Gendered Marginalization in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: Insights from Judith Butler and Michel Foucault

This paper explores the theme of gendered marginalization in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness using the ideas of Judith Butler and Michel Foucault. Butler’s concept of gender as performance and Foucault’s idea of biopolitics help examine how power, cultural norms, and societal expectations shape and marginalize gender identities. The novel challenges the social and political systems that uphold inequality, offering a strong critique of the connections between gender, and class. This study shows how the characters' struggles against cultural and institutional oppression reveal the complex relationship between personal identity and societal control.