Duality In The Blind Assassin——Reconstructing The Marginal Identity

Margaret Atwood (1939-) is one of the most versatile and prolific contemporary Canadian women writers. Her creative productivity and pioneering writing have made her popular in the global literary community, which wins her the honor of "the Queen of Canadian Literature". The Blind Assassin is Atwood’s tenth novel and the winner of the Booker Prize---the authoritative honor in the Commonwealth of Nations in2000.The research of The Blind Assassin abroad has reaped some fruits, while the research at home is still at the elementary stage. Few people systematically study The Blind Assassin from the perspective of duality. This thesis, starting with duality in The Blind Assassin, argues that Atwood uses the relationship of the unity of opposites to probe into the protagonist Iris’s double identity, uncover women’s difficult existential status and the corresponding Canadian national existential difficulties and reconstruct Iris’s identity and Canadian national identity.This thesis can be divided into five parts. Part One is an introduction to the thesis. The author firstly introduces the writer Margaret Atwood and her novel The Blind Assassin, gives an overview of relevant studies conducted by researchers at home and abroad, presents the theoretical foundation of this thesis, i.e. narrative theory and psychoanalysis theory and explains the significance of this study. Chapter One uses the protagonist Iris’s personal memory to challenge newspaper clippings which constitute public memory. They contradict and compliment each other and reveal the incredibility of man-dominated social discourse. Chapter Two contrasts Iris’s narration with Laura’s novel with the same name of The Blind Assassin. Duality of Iris’s identity as an angel and a devilish woman, a mute other and a speaking subject---a split identity is revealed and the protagonist’s double identity and ego are reconstructed by narrative techniques and psychoanalysis. In Chapter Three, historical and cultural causes of women suppression and Canadian marginal status are probed into and Canadian national identity is reconstructed through the corresponding relationship between the postmodern science fiction in Laura’s novel with the same name of The Blind Assassin, the protagonist Iris’s narration and Canadian historical reality. The Conclusion sums up the thesis. The author points out that duality is embodied in The Blind Assassin. The protagonist Iris’s identity and Canadian national identity are reconstructed by complex narrative structure and psychological analysis.