The Elimination Of Gender Hegemonism: Gender Performativity In The Passion Of New Eve

Angela Carter is known for her diverse writing styles.Her female figures pursue freedom and equality.But instead of being in an antagonistic relation with male,they express their gender identity in a more leisurely way,eliminating the feminist binary thinking and stepping into a flexible and compatible field.Based on postfeminist theorist Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity,the thesis probes into Carter’s intention of eliminating gender hegemonism in The Passion of New Eve from three different dimensions.The first dimension is discourse.The establishment of the subjectivity of Patriarchy and Matriarchy is built on the interpellation as a discourse act,which means that they can never cast off their hegemonic nature,so the protagonists in the novel reject the interpellation of authorities in their own ways to fight against this hegemonic discourse system.The second dimension is body.The gendered body is fluid in the practice.The thesis tries to analyze the elimination of gender materialization through exposing the fact that gender is constructive.The coexistence of masculinity and femininity in New Eve and the gender reverse performance of cross-dresser Tristessa blur the boundary of gender,penetrating the opposing gender relation.The last dimension is rite.Through challenging homosexual incest taboo,Carter tries to break the repetition nature covered in the construction process of gender for a compatible mode of existence.The gender performativity’s implication in The Passion of New Eve has moved beyond the primary feminist concerns for humanism.By resorting to this new interpretation of gender,Carter avoids the radical and opposite gender conflicts in traditional feminist fictions and at the same time diffuses gender differences in a more flexible and inclusive way.The thesis’ s exploration of the gender performativity elements in this novel breaks the plight of conventional feminist criticism,thus sheds light on a new interpretation of Angela Carter’s stories.