Subverting Phallocentrism: Analysis Of The Theme Of Brick Lane

Monica Ali as a Bangladeshi-born British writer keeps deep insights into themarginal position and the plight of multiculturalism of Bengali immigrants. Hervirgo works Brick Lane has gained a great popularity in public. Over the years,previous studies of Monica Ali and her Brick Lane are mainly conducted from thefollowing aspects: feminist bildungsroman, narratology, immigration problem,post-colonial writing, religion, ect. Based on the previous researches, this thesis isgoing to combine the feminist theory and narratology to explore Ali’s subversion ofPhallocentrism in Brick Lane and reveal its deeper theme.The thesis is divided into three parts. The introduction briefly introduces MonicaAli and her works, summarizes the literary criticism at home and abroad and thestudy methods of the thesis. The body part is composed of three chapters: the firstchapter combines with the survival conditions of the main characters to analyze thetraditional male and female images under phallocentrism; the second chapterdiscusses the way how Ali attempts to subvert men’s dominant position and women’s“the other” position in Brick Lane; the third chapter analyzes the way how thediscourse power is transferred from men to women in the daily dialogues and theway how Ali created an a female text. In the conclusion part, the author summarizesall the ideas: Ali not only cares about physical and psychological sufferings of theMuslim immigrants, but also regards all human beings as a whole to explore thecommon fate and living condition in this novel; she argues that both men and womenare the victims of phallocentrism and only the really complete equality, mutualdependence and respect can bring happiness to the whole human society.