Theoretical Discussion
1. Post-colonialism
Post-colonialism belongs to a new literary theory; it began to recognize since 1990s Brizee and Tompkins. Interestingly, it has become one of the most
expanding and challenging areas of literary and cultural studies today. Post- colonialism happens when there is a clash between two cultures and it is
characterized by the issue of power and control. In this situation, the colonizers apply as the Center and the colonized become marginalized. The theory of Post-
colonialism, which focuses on the marginalized and the issue of inequality, is one of the well-known theories in literature. As an example, Westerners viewed the
Eastern as the ―Other‖ and put themselves as the center. That concept is based on
the term Orientalism. Orientalism created an image of the Orient as immoral, backward, and irrational Said 58. Actually, the Orient is a concept constructed
by the Westerners or Europeans. As Edward Said stated in his book, called Orientalism,
―Orientalism is a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient‘s special place in European Western experience‖ Said 1.
The theory of Orientalism was introduced by Edward Said who is the founder of
Post-colonialism theory. Orientalism is very important and plays a crucial role in the study and development of Postcolonial criticism and literature Khan and
Khan 1. Orientalism is ―the term used by Edward Said for the assessment of the
attitudes and perspectives of the Western scholars, or Orientalists, to legitimize colonial aggression by intellectually marginalized and dominated Eastern
peoples ‖ Khan and Khan 2.
2. Mimicry
However, the other well-known Post-colonial critic, Homi K. Bhabha, stated that colonialism is not only seen as oppression, domination, and violence, but also
from varied cultural contact and interaction Tibile 2. According to Sawant, from the late 1970s,
―Post-colonialism also has been used by literary critics to discuss the various cultural effects of colonization
‖ 120. The concept of ―Post- colonialism deals with the effects of colonization on cultures and societies
‖ Sawant 120. One of the effects is mimicry. In Of Mimicry and Man: The
Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse, Bhabha defines mimicry as ―a subject of
difference that is almost the same, but not quite ‖ 86. The concept of mimicry
was introduced by Homi K. Bhabha, who is one of the most respected
postcolonial critics; all of his ideas reflect how the colonized empower the colonizer authority Tibile 72. The basic meaning of the word
‗mimicry‘ is imitation of one object to another. In addition, Bhabha says
―mimicry reveals something in so far as it is distinct from what might be called an itself that is
behind. The effect of mimicry is camouflage…. It is not a question of
harmonizing with the background, but against a mottled background, of becoming mottled
— exactly like the technique of camouflage practiced in human warfare‖ 99.
Bhabha‘s point is that mimicry produces something which is different with its original form. Mimicry is a crucial term in Post-colonial theory, because the
relationship between the colonizer and the colonized leads to the ambivalent relationship Sawant 123, which means complex and two opposing drives or
feelings often exist in the relationship. So, although the word mimicry means resemblance, but at the end it is far from the meaning itself.
Since we were dehumanized by the Europeans, the colonizers, but the idea that foreign things are superior is still applied nowadays. It is contradictory with
the word ―post‖ in Post-colonialism, which means after Sawant 120. But, in this case the theory happens until now
, in the ―future‖, in many ways and in many forms. Bhabha finds mimicry is a sign of double vision and forked tongue qtd. in
Kumar 119. In other words, mimicry does not simply copy or imitate the object, but it also has double vision which is having two goals resemblance and
mockery, and the forked tongue which means what they say is different from what is on their heads. According to Bhabha, mimicry is imitating language,
culture, manners and ideas in an exaggerative way Tibile 87. It means that mimicry is
not the colonized‘s servage, since it creates repeated actions with difference Tibile 87. This mimicry is also
―a form of mockery as Bhabha‗s Post- colonial theory is a comic approach to colonial discourse because it mocks and
undermines the ongoing pretensions of colonialism and empire ‖ Tibile 87. In
short, mimicry is one reaction toward stereotype of the Orient and the Occident.
3. Ambivalence
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