In Search Of Identity

Identity is a personal and social procedure through which individuals and social groups promote and accomplish individual and social changes. It defines our uniqueness and at the same time draws us into social integration. By virtue of humanity,men and women are entitled to pursue their own interests,to own equal rights,and to be rewarded for their efforts. Women,however,have historically been conditioned to respond to others' actions rather than to act autonomously. They are traditionally taught to put others before themselves. Though the contemporary women's status has been much improved,they are still restrained by social conventions. So they now still need to define their own purpose instead of deriving the purpose from traditional patriarchal values. In short,women ought to find out who they are,and choose their human identity.Feminists expect women and men to be aware of the existence of some basic inequalities and injustices. They want to tear down the centuries-old myths and ideologies which keep women "in their place". Since women and men have many of the same hopes,dreams and aspirations,they both deserve the same chance for human fulfillment. Though women's identity has changed since the end of World War II,the culture featuring the male supremacy tends to remain stable in differentcountries. The female search for identity seems to be an everlasting theme in contemporary feminist literature by writers of different countries. The two works the author intends to discuss in the present thesis are typical feminist writings dramatizing such a theme. The Edible Woman by the Canadian female writer Margaret Atwood is a bitter criticism of the Canadian values of the sixties toward women while The Ark by the Chinese woman writer Zhangjie is a forceful feminist critique of women's status in China.This thesis aims at making a comparison between these two novels so as to throw a meaningful light on the contemporary women's search for identity. The search-for-identity theme will be illustrated from three perspectives:the social context,the narrative techniques and the central idea. To facilitate such a scheme,the author treats the topic in three chapters,which are preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion.The introduction deals with the purpose and the basic structure of the thesis.Chapter I offers a survey of the social background of these two works,to provide a powerful lens through which both works may be read. Though the two works were published in different countries in different periods of history,the identity quest of women,especially the intellectual women's therein,can be strongly sensed.Written by the female writers about the lives of women,the narration of the two novels conveys exquisitely the unique experiences and feelings of women. A detailed analysis of the narration constitutes Chapter II,andthe comparison of the narrative techniques centers around three points:the plot,the point of view,and the symbolism and imagery.Chapter III discusses the themes of the two novels. The goal here is to highlight the specific themes of both works and simultaneously illuminate their similarities and differences.The conclusion is a summarization of the whole thesis.