The intersection of disability and marginalization in Doris Lessing’s The fifth child (1988) and Raquel Jaramillo Palacio’s Wonder (2012)
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Date
2022
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi –Ouzou
Abstract
The present study has investigated the intersection of disability and marginalisation that exists in Doris Lessing’s The fifth child (1988) and Raquel Jaramillo Palacio’s Wonder (2012). My aim in the research paper has been to shed light on the relationship between disability and marginalisation through the characters’ experiences in both novels, as well as the way this relationship affected the household members. In order to reach my objective, I have employed two main theories which are Tobin Siebers’s Disability theory (2008) and Peter Burke’s Brothers and sisters of disabled children (2004) accompanied by a supportive one which is Lennard J. David’s Disability studies reader (2006). The aforementioned theories are suitable for my study since they provide with the necessary concepts which are disability and marginalisation. Throughout my analysis, I have come to two major findings. First, disabled people are seen as burden because of their impairment; thus, they become marginalized by society and family. Second, disability does not only affect the person who carries it, but also his surroundings, and more specifically his siblings. The dissertation is divided into two major chapters; the first chapter has strived to explain the way and the reason as well as the consequences of disability and marginalisation that occurs on the disabled protagonists. The second chapter has attempted to define the consequences of disability on the siblings of the disabled child and their parents. Ultimately, I have come up to the conclusion that the societal stereotypes are the ones that determine a person’s ability and disability.
Description
56p. ; 30cm. (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
disability, marginalisation, ability, social model, amily
Citation
Literature and Civilisation