Matricentric Feminism in Janice Y.K. Lee’s The Expatriates

Abstract

Matricentric feminism or a feminism for mothers deals with the politics that mothers face in diverse patriarchal cultures. The present research explores the matricentric interests and the subject of demarcated role of mothers through the themes of identity, marriage, family and the idiosyncratic concerns about motherhood by examining the novel The Expatriates (2016) by Janice Y.K. Lee. The study continues the matricentric debate by analysing the two characters of the novel, Margaret Reade and Hilary Starr. The main aim of this research is to examine the oppressed, dependent, static and lost identity of mothers even in the developing world. This article argues that the mothers, despite belonging to the upper crust of society, are not immune to the tragedies and psychological oppression in the post-racial Asian American world and that they are oppressed first as women and then as mothers. It refocuses on the restricted role, identity and position of mothers in the privileged yet patriarchal society. By using the method of textual analysis, the article analyzes the selected novel under the Matricentric ideas of Andrea O’Reilly and Petra Bueskens. The research thus concludes that a mother leads traumatic life due to loss of her child, and despite having other children, patriarchal society rusticates her status of motherhood. For future research, the article recommends to analyse the novel under psychoanalytic or trauma theories.