| In illness narrative,illness functions as a narrative clue to reveal sick lives,expressing a deep concern for the universal state of human existence,which also implies a profound reflection on the meaning and value of life.Recently,the“narrative identity” in illness narrative is catching the spotlight of the academic community increasingly.This thesis analyses the three narrative identities of patient,doctor-patient and writer-patient constructed by Paul Kalanithi in When Breath Becomes Air from the perspective of illness narrative theory and Paul Ricoeur’s narrative identity theory,and explores the functions and significance of these three identities in the narrative.The thesis consists of introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction focuses on the background information of this thesis,including a brief introduction to Paul Kalanithi and his autobiography When Breath Becomes Air,literature review and the theoretical framework.The main part includes three chapters.The first chapter begins with a discussion of Kalanithi’s patient narrative identity.When he himself becomes a patient,Kalanithi shows his initial resistance to his patient narrative identity and his eventual acceptance to it.Through the illness narrative,Kalanithi regulates himself constantly,demonstrating his nostalgia for his past healthy life,his fear of the changes in his life after suffering from illness in the present and his yearning for the possible meaning of his life in the future.The second chapter analyses Kalanithi’s narrative identity as doctor-patient.Due to his profession as a neurosurgeon,Kalanithi has a deeper and more unique understanding of illness and death.Based on his narrative identity as doctor-patient,Kalanithi reflects the death situation in modern medicine,and develops an epiphany about illness and death ultimately,achieving the purpose of self-healing.The third chapter aims to explore how Kalanithi incorporates his personal experience of illness into his life story with the narrative identity as writer-patient to realize the value of life in transcending finiteness and pursuing infiniteness by chasing the infinite value of medicine and literature.The conclusion presents the theoretical and practical significance of this thesis.Firstly,exploring and analyzing the meaning of illness autobiography from the patient’s identity,broadens the perspective of contemporary research theories on biographical works.Secondly,by analyzing Kalanithi’s doctor-patient narrative identity,it is possible to understand the meaning of life and reflect on the changing situations of death brought about by modern medicine from the perspective of his profession.To a certain extent,it can also promote the development and progress of humanistic medicine.Thirdly,this thesis reveals that the illness narrative narrated by writer-patient can reach the dual purpose of self-healing and healing others,contributing to a better understanding of the inspirational meaning of life,especially the experience of illness,conveyed in the work,and providing a new way to help the finite life gain infinite meaning and value. |
