The Representation of Female Victim in Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight

초록

This article aims to discuss how the woman, Sasha, is described as oppressed and alienated in urban spaces by investigating Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight. The origin of modernism may be traced back to the Enlightenment which demonstrates the freedom and emancipation through the power of reason. Furthermore, when capitalism and consumerism emerged and developed during the 18th Century in Britain, the women had become a kind of subject in the markets of the commodities. Although the heroine in GMM is described as an active agent in the capitalistic market, she is still oppressed and exploited. The representation of femininity within the urban space is produced by multiple layers, gender, market and modernism. This paper will show how Sasha suffers in the urban space in historical, political and social contexts (fascism, colonialism, patriarchy, economy and class); how she is represented as a victim in terms of consumerism, commodity and money, which are associated with political and historical contexts. Rhys examines critically the power politics of gender and market within Modernism.

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