Discourse On The "Eating" Of "the Edible Woman" And Its Interpretation

"The Edible Woman"is the first novel of Margaret Atwood, which is regarded as the origin of the Feminist Movement of 1970s in North America, and its advances are showed in both content and form. The"eating"appearing in the novel seems common, but implies female's think and resistance of rational society, thus, the process of spiritual growth of the heroine Marian, the awareness of female subjectivity consciousness becomes the discussion's focus. In fact, the awareness of female subjectivity consciousness is not so simple, the author's writing on the connection of the"eating"and female's fate has reflected complex mentality of female and the process of internalizing male consciousness. Female's resistance to male is not one-dimensional, but a process of continuous oppression, mutual stuffing and amusing, just like the relationship between body and consciousness in the history of western thought.Connecting with the novel, the comprehension of"eating"in physical, psychological and sociological have being discussed by considering the"eating"as the start point, and also, a non-rational world formed by"eating"is opened gradually. By regarding the"eating"as the expression method of body and female's narrative discourse, female's survival state and complex mentality have been revealed in the paper, and at the same time, the meanings behind the"eating", including the"eaten"theme of women in western literature history, women's multiple status and modern experience of women's survival have been exposed. The paper consists of these parts as follows:In the first part, make a conclusion about the criticism of"The Edible Woman".In the second part, elaborate the triple meanings of the"eating"obviously.In the third part, mainly discuss the relationship between Marian's emotional changes and the"eating". During the narration of representation of the"eating"in the novel, try to demonstrate that"eating"is the method of expressing Marian herself in male social, and as the female's narrative discourse, this expression formed a dialogue relationship with male, and Marian gets her certain status in this dialogue finally.In the fourth part, expound deep meaning hiding the"eating".At last, expose nihilism of naming and renaming female's fate by Atwood.