The Gender Relations In The Cleft: From New Historicism

The Cleft, a fable-like story, is written by Doris Lessing (1919-2013). Published in2007, it retells the history of human creation from prehistoric parthenogenesis tobisexual reproduction by an old contemplative Roman senator. Lessing has a strongfeminist perspective in her works. She pays much attention to female experience and isadept in female narration. Since The Cleft came out, it has attracted wide attention. Inwestern countries, there are more critiques than compliments. But in China, it is wellwelcome. According to the antecedent academic papers, the study theories mainly touchupon symbolism, feminism, post modernism, focalization and the like.The thesis employs New Historicism to analyze The Cleft so as to better explorethe gender relations in crisscross time narration. The appearance of New Historicism in1970s brings a new critical theory to the literature. It is the heritage and development ofthe historism. In New Historicists’ eyes, history is not continuous, which unintentionallyleaves the sound of “self” and “the Other” on it. They emphasize the discontinuity anddisruption of history. With the help of Foucault’s new historical view on two arguments,namely the opposition to human origin and the opposition to the continuity of historicalnarration, the thesis deconstructs human’s inherent cognitive on the gender relations.The Cleft subverts the origin of human being based on the power of male discourse.In The Bible and Greco-Roman mythology and legends, men are endowed the naturalsuperiority to women. Eve is made from one of Adam’s ribs; Pandora emerges in thehand of Hephaestus. Women should be responsible for all human sufferings, becausewithout the birth of them, there will be no pain to mankind. In the eyes of Foucault, it isunnecessary to seek the origin of human. He emphasizes the power on the developmentof history. Through the further analysis, the thesis unveils Lessing’s potential intention:The premise of mutual understanding is to let “the Other” speak.Furthermore, Lessing adopts multiple focalizations to break the continuity ofhistorical narration. The way of multiple focalizations sublimates the subject. Men andwomen have difference in body, but they are equal in human dignity. With the change ofthe external and internal environment, human nature will undergo a corresponding change. Males can have so-called female good features, and then females can havesome so-called male bad character traits. Men and women come from the naturalselection. Therefore, there is no need to distinguish the superiority and inferiority toeach other.