"Class Criticism" "Biopolitics" and "Beauvoir's feminist approach in Annie Ernaux's the years and happening: Analyzing body, gender and social dynamics

This thesis analyzes Annie Ernaux's The Years and Happening through the lenses of biopolitics and Simone de Beauvoir's feminist theory. The autobiographical narratives of these two pieces incorporate a class critique as a supplementary framework. The thesis analyzes the feminist dimensions of Ernaux's works in connection with Beauvoir's notion of women's status as the "other." While The Years offers a broad examination of women's responsibilities throughout history, Happening vividly illustrates the subjugation of women about their reproductive systems. The analysis encompasses concepts like biopolitics, illustrating the influence of state and social regulations on individual freedoms and bodies, especially regarding women's reproductive rights and autonomy. This thesis situates Ernaux's narratives as critical interventions in social and self-defining structures, contributes to ongoing debates regarding class, gender, and biopolitical power in literature, and enhances discussions on the role of feminist and biopolitical paradigms in the analysis of contemporary literary texts.