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http://hdl.handle.net/11375/20795
Title: | Nonviolent resistance through counter-narrative in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Lai’s Salt Fish Girl |
Authors: | Roschman, Melodie |
Advisor: | Coleman, Daniel |
Department: | English |
Keywords: | nonviolent resistance;The Handmaid's Tale;Larissa Lai;Margaret Atwood;storytelling;feminist dystopia;Salt Fish Girl |
Publication Date: | 2016 |
Abstract: | This thesis examines how patriarchal dystopian societies attempt to control their citizenry through the homogenization of discourse and the employment of Foucauldian panopticons. In the context of these power structures, I argue that nonviolent storytelling and restorative memory are more effective in resisting oppression than violent, openly subversive forms of rebellion. In my discussion of The Handmaid’s Tale, I examine how Gilead’s manipulation of public discourse through religious hegemony and restrictions on literacy suppresses the efficacy of individually heroic acts by characters such as Ofglen and Moira. I assert that Offred’s playful deconstruction of language, defiant remembering of her past experiences, and insistence on bearing witness to Gilead’s atrocities without the promise of a listener allows her to successfully resist power and maintain a distinct self. In the analysis of Salt Fish Girl that follows, I study how the Big Six employ a series of cooperative hegemonies to promote neoliberal policies, dehumanize Othered bodies, and rob people in diaspora of cultural memory. Though protagonist Miranda fails in a conventional sense, I conclude that she succeeds due to her remixing of Western texts, hybridization of histories and values, and role in birthing a new, more hopeful future. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/20795 |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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roschman_melodie_a_2016september_masterofarts.pdf | 815.59 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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