The Representation of Female Identity and Social Agency in the Novels of Zoya Pirzad: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of kindergarten

2 English Department, Islamic Azad University of Khomein

10.22034/lda.2026.145551.1130

Abstract

Abstract

This study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), drawing upon Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, to examine the representation of female identity and social agency in contemporary Iranian fiction. Focusing on two novels by Zoya Pirzad—Things We Left Unsaid (Cheragh-ha ra Man Khamoosh Mikonam) and We’ll Get Used to It (Adat Mikonim)—the research investigates how women are discursively constructed within narrative contexts shaped by tensions between tradition and modernity, silence and agency, individuality and self-sacrifice.

The findings indicate that dominant socio-cultural discourses reproduce stereotypical gender roles through linguistic choices, family structures, and cultural norms. However, the novels simultaneously create spaces for subtle resistance and the emergence of female agency. The study highlights the latent yet powerful role of language, narrative strategies, and discourse in shaping women’s subjectivity, demonstrating that literature can function both as a mechanism of ideological control and as a site of empowerment and transformation.

Keywords

Critical Discourse Analysis; Female Identity; Social Agency; Feminist Literature; Representation of Women; Zoya Pirzad; Tradition and Modernity; Female Subjectivity; Patriarchal Discourse; Agency.

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