A Study Of Celeste Ng’s Idea Of Subjectivity Embodied In Her Novels From The Perspective Of Bauman’s Modernity

Celeste Ng is a very unique Chinese American writer,who persists in her attention to the actual circumstance of the Other in American society.The Other coming into her focus include not only the Chinese American,but also the women and children of other races.In her continuous exploration,she developed her views of subjectivity systematically,which are illustrated in step in her major novels.What is more,she is unique in that she doesn’t view the marginalization of the Other solely as a racial,gender,or family issue,but as the side-effect of modernity.That is,the logic upon which modern society is constructed fails to tolerate the inherent heterogeneity,diversity,and complexity of the Other.Celeste Ng’s distinction between modernity and heterogeneity agrees with Zygmunt Bauman’s distinction between order and Chaos.As a British thinker,he criticized that modernity proceeds by establishing order,which inevitably requires clearing up chaos.This thesis applies Bauman’s theory of modernity to the analysis of Celeste Ng’s ideas of novel creation.It attempts to reveal,from the perspective of order and chaos,her views of the loss of subjectivity and the construction of subjectivity in modern society.As Celeste Ng herself mentioned,there is a certain connection between her first two novels,Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere.This thesis finds through research that her subjectivity ideology is mainly reflected in exploring the internal and external reasons for the loss of subjectivity,and proposing strategies for subjectivity construction,which are manifested in these two novels step by step.Thus,in Everything I Never Told You,her first novel,she issued a warning that once the Other accept the logic of modernity and degrade themselves to chaos,they would voluntarily give up their subjectivity to seek assimilation into the mainstream society.In Little Fires Everywhere,her second novel,she further warned that the mainstream society would abuse its privilege of legislating for modern society,and deprive the Other of their subjectivity through instrumental rationality.In response to the mainstream discrimination,Celeste Ng calls on the Other to maintain and cultivate their subjectivity,and spread it to their peers.She looks forward a collective construction of subjectivity among the Other,so that the awareness of subjectivity will not only spread like a little fire,but also grow into a great fire to bring about fundamental social changes.This thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter One is an introduction to the author and her works,research reviews domestic and abroad,as well as research theories and significance.Chapter Two focuses on Everything I Never Told You,and studies how the major characters accept the logic of modernity,consciously degrade themselves to the Other,and tries in vain to assimilated into the mainstream.Chapter Three focuses on Little Fires Everywhere,and discusses how the major characters,whether as the Other or “the legislator”,are deprived of their subjectivity.Chapter four continues with the study of Little Fires Everywhere.It analyzes how Mia,who is identified as the Other,rejects the social definition of her identity.She actively maintains her subjectivity,and inspires her counterparts to cultivate their subjectivity against the unfair social order.Chapter Five provides a brief summary of this thesis,highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the research as well as prospects for the future.