A Study On The Symbolism Of Female Images In Postcolonial Novels

Postcolonial literature includes literature related to colonization, interpreting and describing those living in colonized areas and their culture. It is written in the perspective of the subaltern, whose voice could not be heard or could not be heard as it is in the canonical work. Female characters in the post-colonial novels carry special symbolic meanings and play significant roles in displaying the complicate themes of the novels.Three novels Heart of Darkness, Wide Sargasso Sea and A Passage to India are chosen as examples. Firstly, they are all masterpieces of post-colonial novels which could be good representatives of the post-colonial literature work. Heart of Darkness, a medium-length novel published in 1902. Based on the true experience of Conrad, the author, in Africa, this novel tells us what Marlowe, the leading character, has experienced in Congo. Wide Sargasso Sea is about a Creole woman's story from a young girl to a mad woman. A Passage to India discusses the complicated relationship between the Indians and the English during the colonial period. Secondly, their authors have different origins and backgrounds. They all have bilingual or more languages experiences and employ intertextuality as counter-course strategies. Finally, The female characters in the novels include typical colonized women images. Women with different origins are presented as “the other” in the novel and are symbols of the colonized culture and people.Female characters in the postcolonial novels are faced with problems of being unsure about their own identities and caught in the dilemma between different cultures. Females, who are marginalized and oppressed in the colonial period function properly as the spokesman of the colonized culture. Therefore, it is of great importance to study the female characters in the postcolonial novels and their symbolic meaning.