Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Big Little Lies: A Study of Abuse, Resilience and Female Solidarity

Abstract

This study explores how the women in Liane Moriarty's novel Big Little Lies challenge the famous stereotypes created by patriarchal gender discourse about female gender using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) as a theoretical guide. They are shown as successful breadwinners as well as responsible mothers and wives. The women characters face gender and class-based challenges courageously, thus demystifying the false discursive social constructions about women. Navigation of the intersecting identities of the female characters showcases the resilience, agency and solidarity among women, and moreover, it challenges the stereotypical notions of femininity, womanhood and motherhood. This study also uncovers the ways in which the novel Big Little Lies reflects and shapes social and cultural attitudes toward gender, class, power and motherhood. It signifies that Lianne Moriarty advocates women's voice against discursively constructed, unjust domestic and social perspectives. This study paves the way for further research in gender studies in combination with resilience and female solidarity in such novels.