Third World women and madness: Body against mind

Bodily description centrally powers the writing in three important Third World novels: Bessie Head's A Question of Power (1974), Hanan Al-Shaykh's The Story of Zahra (1986), and Kamala Markandaya's Two Virgins (1973). Analyzing the role of the female body of the protagonist, in each case, defines the purpose of the text. These three novels develop their themes differently; however, each reflects a distinct image of the horrifying chasm between a woman's mental well-being and the physical reality of her body, a reality which confines her and stands in direct conflict with her healthy development as an adult. With skillful detail, these authors communicate the intense daily consistency of the conflict between a woman's body and her mind. Each novel demonstrates how the conflict is tied up in ordinary functions, and all reach the same conclusion: the conflict is powerful enough to result in mental deterioration, if not total insanity.