analysis of female characters in rukhsana ahmed works

2. Topic
A Psychoanalytic Study of Female
Characters of Rukhsana Ahmed’s Short
Stories
 Presented To:
 Sir Agha Mashood Khan
 Presented By:
 Muhammad Jamil (11)
 Muhammad Abrar (40)
 Mubashir Ahmed (51)
 Muhammad Bilal (52)
 Institute Of Southern Punjab, Multan

3. Rukhsana Ahmed
Rukhsana Ahmad (born 1948) is Pakistani
writer of novels, short stories, poetry, plays,
translator and who after marriage migrated to
England for further studies and pursue a career
in writing. She has campaigned for Asian
writers, particularly women. Rukhsana Ahmad
is prominent for her work on social issues. She
mostly writes about female and their problems
relating to marital issues.

4. Biography
 Rukhsana Ahmad was born in Karachi,
Pakistan in 1948. She did her schooling in
many schools in different cities in Pakistan
 She did her college education in Punjab
University, and in Karachi obtained Master of
Arts degree from the Karachi University in
English Literature and Linguistics. She then
joined the University of Karachi and taught
English Literature, till she got married.
Subsequent to her marriage she migrated to
England, where she obtained degrees from
the Reading University and the University of
the Arts.

5. Books
 We Sinful Women (1991
 The Hope Chest (1996)
 The Gatekeeper's Wife
 Song For A Sanctuary (A Play)
 Mistaken...: Annie Besant in India
Awards
Ahmad has won many accolades in the form of
nominations for well known awards like the Commission of
Racial Equality Award, the Writers' Guild Award, the Sony
Award, and the 2002 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. For
her play River on Fire (2001) she won the second place for
the Susan Smith Blackburn theater award. For her play
Wide Sargasso Sea she received the Writers’ Guild of
Great Britain radio adaptation award

6. Introduction
Rukhsana Ahmad is prominent for her work
on the issues of women. She mostly writes
about female and their personal problems
The female characters of Rukhsana Ahmad
in her book “The Gatekeeper’s wife and
other short stories. The focus of this study
is to reveal the psychological disorders
found in the female characters. There are
few male characters in Ahmad's short
stories and she mostly opted female
characters having various disorders. We
shall find that female characters of short
stories have infected different types of
mental disorders due to lack of social
cohesion.

7. Objectives of the study
a) To conduct a psychoanalysis of any
female character
b) To get knowledge about the the
human mentality
c) To learn about the repressed
psychological problems
d) To evaluate the unfulfilled desires of
female characters
e) To know the feelings, emotions and
mentality of females

8. What is Main Research
Problem
 The main research problem is to
search the mental problems of female
characters in Rukhsana Ahmed’s
short stories.

9. Main research questions
1. What does female think about the
patriarchal society?
2. How do female characters escape
from reality in her works?
3. Are female characters suffers from
any mental problems?
4. Are female characters in Rukhsana
Ahmad’s short stories want their
identity?

10. CHARACTERS
The books of Rukhsana Ahmed have many
stories. Women are the main the center of the
stories. Most stories move around the female
characters.
‘ANNETE’ is the female character in the story
‘The Gatekeeper’s wife ’ This is the very first
story of the book upon which the title of the
book also consists. She is a lady full of
Depression, obsession and alienation. She has
to move from Europe to Pakistan after her
marriage. It seems her very difficult to survive in
such type of environment. She has been
ignored by her husband.

11. ‘’AMY and ADILAKSHMI’’ are main
female characters in the story ‘’The
Confessions and Lullabies’’. These two
ladies are also full of depressions, anxiety
and especially the anxiety of separation
from their birth place. Their life is full of
fears, worries and deprivations. They are
indulged in self –deception. They are
helpless in each and every matter. They
have to face many difficult times lonely. No
one is there to help them and even to wipe
off their tears. Both ladies are obsessed
with the passion of earning money.

12. ‘’SHAH BANO’’ is also a female character in the story ‘First Love’. She loves
her brother’s friend a lot. She has secret love with him. she wants that he
comes to know about her feelings for him without telling him. All these
characters show their inner feelings and their state of mind,
‘’QAISAR ‘’is another female character in the story ‘Cassandra and the
Viaduct’. She is indulged in a great anxiety. She usually seems strange
dreams related to her father. She gets frightened. She remains upset. She
is unable to understand the reason. She cannot understand the reason that
why is she going to see such type of dreams. These dreams confuse her
and at the end, she finds the result of such horrible dreams when she sees
Marilyn and father in the shop. ‘’FARIHA‘’, is a female character in ‘The
Nightmare’. She is a lady full of depression and repression. She lives in
past memories. She is devoid of the love of her husband.

13. For example, the female character ‘’JANE’’ in
the short story ‘’Through the Rose-tinted
window’’ is the true embodiment of the lady
showing strange behaviors. At many times, in
this story she shows strange behavior. These
strange behaviors are based on Alienation,
Anxiety disorders and Hallucinations which are
the important themes of psychoanalytical
theory. Some females are passing through
alienation. Due to this their anxiety is at the
extreme level. Some females are passing
through separation anxiety disorder due to
which their attitudes are abnormal.

14. Themes in her works
a) Repression
b) Inferiority complex
c) Identity
d) Patriarchal society
e) Anxiety
f) Escapism
g) Communication Gap

15. RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
 According to research design,
research is based upon qualitative
pattern.
 Data and type is based upon text
 Research method was very precious
because many books and articles are
read and then we come to the
conclusion.

16. FINDINGS
At the completion of a good journey into
the minds of female characters of
Rukhsana Ahmad’s work, we come to
know that the characters of her works are
suffering from mental disorder and they
want to move towards the free atmosphere
where they can enjoy all the facilities of life.
Ahmed narrative techniques are great.
They way She narrates the situation in an
appropriate way. Her way of portraying
characters is as real as it is in real life.

17. CONCLUSIONS:
 After the detailed study of Rukhsana
Ahmed works we can say that she
represents the true and real picture of
Pakistani women. Her works are more
than real on the basis of fiction. when we
read her works picture of reality moves
before our eyes. Women in her writings
always feel a kind of fear. They are fed
up from all these limits of society. They
try to live in society as a common human
being but all in vain because they don't
have respect and suitable place in that
society.