Female Body and the flow of colonization: The Sleeping Dictionary

Abstract

Colonialism was a global entity in the world that had amalgamated with drastic economic and political dimensions of power. This philanthropic mission had followed by the exploitation of inhabitants in backward nations of the world. Significantly, the gender binary disposition upheld by colonialism viewed females’ as a stereotypical inferior group and as objects of physical and sexual labor. The violence of the colonial establishment had made sexual violence and females’ as a vulnerable specie to sexual exploitation. The major objective of the study is to upsize ‘The Sleeping Dictionary’ (2003) by Guy Jenkin as a dual categorization of the female body which her objectification created herself as a drastic form of resistance to the realm of colonization. The dual-positioning of the non-white female body as a powerful entity of resisting colonial hegemony becomes controversial. The research is predominantly qualitative in nature and the researcher employed feminist theories of Simon de Beauvoir, Judith Butler and the Male Gaze theory of Laura Mulvey with Postcolonial theories of Homi.K. Bhabha and Edward.W. Said which utilized the exploitation of the colonized in the guise of a philanthropic mission. In analysis and interpretation, the researcher utilizes a Literary and a Content analysis. Accordingly, the objectification of the female body as a sleeping dictionary had elevated to a position to resist the colonial dominance. The White maser’s desire for the non- European female body surpassed hegemonic polarizations imposed by the colonial regime. In a political appeal, the evocation of the female to resist the colonizer surpassed the sexual exploitation of herself as a sleeping dictionary with the materialization of female emotions by the colonizer. The political appeal to Romance had reinforced in a way the extreme objectification of the female body had granted a transitory position by her employment of feelings to resist the colonial strata. The practice of learning Indigenous dialects through the female body and with erotic teaching aids suggests a different appeal to female exploitation. The myth inculcated about the possibility to acquire a dialect in a form of a sexual rapport positioned the extent of marginalization imposed on a female body. Selima’s revelation of her generational legacy as a sleeping dictionary articulates the long-lasting continuity of sexual objectification. John’s rapport with Selima positioned beyond a mere sexual relationship to an authentic rapport. It is through John, the colonizer, Selima granted the opportunity to position herself beyond a sexual object. John’s ultimate decision to untie with Selima by traversing through a plethora of conflicts and psychological traumas, elevated Selima’s successful trajectory from sexual marginalization of colonialism. John’s capability to surpass hegemonic ideals of colonialism positioned himself as a humane figure who identified Selima more than an object of sexuality. The employment of the gaze of the colonizer to value the colonial female body depicts a novice approach to the movie by locating the non- white female body as a powerful mechanism to resist the colonial regime.