Abstract:
Traditionally, sexuality has often been determined by one’s gender and has further
been complicated by heterosexism and homophobic ideas. This paper examines
the topic of sexuality as portrayed in fiction from selected literary texts. It
constitutes the discussion of various factors that affect people at different levels in
association with same-sex relationships, as reflected in the literary texts. The main
objective of the paper is to analyse how heteronormative societies respond to
lesbian homosexuality. To establish this argument, this paper explores Sarif’s The
World Unseen (2007) and Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees (2015). It seeks to
answer the question: what is (are) the response(s) of heteronormative society to
lesbianism in the selected texts. Ultimately it hopes to contribute to the existing
but limited research on understanding experiences of lesbian homosexuals by
shedding light on cultural practices that are put in place in an attempt to normalise
heterosexuality. The paper utilises Judith Butler’s Queer theory to achieve its
objective. The significant concern in this theory is the correlation between gender
and sex. The major tenets being gender performativity, the fluid nature of
sexuality, and the deconstruction of characterisation structures.
