COLONIAL TRAUMA AND TESTIMONY IN MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND JAMAICA KINCAID’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY MOTHER

Author

Leana Rene, Saint John's University, Jamaica New York

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5076-5576

Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA in English

Department

English

First Advisor

Rachel Hollander

Second Advisor

Steven Alvarez

Abstract

This thesis will examine Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle to examine the colonial trauma and loss found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Jamaica Kincaid’s Autobiography of My Mother, not just on a character level, but in a much larger colonial context. Some scholars have suggested that Shelley’s monster is a symbol of a colonized other (due to his appearance and certain features he has). Kincaid’s Xuela is for sure a colonized other because of the heritage of her mother. This thesis explores their abandonment by their creators as the abandonment of colonized nations from their colonizers. Even now, formerly colonized nations still have remnants of their oppression, and in many ways, they are still oppressed by the trauma of the loss of their history and invasion of their cultures.

Recommended Citation

Rene, Leana, "COLONIAL TRAUMA AND TESTIMONY IN MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND JAMAICA KINCAID’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY MOTHER" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 203.
https://scholar.stjohns.edu/theses_dissertations/203