Identity Anxiety And Illusionary Identity Construction

Jamaica Kincaid,an American writer who was born in Antigua,is regarded as one of the most important contemporary writers in the West Indies and is compared to “the thorny black rose” from Caribbean.The Autobiography of My Mother,which spent her five years to finish is considered as the most important masterpiece of Kincaid.And this novel is narrated by a Carib woman Xuela who traces the memory of her growth process by the creative genre alterbiography.This thesis will analyze the springhead of the protagonist Xuela's identity anxiety by applying the post-colonial feminism,describe Xuala's attempts to construct the identity which she thinks is the ideal one,and finally this thesis will use Lacan's mirror theory to prove that the ideal identity the protagonist Xuela constructs in Jamaica Kincaid's The Autobiography of My Mother is illusionary and unreal.In the mirror stage,Xuela indulges herself in her own body,considering herself as a perfect woman.And she also mistakes the narcissistic mirror image the independent woman who can control her own and others' fates for her real identity.However,based on misrecognition and illusion,these ideal images are alienated.And these ideal images are broken down in her later interactions with the people around her.Under the dual oppression from colonialism and patriarchy,Xuela and other black women can do nothing but accept the identity of the “other” imposed by the society.It is impossible for them to achieve their ideal identity as independent women to control their own and others' fates.In real life,they are just a group of lonely poor people who feel homeless,and they lack love and concern who would not be loved and have no ability to love others.