Narrative Codes and Patriarchal Critique: A Barthesian Analysis of Bina Shah's A Bird With One Wing

Abstract

This article uses five narrative codes used in the book by Roland Barthes: Hermeneutic, Pro-airetic, Semantic, Symbolic, and Cultural codes, to the short story by Bina Shah, A Bird With One Wing. The study applies qualitative textual analysis and close reading to understand how the narrative structure of the story by Shah creates meaning by application of suspense, action, symbolism, and cultural reference. As the analysis has revealed, the story logically uses all five codes to portray identity, gendered oppression, and cultural conflict themes in the Pakistani society during the time of war. The narrative puts a challenge to the prevailing discourses of feminine identity in relation to patriarchy and culture because it foregrounds the lived experience of Zarghuna. The article brings out the relevance of the structural model introduced by Barthes, in exposing the ideological and cultural conflicts hidden in the modern fiction of South Asia.