The World Is Being Disrupted: The Dissolution Of Binary Oppositions In Orlando: A Biography

Jacques Derrida believes that there is no definite superiority or inferiority between binary oppositions,and boundaries between them are ambiguous.In Orlando: A Biography,centers are dynamically changing and the opposite pairs are always in an inversion or harmonious coexistence because of the disappearance of rules regulating their relationship and status arbitrarily in benefits of one side of them.Genders,classes,races,and the relationship between nature and human beings in Orlando will be discussed with the help of Jacques Derrida's theory.Virginia Woolf dissolves the arbitrary relation between them,breaking the conventional conception of oppositions.In this process,the central and marginal positions will be changed in different conditions.The dissolution will be analyzed in the following three chapters:The first chapter discusses the gender issue based on different examples and viewpoints.Griselda and Shelmerdine compose the first two sections to certificate the coexistence of two genders in different ways.Then the attitude of servants is analyzed to give more evidence of reasonability and normality of this coexistence.The second chapter discusses the dissolution of races and class gaps.In this novel,Turks and Gypsies represent the Eastern races,and servants and normal people in English are the representatives of lower classes.They achieve the reversions of races and classes by being instantaneously present on the stage of history.The third chapter focuses on the relationship between nature and human beings.The hatred against nature of Gypsies,as well as their own community rules,in Orlando is analyzed as a big challenge to the central status of nature.The dethronement of nature,the centralization of Gypsies,and the interdependence between the two sides are discussed.The objects of this research are mainly the minor characters in the novel.Through the analysis,this thesis is supposed to make supplements to the study on Orlando.Moreover,analysis suggests that Virginia Woolf tries to find a balance between the disrupted world in Orlando,where there are no system or definite oppositions,and the realistic world,which needs rules and orders.