Female Control And Identity Transformation In Joyce Carol Oates' Missing Mom From The Perspective Of Space Production

Joyce Carol Oates,Known as one of the most remarkable female writers in contemporary America,is a prolific writer with a great many novels,short stories,poems and plays.Her works are of substantial hybrid,covering rebellion of the youth,tension of the city,rational reflection,and a deep insight.Her work Missing Mom is written in 21st century.Nikki,the protagonist of this novel,comes from a middle-class family and undergoes a remarkable transformation during a tumultuous year,who comes out of bereavements,gets rid of indecent love affairs,returns to family bond and begins a new life.This thesis aims to employ theory of space production to interpret female identity change in the space and the impacts of ideologies and values on their identity that are conveyed by spaces.The first chapter mainly analyzes mother Gwen' different identities in physical,mental and social space.The mental stress coming from patriarchy and the growing experience of being adopted by relatives made her live as an Other in the household,so she feels repressed and self-abased.She wished to be light as a piece of feather in her mental space.She took part in social activities optimistically and positively.Finally,she acquired her own goals and pursued her identity in social space.The second chapter focuses on two daughters ' seeking of identities in different space backgrounds.The two female of new era got lost in the patriarchal social space,while they reconstructed independent identities after they restored social connections.combined with the three females in the novel,the third chapter analyzes the causes of contemporary women ' s identity confusion.It elucidates the process of women pursuing identities in social space by facing difficulties positively and self-adjustment in their mental space.From three aspects:physical space,mental space and social space,the thesis proceeds with the analysis of the mother and daughters characters' personalities.It aims to expose the space serving as a tool of thought and action can place people in physical predicaments and spiritual pressure,but it urges them to struggle and reform.In the spaces,women of the new-era in Missing Mom have changed identity when they pursued the realization of their own social value.