A Study Of The Secret Life Of Bees From The Perspective Of Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory

Sue Monk Kidd(1948—)is a well-known female writer in contemporary American literature.Her works are both classical and popular.She explores the inner world of characters and the beauty of human soul with meaningful and beautiful words and delicate and vivid descriptions.Her first novel,The Secret Life of Bees,was published in 2003 and attracted wide attention from the academic circles.With the background of American society in the 20th century,the book tells how people at the bottom of society,under the oppression of patriarchy and racism,struggle to find their lost subjectivity,and finally realize the independence and freedom of the soul.According to Lacan,the construction of man's subjectivity includes three dimensions:the Imaginary Order,the Symbolic Order and the Real Order.This thesis tries to use Lacan's Mirror Theory to discuss the subjectivity construction of the three main characters in The Secret Life of Bees,namely Lily,Zack and May.These three characters represent three marginalized groups of people in the society:white women,black men and black women.The process of constructing the subjectivity of the three characters all goes through three stages:the lack of the subjectivity,the search for the subjectivity and the realization of the subjectivity.However,due to the different growth backgrounds,identities and social status,the three characters have different life experiences in different dimensions,and the psychological processes and final outcomes of the subjectivity construction are also quite different.Based on the social background and the growth experience of the three main characters,this thesis first probes into the causes of their lack of subjectivity from the perspective of Mirror Theory,and points out that in the Imaginary Order,they fail to correctly understand the relationship between themselves and others,resulting in"misrecognition".In the Symbolic Order,their subjectivity is further lacking due to the discrimination and oppression of patriarchy and racism to different degrees.Then,the thesis analyses the different course and reasons of the three characters' exploration of subjectivity.Finally,by comparing the different results of the construction and realization of the subjectivity of the three characters,the thesis points out that only through the awakening of self-consciousness and gradually getting out of the "misrecognition" of the self in the Imaginary Order,can the subject recognize the existence and value of self in society and finally establish the subjectivity.Using Lacan's Mirror Theory to analyze the process of subjectivity construction of the three main characters in the novel can help us understand more deeply the significance and value of the description of the marginal groups growing up in the complex social environment in The Secret Life of the Bee,as well as the deep sympathy given by the writer to the marginal groups and reflection on social reality and human nature.