A Study On Dystopian Writing In The Heart Goes Last From The Perspective Of Disciplinary Power

As “Queen of Canadian Literature”,Margaret Atwood(1939-)is a distinguished writer,poet and critic in the contemporary literary scene and she was honored with The Man Booker Prize in 2000 for The Blind Assassin.Remarkably,she won this prestigious prize again on account of The Testaments in 2019,a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale.Studies on Atwood both home and abroad chiefly focus on The Blind Assassin and The Handmaid’s Tale,however few scholars pay attention to her new novel,The Heart Goes Last(2015).Therefore,this thesis attempts to explore and interpret the construction,expansion and disintegration of the dystopian “Consilience Town” in The Heart Goes Last from the perspective of disciplinary power so as to demonstrate Atwood’s unique dystopian writing.The interpretation will arouse modern people’s deep thinking about the contemporary social and cultural phenomena which are projected in this speculative fiction.The thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter One briefly introduces Margaret Atwood,The Heart Goes Last,the literature review of this novel,the theoretical framework centered with panoptic confinement,gentle punishment and local struggle,the evolution from utopian literature to dystopia literature and thesis statement.Chapter Two analyzes that dystopia is constructed smoothly under the panoptic confinement,which is reflected in citizens’ imprisoned bodies through senior manager’s manipulation.Whether inside or outside the Consilience Town,people never evade any abstract concept of prison or discipline society.Indeed,they just migrate from one carceral archipelago to another.The third chapter discusses that dystopia successfully expands further with the assistance of gentle punishment,indicating that citizens are disciplined unconsciously from docile body to docile soul.Citizens’ indifference to illegality and prisoners’ tolerance of immorality is not docility but evil deeds.Chapter Four interprets that local struggle disintegrates dystopia,presented as the cooperation between the devisers and performers of the exposing plan based on their common pursuit of free will.The fifth chapter summarizes the whole thesis and comes to the conclusion.By studying the construction,expansion and disintegration of dystopia,this thesis reveals that Atwood’s dystopian writing differs from other authors’ customary narration.She contends that the road to dystopia is not a one-way street,and emphasizes that its entrance is utopia and the exit is a reverse escape.People should be vigilant to dystopian variants which are enveloped in utopian masks.Even if they are stuck in a dystopian swamp,they still should strive for free will and go against the current fearlessly.