Discourse-based Analysis of Narrative Monologue as a Medium of Historical Allegory in Nadine Gordimer's Burger's Daughter

Authors

  • Emad Ali Sulaiman Al qaisee

    Directorate of Anbar Education, Ministry of Education, Baghdad 10001, Iraq
  • Zinah Fadhil Ali

    Department of English Language, Imam Al-Adham University College, Baghdad 10001, Iraq
  • Sajjad Abdulkareem Naeem

    Department of Legal Management Techniques-Technical institute for Administration, Middle Technical University, Baghdad 10001, Iraq
  • Abdalhadi Nimer Abdalqader Abu Jweid

    Faculty of Educational Sciences & Arts, UNRWA, Amman 11110-17198, Jordan
  • Shaalan Najem Abdullah Al-Shammari

    Department of English Language, Dijlah University College, Baghdad 10001, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11019
Received: 11 July 2025 | Revised: 28 July 2025 | Accepted: 5 August 2025 | Published Online: 25 September 2025

Abstract

This paper explores narrative monologue as a medium for depicting history in Nadine Gordimer's Burger's Daughter  by applying discourse-based analysis. The study's objective is to examine the novel's events that are told from an interior narrative perspective and how they depict historical phases in the course of the novel's plot. On the one hand, it examines the characters' internal monologue and how it functions as an expression of the characters' communicative relationships. On the other hand, it demonstrates how narrative monologue serves as a means of allegorical depiction of the historical layers related to the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. Therefore, the study's methodology depends on a close reading of the characters' internal monologue. Furthermore, it conducts a textual analysis of the historical narrative implications regarding the anti-Apartheid struggle portrayed in the fictional events of the plot. In this way, the study makes a narrative and historical interpretation of literary allegory employed by Gordimer to paint a vivid picture of contemporary anti-Apartheid activism. Therefore, the study will examine the thematic characteristics of apartheid and how it influences the characters' narrative discourse. The interpretation of the narrative discourse will rely on Gordimer's perception of real people who live in apartheid conditions and how they cope with it.

Keywords:

Allegory; Discourse-based Analysis; Gordimer; History; Narrative Monologue; South Africa

References

[1] Dawson, D., 1992. Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria. University of California Press: California, CA, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520910386

[2] Kalogirou, T., Michulka, D., 2025. Aspects of time and memory in literature for children and young adults. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle, UK.

[3] Joshi, M., 2025. Foundations of reading, writing, and proving. Educohack Press: New Delhi, India.

[4] Attridge, D., 2021. J. M. Coetzee and the ethics of reading: Literature in the event. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, CHI, USA.

[5] Gordimer, N., 1979. Burger’s daughter. Penguin Books: Dallas, TX, USA.

[6] Niedziałek, E., 2018. The Desire of Nowhere – Nadine Gordimer’s “Burger’s Daughter” in a Transcultural Perspective. Colloquia Humanistica. (7), 32–52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11649/ch.2018.003

[7] Dar, H.M.U., Aziz, S., Hussain, S.I., 2023. Voice of Resistance: Exploring Apartheid, Power, and Race in Nadine Gordimer’s Selected Novels. Journal of Social Sciences Review. 3(1), 387–395. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54183/jssr.v3i1.169

[8] Sistani, S.R., 2015. The internal landscape of my mysterious body: Burger’s Daughter in the mirror of Lacanian psychoanalysis. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 6(4), 383- 387. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p383

[9] Salgado, M., 2025. Witness Literature: Culture, Memory and Contested Truths, 1st ed. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc: London, UK. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350318892

[10] Abetz, K., 2025. The metaphor of gender identity in a sacramental universe. Wipf and Stock Publishers: Eugene, OR, USA.

[11] McQuillan, M., 2000. The narrative reader. Routledge: London, UK.

[12] Colman, G., 2016. New monologues for men. Bloomsbury Methuen Drama: London, UK.

[13] Al-Khamisi, F.A., Sasa, G.S., Abu Jweid, A.N., 2024. Technology’s Influence on the Metaphorical Language in Contemporary Literature: A Transformative Force and a Formidable Challenge. World Journal of English Language. 15(1), 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v15n1p1

[14] Abu Jweid, A.N.A., 2022. Reversed identity, the problem of fake identity, and counter-identity in selected novels by Nadine Gordimer. Canadian Social Science. 18(3), 6-10. Available from: http://cscanada.net/index.php/css/article/view/12568 (cited 11 July 2025).

[15] Madsen, D. L., 1995. Allegory in America: From puritanism to postmodernism. St. Martin’s Press: New York, NY, USA.

[16] Kaur, H., Abu Jweid, A.N.A., 2018. War allegory in Narayan Wagle’s Palpasa Café. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities. 26(T), 1-12. Available from: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/pjssh/browse/special-issue?article=JSSH-2053-2017 (cited 11 July 2025).

[17] Tahir, Z.M., Sasa, G., Al-Ghammaz, S.A.-D., et al., 2025. The Identity of Metropolitan Imperialism as Paradigmatic Stereotypes of Ideology, Racial Ethnicity, and Otherness in the Postcolonial Novel. World Journal of English Language. 15(3), 140-147. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v15n3p140

[18] Sasa, G., NimerAbdalqader Abu Jweid, A., 2022. Countryside, Domestic Picturesque, and Scenic Sublimes: The Triad of Eco-feminism in Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron.” Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences. 49(5), 325–334. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35516/hum.v49i5.3479

[19] Abu Jweid, A.N.A., 2016. The fall of national identity in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. PERTANIKA. 23(5), 529-540. Available from: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29402/1/32%20JSSH-1327-2015.pdf (cited 11 July 2025).

[20] Goergen, D., 2003. The mission and ministry of Jesus. Liturgical Press: Collegeville, MN, USA.

[21] Abu Jweid, A.N.A., Al-Khamisi, F.A., 2024. History and the Problem of Dead Identity: Theorising the Revival of Zulu’s Extinct Culture in Zakes Mda’s the Zulus of New York. International Journal of Religion. 5(6), 492–499. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61707/8wq5b667

[22] Meisami, J. S., Starkey, P., 1998. Encyclopaedia of Arabic literature. Routledge: London, UK.

[23] Jweid, A.N.A.A., 2023. Narcissistic Pastiche: Towards Exploring the Concept of “Cras es noster” Through Nostalgic Postmodernism in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. English Language and Literature Studies. 13(1), 21-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v13n1p21

[24] Abu Jweid, A.N.A., 2021. The reception of The Arabian Nights in world literature. Studies in Literature and Language, 22(1), 10-15. Available from: http://cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/12025 (cited 11 July 2025).

[25] Kaur, H., Jweid, A.N.A.A., Majeed, A.A., et al., 2023. In Solidarity With Home: Transculturation as a Reconciliation of African Ethnic Binarism in Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. 13(8), 1947–1954. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1308.10

Downloads

How to Cite

Ali Sulaiman Al qaisee, E., Fadhil Ali, Z., Abdulkareem Naeem, S., Nimer Abdalqader Abu Jweid, A., & Abdullah Al-Shammari, S. N. (2025). Discourse-based Analysis of Narrative Monologue as a Medium of Historical Allegory in Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(10), 401–410. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11019

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 10 (October 2025): In progress

Article Type

Article

License

Copyright © 2025 Emad Ali Sulaiman Al qaisee, Zinah Fadhil Ali, Sajjad Abdulkareem Naeem, Abdalhadi Nimer Abdalqader Abu Jweid, Shaalan Najem Abdullah Al-Shammari

Creative Commons License

This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.