Spatial Interpretation Of The Theme Of Spiritual Exile In Good Morning,Midnight

Jean Rhys born in the British colony Dominica achieves considerable fame for Wide Sargasso Sea published in 1966.Jean Rhys is recognized as one of the significant female writers in the twentieth century.In her early work Good Morning,Midnight,she vividly depicts Sasha Jansen' s fortnight life in Paris and thoroughly portrays the marginalized position of Creole women that is intertwined with painful memories and cruel reality.Currently,scholars from home and abroad have done extensive researches on the content,structure,characters and narrative techniques of Good Morning,Midnight.However,less attention is paid to theme of the spiritual exile in Good Morning,Midnight.Since 1980s,under the influence of the "spatial turn",research in the field of humanities and social science has turned to the spatial perspective.According to Henri Lefebvre's theory of space,space not only refers to the real physical space,but also includes spiritual space and social space.Viewing from the spatial perspective in combination with the theories of psychology,psychoanalysis and urban culture,this paper tries to understand the spatial structure and spatial narrative techniques of Jean Rhys's novel Good Morning,Midnight.It intends to explore the influence of space on the heroine's spiritual exile and further interpret the theme of spiritual exile,to account for the reasons that the heroine fails to get rid of the spiritual exile.The main body of the thesis includes three chapters.Through exploring the heroine Sasha's vagrancy in the physical space,the first chapter interprets the heroine's vagrancy.It holds that the heroine frequently wanders around the room,urban non-place and metropolises,reflecting her spirit with nowhere to rely on.Besides,the swift of space has implied her intensified spiritual vagrancy.The second chapter makes a detailed analysis of Sasha's indulgence,confusion and division in the spiritual space,and points out that the essence that Sasha's language and behavior are restrained and her emotions are released only through the inner monologue in the novel is a manifestation of her spiritual loss.Moreover,the description of the broken imageries,involuntary memories and dreams reveals the heroine's split identity and distorted personality and demonstrates her suppressed inner desires.Finally,by observing the heroine's journey of identity searching,the third chapter argues that the heroine suffers from the pain of being excluded by the society and alienated by the male.Although the heroine tries hard to find her ethnic and gender identity,she fails to get rid of spiritual exile due to the double oppression from colonialism and masculism,the marginalized identity and her poverty.The paper eventually concludes that through the vivid description of the heroine5 s behavior and language in various spaces,Jean Rhys demonstrates the heroine's survival dilemma and reveals the subtle influence of space on the marginalized women.Meanwhile,Jean Rhys represents the heroine's inner state and spiritual exile process,and expresses the unique voice of the Creole woman,which plays a significant role in rediscovering the marginalized identity of the Creole.