MALAYSIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH BBL 3206 MALAYSIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

“THE FAT WOMAN” BY DINA ZAMAN Representations of women What is dehumanization? How is dehumanization demonstrated in the story? What is the “male gaze?”

What’s the theme of the story? Who is the protagonist? Does she have a name? Why not? How does the narrator describe the female character? What’s the significant of reflecting her childhood especially about her sexual behavior?

The male gaze is when a woman is put under male surveillance The woman has becomes an object No power to control the way she is categorized Dehumanization means to subject women as an object which has no intellect or emotions

The protagonist is represented as an object -– every parts of her body is described as ugly The fact of objectifying through the “male gaze,” it involves “dehumanization” -- Her physically/body is given attention to in terms of its ugliness or beauty -- Her sexuality is questioned in terms of her being unattractive and reduced sexual desire