TROPING WOMEN AND RETHINKING GENDER STEREOTYPES IN SELECTED NDEBELE FICTIONAL WORKS

There exists a dearth of scholarship on gender relations in Ndebele literary works from Zimbabwe. The present study sets out to analyse the literary troping of women in Umhlaba Lo! a play by B. C Makhalisa and Lifile, a novel by O.S Mlilo, two works of art that destabilize the perception of women. To begin with, by centring the narratives on protagonists who are prostitutes, these works move these figures from the margins to the mainstream of the literary universe. Moreover, the narratives give voice and agency to these prostitute protagonists in such a manner that they are able to speak for themselves and give the perception of their lives through their own eyes. The image of the prostitute challenges the stereotype that women cannot be active sexual agents but are rather framed as passive sexual objects. Moreover, it dislocates the private/public dichotomy, since sexuality, which is normally viewed as a private issue, is brought into the public sphere through the mise en scène of the sexualized body that imposes itself in the public space. Ultimately, the study argues that instead of viewing women who take charge of their sexualities as femmes’ fatales, there is need to look at the multifaceted issues that lead women to use their bodies and sexualize them in a bid to earn a living.