'Writing Women': A Canadian Perspective.

Going by the dictionary meaning of the word 'mold', as a 'particular style showing the characteristics...', breaking the mold denotes an 'original way' that promises to change people's expectations from a situation. Accommodating newer perspectives, attitudes, approaches and techniques of representation, along with a calculated negation of the accepted ones, is the focus of this paper. Through four specific short stories that have been carefully selected from the Canadian mosaic, and critically analyzed, the aim is to show how conscious attempts have been made by the authors to accomplish the above. While Susan Swan topples the societal power structure by giving women ultimate prerogatives over the other gender, Jane Rule begins with the assumption that lesbianism is the better alternative to 'compulsory heterosexuality', demanding equality in any relationship. Moreover, her experimentation with the narrative technique provides multiple voices to her characters. Aritha van Herk questions her 'paltry (English) language' which, devoid of any native element, becomes insufficient in the extreme Arctic conditions. The stereotype of the 'silent black woman' is contested by Nourbese Philip, the final author under consideration, where the daughter's quest to find a meaning and purpose behind a custom is steadily pursued, though not without her mother's vehement protests. It is either knowledge, or power, or both, that governs every representation, and this paper, through these very instances, attempts to put forth this argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]