The Mini-World Of "the Other"

The Borrowers Series is the master piece of Mary Norton and also a famous fantasy in English children literature. In searching of an ideal home, three survivors of the Borrowers start their endless adventure under the floorboard. With her unique narrative skills, Mary Norton created a marvelous world of these tiny people. As the bridge of human and the tiny people, this multi-dimensional, abundant and caring mini-world is called the world of "the other". It is the reflection of the author’s life in her time, as well as a deep insight into common humanity.The theme and values of The Borrowers Series are comprehensive and profound. This article will analysis how did the tiny people become "the other" and how did they try to "blend in" within the frame of theories about "the other".This paper has three parts. Part one discusses the formation and characteristics of "the other" in general and in particular. In this part, how dose tiny people become to "the other" will be explored first, and then the various manifestations of "the other" shaped by" The Borrowers" will be analyzed. Part two focuses on the resistance of the tiny people and their strategies to "de-otherization "through discourse construction. Tiny people’s status quo, their attitude towards being "the other" and the strategies they employed to rebel and the results of rebellions in different context are displayed by analyzing the discourse of the tiny people as a race, human being’s words when they talk about tiny people and Arrietty’s words. Part three draws on the question asked by the tiny people. In this part, the author explains the metaphorical meaning of the mini-world of "the other’, provides possible solutions to liberation, meanwhile, summarize the reflection on the other’s world and the theme underlined.