The process of becoming
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Date
2023
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Publisher
UMT, Lahore
Abstract
The thesis probes the concept of becoming introduced by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari with reference to the work of Nadine Gordimer’s Get a Life (2005). This study deals with the theme of metamorphosis, as nearly everything undergoes transformation after the protagonist of the novel is diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The metamorphosis stated in the novel is a type of becoming, an idea that has been expounded as a shift towards a new zone of proximity: it is a deterritorialization. Becoming is always minoritarian and molecular in nature which will be elaborated in next section of this paper. My discussion has so far concentrated on becoming although there are various types of becomings: becoming-woman, becoming-animal, becoming imperceptible, becoming-plant. However, the primary focus of this paper is about becoming in general and to think without subjectivity; loosening the human subjectivities. Becoming is not the conclusion or the end product although it can be one of those portals which can lead to further becomings. Thus becoming is more about de-subjectification of humans as they consider themselves as the supreme authority and self-ruling. So the protagonist of the novel after undergoing becoming, adapt himself with the new identity by learning new things, coming across the realms of untrodden paths, to see things with a new and different perspective and to deconstruct the wall of human subjectivity. So with undergoing becoming animal Paul, the protagonist has a responsibility as he share life, form and energy with the animals and environment on the same planet we inhabit. The future scope of this research is a turn to animals in art, literature and theory as an attempt to give new definition to the humans as not opposed to animals but animals (Kari Weil).