CONSTRUING ACTS OF VOICING IN CHRISTINA DALCHER'S VOX THROUGH VULNERABILITY METAPHORS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12795/REN.2022.i26.14Keywords:
vulnerability, acts of voicing, Vox, metaphor, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, dystopian literature, feminist dystopiaAbstract
In the digital era, where everyone’s voice can, potentially, reach the entire world, Dalcher’s dystopian novel, Vox, expresses a very real fear of being silenced. In modern America, a purist movement voted into power has silenced all women and girls overnight. The novel investigates the intersection of physicality and the immaterial essence of words. The narrator’s voice, sober but without restriction, contrasts sharply with the limitations imposed around her and uncovers the silent horror of a dystopian America where half the population has lost all rights of self-disposal, both physical and discursive.
Employing the conceptual metaphor theory of Lakoff and Johnson (2003), this study explores metaphors in Vox that shape discourse(s) on voicing vulnerability and on voice as visibility through an interdisciplinary discourse analysis that draws on the fields of literature and sociolinguistics.
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Accepted 2022-12-21
Published 2022-12-29
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