Interrogating the Metaphor of Madness and the Migratory Process in Said El Kadaoui‘s Límites y Fronteras

Abstract

As postcolonial scholars signal, the similarities between the constructions of the racial Other and the mad are very similar and rely on a binary of the rational and irrational. Examining how the construction of madness serves as a metaphor for the migratory process and its ensuing trauma in Said El Kadaoui‘s Límites y fronteras, this paper‘s intent is to question how this affects the subjectivity of its protagonist. I find that the metaphor of madness serves to express the limiting aspects of identity and through the character development of its protagonist, the narration allows a more heterogeneous understanding of identity to emerge.