The Absence Of Men: An Analysis Of The Seven Sisters From The Perspective Of Feminist Narratology

The Seven Sisters is an influential and acclaimed work in which Margaret Drabble vividly depicts marriage, family life and inner feelings of the elderly women under the absence of men. The novel distinguishes itself by its unique narrative novelty. We, after a close reading, will have a clue that Drabble consciously constructs feminist narrative authority in the novel. Based on Susan Lanser’s theory of feminist narratology, the thesis attempts to probe into the ideological subversion of male and the construction of female narrative authority through the analysis of narrative perspective and narrative voice presented in the novel.The thesis can be divided into five parts. Chapter One details Drabble’s literary achievements and the plot of The Seven Sisters as well as the literature review. Chapter Two generalizes the development of feminist narratology and its key features. Chapter Three puts Candida in a position as a gazer, skillfully degrading males to be gazed, thus her ideological stance becomes the dominant and influential one, which lays a strong foundation for establishing female discursive authority. Chapter Four mainly analyzes authorial voice and personal voice presented in The Seven Sisters, revealing how Drabble successfully applies these two voices to the novel to deny and undermine patriarchal norms and construct female narrative authority. We can draw a conclusion that Drabble subverts male narrative tradition and constructs female narrative authority through the analysis of narrative perspective and narrative voice used in the novel, which conveys the eagerness for self-reliance and self-identity of women.