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Abstract

This dissertation investigates how patriarchal oppression and isolation lead to female identity crisis within contemporary dystopian literature. It will explore the forms of oppression that the female characters experience which leads to forced, performed identity that takes shape in the way the oppressors want the women to be presented. It will also prove that when faced with these conditions, female protagonists revert to compulsive behaviours such as listing to gain control over their identity. After looking at this, it will explore how females regain a sense of identity through the use of storytelling and reminiscence of the past. This dissertation exemplifies the crisis of female identity as a result of oppression and how within this control of identity is taken away.
Using examples from Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Machado’s ‘Inventory’ and Mackintosh’s The Water Cure, this dissertation follows female protagonists presented in similarly oppressive or isolated environments, all facing an identity crisis. It will explore the connection between nature and women, divulging both the gentle and aggressive repercussions of this, as a way for identity to be stripped. It will also communicate how women can be linked to water through the parallels with the work of Neimanis (2012). After looking at these themes, the dissertation will conclude despite female identity coming into crisis as a result of oppression and/or isolation, female characters are able to find coping mechanisms to regain a sense of self, by exploring into their past and through storytelling.

Course: English Literature - BA (Hons) - C0995

Date Deposited: 2022-02-17

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13797.html