The Impact of Environment on Male Gender Roles in the Novel Honor (Iskender) by Elif Shafak

Abstract

By reading novels of author Elif Shafak, we notice that the writer watched female, as well as male roles in the society and family, from a gender perspective, and tried to point out the problems of men raised in patriarchal spirit thus being imposed a certain model of thinking and behavior. Elif Shafak has especially dealt with the question of gender roles of a patriarchal man, in the novel Honor/Iskender. The novel abounds in male characters whose evenly behavior and identical reactions to certain situations point to a common basis of their upbringing. The protective role of a man, as well as all other gender roles determined by patriarchal norms, derive from their home. In case of a deviation, a man is considered to be a traitor of his gender or, at best, a deficient man. A man would then be ridiculed and excluded from the community. The writer creates male characters whose life paths are being followed from their childhood, and it immediately answers the questions that are raised at the end of the novel when these characters make certain decisions as adults and bear the consequences of these decisions.