Anti-Mimicry of the Female Characters in Conrad’s Almayer’s Folly

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Mugijatna Mugijatna Mugijatna
Sri Kusumo Habsari
Karunia Purna Kusciati

Abstract

This research focuses on Joseph Conrad’s Almayer’s Folly  to explain the circumstance which leads to the rejection of Mrs. Almayer and Nina Almayer to embrace the dominant race and the reason why these characters choose to remain within ‘Othered’ identity. This study employs Ricoeur’s hermeneutics that applies two steps of reading: distantiation to obtain an objective understanding of the novel and an appropriation through putting the objective understanding of the novel in the socio-cultural context. This study attempts to offer the term “anti-mimicryâ€, borrowing Bhabha’s term’ to explain the subjectivity of the female character who stand out against the white domination to resist through savage and barbarous manners to mock the dominator, the white. Through the refusal to mimic, Conrad provides a space for Malay women consciousness to develop her subjectivity that could be construed as Conrad’s ambiguous perspective to white superiority in the colonialized era.

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Author Biographies

Mugijatna Mugijatna Mugijatna, Sebelas Maret University

Mugijatna is a professor in English literature at English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sebelas Maret. His fields of expertise are Post-Colonial Studies and Cultural Studies.

Sri Kusumo Habsari, Sebelas Maret University

Sri Kusumo Habsari is a teaching staff at English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sebelas Maret. Her fields of expertise include Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, and Media Studies.

Karunia Purna Kusciati, Sebelas Maret University

Karunia Purna Kusciati is a teaching staff at English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sebelas Maret. She is interested in Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Visual Studies, and Fan Studies.

How to Cite

Anti-Mimicry of the Female Characters in Conrad’s Almayer’s Folly. (2021). Humanus, 20(1), 98-110. https://doi.org/10.24036/humanus.v20i1.112207

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