Digital Object Identifier
This study demonstrates how silence is culturally-created behaviour based on societal standards and patriarchal expectations, not an innately feminine trait. This study shows how women’s behaviour is controlled by internalised constraint and obedience as forms of ideal feminine identity. The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki and Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni are set in pre-war Japan and partition-era India. Using Judith Butler’s theoretical framework of gender performativity, the study claims that behaviour eventually becomes natural through continuous behavioural regulation. Yukiko and Deepa demonstrate how actions are praised when they uphold family and social harmony and penalized when they deviate from social norms. Across different contexts, Yukiko and Deepa show silence functioning as a type of regulation that is comparable across all cultures and societies. This study shows patriarchal societies consistently accepting and normalizing women’s silence, resulting in gendered performance of behaviour, by placing Yukiko and Deepa in a comparative analysis.
Ms. Saijasi Rawat, Dr. Reena Verma. “Judith Butler’s Theory of Performativity: A Comparative Study of Deepa and Yukiko.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 4, August 2026, pp. 1028-1047. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n4.63.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
the-criterion.com