What the Body Withholds: Silence, Gesture, and Embodied Resistance in A Gesture Life and Never Let Me Go

Abstract

Nonverbal communication in literary narratives functions as a system to convey messages that institutional and cultural structures prevent characters from expressing aloud. This paper examines how it functions in Chang-Rae Lee’s A Gesture Life (1999) and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005) through the concept of embodied double-coding, defined here as the process by which characters appear to comply with dominant structures while simultaneously embedding subtle resistance through nonverbal communication, such as silence, gestures, and hesitations, thereby neither fully submitting to nor openly defying dominant structures. Using a qualitative comparative literary method, the study applies two theoretical frameworks: performativity theory and postcolonial subaltern criticism. This research places the frameworks in critical dialogue, especially where Butler’s performativity and Spivak’s subaltern silence produce interpretive tension, to generate a comprehensive reading of nonverbal communication in both texts. The findings reveal that, in both works, nonverbal communication reflects internal psychological states and serves as a signifier of cultural and historical backgrounds. In Lee’s text, the protagonist utilizes his gestures and silence to depict his traumatic experiences within the context of imperial and colonial histories. In Ishiguro’s narrative, the clones exhibit resignation to the social norms and expectations imposed on them through their bodily restraint and governed motion. This study argues that integrating nonverbal semiotics into literary analysis allows us to explore how characters express themselves in ways language alone cannot convey. It presents new insights into nonverbal communication across postcolonial and speculative fiction.