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The article critiques the books "The Aunt's Story" by Patrick White and "In The Heart of the Country" by J. M. Coetzee. It explores the portrayal of women characters in the novels, particularly protagonists Magda and Theodora who are both marginalized as colonial women. The nature of radical interiority of both Magda and Theodora is also discussed.

This is a thematic study of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and The Thing Around Your Neck by novelist and writer of short stories, and nonfiction Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The novel Purple Hibiscus is set in postcolonial Nigeria, beset by political instability and economic difficulties, Half of a Yellow Sun, her second novel (named after the flag of the short-lived nation of Biafra) is set before and during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), and The Thing Around Your Neck, her third book is a collection of 12 stories that explore the relationships between men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States. Hence, it is argued in this work that besides writing beautifully and achieving a unity of ideas, a careful reading of the books reveals that the writer is not at ease with the conditions of women and thus, she places a spotlight on them via themes of feminism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on how the corporeality of women's bodies frames their experiences, options, and choices. Through a reading of Yvonne Vera's Without a Name and Butterfly Burning, the paper suggests that Vera explores interactions between discursive practices and the embodied experience of these discourses for women living on the extreme margins of society. This reading suggests that these women's lived experiences as played out by, and on their bodies, are central in shaping the choices they make and their exercise of agency. Further, the essay argues, these women's responses, while appealing to seemingly extravagant and melodramatic tropes, in the contexts of their circumstances articulate a radical reconceptualization of agency and resistance. Most remarkably, Vera's women force us to rethink ideas about nature/sex/body as rigid and immutable, and therefore an unviable site of intervention in gender struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]