From the Mother’s Daughter to the Daughters’ Mother: A Feminist Psychoanalytic Study of Nazneen’s Transformation in Brick Lane - Laizu Nasrin

From the Mother’s Daughter to the Daughters’ Mother: A Feminist Psychoanalytic Study of Nazneen’s Transformation in Brick Lane Laizu Nasrin Department of English Jahangirnagar University E-mail:laizu@juniv.edu Abstract: Since its publication in 2003, Monica Ali’s Brick Lane has drawn the attention and acclaim of the readers and the critics alike. As a result, it is found to be discussed and analyzed in manifold ways, for example—as a post-colonial fiction, a diasporic novel, a multicultural text, a feminist or quintessential bildungsroman etc. Since the transformation of Nazneen—the protagonist of the novel—from a fate-believing submissive Bangladeshi village-girl to a self-defining assertive British-resident works as the focal point of the novel, several essays are seen to deal with Nazneen and her evolution in a number of illuminating ways. However, no such essay looks into the text from a feminist psychoanalytic viewpoint. This article, hence, reads the novel in the light of the theory of mother-daughter relationship by Nancy Chodorow to provide the readers answer to the following question: How does Nazneen change from a mother-doting and fate-fearing daughter to a supporting self-reliant mother of her own daughters? Keywords: Feminist Psychoanalysis, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Transformation