ABSTRACT
Michele Roberts’ Paper Houses is an autobiographical account of a rebellious woman’s struggle to prioritize her life-goals and roles. Roberts debunks the myths surrounding the identity of women as she asserts that women’s identity should not be defined in accordance with social expectations. Roberts’ active participation in the effort to question the established norms of behaviour imposed by society advocates existential feminists’ emphasis on the notion of ‘existence precedes essence’. Roberts’ autobiography, being the life-story of an assertive woman, shatters some usual assumptions and misconceptions about feminists and feminist philosophies. Roberts indulged in frequent sexual activity as an act of rebellion against her conventional Catholic parentage. Roberts’ views contradicted Beauvoir’s bleak portrayal of female sexuality and body. The depiction of elaborate meals is also worth considering in Roberts’ works. Since the body is a political and historical object, its representation is crucial in the arena of power, especially with reference to women.
