Title: Woman as Survivor in Oates's Rape: A Love Story
Abstract: A contemporary narrative, Joyce Carol Oates's Rape: A Love Story (NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003) returns to obsessive concern, namely, the distressing subject of sexual abuse. This paper seeks to show how in embracing neo-feminist stance that moves beyond victimhood, the author successfully redefines the genre of itself. Unmistakably, Oates's Gothicism echoes Ellen Moers's analysis of women's agency in the Female Gothic (Literary Women. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976), and Diane Long Hoeveler's criticism of feminism for popularizing the notion of victimhood (Gothic Feminism: The Professionalization of Gender from Charlotte Smith to the Brontes. University Park: Pennsylvania SU Press. 1998) in that the novelist's female protagonists invariably outlive their trauma and survive with dignity. Much like previous works, We Were the Mulvaneys, Are You Going, Where Have You Been, and Naked, Rape, too, explores sensitively the vexatious issue of rape. Replete with images that capture the terror associated with it, Oates's novella provides an implicit critique of capitalist culture that abets such brutalities. By stereotyping women as sex objects in advertisements and pornography, the American visual entertainment industry compels the professional women to embrace feminism, stance that involves stoic acceptance. Significantly, Oates's novella critiques the patriarchal exploitation and commodification of women. Not only do Oatesian female protagonists survive exploitation, they also reclaim their dignity based on human worth rather than invoking superior moral and social rights for themselves. Martine Maguire of Rape exemplifies the frank sensuousness of the contemporary heroine. Residing in the conservative city of Niagara Falls, she often evokes jeers for being [a] woman like that, thirty-five years old and dressed like teenager with [t]ank top, denim cutoffs, shaggy bleached-blond hair frizzed around face (5). In recounting mother's narrative, Bethel Maguire presents Teena as romantic who neither allows the tension of job as receptionist for two bossy dentists who [are] always critical of her (18), nor widowhood to overshadow happiness. Scotching rumors of Teena being an irresponsible mother, Bethie's narrative voice asserts that [o]ver the years there'd been number of men in mother's life and yet none had ever stayed overnight in house as [her] mother wouldn't allow this, [for] she didn't want to upset [Bethie] (19). Nonetheless, Teena transgresses the self-imposed limits of victim feminism by living the way she does. She rejects contemporary female work culture for trapping its subjects in conduct book attitudes. Hers is life that celebrates Eros, a woman who likes men, [s]ometimes too much, (19) as much as she prefers being well liked [and] admired by men, and, characteristic style is to be flirtatious without being aggressive (14). Surprisingly, however, Teena is happy living with daughter and refuses to remarry; even closest friend and lover, Ray Casey, is unable to persuade to do so. Ironically, the free-spirited Teena is gangraped on the midnight of Fourth of July, while walking back home with daughter through the lagoon path (24) of Rocky Point Park, mulling nostalgically on deceased husband. Teena's beauty, innocence and brio strangely make the archetypal victim of pathologized culture. Without portraying evil through the figure of brooding villain, Oates's contemporary conjures up behemoth of capitalistic consumption that preys on the vulnerable. …
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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