دانشگاه تربیت مدرس فصلنامۀ نقد ادبی 2008-0360 19 75 2026 08 23 A Foucauldian Reading of the Reflection of Power and Resistance Discourse in Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite Me خوانشی فوکویی از بازتاب گفتمان قدرت و مقاومت در رمان‌های خردم کن، کشفم کن و شعله‌ورم کن اثر طاهره مافی 120 167 29191 10.48311/lcq.2026.118944.82738 FA یاسین معصوم نژاد زبان و ادبیات انگلیسی، علوم انسانی، دانشگاه گیلان، رشت، ایران 0009-0004-1936-6587 علیرضا فرح بخش عضو هیات علمی دانشگاه گیلان 0000-0002-7526-2182 Journal Article 2026 01 27 The Shatter Me trilogy (Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite Me) by Tahereh Mafi is among the most popular contemporary young adult fiction series. The present study aims to analyze the reflection of the discourse of power and resistance in these science-fiction novels through the lens of Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis of power. The authors examine the application of sovereign and disciplinary power, as well as the protagonist’s methods of resistance against domination within this literary trilogy. Utilizing a descriptive-analytical methodology, this research seeks to answer the following questions: How do the mechanisms of sovereign and disciplinary power within the dystopian discourse of “The Reestablishment” produce and stabilize Juliette’s identity as a “monster”? Furthermore, how does the discourse of resistance at “Omega Point” and Juliette’s everyday resistant practices destabilize The Reestablishment’s power/knowledge system, thereby enabling the reconstruction of her identity from a rejected “monster” into an agentic subject? This article argues that The Reestablishment constructs Juliette’s body and identity as a dangerous deviation through the fusion of sovereign and disciplinary power, manifested in violence, surveillance, and institutional control. Yet, the discourse of resistance at Omega Point destabilizes The Reestablishment’s epistemic foundation by redefining knowledge, embracing difference and removing the label of “monstrosity,” thereby enabling the reconstruction of Juliette’s identity. Her gradual awareness of the mechanisms of domination, together with her deliberate practice of controlling her abilities, writing, remembering and forming emotional bonds, constitutes everyday acts of resistance that undermine epistemic and disciplinary domination from within. Extended abstract 1. Introduction This article investigates Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite Me, a young adult dystopian trilogy that explores the themes of power and resistance. The struggle to wield power, maintain control over its subjects and resist oppression constitutes a significant part of Juliette’s narrative arc. Drawing upon thematic analysis and Foucauldian discourse analysis, this study analyzes the concepts of “sovereign power,” “disciplinary power” and “resistance”, as well as their ramifications within the selected science fiction novels. More specifically, it examines how sovereign and disciplinary power establish domination over subjects and the ways the protagonist attempts to resist them. Given that these texts exhibit the juxtaposition of two distinct modes of power, this Foucauldian analysis aims to investigate how they simultaneously clash and coexist within the fictional world of Mafi’s trilogy. By examining the resistant practices Juliette employs to challenge domination, this article critically evaluates the efficacy of different forms of resistance. 2. Methodology Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, this study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the mechanisms of power and resistance in Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite Me. Core data, such as key dialogues and monologues, character development and narrative progression, are extracted from the primary texts and categorized according to themes of sovereign power, disciplinary power and resistance. It is the aim of researchers to analyze the techniques of sovereign and disciplinary power employed within the framework of the dominant discourse, as well as the strategies the female protagonist uses to resist domination throughout the novels. 3. Theoretical Framework Challenging the commonly-held monocentric conception of power, Michel Foucault highlighted the dynamic nature of power by introducing different modes of power: sovereign power, disciplinary power and biopower. He distinguished sovereign power from disciplinary power in that the former involves overt practices of control and authority, while the latter employs indirect techniques to minimize the cost and maximize the effect. In Foucauldian terms, discourse is highly interconnected with power, because it can be regarded as a medium through which power operates, determining the legitimate speaker, forms of speech and conditions of utterance. Not only does Foucauldian discourse analysis address linguistic elements, but it is also an action-oriented form of discourse analysis which explores how power is produced and maintained through discursive practices, thereby shaping the subjects’ reality and their construction of truth. Moreover, resistance is intertwined with power in Foucault’s thought, since the two cannot be separated or analyzed in isolation. Like power, resistance is consequently productive and dynamic, as it is observable within simple, everyday practices, rather than restricted to a singular source or institutional locus. 4. Analysis and Discussion Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite Me follow the journey of a 17-year-old girl named Juliette Ferrars, who has long been imprisoned by a dystopian regime called The Reestablishment due to her deadly touch. The two most prominent discourses depicted in the trilogy are those of power and resistance. In the pursuit of establishing domination over soldiers and civilians, the dystopian government employs a combination of direct and indirect measures, which can be categorized into sovereign power and disciplinary power. The leader of this regime, Paris Anderson, is an elusive figure who, alongside his son, Warner, wields power through explicit torture, threats, fear and public executions, capitalizing on death as a powerful tool to enhance conformity and homogeneity in society. The Reestablishment also adopts a different technology of domination: disciplinary power, which involves rendering subjects into docile bodies through less obvious techniques, such as civic discipline, the use of ID cards, rewarding good behavior, regulating food consumption and serum injections. Juliette, as a prisoner, is therefore subject to the ceaseless surveillance and control of the government’s panoptic gaze. The Reestablishment implements this surveillance through first-hand human observation, CCTV cameras and medical examinations, aiming to collect data on her thoughts, behavior and lethal touch. As a docile body, Juliette demonstrates her internalized self-discipline through self-deprivation and the use of strikethroughs over her unlawful thoughts and desires. Despite the perceived contrasts between the two modes of domination, sovereign and disciplinary power work together to label Juliette as an “abnormal monster” in need of treatment. However, Castle, the leader of Omega Point (a subterranean resistance movement), offers Juliette a different definition of her unique “talent”, one that needs to be refined and controlled to maximize its efficiency. Juliette employs a number of resistant practices to withstand domination and restrictive control over her mind and body, including remembering the past, drawing attention to the bygone beauty of nature, and journaling, which counter the totalitarian government’s plan to delete public memory and invent a universal language. Juliette’s unlawful relationship with Adam and, subsequently, Warner, emerges as an act of defiance, challenging what is dictated by the dominating power in the story. However, the overly restrictive control in Omega Point and the apparent inefficiency of direct resistance led the female protagonist to redefine resistance and align with Warner, a former antagonist who possesses significant material resources. Although the resistance fighters oppose Juliette’s eventual union with their archenemy, she strategically deploys her lethal power, convinced that more prudent decisions are necessary to dismantle Anderson’s regime. 5. Conclusion The Reestablishment and Omega Point emerge as rival power structures within the broader discourse of power depicted in Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite Me. Employing direct measures of coercion and authority, the dystopian government functions as a representation of sovereign power in the trilogy, with its supreme leader aspiring to retain an absolute monopoly over people’s bodies, thoughts and everyday lives by the means of death and homogenization. Yet, this oppressive regime simultaneously adopts indirect disciplinary techniques, such as rewarding behavior, demarcation and the exertion of control through food regulation and serum injection, which are aimed at transforming subjects into docile bodies. Omega Point, likewise, holds power over its population by enforcing its desired discipline, such as the promotion of stoic living, gender segregation, time management and homogeneity. However, this does not eliminate acts of defiance within the trilogy, as Juliette challenges the dominant discourse that labels her a “monster” through resistant practices and the redefinition of her talent. By situating the Shatter Me trilogy at the intersection of classical dystopian anxieties and contemporary young adult narrative traditions, this study demonstrates that Mafi reconfigures the discourse of resistance by shifting its locus from external, collective rebellion to an internalized, somatic process of self-redefinition. سه‌گانۀ خردم کن، کشفم کن و شعله‌ورم کن نوشتۀ طاهره مافی از پرطرفدارترین رمان‌های ادبیات داستانی نوجوان معاصر است. پژوهش حاضر بر آن است که با رویکرد تحلیل گفتمان قدرت میشل فوکو به بررسی چگونگی بازتاب گفتمان قدرت و مقاومت در این رمان‌های علمی‌تخیلی بپردازد. نویسندگان‌ این مقاله تلاش می‌کنند چگونگی اعمال قدرت‌ حاکمیت‌بنیاد و انضباطی و روش‌های مقاومت شخصیت‌ اصلی در برابر سلطه را در این سه‌گانۀ ادبی تحلیل کنند. تحقیق حاضر با بهره‌گیری از روش پژوهش توصیفی‌ ـ تحلیلی، درپی پاسخ به این پرسش‌ها برآمده است: چگونه سازوکارهای قدرت حاکمیت‌بنیاد و قدرت انضباطی در گفتمان پادآرمان‌شهری «سازمان احیا»، هویت جولیت را به‌مثابۀ یک «هیولا» تولید و تثبیت می‌کند؟ و چگونه گفتمان مقاومت در نقطۀ‌ امگا و کنش‌های مقاومتی روزمرۀ‌ جولیت، نظام قدرت/ دانش سازمان احیا را بی‌ثبات کرده و امکان بازسازی هویت او را از «هیولای» طردشده به سوژه‌ای دارای عاملیت فراهم می‌کند؟ این جستار نمایانگر آن است که سازمان احیا از طریق ترکیب قدرت حاکمیت‌بنیاد و قدرت انضباطی، با بهره‌گیری از خشونت، تهدید به مرگ، نظارت، انزوا و سازوکارهای معرفتی، بدن و هویت جولیت را به‌مثابۀ انحرافی خطرناک صورت‌بندی می‌کند. اما گفتمان مقاومت در نقطۀ امگا با بازتعریف دانش، پذیرش تفاوت و زدودن برچسب «هیولایی»، بنیان معرفتی سازمان احیا را متزلزل می‌سازد و امکان بازسازی هویت جولیت را فراهم می‌کند. آگاهی تدریجی او از سازوکارهای سلطه، همراه با تمرین کنترل آگاهانۀ توانایی‌هایش، نوشتن، یادآوری و پیوندهای عاطفی، کنش‌های مقاومتی روزمره‌ای می‌سازند که سلطۀ معرفتی و انضباطی را از درون فرو می‌پاشند.

https://lcq.modares.ac.ir/article_29191_51540863fba76ac6cb10eded0ff9ef7b.pdf