The Quest For Selfhood In Breast Cancer Memoirs

Breast cancer,one of the most common cancers women suffer from,is of public interest that has given rise to the literary genre of its own — the breast cancer memoir.Eating Pomegranates: A Memoir of Mothers,Daughters and Genes(2009)by Sarah Gabriel and The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying(2017)by Nina Riggs are its representatives which autobiographically record the narrators’ experience of living with breast cancer.Based on closing reading of these two breast cancer memoirs,this study aims to explore the impact of illness experience on the self of an individual with the guidance of phenomenological,sociological,and narrative performance theories.It claims that selfhood relies on the unity of body and mind;however,breast cancer,as a disruptive event,damages the sense of self.From the phenomenological perspective,body is accounted as the self;a breast cancer patient may lose her selfhood as the result of physical changes.A sociological lens offers an understanding of self as a social process in which the breast cancer patient is alienated due to the stigmatization attached to the breast cancer,and confused about who she is.Narrative performance theory suggests that the breast cancer patient can succeed in reorganizing her chaotic illness experience,finding its meanings,and finally restoring the lost self by writing her experience with breast cancer.This thesis makes a comprehensive study of breast cancer memoirs by putting the individual experiences and their bodies in American social and cultural contexts,promoting the public’s understanding of illness experiences and plights of women with breast cancer and standing in their shoes.