The Mannequin as an Active Agent: Decentered Subjectivity in Ian McEwan’s “Dead as They Come”

Abstract

Ian McEwan’s “Dead as They Come” portrays an immaculate picture of an active and defiant object, decentering the subject from the center, thus paving the way for the dismantlement of anthropocentrism. While the short story has been examined through a subject-oriented lens, the object-oriented aspects thereof have not received much critical attention. Therefore, resorting to Object Oriented Ontology terminology, the current study will attempt to analyze the subversive and recalcitrant nature of the mannequin, defying the anthropocentric rule and reality. Graham Harman and Bill Brown’s OOO theories will form the underpinning theoretical framework of this article. It will be contended that anthropocentric dominance gets gradually chipped as the most pivotal tools at the disposal of Anthropos, namely language and name-giving, fail to assist him in controlling and possessing the nonhuman. The ultimate fatal blow is delivered to him when he loses his rationality and reasoning faculty, thus falling from subjectivity into the abyss of madness and insanity, which marks the complete annihilation of anthropocentrism.