Les échos d’un silence pathémique dans Cellule 512 de Missa Hébié

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract: In Native Son by Richard Wright, the author’s perception of the link between violence, the Prince, and retributive justice in America remains largely underexplored in the current literary-critical landscape. Yet Wright’s understanding of the violence-Prince-retributive justice triad is so inextricably deconstructionist that it deserves closer critical attention. To better decipher the Wrightean perception of violence and retributive justice, this paper seeks to understand the novel’s deep-rooted origins of violence, how the Prince instrumentalizes retributive justice for his own ends of revenge, and the extent to which his revenge exposes the flaws of the justice system as a whole. To this end, the analysis draws upon Michel Foucault’s (1975) theory of justice, which holds that justice is a system of social, economic, and political domination in which the Prince imposes his value system and uses the judicial apparatus to punish those who contravene it. The use of the Foucauldian approach demonstrates that the marginalized employ violence as a means of self-creation amid a struggle against the Prince, who uses retributive justice to oppress them. Furthermore, the study shows that as long as the Prince instrumentalizes the retributive justice system for his own benefit, it only further exposes its flaws. Keywords : Violence, justice, Native Son, Foucault