A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF BAPSI SIDHWA’S ICE CANDY MAN: AN UNBOUND PRACTISE OF LINGUISTIC DEPOSITION OF FEMININE FRAME

Abstract

In the present paper, Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel Ice Candy Man (1988) is explored and analysed as a feminist narrative. The researchers examine that Sidhwa—as a potent ‘voice’ among the modern feminist novelists—employs unregimented lingo for the description of the female physique. To analyse her unbound use of language and the description of the female figure, the researchers invoke Feminism (as a theoretical framework) and Close Reading Technique (as a methodology) for the understanding of the text under review. As though woman (herself), Sidhwa does not vacillate and blatantly draws on patriarchal jargon and expressions. She grants full freedom to her female characters (in a manner) that if male (in a patriarchal society) is allowed to share his feeling explicitly, then why a woman is barred from expressing that. Therefore, to give equal rights and freedom of expression to female in society, at par with males, she bluntly articulates the unsaid carnal feelings of women and their body organs through verbal semiotics. She challenges the conventional societal norms of restricted use of the unfettered language and disposes of all those obstructions that are made for women alone. Also, Sidhwa asserts that she is up against the parochial patriarchal system; so, she speaks for equal and equitable human rights and opportunities for female— most vocally. The purpose is to reconsider and restructure women’s identity in a chaotic patriarchal society and parochial social thought that deny women of her birthrights; and, thus oppress her ‘voice’ by the dominant masculine society.