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Haroon Sarfraz

Amer Akhter

Critical Discourse Analysis

12 May 2014

Critical Discourse Analysis of Gender Inequality and Exploitation in “Our Lady of

Alice Bhatti”

Gender inequality and exploitation has been prevailing in all societies of the world

since the ancient times and it is still there in the era of enlightenment and awareness about the

equality of rights among male and female sex. Majority of the societies in the world are male

dominated and women are treated just as an object for pleasure there, not as esteemed

creation of God. They are not given equal rights as to the men and they are mostly exploited

by the men existing in their surroundings.

According to a prominent sociologist Teun A. van Dijk this situation is the result of

the trends and approaches adopted by the members of the society. As the model of van Dijk

suggests that society, cognition and discourse are in close collaboration with each other in

shaping the attitudes and behaviours of the people toward other people and sections of

society. van Dijk presents a triangular model and remarks that every discourse is influenced

by society and cognition. Collective thinking of the people living in a society forms the

discourse which is adopted and practiced by the whole society.

Besides this the choice of words spoken to and for a specific matter or a group of

people is also significant in this case and these word choices are also based upon the general

thinking of the people of society. These words have significance at both the macro level and

micro level. We can further call them as global meaning and local meaning. Global meaning

or macro level is based upon the theme of the whole discourse. While local meaning or micro

level is related to the meaning of a single sentence or speech in the discourse individually. So
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we can analyse the inequality and exploitation adopted toward women through both macro

and micro level analysis.

If we observe our own society we find that women are not given equal respect as the

men of society have and they are treated just as a property. They are exploited by the males in

their surroundings. This is because they are considered lower than men and not given much

reverent social status. The language or words that are used while dealing them are also

exploitative. This approach towards women physically and verbally is the outcome of the

general thinking of society as considering them inferior to men. “Our Lady of Alice Bhatti” is

a highly admired novel by Muhammad Hanif with reference to the presentation of women as

an exploited community in a male dominated society. Being a Pakistani writer Muhammad

Hanif presents the discourse of his society where a woman is treated as an object of pleasure

and she is exploited both mentally and physically because of her being inferior as per

collective thinking of the people present around her. This is the story of a Christian nurse

Alice Bhatti who is doing job in a hospital in Karachi. Along with her being a woman her

identity as a Christian adds oil to the fire in the process of her exploitation by the people in

her surroundings i.e. the Sacred Heart Hospital, Karachi.

There are different examples and incidents which show the discourse of exploitative

attitude of men towards Alice Bhatti which make her the woman of such a society where

people have collective thinking against the women as a toy for pleasure. Alice Bhatti’s first

visit to the psyche-ward is significant in the whole novel as for as the treatment of women

according to social cognition is concerned. As there is a discourse through the collective

thinking of society that women are just to satisfy men’s physical instinct, Alice Bhatti is

treated both verbally and physically by mental patients to fulfill their natural male desire.

Along with this the language used by the mental patients is important at macro and micro

level in the context of gender exploitation. She is welcomed and mocked at in these words:
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“This way, Sister”

“Surprise them” “Reveal yourself”

“We knew you were coming. We were told.”(33)

Her first response and expression is like this:

“Alice Bhatti looks at her keys and tries to hide her nervousness behind a polite smile.

She wields her clipboard like a shield, and gives the old man a benevolent nod, like heads of

state bestow on ushers before moving on to guards of honour.” (33)

She faces the typical behaviour of the mad men and their lustful desires. She is

welcomed there in a mocking manner and dealt as a toy. She is handicapped by them at the

ward and she keeps on resisting for getting free herself from their net.

Alice feels she is airborne for a long time, and then she lands in the waiting arms of

two men, who shout ‘Howzat!’ like deranged cricketers.

They lift her up in the air. She feels exalted. And scared. “Lord. Yassoo. Yassoo. Save

me.” (34)

While happens all this, Teddy Butt (a police inspector – who becomes her husband

later on) comes there with his squad to rescue her and takes her out of the Charya Ward.

This incident leaves a great impact on the reader’s mind about the approach of male

towards female based upon the discourse as a result of the collective thinking of society and

he realises how the women are exploited by men. At macro level it makes clear that women

are taken as an object of fulfilling the sexual desire by the society and even the mentally

abnormal men in society try to exploit women whenever they get a chance to do it. Different

words used in the above extract from the novel are significant at micro level also in the

context of exploitative discourse towards women. The word “sister” is significantly ironic for

the identity of Alice Bhatti. Keeping in view the real sense of being a sister or even just as per

her profession she is taken in an opposite way and her identity is just as a woman who is the
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source of pleasure for men. There is the use of adjectives, firstly “polite” describing her smile

in the reaction of words spoken by the mental patients and then “benevolent” with her nod to

the old man. These adjectives show her helplessness. We observe how a woman is bearing

the attitude based upon inequality so patiently because she is forced to attend the patients in

every kind of situation. Along with this repetition is found when she calls “Yassoo” for

rescue. We also observe generalization in the words “Reveal yourself”. It shows they are

treating her just as a woman in spite of their nurse. They have general thinking about women

as the one who is there to satisfy them physically. So they just demand her as per their male

desires. The word “Howzat” makes Alice Bhatti’s identity vague. She is not being taken as a

human being here.

An important aspect of the novel which shows the discourse of gender exploitation as

the result of social cognition is that it reveals about the operations of patriarchy. The very

first interaction of Alice Bhatti in the hospital with Dr. Pereira makes evident her real

position in society through the language that the doctor uses. She is sarcastically treated in

different ways - about her name, family and professional abilities. On an occasion the doctor

gets attracted towards her physically and she gets some remarks from him that the author

describes in the following way:

Ortho Sir moves forward in his chair, clasps his hands, and fixes his eyes on the file in

front of him. The alien on his head seems to have decided to make this planet his home.

“Postnatal care?” His eyes are level with Alice Bhatti’s breasts. “Inverted nipples.

How do you deal with them? Should you deal with them? Have you any personal experience

to share?” Ortho Sir rolls his tongue around his gum as if there might be nipples struck

between his teeth. (9)

These remarks of the doctor illustrate at the macro level that the women are treated in

a uniform manner at all places and levels of society. Being a senior doctor and an educated
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person Mr. Pereira should have treated a woman or a nurse with an esteemed manner but

instead of this he behaves negatively. His male instinct overpowers his professional

responsibility and sensibility. He just behaves as a male person of such a society which has

collective thinking of exploiting the females as an object for physical pleasure. This makes

us realise that women are treated in an inhumane manner in society at all levels. They are

handicapped and they are considered to be the source of fulfilling the male desires and this

discourse is the result of social cognition.

In Chapter seventeen of the novel while discussing about marital relations Hina Alvi,

a senior nurse, gives her remarks about men’s approach toward women regarding

compromise and understanding.

“Men don’t understand. Just remember that. They don’t.” Hina Alvi, it seems, has had

enough of the wisdom of the newly-wed. “I mean, they might have a fine understanding of

how a carburetor works or how a human brain is wired, but ask them to understand your

sadness on a sunny afternoon and their brain starts doing push-ups. They want to physically

lift your sadness and smash it to bits. God, sometimes they want to tie RDX to your sadness

and put a timer on it. They think understanding means climbing up a mountain and

disappearing into a cave. And that man, your compromise, it does seem that he was locked

up in a cave for a very long time.”

This extract is also significant at the macro level which can be declared as a complaint

of a woman against the careless and gender biased attitude of men. When we observe it at

micro level, the words spoken by Hina Alvi and especially the allusions given about men’s

understanding are significant in the matter of gender inequality.

After having all the above discussion we can say conclusively that the novel “Our

Lady of Alice Bhatti” is the true presentation of the discourse of gender exploitation as the

result of social cognition in accordance with van Dijk’s triangular model of discourse,
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cognition and society. The circumstances highlighted in the novel are those that are observed

and experienced in daily life of the women of modern era. Muhammad Hanif has portrayed

the character of Alice Bhatti as the typical woman of his time who faces difficulties during

her stay in the society. She is the nurse who is victimized by the hospital administration and

also by the patients and even by their attendants too. Triangular model of van Dijk can be

applied on the novel through the incidents and experiences that Alice Bhatti has to face while

performing her services in hospital as a nurse. It is also very much evident through the

language or words used toward Alice Bhatti in the whole story that there is a general thinking

of society about women’s being an inferior creatures and they are here for just the comfort

and pleasure of men. On the basis of this social cognition the discourse of exploiting and

using the women for the satisfaction the natural instinct of the men is shaped and practised.
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Works Citied

Hanif, Muhammad. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. Noida UP: Random House Publishers India,

2011. Print.