A Traumatic Study Of Female Body Narrative In Housekeeping

Marilynne Robinson is a celebrated American contemporary author,with her works permeated with humanistic ideas.The debut novel Housekeeping tells the story of orphaned sisters Ruthie and Lucille.By narrating how the female get out of predicament,Robinson reveals the living circumstances of those women who struggle to divorce from social normality and to break down rules imposed on them in America.The thesis aims to analyze how the female bodies in the novel propel the progression of narrative,mold characters and intensify the theme,in order to visualize the role of female bodies in narration.Combining body theory with trauma theory,the thesis examines how Robinson's narrative of females bodies displays their inner trauma,the female identities established in trauma and the explorations to break away from trauma.Thus,individual trauma of women in a context of minor narrative is presented.It turns out that Robinson has a detailed and lively description of female bodies in three respects,that is feature,identity and behavior,and correspondingly female characters are unfolded vividly for readers.To conclude,in Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson completes trauma narrative by way of writing bodies,which presents female characters and their trauma to readers,and provides insights into the living conditions of female in the American countrysides.