Portrayals of Gender and Disability: An Introspection into Societal Bias as Presented in Tagore’s “Subha” and Siraj’s Alik Manush

Abstract

This paper intends to explore, through a critical lens, how socially constructed norms surrounding gender and disability shape the lived experiences of people. It also examines how stereotypes about masculinity and femininity work as an important factor in determining the life of an individual. It is a truth that both women and men with disabilities are affected by societal discrimination. However, the experience is even more intense for disabled females. Sometimes, the disabled men are considered virulent despite their social isolation; on the contrary, women with disabilities are deemed more passive and burdensome than men. Literature has contributed to portraying the perpetuation of discriminatory attitudes in society. By assessing R. N. Tagore’s short story “Subha” and Sayad Mustafa Siraj’s novel Alik Manush, this paper meditates on how literature acts as a source of the discriminatory attitude of society. Moreover, the paper examines the role of the carer in reconsidering an inclusive future for the disabled. Thus, the paper calls for a more liberal and open-minded social system that acknowledges and values the disabled across gender lines. It also asserts the need to dismantle deep-rooted sociocultural norms that recognise disabled identities regardless of gender.