Unveiling Patriarchy: A Feminist Stylistic Analysis of Ismat Chughtai's "The Wedding Shroud" Through Sara Mill's Framework

Abstract

This study investigates the representation of gendered oppression and power structures in The Wedding Shroud, a short story originally written in Urdu by Ismat Chughtai and translated into English by Tahira Naqvi. Employing Sara Mills’ feminist stylistic framework, the research analyzes how language, through word choices, sentence structures, and narrative positioning, constructs, reinforces, or resists patriarchal ideologies. The analysis draws on selected excerpts from the translated text, purposefully chosen for their relevance to feminist concerns such as female labor, silenced desire, social marginalization, and internalized patriarchy. By applying Mills’ model across three levels such as lexical, syntactic, and reader-positioning, the study uncovers how seemingly ordinary language encodes deep social meanings. The findings reveal that the text not only reflects but critiques the oppressive structures surrounding women’s lives. The study also acknowledges the role of translation in retaining or altering the feminist intent of the original. Ultimately, this research highlights the value of feminist stylistics as a critical tool for uncovering gendered ideologies in literary texts.