Examining the Servant's Subversive Verbal and Non-Verbal Expression in Marlene van Niekerk's Agaat

The power struggle between Milla and Agaat in Marlene van Niekerk's Agaat (2006) is one based in language. While the matriarch's perspective dominates the novel, thereby presumably silencing Agaat, the servant-cum-nurse employs alternative methods of communication, or mimetic gestures, to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of literary studies (Pretoria, South Africa) South Africa), 2009-09, Vol.25 (3), p.39-56
Main Authors: Carvalho, Alyssa, van Vuuren, Helize
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Criticism and interpretation
Novels
van Niekerk, Marlene
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Summary:The power struggle between Milla and Agaat in Marlene van Niekerk's Agaat (2006) is one based in language. While the matriarch's perspective dominates the novel, thereby presumably silencing Agaat, the servant-cum-nurse employs alternative methods of communication, or mimetic gestures, to undermine Milla's point of view. Through verbal and non-verbal measures, Agaat attempts to counteract the dying woman's story. While these communicative measures rely on their finely nuanced and insidious attributes to function, they contain an essential ambivalence, as the controlling white woman never understands the full implications of her rejected child's communication.
ISSN:0256-4718
1753-5387
DOI:10.1080/02564710802349371