The female self, body and food: Strategies of resistance in Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Zhang Jie and Xi Xi (China, Zimbabwe)

Patriarchal ideology, on the one hand, legitimises the interests of men as a ruling group, and on the other, deprives women of their rights and{09} situates them in a subordinated position. In the formation of the female self, women are socialised and stereotyped as sex and fertility objects, edible commodities, and food nurturers, which limit their space of development.; Though women are subjugated to the performing of the stereotyped roles prescribed by patriarchal values, it would be an over-generalisation to argue that there is a universal oppression of women by men. Since numerous ideologies exist in society, women are subjected to the influence of many ideologies, such as feminism and individualism, and not just patriarchal culture. The conflicting beliefs among the ideologies open up the possibilities for women to resist the patriarchal rule so as to assert the female self.; In Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook and The Summer Before the Dark, Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman and Lady Oracle, Zhang Jie's “The Ark” and “Red Mushroom,” and Xi Xi's Mourning the Breasts and “Rose Ah E in the Age of White Hair,” the female protagonists seek to assert the female self by adopting different strategies to resist the biased assumptions hidden in traditional representations of the female self encoded in body and food. There is a necessity of women's strategies of resistance against the stereotyping of femininity in order to construct an independent self that is liberated from the patriarchal rule.; Lessing, Atwood, Zhang Jie and Xi Xi equip the female protagonists in their literary works with different strategies of resistance, which reveal their achievement and limitations in asserting themselves. They attempt to construct the multiple and dynamic female self that is liberated from the confines of patriarchal values. However, they refuse to proclaim the essence of the female self because any definition of the female self will only confine the development of women. The major argument in this thesis is that without any sacred duties and roles imposed on them, women can create a new sphere to develop themselves.