A Foucauldian Reading of the Reflection of Power and Resistance Discourse in Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite Me

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 do the discourse of resistance at “Omega Point” and Juliette’s everyday acts of resistance destabilize The Reestablishment’s power/knowledge system, 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. Medical and security discourses label and contain her, leading to the internalization of abnormality and fear. Yet, the resistance discourse at Omega Point disrupts these power structures by redefining knowledge and embracing difference, enabling Juliette’s transformation from a “monstrous” object into an autonomous subject whose awareness, writing, and emotional connections embody everyday acts of resistance that erode domination from within.