Carson McCullers'ın Küskün Kahvenin Türküsü adlı eserinde engelliliğin ele alınışı

Öz

Bu çalışma, Carson McCullers’ın Küskün Kahvenin Türküsü (1951) adlı nuvelini Engellilik Çalışmaları açısından incelemektedir. McCullers engelli bedeni, kambur bir cüce ve toplum dışı biri olan Kuzen Lymon gibi engelli/ucube bir karakteri işleyerek ‘öteki/uç’ olarak sorunsallaştırır; Lymon fesat, konuşkan ve hilekârdır. İnsanların engellilere karşı önyargılı olduğu gotik/grotesk Amerikan güneyini mekan olarak kullanıp engelli kişilerin karakterlerinin incelenmesi üzerine sorular sorar. Başta, Lymon acınası/acınan biridir, sevilmeyi ve toplumsal anlamda kabul görmeyi arzular. Daha sonra, kişiliğini öne çıkarır, kırılganlığından faydalanır, çok boyutlu ve çıkarcı karakterini ortaya koyar. Miss Amelia’nın ilgisini avantaj olarak kullanır. Örnek alınacak biri değildir, dahası kötü bir güç kaynağı ve grotesk bir kişidir. Amelia’nın düşmanı olan ve çok önceden evden kovmuş olduğu kocası hatırına Amelia’yı terkeder. Onun güvenini boşa çıkarır ve yapayalnız bırakır. Civardaki herkesi şaşkına uğratır çünkü Amelia ona en çok yardıma muhtaç olduğu zamanında yardım etmiştir. McCullers güneyli bakış açısını benimsemiş gibi gözükerek engellilere karşı olan önyargı ve basmakalıp inanışları önce yapıbozuma uğratır, sonra yeniden yapılandırır. Engellilik ve engelli olmama durumuna dair kavramlar ve algılar arasındaki çizgiyi bulanıklaştırır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Carson McCullers
• Küskün Kahvenin Türküsü
• engellilik çalışmaları
• grotesk
• Amerikan güneyi

Evaluation of disability in Carson McCullers' The Ballad of the Sad Café

Abstract

This study enquires into Carson McCullers' The Ballad of the Sad Café (1951) in terms of Disability Studies. McCullers problematizes the disabled body as ‘the other/marginalized’ by introducing a disabled/freak character, Cousin Lymon, who is a hunchbacked dwarf and an outcast; he is mischievous, talkative and intriguer. Thus, she opens questions about the characterization of disabled people employing a setting of the gothic/grotesque American south where people are prejudiced against the disabled. At the beginning, Lymon is pitiful/pitied, desires to be liked and socially accepted. Later, he asserts his personality, benefits from his vulnerability and proves his multi-dimensional and manipulative character. He takes advantage of Miss Amelia’s attraction to him. He is not a role model, moreover, he is an evil force and a grotesque figure. He abandons her for the sake of her enemy, her husband, whom she dismissed from her house long before. He invalidates her reliance on him and leaves her alone. He sets everybody in the neighborhood aback, because she had helped him in his most needy time. In this way, McCullers de/reconstructs the prejudice and stereotyping against disabled people, seeming to confirm the southern point of view. She blurs the line between the concepts and perceptions of disability and non-disability.

Keywords

• Carson McCullers
• The Ballad of the Sad Café
• disability studies
• grotesque
• American south

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