Radical Feminism In Rubyfruit Jungle From The Perspective Of Queer Theory

Rita Mae Brown is an American contemporary lesbian best-selling novelist and a highly controversial figure in American literature.Her first novel,Rubyfruit Jungle,was published in 1973 and is considered her autobiographical novel.Due to its“coming out” narrative,it is regarded as one of the best “post-liberation gay literature” works in the United States after the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969.Set in America in the 1950 s and 1960 s,Rubyfruit Jungle describes a rebellious lesbian named Molly.Unlike the previous lesbian novels that endow lesbians with the negative images of self-loathing,depression and pessimism towards the world,Rita Mae Brown portrays Molly as an intelligent,brave and optimistic rebel figure,which in return reveals her radical feminist thought against patriarchal dominance and heterosexual hegemony.Based on queer theory,the “other” theory and radical feminism and through methods of close reading,documentary analysis as well as socio-historical criticism,this thesis is to study the protagonist Molly's effort to deconstruct the patriarchal society and to overturn the traditional heterosexual,thus constructing self-identity and realizing self-value by exploring the “other” in the novel,including the “female other”and the “homosexual other”.In this way,the author's intention of writing this novel can also be observed.Furthermore,this thesis aims to interpret the expression of radical feminist thought in American literary texts in the 50 s and 60 s from the perspective of queer theory.This thesis finds out that the heroine deconstructs the patriarchal society by constructing her “self” and reversing the gender roles,and that the heroine deconstructs the heterosexual hegemony through her identity as a lesbian and sexualliberation.This is also the author's creation intention,to be specific,to put the dichotomy mode to an end that males and females are separated by physiological sex,to deny the concept that heterosexuals and homosexuals are totally opposite or incompatible so as to eliminate discrimination against the marginalized groups and to pursue a country full of harmony,democracy and equality.