Subversion,Containment And Negotiation—The Pursuit Of Identities In Middlesex

Jeffrey Eugenides,a Greek-American novelist,is renowned for his distinctive storytelling style and sympathy for the marginalized.With an emphasis on the disadvantaged people’s yearning for identity via complex historical events,distinctive characterization,and a turbulent plot,his masterwork Middlesex weaves together the narrator’s personal experiences with the epic saga of a Greek immigrant family spanning three generations on two continents.Middisex produces a “middle”examination of the search for identity by blending historical occurrences like war,racism,and immigration with the multiple identities of disadvantaged people.This deeply reconstructs the marginalized history that is neglected by the dominant discourse.The novel focuses on the identity reconstruction of the immigrant family through a grand historical narrative of self-representation,mirroring the historical fact of the identity prescription of oppressed groups by the dominant discourse in the 20th century in the United States.By combining the related theories of identity,power,and third space,this thesis aims to investigate the historical significance of the text and seeks to identify a practical way to address the identity crisis brought on by multiple identities from the perspectives of “subversion”,“containment” and “negotiation” of New Historicism.In addition to an introduction and a conclusion,the thesis is composed of four sections.The introduction presents an overview of Jeffrey Eugenides’ life and work,concentrating on the key ideas of his masterpiece Middlesex and the current state of research both domestically and internationally,highlighting the innovations of this thesis and,on this basis,outlining the main argument and format of this thesis.The theoretical framework and the structure are defined in Chapter one,which also introduces the development of New Historicism and some of its key representative concepts,such as Montrose’s new historical perspective and Greenblatt’s theory of“subversion”,“containment”,and “negotiation”.Chapter two explores how cultural and gender identity are regulated in 20th-century America under the rhetoric of power,reflecting the historical truth that the marginalized do not have the freedom to select their identity.The third chapter addresses the common causes of the immigrant family’s early attempts and failures to achieve cultural identity by drawing on ideas of subversion and containment.The fourth chapter explores how the protagonists in the story naturally combined opposing forces to accomplish identity negotiation and makes the case for hybrid identities and third spaces.The conclusion outlines the key points and research shortcomings of this article and offers theoretical suggestions for further investigation.This thesis contends that Middlesex traces historical representations through immigrant family identity,partially reconstructs the history of marginalized groups who have deviated from mainstream culture,and offers a conceptual guide for resolving the multiple identity conflicts faced by such groups.