DECONTRUCTION OF HUMANITY AND MORALITY IN OVERLORD: BEYOUND THE BINARY OF HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN
Keywords:
Deconstruction, Binary Opposition, Morality, Post-Humanism, Overlord,Abstract
Literary studies often rely on binary oppositions such as human versus non-human and moral versus immoral to construct meaning and ethical judgment. However, poststructuralist thought, particularly Jacques Derrida's theory of deconstruction, challenges the stability and hierarchy embedded in these binaries. This study examines the deconstruction of humanity and morality in Overlord, a Japanese light novel by Maruyama Kugane, which subverts traditional fantasy conventions by placing non-human entities at the moral and existential center. Previous studies on deconstruction have largely focused on Western literary texts and human-centered narratives, leaving discussions of Eastern popular literature and non-human moral subjectivity limited. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing how Overlord deconstructs the binary opposition between human and non-human and represents morality as a relative and unstable concept. Using qualitative textual analysis, this study employs systematic observation of the narrative structure, character actions, and dialogue from Volumes 1–5 of the novel. The findings demonstrate that Overlord reverses traditional hierarchies by depicting humans as weak and immoral, while positioning the non-human protagonist, Ainz Ooal Gown, as the legitimate moral authority. Furthermore, morality in the narrative is shown to be context-dependent, shaped by perspective, power, and authority, rather than universal ethical principles. This study concludes that Overlord demonstrates the instability of moral and humanist binaries, offering a post-humanist reinterpretation of morality that challenges anthropocentric assumptions in literary discourse
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