| Summary: | 碩士 === 淡江大學 === 西洋語文研究所 === 85 === Of all Margret Atwood's works, ~u;Surfacing~u; is an
extrodinary novel which perfectly represents Atwood's own
critical view of female identity.~u;Surfacing~u; deals with many
basic concerns of female life:marriage, divorce, birth and
abortion. The nameless protagonist, representing the feminine
conscience, is a distraught young woman who is insearch of her
father in the wilderness of Northern Quebec. At the outset the
protagonist would have us believe that her distraught condition
is due to the possibility of her father's death coupled with her
estrangement from her parents. But as the narrative proceeds,
we learn about a more personal reason for her disturbed state.
The text is interwoven by different subtexts. As a matter of
fact, the protagonist experiences a spiritual journey in
seaaarch of her oppressed identity and power in the male
dominant society. These subtexts tell more about the truth. In
these subtext, Atwood protrays the women situation, in which
being "normal" or "mad" is no longer a simple choice. In the
last scene, the protagonist poclaims to herself and to the
nature that she refuses to be a victim. In this thesis, I
explore how a woman quest differs from a man's and how sexual
politics funtions in both quests. In view of the ambigious
narrative, my following concern is to explore the subtext in the
novel and how it relates to women's writing. The protagonist
finally in this novel has experienced a "metamorphosis" or
"madness". My last arguement is to discuss how madness relates
to women's mind.
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