Representing the Voiceless in J.M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country

Abstract

The focus of this research is in the area of color discrimination, gender domination and exploitation of the servants by the hypocritical and illegal behavior of the white masters to their servants. Such a study is important in order to investigate the gap between the servants and masters and the relations among them. The research approach adopted in this dissertation includes subaltern studies from the perspective of Gayatri Spivak’s, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” An application of the theory of subaltern to Coetzee's In the Heart of the Country throws light on the problems in representing the subaltern by a white South African writer. The findings from this research provide evidence that servants are dehumanized, tortured and exploited by their masters physically and mentally. Female servant Anna is doubly victimized. The text is a presentation and critique of the violence inherent in the colonialist and imperialist mentality of the Western world. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that subalterns do not have mutual relations with other people. They are tortured, exploited, dehumanized and dominated by their masters. Masters or whites perform hypocritical behavior where as servants or blacks are loyal, honest and so on in their behavior. Subalterns cannot speak. This is due to their economy and agency. This dissertation recommends that the subalterns need to be empowered. If they are empowered in various arenas they can speak, they would not be dominated, exploited and tortured neither by their masters nor by the whites.