Echoes of Silence: Trauma, Gender-based Violence, and Patriarchy in Purple Hibiscus and the Bastard of Istanbul

Sažetak

The Bastard of Istanbul is a novel set in modern-day Tur­key, which amid its economic and political development con­tinues to suppress the problematic points in its past and is still an extremely patriarchal society, as the characters of the novel struggle with personal issues and traumas. The novel focuses on historical trauma, violence against women, and how culture and its established and rigid social and religious norms silence and oppress women. On the other hand, the novel Purple Hibiscus is set in post-colonial, also patriarchal, Nigeria and follows the internal dynamics of a Christian family that goes through the torture of an authoritative and violent father on everyday ba­sis. Unlike, The Bastard of Istanbul, where we find Turkey in the post-colonial period of the Ottoman Empire, as the heir of a former colonial power that does not know how or does not want to come to terms with its crimes, in Purple Hibiscus, Nigeria is seen as a de-colonized country that still does not manage to find its way to a healthy and non-oppressive political arrangement. This paper will explore how both novels depict the intersection of patriarchy with gender, trauma, and history.