The Quest For Identity---A Feminist Reading Of Alice Munro’s Who Do You Think You Are?

Alice Munro is regarded as one of the most brilliant women writers in Canada in the twentieth century. She is the winner of Nobel Prize for Literature of 2013 with the honor of Master of contemporary short stories. The thesis aims to explore the issue of female identity in Munro’s short story collection Who Do You Think You Are?The thesis analyzes various female characters from different social classes. Flo is a working-class house-wife who devotes all her life to the family and who finally loses self-awareness in a patriarchal society. Dr. Henshawe is an intelligent professor who believes that women can break free from family fetters and make achievements outside domestic domain. She is an influential scholar and remains single to defend her female identity. The heroin Rose who comes from a small town with a sensitive heart experiences great challenges in her search for self-identity after a period of identity confusion and crisis.The thesis reveals the small and tedious existential space for women caused by patriarchal bias, the struggle and continuous search for self-identity in a patriarchal society. Through the different answers to "Who am, I?" demonstrated in the book, Munro shows the importance for women to explore and establish a distinct self-identity, which is the basis to know others and thus construct harmonious relationships with others and with oneself.Through the analysis of the three women in terms of female identity, the thesis tries to illustrate that the quest for self-identity is a continuous process which., undergoes changes. In order to get rid of patriarchal influence and construct self-identity, a positive attitude and an open mind are needed to handle pressures and challenges in the quest for self-identity. Besides, the pursuit of freedom and independence illustrated in Who Do You Think You Are? also sheds light on today’s women who are in search for a true self-identity and full development.