Effect of Hierarchies on the Corporeal Alternations in the Novel Under the Skin

In this essay, I analyze the complex role capitalism plays in the formation and transformation of bodies within its system, using the novel Under the Skin by Michel Faber as a case study. As multidisciplinary research, this essay will use disability studies as a theoretical foundation with which the main arguments will be underscored. In order to do so, I focus on four dimensions: first, the distinction between normality and deviance as manifested in the bodies of the alien protagonist and the Vess corporation heir Amlis; second, the impact of different hierarchies in the novel; elites, workers, and human prey (vodsel); on the bodies of the group according to their position in each level of the pyramid; third, the role of disability and how it affects individuals under capitalism; fourth, how (de)prostheticization changes the way readers perceive and interpret the novel by shifting the perspective from the normative one to an alternative one that challenges the dominant assumptions of normalcy. This essay will argue that: capitalism use, misuse, and abuse society’s view of normalcy to take full advantage for its own hegemonic purposes.

Keywords:

capitalism , hierarchies , disability , normate , prosthesis