Women’s Care Centered Moral Reasoning in Sidhwa’s The Pakistani Bride

Abstract

This paper explores care centered moral reasoning of the female characters of The Pakistani Bride (1990), a novel by a Pakistani novelist Bapsi Sidhwa. It explains the nature of bond between Carol and Zaitoon and presents the rationale for Carol’s daring act of saving Zaitoon from the fury of angry tribal men who wanted to kill Zaitoon in the name of honor. It relies on the theoretical concepts of care ethics presented by a feminist psychologist Carol Gilligan in her work, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development (1982). It shows how moral paradigm of the women is built on the principle of care and sense of connection and network. It has a focus on the distinct pattern of female decision making when a moral question is faced. The researcher employs textual analysis to highlight the characters’ moral reasoning and its significance as a valid form of moral consciousness.