本論文旨在探討瑪格麗特．愛特伍《盲眼刺客》中女性的系統性消音，並借重桃樂絲．史密斯及托斯丹．范伯倫的理論、辛西亞．利斯奇克和埃文．史塔克的研究，以及愛特伍、安菊．芮曲和奧菊．羅德的女性主義思想作為研究方法。本論文試圖理解愛特伍筆下兩位女主角―艾莉絲．查斯與蘿拉．查斯―的侷限、創傷與犧牲，以及兩人經歷如何展現父權社會對女性聲音的壓制。
如史密斯所言，在生活中各層面，父權的社會機制都會(迫)使女性消音。以《盲眼刺客》為例，首先，父權意識型態令大多數角色在思想上盲目，使得他們不僅默不作聲地接受、甚至不假思索地支持壓迫人的社會秩序。其次，即使女性查覺了父權暴力，她們從屬於男性、身為男性財產的社會地位，也將使她們難以發聲。故事中，理查在婚後不但成為艾莉絲的經濟來源，也成為蘿拉的監護人；艾莉絲受制於已婚婦女低落的經濟、社會、法律地位，不得不噤聲忍受葛里芬兄妹施加於她的暴虐改造。最後，女性即使打破了加諸己身的沉默，其聲音也難以穿越社會中的多重阻礙，傳達給他人。父權社會中，女性的權威受到剝奪、意圖傳達的訊息在父權語言系統下失真、書寫同時受到禁錮及拒斥，聲音與經驗又為精神病學所否定。這四大阻礙形成了透明不可見、但卻堅固的消音高牆，是以，雖然艾莉絲與蘿拉已盡力傳出自己的聲音，她們的訊息卻不斷地被高牆貶抑、扭曲、瑣碎化，甚至抹除。
在《盲眼刺客》中，愛特伍鉅細靡遺地呈現了查斯姊妹所經歷的悲劇。兩姊妹之侷限、創傷與犧牲，乍看之下雖是個案，其實是父權社會對女性聲音全面壓制的具體展現。

This thesis aims to discuss the systematic silencing of women in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Blind Assassin, using the theories of Dorothy Smith and Thorstein Veblen, the studies of Cynthia Wilcox Lischick and Evan Stark, along with feminist ideas presented by Atwood, Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde as research approaches. The thesis tries to see how the limitations, traumas and sacrifices of Atwood’s two female protagonists, Iris and Laura Chase, serve to demonstrate the suppressions of female’s voices in patriarchal societies.
As Smith indicates, social mechanisms in patriarchal societies function to mute females in every level of life. In the first place, patriarchal ideology blinds most characters in The Blind Assassin. As a result, the masses silently accept and unthinkingly support oppressive social orders. Secondly, the status as property and subordinates of men hinders women from issuing voices. The economical, social and legal status of a married woman leaves Iris no choice but to stay silent and tolerate tyrannical reshaping practiced by Griffen siblings since Richard is simultaneously her bread-provider and the guardian of Laura. Last but not least, women’s voices hardly penetrate the multiple blockades in society to reach others. Though Iris and Laura both try hard to speak, their messages are continuously trivialized, degraded, distorted, and eliminated by the silencing walls of patriarchy—the invisible yet solid impediments consisted of social deprivation of female’s authority, distorting languages, confining and generally rejected writing, as well as psychiatry which negates the experiences and voices of women.
In The Blind Assassin, Atwood gives a detailed presentation of the tragedies in the lives of the Chase sisters. The confinements, traumas and sacrifices of the two women, though seemingly case-specific at the first glance, are in fact manifestation of the comprehensive suppression of female voices in patriarchal societies.

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………..1
Chapter One: Silence Caused by Ignorance—Muteness of Women Due to
the Blindness of Self and Society…………………………..15
Chapter Two: Silenced Selves—Women Relieved from Blindness but
Forced into Muteness……………………………………….38
Chapter Three: Obstructed Transmittances—Voices of Women Muted by
Silencing Mechanisms in Society………………………...61
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..83
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………87

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