A POST-COLONIAL READING OF THE REPRESENTATION OF OTHERNESS IN M. SHELLEY AND A. HUXLEY

Through a post-colonial reading of Frankenstein and Brave New World, this paper analyses otherness in order to expose the mechanisms by which the Self that defines itself as the center constructs the Other as the periphery. In the context of the two selected novels, it can be argued that the angelization and exaltation of the Self and its values lead to the demonization and enslavement of the Other. Although the Other is perceived as a threat to the existence of the Self, it is, however, established that the Other is used to validate the definition of the Self. As such, when the Other is absent, the Self proceeds to create or invent it as illustrated in Frankenstein and Brave New World respectively.