배틀 가의 미친 여자들: 이창래의 『비상』에 나타난 가부장제, 인종, 젠더
The Madwomen of the Battle Family: Patriarchy, Ethnicity, and Gender in Chang-rae Lee's Aloft
0
조회
0
다운로드
9
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
This paper studies ethnicity, gender, and their relations in Chang-rae Lee's third novel Aloft where the ethnic writer narrates through a white male protagonist, Jerry Battle. The Battles, an American middle-class family of Italian ancestry, have successfully run a family business, which is a symbol of its owners' patriarchal position. Their landscaping business is gender-specific as it involves sexual exchanges between the Battle men and their lady customers and is race-bound as it takes place in the suburbs where whites outnumber ethnic minorities. The Battle men are white patriarchs, and their relationship with their wives portrays ethnic and gender relations of the wider society. Especially, Jerry's relationship with his Korean wife Daisy and with his Puerto Rican girlfriend Rita reveals the prevailing Orientalist view in the American mainstream society. Daisy as a non-threatening other is characterized by non-language, sex, and madness. Similarly, Rita embodies Virgin Mary, whose sexuality and procreation are controlled by male power, and a colony that is conquered and dominated by white colonists. Jerry's hybrid daughter Theresa, however, challenges these asymmetrical ethnic and gender relations when she interferes with his narrative. She is a narrative device that problematizes the first-person narrator and suggests a counter-narrative that changes his attitude towards his family and life. Ultimately, she is a non-patriarchal successor of the Battle family, who challenges the status quo of ethnic and gender relations of the American society.
Abstract
This paper studies ethnicity, gender, and their relations in Chang-rae Lee's third novel Aloft where the ethnic writer narrates through a white male protagonist, Jerry Battle. The Battles, an American middle-class family of Italian ancestry, have successfully run a family business, which is a symbol of its owners' patriarchal position. Their landscaping business is gender-specific as it involves sexual exchanges between the Battle men and their lady customers and is race-bound as it takes place in the suburbs where whites outnumber ethnic minorities. The Battle men are white patriarchs, and their relationship with their wives portrays ethnic and gender relations of the wider society. Especially, Jerry's relationship with his Korean wife Daisy and with his Puerto Rican girlfriend Rita reveals the prevailing Orientalist view in the American mainstream society. Daisy as a non-threatening other is characterized by non-language, sex, and madness. Similarly, Rita embodies Virgin Mary, whose sexuality and procreation are controlled by male power, and a colony that is conquered and dominated by white colonists. Jerry's hybrid daughter Theresa, however, challenges these asymmetrical ethnic and gender relations when she interferes with his narrative. She is a narrative device that problematizes the first-person narrator and suggests a counter-narrative that changes his attitude towards his family and life. Ultimately, she is a non-patriarchal successor of the Battle family, who challenges the status quo of ethnic and gender relations of the American society.
참고문헌 (18)
- 유제분, "재현의 윤리: 제스처 라이프의 종군위안부에 대한 기억과 애도", 현대영미소설, 13(3), pp.77~99 (2006), 한국현대영미소설학회
- 이소희, "제스처 인생에 나타난 젠더화된 트라우마", 현대영미소설, 13(1), pp.133~156 (2006), 한국현대영미소설학회
- 푸코, 미셸, "광기의 역사" (2003), 나남
- Busfield, Joan, "Men, Women, and Madness: Understanding Gender and Mental Disorder" (1996), New York UP
- "Family Is Wonderful—From a Distance"[URL]
- Cheng, Anne Anlin, "Passing, Natural Selection, and Love's Failure: Ethics of Survival from Chang-rae Lee to Jacques Lacan", American Literary History, 17(3), pp.553~574 (2005)
- Chesler, Phillys, "Women and Madness" (1997), Four Walls Eight Windows
- Filippo, Paul Di, "Taking Flight: The Story of a Regular Guy Trying to Rise Above His Limitations" (2004), The Washington Post
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott, "The Great Gatsby" (1994), Penguin
- Lee, Chang-rae, "Aloft" (2004), Riverhead
- 이귀우, "The Myth of Suburbia and Traditional American Values in Chang-rae Lee's Novels", 미국학 논집, 37(1), pp.260~278 (2005), 한국아메리카학회
- Lerner, Gerda, "The Creation of Patriarchy" (1986), Oxford UP
- American: Historical Crossings of a Racial Frontier, "Asian", pp.1999, Palumbo-Liu, David
- Park, You-me, "Native Daughters in the Promised Land: Gender, Race, and the Question of Separate Spheres", American Literature, 70(3), pp.607~633 (1998)
- Said, Edward W., "Orientalism" (1978), Vintage
- Trinh, T. Minh-ha, "Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism" (1989), Indiana UP
- Walby, Sylvia, "Theorizing Patriarchy" (1990), Basil Blackwell
- Wong, Sau-ling Cynthia, "Ethnicizing Gender: An Exploration of Sexuality as Sign in Chinese Immigrant Literature in: Reading the Literatures of Asian America", pp.111~29 (1992), Temple UP