Critical Discourse Analysis of Rabih Alameddine's Novel "An Unnecessary Woman (2014)"

Abstract

This paper aims at analyzing the issue of feminism about women's bodies, self-identification, and self-conscious through the resistance of the female protagonist against patriarchal, religious, and political constraints in light of Rabih Alameddine's Novel "An Unnecessary Woman" (2014)  in which the fallacious practices towards women and their sexuality in the patriarchal society are presented. The theoretical framework of this study is based on Fairclough (1989) CDA Model. To achieve the objectives of this study, the researcher divided the paper into three parts. The first part discussed the concept of feminism and the status of Arab women in the postmodern or 21st century, particularly during the Civil war of Lebanon (1975). The second part illustrated Alameddine’s concept of feminism and the social milieu, which influences his writings; and the third part reflected the sarcastic tone employed by Alameddine to address the patriarchal practices and social concerns of males and females of the 21st century. In Alameddine's society, females are almost treated as submissive sexual objects, and inferior voices are disjointed and fragmented in entirely a patriarchal society.