The site of contestation: A study of women, place, and identity in Chinese and western literature

Many Chinese and Western writers often use different geographic locales or place women under various institutions/situations to explore notions of place, gender and identity. Women's perpetual struggle for voice and space and their conscious or unconscious quest for selfhood and integrity are central concerns of many Chinese and Western literary works published since the late nineteenth century. A close look at such texts as Ibsen's A Doll's House, Lawrence's "You Touched Me," Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers," Cao Yu's Thunderstorm and Li Ang's The Butcher's Wife shows not only the agonies and sufferings of women in general, but also elucidates how home can easily become a place of threat or fear, a place that subverts individual growth. In the course of their discussions, writers reveal those social, moral, or cultural implications or assumptions at work and try to map out a route of growth or change for their female protagonists.