Reversing Roles, Reimagining Power: Gender Oppression and the Path to Liberation in Alderman’s The Power and Hall’s The Carhullan Army

The present dissertation examines the portrayal of patriarchal power dynamics and alternative modes of existence through the close reading of two works of contemporary speculative fiction: The Power by Naomi Alderman and The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall. Through close textual analysis, drawing on theoretical frameworks provided by various contemporary scholars, the present work explores themes of power and gender, connecting their portrayal in the novels to their functioning in the reader’s present. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concepts of power, normality, and biopolitics; feminist criticism by Judith Butler, Sarah Ahmed, Simone De Beauvoir, Monique Wittig, and bell hooks; Silvia Federici and Gerda Lerner’s historical research; and Rosi Braidotti’s critical posthumanism, the study reflects on patriarchy, its evolution, and the mechanisms through which it establishes and upholds power. Additionally, it investigates how literature can help imagine alternative modes of existence. This dissertation argues that the two works of contemporary speculative fiction it analyses, aligning with their authors’ intentions, have significant potential in provoking critical reflection and inspiring the imagination of entirely new social systems that overcome the logic of domination inherent in patriarchy and in all social systems in which power is organized hierarchically. The thesis thus critiques patriarchal, dualistic, hierarchical power structures through their representation in literary works that articulate a vision of resistance and alternative subjectivities.