Hope seekers: women as Harragas migrants in Octavia butler's parable of the sower (1993)‎ and Laila lalami's hope and other dangerous pursuits (2005)‎

Abstract EN

In recent decades, border crossings have assumed a position of preeminent importance in both Western and non-Western literary traditions.

absent from these scholarly discussions, however, are the accounts of women who undertake such fatal journeys.

importantly, both parable of the sower and hope and other dangerous pursuits depict the harsh living conditions and injustice practiced against women in near-future America and modern-day Morocco, respectively.

accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to provide a critical reading of the multiple interrelated forces that drive women to leave their homelands in the fiction of Butler and Lalami via a postcolonial lens and Crenshow's intersectionality.

it also seeks to delineate the representations of coerced border-crossing and its sound effects on the identities of those attempting to migrate.

after careful investigation, it has been revealed that the leading factors behind forced displacement are political, social, and economic exclusions based on class, race, and gender.

reading this novel through such a lens provides an insightful depiction of the complex web of violence that continues to afflict the daily lives of marginalized communities around the globe.