Orientalism/ theory

He knew that society has not yet adapted itself to the consequences of divorce , and that till the adaptation takes place every woman who uses the freedom of law accords her must be her own social justification (397 . For Wharton , orientalism and the female otherness ' are driven by the fact that divorce is nothing more than a social notion . In his turn , Dreiser puts racial and poverty relations into a more political context . Class struggle is the central element of his story , through the prism of which orientalism becomes more visible : there are so-called

br poor people in every community among its ornaments . [ .] Their parade before us should not appeal to our pity , but should awaken us to what we are (Dreiser 508 . It is easy to understand that class struggle separates others ' from the rest of the society , and promotes the development of Oriental attitudes towards those of other race or a lower social status . The massive character of poverty suggests that this class issue can no longer remain within the social limits it becomes a political notion and turns orientalism into a matter of national importance

It is interesting , that in his work on Orientalism , Edward Said speaks about the way Oriental attitudes are depicted in literature . It is even more interesting to trace his theoretical suggestions through the prism of Wharton 's and Dreiser 's stories . Both Wharton and Dreiser discuss otherness ' through the characters which are familiar to the reader In their stories , the Orient is transformed from a very far distant and often threatening Otherness into figures that are relatively familiar (Said 21 . Mrs . Waythorn 's figure is very characteristic of her time : many women would find their own reflection in the way society judges her for being divorced . The two shabby figures in...