Unveiling the Power Dynamics: A Reading of Sunjeev Sahota’s China Room

Abstract

Power dynamics delve deeply into the ways in which power is exercised in certain social contexts, resulting in control and influencing people who are powerless. Hierarchies within the socio-cultural domain of certain cultures determine who holds power, and such hierarchies are sustained through dominance and repression. Under these conditions power functions as a tool to subjugate and
exclude people in lower hierarchies from the mainstream. Drawing on Subaltern theory, the study examines how the existence of the power dynamics in the novel China Room employs a range of suppressive actions to silence and marginalise subaltern subjects. By analysing the different forms of the power dynamics, the paper depicts the silent struggles of the oppressed under extreme dominance. The study further unveils how the absolute power shapes the experiences of the subaltern characters in the narrative, ultimately highlighting the subtle resistance they carry out in an effort to challenge the dominant power structures. The implications of the study demonstrate how the narrative acts as a space for representing marginalised voices.