Subversion of the Stereotypical Image of Woman: A Study of Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup

Abstract

The present study examines the feminist approach adopted by Nadine Gordimer in portraying the character of Julie Summers in The Pickup. The study provides a textual analysis of the novel in question with the attempt to underscore the conflict between society and the female individual. In The Pickup Gordimer presents Julie in a situation where she has o choose between what she wants to do and what the conventions of her society want her to do. As a female character, Julie has to chart the paths of her life in an attempt to overcome a lot of obstacles in a patriarchal world. In a word, Gordimer’s feminist approach will be examined in terms of her ability at weaving the social and cultural circumstances prevailing in two different communities where the protagonist lives with her ability to overcome all the obstacles to change the stereotypical image of women in both communities. The study also explores Julie’s refusal to be controlled by the dominant norms of the traditional codes that govern her community in South Africa and her willingness as well as abilities to adapt to the community of her lover in another country; a country of a different culture and different religion. The study also aims at exploring the different forces that might conspire against the individual female character, represented in Julie, when she decides to lead a life of non-conformity to the prevailing conventions socially and culturally associated with marriage and maternal life. Moreover, the study seeks to pinpoint Gordimer’s vision of the situation of the modern African woman and her dilemma as a result of rejecting the prevailing cultural and social codes. Here, Julie represents a model in subverting the stereotypical image of woman who is capable of making drastic changes in her society.