Spivakian Concepts of Essentialism and Imperialism in Gabriel Garcia's “The Autumn of the Patriarch”

Abstract

In 1980, an Indian critic, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak announced strategic essentialism as a major concept in postcolonial theory. It is a special form of essentialism which involves greater scopes of post-colonial studies such as subaltern, otherness, and strategic essentialism; this term can become meaningful in an imperialistic context where oppression and suppressions are as part of thecountry. With the increase of colonialism in nineteenth century and its consequences in twentieth century, which was almost the end of this era, many writers try to demonstrate it through literature. The mentioned concepts are traceable in countries which were experiencing the imperialism; then strategic essentialism helps the margins of society to find their true identity and by using it, they can survive. This paper is an attempt to represent essentialism and imperialism in Gabriel Garcia’s The Autumn of the Patriarch. The findings of this paper may affect those countries which are still under the pressure of colonialism. The major conclusion is that if inferiors of the society unite with each other, find their true identity and stand against oppressions, then they can get rid of the oppressions.