POWER RESISTANCE: A FOUCAULDIAN-FAIRCLOUGHIAN ANALYSIS OF CHRISTINIA DALCHERS VOX

Abstract

 This research aims to analyse Christina Dalcher's dystopian novel Vox utilizing Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) modal and the concept of power resistance by Micheal Foucault.  Designing a diverse framework drawn from discourse analysis and literary theory domains, the study argued to bring to light the ideological structure of the narrative under study.

Foucault’s idea of panopticons has specifically taken to determine the power dynamics from the text. Foucault views power not just as top-down but as a diffuse and omnipresent force embedded in societal practices, institutions, and knowledge systems. For Foucault, power and resistance are intertwined—wherever power exists, so too does the potential for resistance. Foucault sees the panopticon not just as a building, but as a mechanism of power — one that enforces control not by force, but by making people regulate their own behavior. He argues that power is not only repressive—telling people what not to do—but also productive, in that it shapes knowledge, norms, behaviors, and identities.

 Besides, the three-dimensional model developed by Fairclough, which includes textual analysis, discursive practice, and sociocultural practice, has also been applied to the text to explore how the writer’s depiction of feminine language mirrors and uphold ideologies, power structures, and social control mechanisms in American society, and how ultimately those power dynamics results in rebellion and insurgency of the repressors; the protagonist in context of the selected text.  

Contextually, the utilization of Fairclough's CDA modal and concept of power resistance by Micheal Foucault brought to light that how Dalcher's depiction of linguistic repression serves as a metaphor for more general control mechanisms, providing important insights into the interplay between language, ideology, and power, and how it results in insurgency; uprising the suppressors voices against the power dynamics. The text functions as an urgent sociopolitical criticism as well as a dystopian work of fiction, cautioning against the real-world repercussions of indifference to oppressive ideologies.

The novel reveals how language, autonomy, and identity are regulated to suppress feminine gender in a near-future United States where women are only allowed to say 100 words each day. The main character, Cognitive Linguist Dr. Jean McClellan must experiment on language spoken by women per day as per the directions of the American state authorities. Women in this dystopian American society lose all control over their bodies and agency. Likewise, the long-term consequences of human control organizations and the exploitation of people by stifling their voices and lands are also highlighted. Furthermore, this text challenges readers to ponder how language functions within hierarchies of power and how silence may be used as a political tool as well as a form of punishment.  It also decodes the message as how silence may be used as a political tool as well as a form of punishment.  In addition to being a story timeline, the restriction of women's speech in Vox serves as a larger metaphor for the historical silencing of female voices. This qualitative research will be a significant addition to CDA, language and power, and language and feminism domains.