Sabahattin Ali’nin Ses Öyküsünde Beden Dili ve Benliğin Sunumu: Goffman’cı Bir Analiz
Body Language and the Presentation of the Self in Sabahattin Ali’s Short Story Ses: A Goffmanian Analysis

Summary/Abstract: Sabahattin Ali, a prominent figure in Turkish literature during the Republican era, holds a unique place in the literary canon with his plain yet compelling narrative style, accessible language, and socially realist approach. The everyday experiences he portrays offer not only aesthetic value but also realistic insights into Turkey’s human geography. A notable feature of Ali’s work is the frequent use of visual indicators-especially behavioral details and body language-alongside simple depictions. In character portrayals, elements such as appearance, hand gestures, and bodily adornments often reveal expectations underlying verbal communication, reflecting the characters’ inner worlds. These visual and behavioral descriptions both mediate self-presentation and provide cues about the characters’ social status and cultural context. This study examines how characters present themselves in public through the semantic, contextual, and symbolic codes embedded in visual and behavioral representations. Focusing on the short story Ses (The Voice), it applies Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life as a theoretical framework. Semantic/latent thematic analysis, descriptive analysis and sentiment analysis are used as qualitative research methods. Goffman’s approach to selfpresentation, especially in relation to body language, allows an original interpretation of the story’s characters by illuminating their psychological and emotional states. The study concludes with an analysis of how a folk minstrel, marginalized for failing to conform to dominant norms, is devalued in the context of cultural capital and class inequality, with his disappointment embodied in physical expression. The findings suggest that within the Goffmanian framework, individuals who cannot perform or express their authentic selves are pushed to the margins, as the modern overshadows the authentic and lower-class representations become largely invisible.

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