Women at the Margins: A Feminist Critique of Patriarchal Domination in Sabyn Javeri’s, Nobody Killed Her

Abstract

“Patriarchy is a societal system that prioritizes male dominance over females, profoundly impacting women’s lives by silencing and rendering them voiceless” (Qasim et al., 2024, p. 171). This paper provides a feminist analysis of patriarchal domination in the novel Nobody Killed Her by Sabyn Javeri. Using the feminist theory, the paper assesses how the novel illustrates the marginalization of women in the highly institutionalized gender politics and how patriarchy oppresses female voices, controls female bodies, and justifies gendered violence in the name of social morality. The novel reveals how the institutions like family, law, and the community work together in perpetuating male power making women susceptible to symbolic as well as physical erasure. Through foregrounding the lived conditions of women which they experience as oppressed and disposable, the novel questions the cultural norms and traditions that rationalize female oppression and absolve the systems of patriarchy. A close reading of the novel reveals that Nobody Killed Her does not only criticize acts of violence on a personal level perpetrated against women but also questions and challenges the structural circumstances that allow this violence to thrive. Finally, the novel by Javeri emphasizes its role in influencing the discussion of gender, power, and social justice.

Keywords: Feminism, Patriarchy, Gender-based Violence, Women’s Marginalization, Domestic Abuse, Silence and Voice.