The Construction of Female Subjectivity in Play It as It Lays

【Abstract】Female subjectivity is a major concern for female writers. Discourse and culture are two important ways for the forming and shaping of human as subjects. In Play It as It Lays， Maria is totally formulated by the society and is deprived of discourse power， which hinders her in constructing her subjectivity.

【Key words】subjectivity； culture； discourse； feminist criticism

【作者簡介】韩珊珊，齐鲁工业大学（山东省科学院）外国语学院。

Introduction

Joan Didion is an American Postmodern journalist and writer best known for her literary journalism and her novels which explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos. Among her novels， Play It as It Lays is one of her best-known works.

First published in 1970， Play It as It Lays touches upon the issues of women， especially womens difficulty in constructing their female subjectivity in a patriarchal society. Maria， the protagonist， is a small-town girl who comes to big city to find fame and fortune through becoming a film actress. However， whether in the marriage with her husband Carter or in her relationship with different lovers， Maria is unable to have a certain control over her life and find meaning or security. Finally， Maria is confined in a mental hospital due to her mental breakdown. Throughout the novel， Maria is totally formulated by the society and is deprived of discourse power， which hinders her in constructing her subjectivity. Fortunately， after her confinement in the mental hospital， Maria plans a new life with her daughter Kate， resolved to “keep on playing” and accepts life as it comes.

This paper mainly deals with Marias difficulty and her final awareness in constructing her subjectivity from the perspective of feminist criticism. The analysis mainly starts from two levels： the culture level and the discourse level.

1. Brief Introduction to Feminist Criticism

Feminism refers to movements aimed at defining， establishing， and defending womens right for equal political， economic， and social rights， including education and employment possessed by men.

The historical implication of “feminism” usually means movements for recognition of the claims of women for rights （legal， political， familial， etc.） equal to those possessed by men. Women have never ceased to fight for their rights， though the feminist movement in the West did not take any visible shape till the nineteenth century in the name of womens liberation movement. （Zhu Gang， 2001：309）.

Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory. It made its presence felt in the 1960s. It focuses on the issues of women and women related subjects. It reveals how the image of women is distorted in the patriarchal culture and focuses on the criticism of male sexism in the male canon. The goal of feminists is to enable each woman to realize that she is a valuable person possessing the same privilege and right as each man do.

In a patriarchal society， women have no independent subjectivity and they are supposed to depend on the male both economically and emotionally. Feminist theorists have attempted to recover the subject and “subjectivity.” Chris Weedon once defines subjectivity as “the conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions of the individual， her sense of herself， and her ways of understanding her relation to the world.” （Weedon， 1987）

2. Analysis from a Cultural Level

In a patriarchal society， the female has no right to define their own image and their own identity. They are expected to be obedient wife and devoted to domesticity. To a large degree， Maria is formulated by the patriarchal society and she is totally culturally-defined.

2.1 The Image of Female Being Formulated by the Male

Much of the novel is about how frequently Maria is misrecognized， how often she is taken for someone she is not. She has an identity given to her over which she has no control. Carter， Marias husband， is a producer and director. His monologue at the beginning of the novel sounds like scene descriptions with camera views through which Marias image is formulated into fixed mode. “Maria has never understood friendship， conversation， the normal amenities of social exchange. Maria has difficulty talking to people with whom she is not sleeping. ” （Didion， 13） Carters lens language is not only a kind of description of Maria， but also a freezed mode of her， that Maria is lack of sociality and is unreasonable. The Maria presented to us is through Carters perspective. Carter shot Marias daily life into a movie and he can do anything to these scenes， like cutting and rearranging which shows his mastery and dominance. Here Maria is not a person any more. Anybody can look at her whenever he wants—speed her up， slow her down. The notion of “cut” denies Marias integral identity.

2.2 The Female Being a Property of the Male

The female is only regarded as a property of the male and especially the female body is always under the observation of men. As Carters wife， Maria is not being recognized as his partner； rather she is regarded as Carters property not only by Carter by also by other people in Hollywood. The male actor Maria meets in the elevator appreciates her beauty not for her own sake but regards her as a property of her husband. Actually men are still the controller of the world order and women are only their accessories who cannot receive respect and fair treatment. “As a woman， she is nothing but a symptom of the symbolic order to which she belongs—her father， her various lovers， her husband and， finally， the film industry that intermittently employs her.” （Rhodes， 132） As a film actress， Maria has to put aside her own preferences in order to meet the requirements of the audience， especially the male， and be accepted on the screen. For a human subject， body is integral to its identity， which is a way of talking about human subjects and personal identity. Maria even has no control over her body， which can also be seen in her sexual submission to her lovers and which indicates her loss of control over her own identity.

3. Analysis from a Discursive Level

Discourse is another important way for the forming and shaping of human as subjects. Traditionally， discourse is a term that describes written and spoken communications. However， under Foucaults understanding， discourse is a medium through which power relations produce speaking subjects. For the feminist， the female voice can be used as weapon in forming an organic identity. However， the female is always deprived of the discourse power in a patriarchal society. The novel mentions that at a dinner party when Carter says he always get breakfast out， Maria opposes him by saying he doesnt always get breakfast out. Marias opposition makes the guests at the table astonished and uneasy. They never expect a woman opposing her husband because the typical image of a woman should be an obedient wife. Maria feels aggrieved that she has no discourse power and she cant decide her own speech. Thus she is stopped and silenced. She can only complain about this to herself with “tears run down her cheeks” （Didion， 14）. Maria is repeatedly characterized as saying “nothing”. She passively consents to whatever others said or done to her and never becomes a discursive subject. To some degree， she can only “hear”， but can never “speak”.

Marias monologue in the mental hospital is the starting point of the novel and her imprisonment in it is also the end of the novel. We may wonder whether Maria is really mad and how her madness is being recognized. The doctors say she is mad then she is because they have modern medical diagnosis and judgment as proof. The doctors only care about Yes or No. They keep on asking Maria whether she sees a cock in the inkblot， but they are never concerned about Marias answer “nothing applies”. They dont think about what Maria thinks， why she answers the question like this. They regard Marias discourse as mad language. In this way， Marias discourse is silenced and the doctors become the spokesmen for Maria. Maria has to be mad in order to escape into a world without male oppression and her madness can be seen as a silent resistance against the patriarchal authority which deprived her of her discourse power.

4. The Beginning towards New Awareness of Self

Besides the external factors which hinder Maria in constructing her subjectivity， her lack of a sense of self also accounts a lot for it. She passively accepts whatever others said or done to her without resistance. Finally Maria is confined into the mental hospital due to her mental breakdown. It is in the hospital that she begins to form a new understanding of her life and a positive assessment of herself. Maria finds her own voice which is illustrated by the first-person narration of this part of the novel， while the other parts which retrace the past life of Maria are presented in third-person narration. The author uses Marias point of view to deal with this part and let her voice out her feelings and will.

Now Maria can cast away the roles others assign her and play her own roles. She understands that although life may have no meaning， it is still worth living， so she chooses to play it as it lays. It is in the mental hospital that she formulates her plans for the future. “（1） get Kate （2） live with Kate alone （3） do some canning” （Didion， 217） For the first time， she begins to have control of her own life. Maria has taken a big step towards constructing her subjectivity by voicing out her own will and taking control of her own life.

5. Conclusion

Under both cultural and discursive repression， Maria can hardly construct her subjectivity. Only after she is confined in the mental hospital and comes to her true self that she begins to form a positive reassessment of her life， a new awareness and assertion of self. She accepts life as it comes and just “plays it as it lays”. In the mental hospital， she explores what she wants and formulates her plans for the future. She begins to admit her true self and make her individual choice.

Discourse and culture are two important ways for the forming and shaping of human as subjects. Womens disadvantageous position under patriarchal culture intensifies the degree of becoming victims of it. Maria is totally formulated by the society and is deprived of discourse power， which hinders her in constructing her subjectivity. Fortunately， Marias awareness in the end gives us a glimpse of hope. We can foreshadow her transformation from a state of passivity and repression to a sense of subjectivity and independence.

References：

[1]Didion，Joan.Play It as It Lays.New York：Farrar Straus Giroux，2005.

[2]Kauffman，Linda.“Review of The New Feminist Criticism：Essays on Women，Literature，and Theory.”Signs 12.2（Winter 1987）：405-409.Rpt.in Contemporary Literary Criticism.Ed.Janet Witalec.Vol.169.Detroit：Gale，2003.Literature Resource Center.Web.2 Jan.2013.

[3]Rhodes，Chip.“The Hollywood Novel：Gender and Lacanian Tragedy in Joan Didions Play It As It Lays.”Style Spring 2000： 132.Literature Resource Center.Web.31 Dec.2012.

[4]Weedon，Chris.Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory.Blackwell，1996.

[5]Zhu Gang.Twentieth Century Western Critical Theories[M].Shanghai：Foreign Language Education Press，2001.