Female’s Identity Dilemma: Two Marginalized Heroines in Wide Sargasso Sea and The Bluest Eye

摘要

Jean Rhys’ WideSargasso Sea (1966) depicts Antoinette Cosway, a white creolegirl, who is subdued by both English and black people in a hostile context, andhence undergoes identity crisis. The Bluest Eye , published in 1970, iscontemporary with Wide Sargasso Sea . It isToni Morrison’s first novel, which reveals a little black girl Pecola’s sufferings in a white-dominated society and the tribulations black families experience.The two heroines are both driven to lunatic by their torturous journey ofidentity dilemma. Thus, conducting a comparative study on their shared tragicfate is of great literary value. By comparing the resemblance betweenAntoinette and Pecola, the aim of this paper is to explore their identity dilemma, renderedby their shared racial, maternal, and sexual encounters, from the perspectiveof trauma theory. In addition, this paper is of paramount importance to womenin rebuilding their self-identity in colonized and white-dominated societies.