Tahmima’s Utopia in The Startup Wife: The Existential Feminism in a Male Tech World
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1312.02Keywords:
existentialism, feminism, Tahmima Anam, The Startup Wife, utopiaAbstract
Tahmima Anam's newest novel, The Startup Wife (2021), represents a debacle of a female utopia. Since the modern world humans live in nowadays is science-oriented and focused on technology, the novel deals with the significance of courtship and female entrepreneurship. Tahmima uses Asha Ray as the main female character in the novel. By analyzing certain instances from the novel that depict the entire journey of Asha Ray as a female scientist, the paper primarily focuses on the role of women in science. This young woman, with her natural programming abilities and self-assurance, comes up with an algorithm for a brand-new social media company that has the potential to transform an entire society for the better. It is critical to realize that before determining one's essence by existentialism, one must acknowledge his existence. The paper concludes that with her feminist fervor, Asha Ray is forced to recognize the importance of upholding what she views as hers. Having Asha Ray as a female in a male-dominated industry turns her into a subsided woman. The suffering of women in the startup world to be heard is at the heart of Asha's work. Women in a technologically male-dominated world can use Tahmima Anam's The Startup Wife as an example to examine existential feminism, which this paper aims to demonstrate and deliver to readers.
References
Anam, T. (2021). The startup wife: a novel. Scribner.
Austen, J. (1813). Pride and Prejudice (p. 1). Salem Press.
Bergoffen, D. (2004). Simone de Beauvoir (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford.edu. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/. Retrieval time: 12 June 2023.
Chandler, J. (2017). Descriptive Decision Theory (E. N. Zalta, Ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/decision-theory-descriptive/. Retrieval time: 24 July 2023.
Correll, S. J. (2004). Constraints into Preferences: Gender, Status, and Emerging Career Aspirations. American Sociological Review, 69(1), 93–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900106
Flynn, T. R. (2006). Existentialism: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Gilbert, D. A. (1987). Simone de Beauvoir and Rudi Gernreich: Existential Feminism and Existential Fashion. Simone de Beauvoir Studies, 4(1), 67–87. https://doi.org/10.1163/25897616-00401005
Harputlu Shah, Z. (2018). Tahmima Anam’ın A Golden Age ve Roma Tearne’nin Bone China Eserlerinde Kadınlar ve Ulusal Anlatı. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 12, 284–291. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.472779
Higginbotham, E. (2003). Righteous discontent: the women’s movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press.
Jean, A. U. St. (2000). “Blind Strivings of the Human Heart”: Existential Feminism in Sister Carrie. Simone de Beauvoir Studies, 16(1), 135–144. https://doi.org/10.1163/25897616-01601013
Karni, E., & Vierø, M.-L. (2013). “Reverse Bayesianism”: A Choice-Based Theory of Growing Awareness. American Economic Review, 103(7), 2790–2810. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.7.2790
Kein, K. (2016). Hysterical Feminism: Humor, Affect, and Comedy’s Role in Feminism’s Second Wave, 1955-1980. GW ScholarSpace. https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/concern/gw_etds/05741r787. Retrieval time: 12 June 2023.
Loomes, G., & Sugden, R. (1982). Regret Theory: An Alternative Theory of Rational Choice Under Uncertainty. The Economic Journal, 92(368), 805. https://doi.org/10.2307/2232669
Matuz, R. (1990). Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 63, p. 409). Gale.
Momena, R., & Keya. (2018). “Fantastic Women Breaking Stereo-types in Tahmima Anam’s Trilogy.” http://dspace.ewubd.edu:8080/bitstream/handle/123456789/2691/Momena_Rahaman_Keya.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Retrieval time:24 June 2023.
Mouffe, C. (1995). Feminism, citizenship, and radical democratic politics (L. Nicholson & S. Seidman, Eds.). Cambridge University Press; Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/social-postmodernism/feminism-citizenship-and-radical-democratic-politics/3D1CA2AC42CC00B7AA81B8A08244CAF3. Retrieval time: 24 July 2023.
Neville, E. H., Ramsey, F. P., & Braithwaite, R. B. (1932). The Foundations of Mathematics and Other Logical Essays. The Mathematical Gazette, 16(217), 56. https://doi.org/10.2307/3608148
Papari, K. (2013). Women and displacement in the context of partition a study of selected fiction by south Asian women diasporic writers. Handle.net. http://hdl.handle.net/10603/267723. Retrieval time: 24 July 2023.
Pateman, C. (1988). The Sexual Contract. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Phillips, A. (2002). Democracy and difference. Cambridge: Polity. (Original work published 1993)
Prose, P. (2021). P&P Live! Tahmima Anam | The Startup Wife with Megha Majumdar. www.youtube.com. https://youtu.be/J6WOKlLB8dk. Retrieval time: 13 July, 2023
Quintero, R. (2008). A Companion to Satire. John Wiley & Sons.
Reskin, B. F., & Bielby, D. D. (2005). A Sociological Perspective on Gender and Career Outcomes. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1257/0895330053148010
Rohrlich, R., & Baruch, E. H. (Eds.). (1984). Women in search of utopia: mavericks and mythmakers. Shocken Books.
Russ, J. (1995). To Write Like A Woman: Essays In Feminism And Science Fiction. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, Cop.
Sharjahef. (2021). SEF 2021 | Subverting Stereotypes: Rethinking Gender Dynamics in The Startup Realm [Video]. Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWG-dUgBQMc. Retrieval time: 12 July 2023.
Silbergleid, R. (1997). Women, Utopia, and Narrative: Toward a Postmodern Feminist Citizenship. Hypatia, 12(4), 156–177. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/3810737. Retrieval time: 12 June 2023.
Steinberg, J. (2014). Sexism In Startups: The Frank Conversation We Need To Be Having. Retrieved from Forbes website:https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2014/09/18/heres-the-conversation-men-need-to-have-about-sexism-as-told-by-a-man/?sh=549468a4fc39. Retrieval time: 18 May 2023.
Stories, 5x15. (2021). Tahmima Anam - The Startup Wife | 5x15 [Video]. www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVvJp9f4GR8. Retrieval time: 22 January 2023.
