The Negotiation Of Identity In The Song Of The Lark

As the second book of Cather’s Prairie Trilogy,The Song of the Lark is a story of the making of a Wagner soprano artist from American Midwest.This thesis studies a pair of tensions in The Song of the Lark,namely,rebellion and conformity,and how this dual identity is texualised and contextualized.The introduction contains a literature review,research questions,and a theoretical framework on gaze,individuation and Americanness.The next chapter examines the context and the influence of Wagner’s opera on Cather’s writing,especially the reasons for her obsession with identity issues and depicting pioneer life and pioneers in the West.The third and fourth chapters study Cather’s textualisation of her mediation on Thea’s identity in the following three aspects: the subversive gaze embodies Thea’s rebellion against traditional appellations about gender identity;Thea’s individuation paves the way for her artistic independence;and American temperament/Americanness shapes Thea’s cultural identity.If gender and artistic identity reveal Thea’s rebellion,the Americanness in her identity shows her tendency to conform.The study shows that in the novel Cather helps reconstruct the mainstream discourse on modernity and female identity,giving women increased “visibility” and agency.Secondly,by describing the growth of an opera artist in subtle ways,the author in fact expresses her own artistic philosophy and credos,a response to the advice of her mentor,Sarah Jewett.Finally,the romanticization of the past and the West in The Song of the Lark cannot be interpreted simply as Cather’s conservative orientation.Rather,it reflects the author’s reflections on some urgent issues in a fast-changing America and Americanness represented by the spirit of west.