Representation of Westerners in the novel Siamese Tears

Abstract

The purpose of this research article is to explore the representation of Westerners in the novel Siamese Tears, written by Claire Keefe-Fox, a French-American writer, using the concepts of representation and orientalism as the frameworks of this study. The results of the study revealed that the novel represents a picture of Westerners in the 19th century who underwent a change of thought. Originally, Western travelers believed that the West symbolized progress while the East symbolized backwardness, according to the concept of representation. However, the representative image of Westerners in the novel portrayed them as learners of the lifestyle and culture of Siam and as advocates who criticized the injustice caused by France to Siam regarding the land dispute on the left bank of the Mekong River, known as the Franco-Siamese War of 1893. As a result, Claire Keefe-Fox’s representation of the West humanized Westerners as people who recognized cultural diversity and were in defense of the fact that not all of them agreed on colonization. Despite the new representation, the fact that the Westerners are set to return to Europe at the end of the novel still represents the West as civilization and the East as backwardness and inferiority to the West as prevalently as before. Therefore, the representation of the Western characters in the novel is a contradiction between the colonial representation of Westerners and the humane representation of Westerners who recognize cultural diversity. Additionally, creating a different image of Westerners also reflects a desire to erase the image of Westerners as former colonizers and redefine them to suit the concepts and values of today's society.