VOICES FROM THE MARGINS: REPRESENTATION OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL OTHERNESS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

Abstract

This research paper will look at how social and cultural otherness is portrayed in some of the works of English literature. The research is devoted to the use of literary texts to give voice to people and the community who are pushed to the margins due to race, class, gender, colonial identity, religion, migration, and cultural difference. Literature has never been merely a sphere of entertainment; it is a mirror of society, which questions injustice and unveils the hidden struggles of those who are usually overlooked by the ruling classes. The paper is an analysis of selected works, which include: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, and My Son the Fanatic by Hanif Kureishi. These readings introduce various manifestations of otherness, such as exclusion based on class, marginalisation of both colonialism and gender, oppression, and difference of race, cultural displacement, and identity crisis of immigrants. The research approach adopted in the paper is the qualitative research approach, which involves the analysis of text and critical literature. Postcolonial theory, cultural studies, feminist theory, and Marxist criticism are the major theoretical frameworks that support the theoretical framework. The paper will argue that English literature does not simply describe the marginalised people; it will also argue that English literature challenges the social and cultural order that creates the marginalised people. The results indicate that the socially and culturally marginalised characters can and will often be silenced, misrepresented, or viewed as outsiders, yet literature also gives them the opportunity to resist oppression and reclaim identity. Thus, English literature is a significant field where the voices of the deprived can be heard, and human dignity can be restored.