earticle

영어

Reading in the Dark is set in the politically turbulent period in British-ruled Northern Ireland Derry, spanning from 1945 to 1971. This novel is about a young nameless narrator’s familial secrets and his perilous endeavor to decipher them, during an era of governmental silencing. The prevailing aphonia in the Derry society can be construed as an effect of the interiorization of ideological discourses. According to Foucault, this discourse causes the people to continually scrutinize themselves, as well as others, to prevent deviations from the societal norms. Such normality brings a sense of belonging to the people. ‘Normality' also becomes more powerful along with the ideological state apparatuses, such as school and church. For instance, those who obediently follow a religious doctrine are branded as normal; on the other hand, those who disavow them are abnormal. As a consequence, the silent people can be viewed as docile members of their society; but Crazy Joe does not keep quiet, which is why he is considered crazy in his community. Furthermore, his genius is vulnerable to such distinctions, for this trait subtly borders on madness. In short, Joe knows “too much” [truths]. Due to his knowledgeability, he has to be in and out of the communal asylum, Gransha, regularly. That is, the authority must occlude his knowledge in order to maintain their colonial paradigm. Most prominently, Joe’s fumigated mouth with his false teeth symbolically demonstrates the steep price he must pay for his knowledge; yet, Joe never stops telling the truth. Instead, he becomes more persistent by dismantling the forced silence imposed by the state through his speech. Ultimately, Joe’s resistance to the regulations on his mouth symbolizes that of the Irish orifice to England’s attempts to tame it. This seems to suggest that the Irish oral culture has survived, however deformed and distorted, despite England’s threat to expunge it.