Att möta sig själv och att bli den Andre : En intersektionell och postkolonial analys av Marissa Meyers Cinder och Scarlet

Sammanfattning: This study examines power structures and oppression in the first two novels of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Postcolonial theory and concepts as the Other/the other, and mimicry supplemented with an intersectional perspective are applied in the study. The study investigates how the protagonist, Cinder, is treated as a cyborg in a human world, and as a Lunar on Earth. Furthermore, it focuses on what happens when the oppressed becomes the oppressor and gains power. I conclude that the humans in Meyer’s sequel treat cyborgs in a similar way as the colonizer has treated the colonized through history. Cyborgs are suppressed due to fear from humans who neither understand cyborgs, nor have any interest to learn about them. The humans have a preconceived idea about what and who the cyborgs are and in correlation to the colonizer, the humans see no point in changing that view. Therefore, humans take the role as the Other while pushing cyborgs to become the other. In a similar way, Lunars become the Other due to their Lunar gift, which creates a power imbalance that they use to suppress people on Earth. When Cinder accesses her Lunar gift, she transforms from being the oppressed into the oppressor, and she must face the consequences of possessing such power which results in someone’s death. She realizes then that she would rather be the oppressed and be hurt herself than to be the oppressor and hurt others.