Analyzing Representation of Gender in How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

The paper aims at the analysis of gender representation in Mohsin Hamid’s novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, converging literary and linguistic perspective about gender. The study is the stylistic analysis of the novel, taking into account the category of adjectives at lexical level as suggested by Leech and Short (2007). The study of adjectives is supplemented with the notion of gender performativity by Butler (2006). The analysis of adjectives and their correlation with Butler’s performativity delineates, differentiates and elaborates men and women to be sexually distinct as well as socially discrete genders entrenched in the cultural context of Asia. Men and women perform their specific gender roles through repetitive social acts, not by choice but as endorsed upon them by their being a part of a collective thought ruling over the individuals. Thus, the research presents this performative aspect of gender through lexical choices of adjectives opted by the author forming a helpful study for the researchers seeking to approach gender issues in literary texts via linguistic clues and evidences.