Exploring the Representation of Non-Normate Bodies in Firdaus Kanga’s Trying to Grow: A Critical Disability Studies Analysis

Abstract

The present article focuses its attention on the representation of physical disability in Firdaus Kanga’s coming-of-age novel Trying to Grow. To this end, the analysis draws upon the theoretical framework of critical disability studies and the scholarly work of Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. The study explores how the novel sheds light on the stigmatization and marginalization of individuals with non-normate bodies in a cultural milieu which is saturated with ableist beliefs and practices. The article also argues that disability is not a homogeneous phenomenon. Applying an intersectional lens, this research illustrates how disability intermingles with other markers of identity such as class, gender, and ethnicity, generating distinct realities of disablement. The analysis further holds that Trying to Grow departs from conventional patterns of disability representation by resisting reductive literary tropes that have traditionally framed disabled characters. By giving narrative agency to its non-normate protagonist, the novel questions dominant conceptions of disability and presents it instead as a complex embodied experience. The article also positions Trying to Grow as a representative work of disability fiction—a subgenre of literature that tries to claim narrative voice and space for disabled people.