Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels

According to Julia Kristeva, melancholic subject suffers from the sense of loss which results from the loss of mother. As a consequence of this loss, the melancholic subject is a stranger to language, isolates herself, and does not have any interest in actions or even life itself. However, in...

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Main Author:	Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2016
Subjects:	Melancholy in literature Women
Online Access:	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66771/1/FBMK%202016%2031%20IR.pdf
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spelling	my-upm-ir.667712019-01-31T07:01:47Z Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels 2016-02 Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian According to Julia Kristeva, melancholic subject suffers from the sense of loss which results from the loss of mother. As a consequence of this loss, the melancholic subject is a stranger to language, isolates herself, and does not have any interest in actions or even life itself. However, in my study, I contend that the loss of mother is not the only reason for melancholia in the female characters, Celie, Tashi, Mem, and Magdalena in the Alice Walker novelsThe Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, TheThird Life of Grange Copeland, and By the Light of My Father‟s Smile, which were selected for this study. These female characters not only lost their mother or mother figures but also their sexuality has been oppressed, and they have been harassed; therefore, they are led to melancholia. These female characters do not have any knowledge about their bodies; therefore, they easily accept whatever old rituals and men impose on them. This condition of women lacking knowledge and the misrepresentation of female sexuality has been referred to by Germaine Greer as that of being a female eunuch. The purpose of my study was to focus on the reasons behind Celie, Tashi, Mem and Magdalena's melancholia, and the ways they attempt to heal it; either successfully or not. Therefore, I merge the concepts of Kristeva‘s melancholic subject and Greer‘s female eunuch to provide a new reading of melancholia for the selected female characters. Moreover, my thesis also explores Walker‘s selected novels in light of Kristeva‘s speaking subject to indicate how the use of language by the main selected female characters and other characters can make and unmake their subjectivity. Through the use of the language two of the female characters gained their subjectivity while the two others lost their subjectivity as the language is not powerful enough to indicate their needs and desires. Melancholy in literature Women 2016-02 Thesis http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66771/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66771/1/FBMK%202016%2031%20IR.pdf text en public doctoral Universiti Putra Malaysia Melancholy in literature Women
institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
collection	PSAS Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	Melancholy in literature Women
spellingShingle	Melancholy in literature Women Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels
description	According to Julia Kristeva, melancholic subject suffers from the sense of loss which results from the loss of mother. As a consequence of this loss, the melancholic subject is a stranger to language, isolates herself, and does not have any interest in actions or even life itself. However, in my study, I contend that the loss of mother is not the only reason for melancholia in the female characters, Celie, Tashi, Mem, and Magdalena in the Alice Walker novelsThe Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, TheThird Life of Grange Copeland, and By the Light of My Father‟s Smile, which were selected for this study. These female characters not only lost their mother or mother figures but also their sexuality has been oppressed, and they have been harassed; therefore, they are led to melancholia. These female characters do not have any knowledge about their bodies; therefore, they easily accept whatever old rituals and men impose on them. This condition of women lacking knowledge and the misrepresentation of female sexuality has been referred to by Germaine Greer as that of being a female eunuch. The purpose of my study was to focus on the reasons behind Celie, Tashi, Mem and Magdalena's melancholia, and the ways they attempt to heal it; either successfully or not. Therefore, I merge the concepts of Kristeva‘s melancholic subject and Greer‘s female eunuch to provide a new reading of melancholia for the selected female characters. Moreover, my thesis also explores Walker‘s selected novels in light of Kristeva‘s speaking subject to indicate how the use of language by the main selected female characters and other characters can make and unmake their subjectivity. Through the use of the language two of the female characters gained their subjectivity while the two others lost their subjectivity as the language is not powerful enough to indicate their needs and desires.
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
author_facet	Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
author_sort	Sedehi, Kamelia Talebian
title	Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels
title_short	Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels
title_full	Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels
title_fullStr	Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels
title_full_unstemmed	Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels
title_sort	subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in alice walker's selected novels
granting_institution	Universiti Putra Malaysia
publishDate	2016
url	http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66771/1/FBMK%202016%2031%20IR.pdf
_version_	1747812404575600640

Subjectivities gained and lost in melancholic female eunuchs in Alice Walker's selected novels

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