Abstract—Literature reflects social conditions and defines
social identity where inequality and poverty are often the
dominant images. Yet, the reality of teaching and learning
would take literature as merely what-where-when-what
requirement other than tedious and boring subject of long
pages is typical in literature classes. How is language then used
in grasping the holistic view of literary materials?
The study tries to explore the literary elements and linguistic
instruments used to unravel critical issues and ideologies that
project power and construct identity. Thus, in the conduct of
the study, a qualitative critical discourse analysis is used to lay
bare the critical dimensions of language used.
Findings reveal that the characters are depicted not as full,
three-dimensional characters but as figures possessing certain
traits that are representatives of a large number of people. The
author uses several symbolisms. The story contains little
dialogues while statements are written in simple sentences
emphasizing the quiet intensity and simple manner of
characters yet revealing power and authority. The blending of a
simple, short span of words and cultural social criticism shows
the beauty and depth of the story illuminating the reality of a
character turning into a tragic hero. Thus, the novellete exposes
social issues such as inequality, poverty and corruption and
ideologies which shaped the characters behavior and
constructed their identity.
Index Terms—Construction, discourse, identity, language
and power.
L. M. Besa is with the Rizal Technological University
(besalynn@yahoo.com).
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Cite:Lynn Mallari Besa, "Power and Identity Projection in the Pearl," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 6-14, 2019.