Can the Subaltern Speak? Voice of the Voiceless approach in Louise Erdrich’s Future Home of the Living God

Abstract

The present study aims to explore the struggle of subalterns to speak for the representation of their voices and equal rights in Louise Erdrich’s novel Future Home of the Living God. The study focuses on the theoretical framework of postcolonial theory by focusing specifically on Subaltern Studies. The main aim of this study is to investigate the systematic oppression and marginalization of the subalterns and their meaningless struggle against this oppression and marginalization. The researcher has used Louise Erdrich’s novel Future Home of the Living God as a source of primary data. A detailed and extensive study of textual evidences from the novel has enabled the researcher to interpret the text in the light of Gayatri Spivak’s essay Can the Subaltern Speak? The selected novel highlights the role of dominant discourses in oppression of the weak and marginalized strata of society, especially women. The characters of Erdrich are not presented as victims but as courageous and brave who have the ability to stand against powerful manipulative authorities. The characters of the novel try their best to be heard and represented equally by the dominant discourses. But the dominant discourses never hear their voices and all their efforts are discouraged. The present study is in fact an attempt to analyze the theoretical perspective of Gayatri Spivak and Erdrich’s effort to liberate the victims of social, political and economic biasness. The research finds that the identity and individuality of the subalterns is rendered by the dominant discourses and they are always treated as others and unacceptable. The results show that Future Home of the Living God is imbued with the instances in which the subalterns try to speak but their voices remain unheard in front of powerful structures. The parameters of qualitative research are used textual evidences from the selected text are analyzed and interpreted in voice of the voiceless approach.