A Critique of Stigma Transformation in Alice Munro's ＂Face＂ and ＂Child's Play＂

Many critics have had difficulties tackling the pervasive sense of horror found in Alice Munro's short story collection Too Much Happiness (2009). Isla Duncan maintains that the horror of this collection is achieved by Munro's manipulation of narrative voice, especially exemplified in ＂Face＂ and ＂Child's Play.＂ Whereas Duncan emphasizes the horror conveyed by the indifference of both narrators, I argue that what makes these two stories ＂horrifying＂ is rather the undercurrent of unacknowledged hate, disgust, shame, and guilt suggested by the narrators' voices of indifference. These repressed emotions intimate the characters' problematic responses to stigma and reveal the limits of stigma transformation. By focusing on ＂Face＂ and ＂Child's Play,＂ two stories about the stigma of birthmarks and disability, this essay aims to explore how Munro addresses the limits of stigma transformation by portraying excessive emotions triggered by stigma, thereby revealing the characters' ambivalent responses to stigma. The first section of this essay discusses how disgust and hate are evoked by the interaction between the stigmatizer and the stigmatized. In the second part of this essay, I investigate how the narrator in ＂Face＂ tries to overcome his shame by hiding his birthmark, and how Marlene in ＂Child's Play＂ attempts to exonerate her guilt by publishing a book on disability. The essay argues that Munro's stories are ＂horrifying＂ because they resist transformative readings of stigma. ＂Face＂ and ＂Child's Play＂ remind readers to be more aware of the impact of stigmatization in ordinary life and to recognize the otherness of both others and ourselves.

關鍵字

Munro ； stigma ； shame ； guilt ； disability

並列摘要

艾莉絲．孟若晚期的短篇小說集《太多快樂》(2009)中瀰漫的恐怖感，困惑了不少評論者。艾拉．鄧肯指出該小說集的恐怖感，來自艾莉絲．孟若對敘事聲音的運用，尤其呈現在＜臉＞與＜童戲＞兩篇小說中。雖然鄧肯強調兩篇小說敘事者的冷漠所傳達的恐怖，我主張使這兩篇小說「令人恐懼」的，與其說是敘事者的冷漠，不如說是敘事者的冷漠語氣所暗示的情感潛流－未被承認的恨、厭惡、羞愧和罪惡感。這些被壓抑的情感暗指小說人物對汙名具爭議性的反應，亦揭露了汙名轉化的侷限。透過分析＜臉＞與＜童戲＞兩篇分別描寫胎記和與失能汙名的小說，本文探索孟若如何經由書寫人物被汙名所引發的過多情感探討汙名轉化的侷限，凸顯人物對汙名的矛盾回應。本文第一部分討論蒙受汙名者與施加汙名者的互動如何引起厭惡與恨。本文第二部分探究＜臉＞的敘事者如何嘗試透過隱藏他的胎記以克服其羞愧感，以及＜童戲＞的敘事者如何試圖經由出版失能研究的著作來除罪。本文主張孟若晚期小說風格的恐怖在於，她的書寫拒絕呈現對汙名的改觀閱讀。孟若的＜臉＞與＜童戲＞提醒讀者更加意識到汙名化對日常生活的影響，並認識自己與他人的異質性。