Abstract:
between Sellohamy and Isabella Hamy, the two female protagonists in Punyakante
Wijenaike’s The Waiting Earth. The argument presents that cultural values are at the core
of the problems between mother and daughter, among which are the preference for the
male child, the stress on housework as opposed to education, and the sexual repression
imposed on females. The essay will conclude with a deconstruction of the image of
Sellohamy popularly seen by readers and critics as the “diriya mava” of patriarchy, and
show her more to be Simone de Beauvoir’s “mater dolorosa".
