장애, 흉내지빠귀, 그리고 미친 개:

Disability, a Mockingbird, and a Mad Dog: A Re-reading of To Kill a Mockingbird

The paper offers a new reading of a well-known American novel, To Kill a Mockingbird , from a disability studies perspective. It first discusses the prevalence of politics of difference in the study of American literature and argues for the significance of focusing on literary representation of disability. In order to accomplish this the paper analyzes two major characters with disabilities in the novel, physically disabled Tom Robinson and mentally disabled Arthur “Boo” Radley. arguing that both characters are employed only for the purpose of driving the narrative forward; and that, in the process, they are either emasculated or demonized; and that they are eventually marginalized or eliminated from society. The paper concludes with a discussion of a possible impact of such representations of disability on the readers of the novel.