An Exploration of Female Empowerment through Sisterhood and Friendship in selected Twentieth-Century English Novels by Women Writers

Abstract

This research provides a comprehensive study of female friendships as a source of empowerment in the lives of women in the selected twentieth-century English novels written by female authors. This paper examines how female friendships are portrayed in texts from diverse cultural backgrounds that challenge patriarchal oppression, providing the emotional strength and support that the protagonists need. Although existing scholarship has examined female friendships in literature, a gap remains in understanding female friendships as a source of empowerment in twentieth century English novels. To address this gap, this paper incorporates a comparative textual analysis of “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, “Their Eyes were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, and “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys exploring female friendships as a source of strength in women’s lives as a resistance to the gendered constraints as depicted in the selected texts from different social and cultural backgrounds. By drawing from theories related to feminism and gender, particularly Judith Butler’s, Toni Morrison’s, and Bell Hooks’s theories, this study analyses the struggles faced by female protagonists in these novels and how female friendships challenge the constraints and oppression imposed on women by the patriarchal society, how this female friendship becomes a source of empowerment in women’s journey to autonomy and identity. In conclusion, this paper sheds light on an underexplored area that contributes to feminist literary scholarship.