“At last I could row no further”

• 발행기관: 한국영미어문학회
• 저자명: Seung Hyun Hong
• 간행물 정보: 『영미어문학』영미어문학 제89호, 65~80쪽, 전체 16쪽
• 주제분류: 어문학 > 영어와문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2008.12.31

영문 초록

In the essay, I explore the marginalized and silenced characters and their shared experiences of oppression or colonization in the three texts including Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, J. M. Coetzee’s Foe, and Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero. Regarding the master-slave relationship in Robinson Crusoe, it is impossible to tell whether Friday is repressed or not by Crusoe. Defoe has not only no doubt about the submission of Friday, but also he writes women out of his text. In Foe, we still cannot read the mind of Friday, who is mute. However, I would like to suggest that white women and black men, in a certain sense, are constituted as a coherent group in that both are made to inhabit the margin. In Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero, Firdaus feels the same kind of repression as Susan Barton experiences by Mr. Foe. Besides, Firdaus’ voice could be the lost voice of Friday if he might have one. Thus, I am trying to uncover how disadvantaged groups like Friday, Susan Barton, and Firdaus, in terms of race and gender, are seen as being affected and suppressed by the same construction of colonization. In Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, the case of Friday is a pure example of the typical colonization. On the other hand, Foe, by a white South African, has taken on new dimensions as Coetzee focuses on gender and the margin. Susan and Friday are made of a disadvantaged, marginal group, divided by gender, but united by margin. In Saadawi’s Women at Point Zero, Firdaus also represents those who have been silenced and suppressed because of their gender. In conclusion, they are the embodiment of their common marginal state in the context of the postcolonial condition.

키워드

postcolonialism colonization power oppression marginality silence gender race