摘要：Reema’s character in Unfettered Wings depicts a journey of female subordination. Simon de Beauvoir’s phenomena of altruism and defloration becomes prominent and recurring themes of the story that further shed light on the sorry state of Reema’s subjugation as Other in the patriarchal society. Female subordination can be clearly seen through the character of Reema and her mother. Simon explains in her theory that there is a relationship between ovum and sperm in various creatures like fish, insects and mammals etc and she describes women’s subordination to species in term of reproduction. The story is about the past of a woman named Reema who is in a state of nostalgia. She is memorizing the past time of her life as now she is 80 years old and lying on a hospital bed suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. It was the impact of this subordination that Reema at the age of eighty after having daughters and granddaughters cannot forget that critical phase of her life and it left permanent impressions on her life. It was due to all this that she was still feeling guilty from her husband that he was so loving with her but he was unknown of the fact that what happened to her past. From her character analysis we came to know clearly that women face oppression and power of patriarchy as they are not able to speak anything against men. From this story it is analyzed that Reema was not able to speak for two reasons , firstly she was not telling the truth because it was about her uncle and she was horrified that if he will kill her or he will do something more bad than this to her. Secondly she was keeping it as a secret for saving her next life which was married life as she never disclosed it to her husband. From this story, it is analyzed that Reema under enormous patriarchal pressure becomes speechless. She did not disclose, it was a matter of reputation for her family which was purely altruistic on her part. She also did not want to hurt the pride of her husband and spend so many years in silence by tormenting her own soul and going through mental agony. Defloration becomes a constant disturbing factor for Reema that pinches her throughout her life but she behaves altruistically in order to uphold the patriarchal system. These things distinguish between the concept of masculanity and feminity. Women need to be more careful of their self because society demands a proof of their chastity. Men are more independent because they don’t have to give any proof in this way. Because of these restrictions a woman is not able to speak in front of anyone for her humiliation. She sacrificed her whole life that becomes a metaphor of subordination .Reema’s sexual abuse was kept as a secret by her mother also who never disclose it to anyone because she was well aware of the fact that in that society of male domination if someone came to know about her rape no one will marry her daughter and she will remain as a curse in the society as females are always subordinated in the society. In this act of Reem’s mother we can see the element of subordination as well as altruism.
