SLEEPING THROUGH THE PATRIARCHY: GENDER, APATHY, AND LATE-CAPITALIST RESISTANCE IN OTTESSA MOSHFEGH’S MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION

Abstract: This paper uses gender studies to analyze Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of
Rest and Relaxation, exploring the protagonist’s extended sleep as a passive rebellion
against postfeminist societal gender roles. The protagonist escapes emotional labour,
physical upkeep, and social expectations through pharmaceutical sedation. Rejecting
the postfeminist ideal of self-sufficiency, she defiantly embraces apathy and withdrawal.
This paper claims her descent into sleep is symbolic, not just pathological; a protest
against the commodification of femininity and mental health. Utilizing the ideas of
Susan Bordo, Angela McRobbie, and Sara Ahmed, this paper analyses gendered
exhaustion, neoliberalism, and the anti-heroine. This study unpacks Moshfegh’s
critique of empowerment rhetoric in late capitalism by analyzing the protagonist’s
resistance to societal roles. The novel’s dark satire forces a reconsideration of the
politics of rest, the attractiveness of detachment, and the revolutionary possibilities of
inaction.
Keywords: Gender Roles, Post Feminism, Apathy, Withdrawal, Neoliberalism,
Commodification and Detachment.