International Journal of Development in Social Sciences and Humanities

In Salman Rushdie’s novel Shame, masculinity and feminity are important factors in how certain characters function. This growing desire to define identity as it relates to the characters in Shame is not only confined to the individuals in the story, but it is also an issue relevant to the nation of Pakistan as well. Most of the characters in the story are symbolic references to actual political figures in Pakistan. In addition, they also represent different periods in the country’s history, both political and social. This paper attempts to study Salman Rushdie’s novel Shame as a cultural feminist text.