La nature et l'Autre dans Chocolat, Tintin au Congo et Vendredi ou la vie sauvage; une lecture écocritique et post-coloniale

Abstract

Tintin in Congo (1931) by Hergé, is an example of the colonial discourse colonial empires propagated to reduce both nature and the Other to inferior beings. Chocolat (1988) by Claire Denis, and Vendredi ou la Vie Sauvage (1971) by Michel Tournier, offer a critical perspective on said colonial discourse. With those three texts, among others, I offer an analysis of how the colonial and neocolonial discourses destroy, exploit and reorganize colonized spaces, nature and peoples. In the first chapter, I develop the destruction of both local cultures and natures in order to make way for colonial empires’ exploitation. In a second chapter, I go over the practices of how colonial empires exploit both natural resources and peoples in colonized spaces. Finally, in a third chapter, I explain how colonial empires intend to reconfigure colonized spaces under a European model; be it language, religion or the use of nature.