Performing the "Exotic" and the Western Gaze in Jhumpa Lahiri's "Sexy" and Sandra Cisneros's "Woman Hollering Creek"

Abstract

The comparative analysis of the selected literary texts aims to explore the ways in which modern cross-cultural women subject themselves to the performance of gendered identities that have been constructed for them externally by a global patriarchal gaze. Specifically, this research will analyze how the female protagonists of the two short stories, namely Jhumpa Lahiri's "Sexy" (1999) and Sandra Cisneros's "Woman Hollering Creek" (1991), become victims of the same structure of oppression that operates through the construction of an exotic feminine identity in the mass media environment. In doing so, the paper seeks to contribute to an underexplored aspect of transnational literary studies, specifically the practice of isolating works created by diasporic or minority authors in specific ethnic or geographical contexts from one another. Instead, this paper will draw upon the theories of the postcolonial and feminist gaze in order to discuss how the women in the two stories fall prey to their own exoticization by the patriarchal system at different socioeconomic and racial levels. As will be revealed further, the central conclusion of this paper is that both authors believe that solidarity among women is crucial for achieving psychological decolonization and finding one's own voice.