Mind-body Dualism: A Comparative Study of A Room of One's Own and A Talented Sister

Abstract

This paper aims to explore mind-body dualism in a comparative study of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1929) and Elif Shafak’s A Talented Sister (2007). For this purpose, Merleau-Ponty’s counter to mind-body dualism, stated as co-existence of mind and body is applied to this research to find out its application and consequences in the lives of Firuze and Judith. The method of analysis is Resistant reading (Francis et. al., 2003) to interpret the new meanings as a result. The purpose of this study is to identify the mind-body relationship and its impact in both the texts. The results reveal that Firuze’s stance as co-existence of mind and body secured her life in the form of marriage whereas Judith’s view as primacy of mind over body dented her life badly as she was left with no option but to kill herself.