Silence And Speech:The Construction Of Elaine's Female Discourse In Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye

Being versatile and prolific,Margaret Atwood who is a novelist,as well as a poet and literary critic is crowned as "the queen of Canadian literature".Her novel Cat's Eye,published in 1988,has been mostly interpreted from perspectives of Archetype criticism,post-colonialism,ecofeminism by both overseas and domestic critics.Also,its themes of painting images,binary opposition,trauma are mostly delved into.Yet the issue of the protagonist's female discourse is scarcely touched upon.In the novel,the protagonist Elaine's female discourse construction is closely related to the presentation of the theme.This thesis focuses on exploring the representation,cause and solution of Elaine's silence,and further composing a comprehensive analysis of the significance of her construction of female discourse on female independence and gender equality.The introduction briefly introduces the author and Cat's Eye,and stresses that Cat's Eye is the turning point in the collection of Atwood's novels,which embodies her innovative thoughts about gender equality.The first chapter presents the development of theories on power,discourse and female discourse.Chapter two explores the representation of Elaine's female discourse crisis:silence.In front of eloquent father and brother,Elaine is a muted listener;in front of hypocritical and self-centered male lovers,she is also the reticent object of desire.Even in female groups,she is the victim of malevolent discourse.Disillusioned,she can find no one to resort to.Chapter three investigates the cause of this crisis:struggle for power between the two genders.Elaine's silence in front of men is due to the male power wielded and created through patriarchal discourse,while the silence in female groups is caused by women internalizing patriarchal discourse and becoming accomplices in the operation of male power.Chapter four examines the solution through which Elaine defuses the crisis:speech.Firstly,she denounces patriarchy through audacious speech and her early paintings,thus she rebels against the male-dominated discourse.Secondly,she actively constructs independent,confident and powerful female discourse through breaking the silence,joining female alliance and creating her late paintings in which she boldly delineates her female experience.Chapter five discusses the significance of female narration.Through narration,Elaine demonstrates the importance of recording experience and resisting misreading with independent female discourse,while Atwood uncovers the limitations of previous feminist movements and criticizes the misapplication of female discourse by radical feminists.Atwood also conveys the idea of respecting individual female experience and establishing an equal and harmonious relationship between the two genders.The conclusion summarizes that the root of Elaine's silence is the oppression from the patriarchal society.In order to tackle this crisis,female should resist being a repetition of patriarchal discourse or a megaphone of radical feminism through reversing the male-dominated discourse and constructing an independent female discourse.