Deconstructing Feminine Identity Using Spivak's Subaltern Lens

This study examines Gayatri Spivak's contributions to post-colonial and subaltern studies. The study aims to identify the elements that make Spivak's work relevant, distinctive, and vital amid a deluge of literary theories. Throughout her work, Spivak explores the experiences of oppressed women. Subaltern women's identification and struggle have been fundamentally challenged in her publications. This study highlights Spivak's distinctive critical perspective, incorporating and transcending some essential modern critical theories, including feminism and subaltern studies. In addition, the study engages with post-colonial interpretations of the Bengali collection of short stories. The “Breast Giver” challenges the post-colonial narrative and consciousness within the preeminent ideological paradigms. According to the subaltern interpretation of the selected narrative, many different and complex ways exist to represent women. In addition, there are differing degrees of agency, prejudice, oppression, and possibility of action on the part of the main female character. Due to this, the texts' interpretations are diverse and varied, resisting readers' quick judgments about subaltern tyranny.