FEMALE SELF-DETERMINATION IN CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S JANE EYRE AND LAILA ABOULELA'S THE TRANSLATOR

Abstract

In most cultures, if not all, women have suffered a lot from subjugation for centuries. It is rare to find a society that confesses that a woman is strong and can live independently because women have always been marked as other or something complementary to men. That is because the woman has always been marked as “other” or something complementary to the man. However, this article is an attempt to contradict this negative image of the woman and proves that she has enough self-determination to stand against traditions and rules that are prescribed by society and choose the best for herself without any outside interference. To accomplish this attempt, the researcher has selected two female characters from two different English novels and analyzed them from a feminist point of view. They are Jane Eyre, the main character of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontëe, and Sammar, the main character of The Translator by Leila Aboulela. The study depends on close reading to trace the lives of the characters throughout the novels to extract the situations that reflect female determination. As is shown at the end of the study, both female characters present a good example of female self-determination. They faced society's dictations that obliged them to go against their needs and wishes. On one side, Jane Eyre refuses to get married to a rich, married man because she believes that a man must have only one woman in his life; otherwise, he would be unloyal. Sammar, on the other hand, remains conservative in her beliefs and religion. She never gets rid of her conventions at any cost, though she lives abroad alone and