An Infinite Play of Shattered Mirrors: Storytelling Toward a Holistic Resistance

Throughout time, the story has been used to both weaponize objectivity and express humanity. While narratives of domination have substantiated in a self affirming totality of exploitation, narratives of resistance can promote a much more affirming understanding of human existence. This paper will highlight the importance and potential of the story as a revolutionary form of resistance. It will expand on Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s mirror metaphor in Woman, Native, Other to show how a more holistic narrative form can break apart reductive structuralist perceptions of reality. The theory of “the shattered story” provides a framework for reorganizing our own understandings to foster a much more fluid understanding of humanity. Contemporary resistance authors like Arundhati Roy, Yaa Gyasi, and Svetlana Alexievich are on the forefront of this movement, allowing their novels to encompass multiple perspectives at once. By representing marginalized people as unique entities who live through their identities, these authors fight against the liberal fetishization of suffering. This sort of resistance story works to reconceive history and open pathways to new, more empowering futures.

Author

• Maripudi, Ragavendra

Language

• en

Keyword

• Alexievich
• Gyasi
• Resistance
• Trinh
• Story
• Roy

Date created

• 2021

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• English

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Mitchell, David

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/xk81jm17q