Resisting Precarity: Power, Agency, and Transformation in Tahmima Anam’s The Startup Wife

In the milieu of artificial intelligence and technological advancement, social platforms have vastly taken over the globe. The transformations and changes it brings to society, the capital world, and individuals are evident in the Bangladeshi-born British writer Tahmima Anam’s The Startup Wife. This study draws upon Judith Butler’s notions of precarity and agency to argue the showcase of changes or powerful transformations from the characters in different settings. We argue that despite the various representations of weak and voicelessness in the characters, there is a sense of agency that instigates changes and transformations in those characters for the betterment of their current state and status. Throughout the novel, resistance is evident in different spheres, aiming to disrupt the power hierarchies. With agency comes transformation and changes on various scales ranging from society, on a larger scale, to individuals, on a smaller scale. This study concludes that precarity is evident in various spheres such as capital, relationships, societal, and individual. However, a sense of agency is also present, which leads to changes and transformations to challenge the repressive state the characters are in from various spheres.