A Study Of Construction Of Nazneen's Subjectivity In Ali's Brick Lane

Monica Ali's 2003 debut Brick Lane,focusing on the lives of the Bangladeshi immigrants in east London's Tower Hamlets,was published to considerable acclaim.Brick Lane has taken the veil away from the mysterious living conditions of the Bangladeshi women,which was shortlisted for both the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award.And the success of the novel has made Ali be one of the Granta's Best Young British Novelists.Brick Lane revolves around the life of Nazneen,a young Bangladeshi woman,who is taken to London for obeying her father's arranged marriage with Chanu,a man who is about 22 years older than her.The novel subverts the traditional mainstream culture which centers on the male and the western white,and dilates the whole process of Nazneen's self-empowerment and her reconfiguration of cultural identity so as to obtain British Asian subject identity.Based on Luce Irigaray's feminist theory,this thesis analyzes Nazneen's subordinate position,the process of the construction of Nazneen's subjectivity and the exploration of intersubjective relations,thus revealing that the respect and recognition of difference is the cornerstone for the coexistence of different genders and cultures.This thesis consists of three parts.The introduction part summarizes the research status of Brick Lane at home and abroad,expounds the theoretical basis and the significance of this thesis.The body part is composed of three chapters: the first chapter makes an elaborated description of the subordinate position that Nazneen has been allotted in family,religious field and social life,which makes her exploited place be exposed;the second chapter is concerned on the analysis of Nazneen's process of self-empowerment,which reveals the constructiveness of female identity;the third chapter mainly discusses that Nazneen,who stands for the minority females,establishes the intersubjective relations with the male and the western mainstream culture through maintaining her own irreducible otherness.In the last part,it is concluded that the intersubjective relationship based on respect and recognition of difference is an elixir for human beings to coexist harmoniously.