A Long Pursuit Of The Rainbow

The thesis manages to analyze the heroine’s subjectivity building of James M. Cain’s famous novel Mildred Pierce from the perspective of Lacanian theory. The study abroad of the author James M. Cain is always focusing on the description of the hard-boiled guy, seldom pay attention to women characters, and both in a small amount. However, it is undeniable that James M. Cain has had an important role; moreover, he shared the same status with some famous writers at1930s like Hemingway and Fitzherald. Therefore, it is necessary to re-read his novels and analyze it from some mentioned aspects. As for the Chinese study of Cain, there are a few articles mentioning him and none of them have a deeper analysis. As a result, this thesis will use Cain’s famous novel Mildred Pierce as an example, to analyze the state of women’s losing speaking right and also the process of her subjectivity building.For the content, the thesis will analyze the novel from the perspective of Lacanian theory. Resorting to it, the thesis follows the sequence of firstly the reasons of heroine’s subjectivity building, the process of identification and at last the outcome; in order to reveal the dilemma and struggle of American women during the great depression. The heroine Mildred’s life from a housewife to a successful businesswoman, a cozy life to bankruptcy, her pursuit of subjectivity is just like the chasing of hallucinatory rainbows which is impossible to grab in hand. Furthermore, by using the theory of the three orders and other/Other, the thesis will expound that under the subjectivity building, women suffer from the stress not only comes from the patriarchal society, but also from the family and her own weakness.