Neo-Colonialism in Mr. President by Miguel Ángel Asturias: Fanon’s Perspective

Abstract

This thesis discusses the portrayal of neo-colonialism in the Latin American literary work Mr. President (1946) by Miguel Angel Asturias. This study aims to reveal and further examine the forms of neo-colonialism that occurred in the postcolonial region to the forms of resistance portrayed in the novel as well as the intentions of the author behind the work that presents a dark social and political situation where all of these things will be related to the historical background of Guatemala in the relevant year by using Fanon's ideas about postcolonialism represented through the novel and Guatemalan Historical data. The results of this study show that the form of neo-colonialism that occurs in postcolonial territories is not only from foreign parties, but there is interference from internal parties from the territory itself and this is illustrated in the novel. The findings imply that the problems that occur in post-independent territories are complicated even though they have been released from the grip of the colonizers, which makes resistance to new oppression more complex if the oppressed characters do not act together. Given the situation, the author makes the novel a story with a tragic ending in order to show readers how complicated the problems of a region ruled by a dictator are because good endings tend to underestimate the real suffering experienced by the oppressed people.