Oppression and Resistance in Geling Yan's The Lost Daughter of Happiness: A Foucauldian Reading
| Autor: | Shu-chuan Cheng, 鄭淑娟 |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 101 This thesis attempts to use Foucault’s theory of power to discuss the oppression and resistance in Geling Yan’s The Lost Daughter of Happiness. Through exploring oppression and resistance of power, the mobile and fluid power, the core of Foucault’s theory of power, is displayed. Indeed, Yan’s The Lost Daughter of Happiness is replete with the mobile and unstable relations of power. Chapter One introduces two main subjects: one is Yan and some literature reviews about her novel, The Lost Daughter of Happiness; the other is Foucault and his concepts of power applied in The Lost Daughter of Happiness. Chapter Two offers a more detailed explanation of Foucault’s power, which is the basic theoretical framework of the thesis. Chapter Three makes use of Foucault’s concepts of domination in power relations, which divide the domination of power into two models: the sovereign model and the disciplinary model, to elucidate how the Chinese men and women are oppressed in The Lost Daughter of Happiness. The two models of power domination over the Chinese men and women cause their tortured and docile bodies. Chapter Four adopts Foucauldian ideas of resistance and freedom, which coexist with domination in power relations, to explore the three main resisting characters, including Fusang, Da Yong, and Chris in The Lost Daughter of Happiness. Fusang’s power to resist lies in her gentleness or softness that is like water wearing the rock away, her leading role on sexuality and her choice of freedom. Da Yong bravely fights against the white businessman because he causes Fusang harm. He breaks down the stereotypes of emasculated Chinese men and reconstructs a new identity of masculinity of Chinese men. Chris, as a white man, is forced to separate him from Fusang under the racist pressure of his family and the whole society; nevertheless, he intends to resist. He doesn’t care what others say about him, and he tells Fusang that he wants to marry her and holds her hands in public. He goes beyond the limit between different races, and his interracial love to Fusang confronts the xenophobic racism. Chapter Five, the conclusion, summarizes the implications discussed in the previous chapters. The unstable and mobile power, the core of Michel Foucault’s power theory, corresponds with what Yan wants to express in The Lost Daughter of Happiness. In this novel, power cannot be held in anyone’s hands, so no one is the permanent dominator or dominated. Sometimes power flows from the dominator to the dominated, and sometimes power flows from the dominated to the dominator. Power is a dynamic network of circulation. Fusang, Da Yong, and Chris cannot be put in the fixed place of the dominator or dominated. The power fortress built by white superiority and masculinity is not impregnable. The powerless, including the Chinese men and women, are endowed with power to resist. The power relationship between the dominator, the white and the male, and the dominated, the Chinese men and women is fluid and unstable. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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