Construction Of Feminist Discourse Power In Oates’ Wonderland

Joyce Carol Oates is one of the distinctive writers in contemporary American literature. Since her first step in this field through the short story collection North Gate Side in 1963, Oates has published lots of masterpieces which have reached a hundred only in novels till now. She has got recognition not only from the public but also from the scholars. Oates’s works often get the U.S. National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize nomination, even got nomination by Nobel Prize for Literature for several times. Her work is filled with humane care and concerns with character’s fate and the future of the society a lot. As a female writer, although she has never admitted that she is a feminist, she puts deep concern of female destiny in her work. Among all works, Wonderland quartet is one of the most important works, and Wonderland is a typical book filled with tense female theme, which marks watershed in her writing career. This thesis takes Wonderland as an example, using Foucault’s discourse control theory to analyze Jesse’s mother’s completely loss of discourse power due to Jesse’s father’s overwhelming control over each family member, especially Jesse’s mother; Then comes Mrs. Pedersen’s trial to get rid of Dr. Pedersen’s control in the family and her discourse power; To finally Shelly’s success of obtaining discourse power through communication with him. It is in this process we can come to the conclusion that female’s fate is closely connected with their discourse power. And they can only get their life get under their own control through getting back their discourse power. And it is from this book, the female characters begin to express more freshness and vividness, and win their ideal life style through their own effort.Through a meticulous analysis of the characters in Wonderland, it is concluded that the female characters’fate is not only connected closely with their own educational background, but affected greatly by their surroundings and social regulations. However, what is certain is that all of the power obtaining is getting from their expression of ideas or discourse, which meets Foucault’s theory of discourse power. The thesis attempts to analyze the construction way of the female character in Wonderland from three ways:external, internal and applied system included in the discourse control theory. From Jesse’s mother’s complete loss of discourse, to Mrs. Pederson’s attempt to obtain discourse power, to Shelly’s success in obtaining of discourse power, the thesis will interpret the female discourse construction process and come to the conclusion that discourse power is a dynamic process, which can be built through discourse. Based on Foucault’s discourse power theory, the thesis attempts to enrich the research perspective through a detailed analyze of the three characters:Jesse’s mother, Mrs. Pederson and Shelly, to reiterate the importance of discourse power for the female character’s fate in lives.