The Functions Of Food In The Whole World Over

Julia Glass,the National Book Awards winner for Fiction,published her second novel The Whole World Over in 2006.Through a detailed textual analysis of The Whole World Over,with Jessica Benjamin’s theory of subjectivity,this thesis intends to introduce the functions of food as empowerment and enlightenment to respectively discuss the construction of two females’ subjectivity.The thesis first fixates on the function of food as empowerment of subjectivity.In the self,the expression,enjoyment and maintenance of the sexual desire symbolized by food reflecting the female’s sexual subjectivity imply the construction of female subjectivity.In the family,the handling of kitchen work embodies the position of the female’s empowering in the kitchen,thus achieving the construction of female subjectivity.In the society,due to the recognition of customers,making pastries leads the female create more cakes.The abilities to recognize from self and the other and then make changes can empower the female protagonist to construct her subjectivity.The thesis then turns to a discussion of food functioning as enlightenment of subjectivity about another female protagonist.Although experiencing the memory loss,the female still has the memory symbolized by food connected to the past memory,which enlightens the awareness for the existence of her subjectivity.And by quitting her role of cooking for family,the female gets rid of the bondages from family to find the self.In conclusion,connected to the theory of subjectivity,through the study of the functions of food,the thesis stresses the importance of food for the construction of female subjectivity,and thus shows the author Julia Glass’ emphasis that food’s cultural functions are significant and her efforts to provide feasible methods for the women in depression and loss in order to construct their subjectivity.