A Study Of Food Plot And The Reconstruction Of Female Subjectivity In The Mill On The Floss

George Eliot(1819-1880),a British female writer of the nineteenth century,ranks among the “great traditions” with the serious moral themes and philosophical language techniques in her novels and keeps abreast of male writers such as Henry James and Joseph Conrad.At the same time,as the epitome of Victorian female writers like Jane Austen,she depicts females' fate and their lives exquisitely.Her early masterpiece The Mill on the Floss portrays the life of the Victorian middle class in the nineteenth century.Its plots are closely related to life.For example,food descriptions and women scenes are common sights in many parts of the novel.Coincidentally,both food writing and feminist theory show solicitude to the reconstruction of female subjectivity.As the root of the bondage for women,food can also be a way for themselves to break it identically.Based on the feminist theory,this thesis aims to analyze the plot of food in The Mill on the Floss,and discuss how food participates in the reconstruction of female subjectivity.Thus,it reveals that food can not only satisfy the most basic physiological needs of human beings but give women effective ways to reconstruct their subjectivity.This thesis consists of five chapters:The first chapter is the introduction,which briefly introduces the author George Eliot and her work The Mill on the Floss,the previous research on this novel,the relevant feminist theory and food writing as well as the significance and framework of the thesis.The following three chapters are the body of the thesis.Chapter Two illustrates George Eliot's attitudes towards food and food plot in The Mill on the Floss.Chapter Three aims to discuss and analyze the relationship between food and the regaining of female power in the novel,that is to say,food as a way of self-empowerment and self-destructive reaction to patriarchy.Based on Chapter Three,Chapter Four explores the relationship between food and the reconstruction of female subjectivity.As a metaphor,food is a way of expressing females' desires and achieving the reconstruction of their subjectivity.Chapter Five is the conclusion.It reiterates the arguments of the thesis,makes a compendious summary of all that have been discussed above: food plays an essential part in the reconstruction of female subjectivity.