What Does Western White Prose Fiction Teach the Woke Generation About Othering and Belonging?

Abstract

This research explores the portrayal of otherness and non-conformity in Western literature and proves that modern phenomena such as “cancel culture” are giving contemporary authors a new relevance. Using William Faulkner’s Light in August and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as my foundation, I intend to demonstrate that the lessons they provide on race, gender, and extremism are often ignored by Generation Z, yet applicable to modern discourse. By referencing earlier works including Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, as well as George Orwell’s dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four, I want to prove that the warnings given about the consequences of trying to eradicate otherness are multi-dimensional and deeply entrenched. Ultimately, my research illustrates that despite the societal tendency to make distinctions between normative and “other”, the line between the two is non-existent: in attempts to eliminate otherness, we become violent "others" ourselves, possessing characteristics to the “bestial” individual that we originally sought to oppress.