Pursuing The Self

Lisa See is a Chinese-American woman writer who was active on American literature in the1990s. Out of her deep love for Chinese culture, she describe China as the main background in most works. Besides, Chinese women’s living conditions and their stories ignored and buried by history had attracted much her attention. Based on the female world in Lisa See’s four novels which were published from2005to2011, this thesis would try to analyze the construction of the female world, and furthermore reveal the way women pursuing themselves under heavy pressure of patriarchal society through the method of close readings feminism and psychoanalysis.This thesis consists of an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. Its main contents are as follows:The first part is introduction, which introduces the main contents, research method and relevant concepts in the thesis on the basis of the research status of Lisa See’s novels.The second part is the main body, which is made up of four chapters:Comparing the female world with the male world, Chapter One reveals the fact that the male world, though was seemingly aphasia, plays a leading role and controls over the female world. Chapter Two and Chapter Three mainly analyze two special female relationships of sisterhood and mother-daughter, working out the obstructive factors in the process of pursuing female self. Fortunately, women finally find a proper way to reach the goal via compromising with patriarchal society simultaneously keep spiritual independence in the sisterhood. Chapter Four explores the artistic construction of the female world from the aspects of new historicism narratives and Chinese traditional culture elements. On the basis of different types of relationship among women, Lisa See has built a distinctive female world full of unique thoughts and feelings as well as living conditions of women. Thereinto, nothing becomes more remarkable than the glamour women exude during their persistent pursuit of themselves and realization of self-value under heavy pressure of patriarchal society, which is considered to be feminist thought unfolded by Lisa See in her novels.The last part is conclusion, which discusses one of the most important theme of "love", and the relations between the theme and the way of women pursuing themselves.