic values.