Puffball and The handmaid's tale : the influence of pregnancy on the construction of female identity

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This thesis uses an analysis of Fay Weldon's Puffball and Margaret Atwood's TheHandmaid's Tale to explore the construction of identity, particularly female identity.It takes into consideration the influence of both biology and culture on identity andexplores how, within the context of the patriarchal societies depicted by the novels,female identity is closely linked to reproductive function. It examines how theconstruction of female identity based on reproductive function further objectifies thefemale body in society, and how it can aid patriarchal domination and oppression ofwomen. The analysis of the novels draws on both essentialist and socialconstructionist feminist approaches to oppression and female identity. The essentialistapproach views female biological difference (reproductive function) as responsiblefor the way in which women are oppressed. The social constructionist view arguesthat female oppression stems from the social construction of female identity aroundconcepts of motherhood and femininity. The thesis takes both approaches into accountas it seeks to explain how patriarchy oppresses women through the construction offemale identity.The thesis also explores how control over the female body and identity can beexercised through reproductive technology. An examination of the role reproductivetechnology plays in contributing to patriarchal dominance, suggests that newtechnologies may compel women to conform to stereotypes of femininity based onpregnancy and motherhood. The thesis considers the impact infertility and the choicenot to have children have on female identity and takes into account the optionsavailable to these women. The main focus, with regard to infertility and choice, is onthe relationship between women who have children and those who do not. This thesisrefutes the notion that there is solidarity between women based on shared childbearingexperience, and focuses on the conflict that occurs between fertile and childlesswomen. It finds that the conflict that occurs is a result of the socialisation of womeninto viewing motherhood as an essential aspect of 'normal' femininity. The thesis alsoconsiders what causes the desire to have children and finds that, as in the case of theconflict between women, it is as a result of socialisation and an innate/instinctualbiological drive. The thesis investigates options available to women in order for them to avoidconstructing their identities solely around their reproductive function. It considers thealternatives women are presented with when constructing their identity and how thesemay contribute to or liberate them from patriarchal oppression. If they choose toidentify themselves using patriarchal norms, then they are contributing to theirobjectification; but if they choose to construct their identity on their own terms, andoffer some resistance to patriarchal constructions, they will be more liberated thanwomen who conform to stereotypes. Evidence of such resistance can be seen in bothnovels in the narrative structure the respective authors have chosen: just as the maincharacters subvert traditional stereotypes through the construction of their ownidentity, embracing female experience on their own terms, so do both authors subverttraditional narratives.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University