Exploring Social Discrimination Through Erlok Grael's Behavioral Changes in Ruination Using Saussurean Binary Opposition

Abstract

This study explores the psychological impact of prolonged social discrimination as depicted in Anthony Reynolds' Ruination (2022), using Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of binary opposition to examine the lowborn character Erlok Grael's exclusion and behavioral transformation. Set against a stratified fantasy society governed by hereditary class hierarchy, the novel reflects real-world patterns of class-based marginalization between the nobility and the lowborn. The research employs a descriptive qualitative method, focusing on close textual analysis to identify discrimination and behavioral change across the novel, particularly in the character of Erlok Grael. The study uses Saussure's concepts of binary opposition to investigate how recurring pairs such as nobility/peasantry, visibility/invisibility, and authority/submission structure Grael's social position and identity. Data were categorized according to these oppositions, which enables thematic interpretation of Grael's exclusion, humiliation, and eventual dehumanization. Findings reveal that Grael's transformation, from unresolved humiliation to circumstantially qualified villainy and ultimately complete dehumanization, mirrors real-world class-based marginalization. This research ultimately offers insight into how fantasy literature can dramatize the psychological consequences of prolonged discrimination as a means of exploring the human cost of social exclusion.