Independent woman in Ayşe Kulin's novels

The aim of this study is to evaluate the female characters in the novels of Ayşe Kulin, who is close to the feminist worldview, according to Simone de Beauvoir's understanding of "independent woman". Simone de Beauvoir, one of the pioneers of existential feminism, argues that being a woman is subject to a destiny determined by the imposition of social norms and the qualities of being a woman have been limited as a product of a patriarchal mentality in the historical process. According to this idea, women are destined for duties such as getting married and being a mother by the society. In the last title of his book, in which he reveals the existential situations in which woman is brought into the second gender and man's other status, Beauvoir has offered certain suggestions to ensure the independent existence of women. These recommendations are; It can be determined as being economically independent, getting rid of the drudgery that is accepted as a woman's duty by the society, being free in sexual and emotional life, and claiming the right to engage in intellectual and artistic activities. After the features presented as manifestations of women's independence are explained in the first part of the thesis, the traces of these features will be sought in the female characters in Ayşe Kulin's novels in the second part of the thesis.