A Study Of Comfort Women Images From The Perspective Of Post-colonial Feminism

Comfort Woman (1997) is written by Korean American author Nora Okja Keller. Another Comfort Woman (1999) is a Filipina Maria Rosa Henson’s autobiographical novel. The thesis attempts to dig out the living predicaments of comfort women Keller’ and Rosa’s the same-named novels which cause them silent "subalterns" and the correlation among these influential factors, as well as exploring the way of awakening to assert female subjectivity and national identity from the perspective of Post-colonial FeminismThis thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is the brief introduction to novels, the theory of Post-colonial Feminism, literature review, as well as purpose and significance of the paper.The second part mainly focuses on comfort women Akiko’s and Rosa’s living predicaments as the silent "subalterns", which indicate the relevant factors of gender and racial issues in two novels. In Keller’s Comfort Woman, Korean Akiko undergoes the persecutions of Korean patriarchy, Japanese colonialism and Western discourse ultimately lead to the loss of female and national identity; In another Comfort Woman, Filipina Rosa as an illegitimate child indirectly victimized by American colonialism and Philippine patriarchy is forced into a sexual object by Japanese imperialism.The following part comes to analyze how comfort women Akiko and Rosa awaken female and national consciousness to gain own voice in the two novels. Akiko’s female subjectivity is awakened in the process of seeking cultural identity. Maria Rosa’s awakening of female self-awareness is a gradual process that is from the budding of female consciousness to ultimate female awakening.The fourth part goes to analyze the novels of Comfort Woman in historical and cultural contexts, which share some similarities and differences about living predicaments of former comfort women as silent "subalterns", as well as the ways of awakening. Even though, the sufferings as silent sexual objects are similar in Japanese military camps, there are different ways of awakening that reflect different socio-cultural backgrounds of two authors.The last part is the conclusion. By analyzing the images of comfort women in two novels from the perspective of Post-colonial Feminism, a Korean-American author, Keller lays more emphasis on the construction of female subjectivity and cultural identity. While, a Filipina survivor of Japanese violence, Henson focuses more on awakening of female subjective consciousness. The vivid description of living predicaments in Keller’s and Henson’s Comfort Woman is just an epitome of status of comfort women in broad contexts of history and society.By analyzing images of comfort women, it attempts to unveil the predicaments as silent "subalterns" in specific historical and cultural contexts, offering a space for those women to have a voice in the historical discourse, as well as evoking social attention to the particular vulnerable group, which should deserve more humanitarian aids and cares. The novels of Comfort Woman are not only a specific story of individual experience, but also a representative story of thousands of comfort women.