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the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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story, It is also <strong>the</strong> story <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> slaves <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sweet Home<br />

plantation <strong>of</strong> Kentucky Framed <strong>in</strong> purpose, <strong>the</strong>matics and<br />

structure after <strong>the</strong> Afro-Amerlcan slave narrative, Beloved<br />

is <strong>the</strong> composite story <strong>of</strong> all slaves and <strong>the</strong>ir quest for<br />

freedom through fllght But unlike o<strong>the</strong>r significant texts<br />

that belong to thls unlque American genre, Beloved requires<br />

no call for <strong>the</strong> abolltlon <strong>of</strong> slavery because Se<strong>the</strong>'s story<br />

LS narrated to a <strong>twentieth</strong>-<strong>century</strong> audlence<br />

5.4.0. Gllman, Piercy and Atwood employ fantasy/allegory<br />

In order to subvert/deconstruct <strong>the</strong> exlstlng patriarchal<br />

codes, <strong>the</strong> utopian mode used sultlng <strong>the</strong> purport <strong>of</strong> radical<br />

femlnlsrn by mak~ng <strong>the</strong> unposs~ble seem plausible<br />

Femlnlst<br />

utoplan flctlon 1s wldely used by femrnist writers as part<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>lr own ideological practice, <strong>the</strong>y use <strong>the</strong> generic<br />

conventions In a displaced tempora; and/or geographical<br />

settrnq to reveal <strong>the</strong> ways In whlch patrrarchal practices<br />

are naturallsed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir society<br />

The utoplan genre sults<br />

<strong>the</strong> alms <strong>of</strong> radical femlnlsm as lt subverts <strong>the</strong> conf<strong>in</strong>ements<br />

<strong>of</strong> a reallsm dedicated to <strong>the</strong> representatlon <strong>of</strong>, and thus<br />

acquiescence to, a patrlarchal order<br />

As Susan Gubar<br />

remarks, "women abused by <strong>the</strong> probable refuse lt by<br />

lmagln<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> possible <strong>in</strong> a revolutlonary rejectlon <strong>of</strong><br />

patrlarchal culture1t (Gubar 1989.1921 . Fem<strong>in</strong>ist utopian<br />

<strong>fiction</strong> constructs for <strong>the</strong> readers a femlnlst readlnq<br />

positlon from which <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>stitutional practices <strong>of</strong>

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