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The family plays a crucial role in the formation of the subjectivity. In Where the Line Bleeds, Ward tells a story of twins called Joshua and Christophe. Joshua and Christophe resemble one another so closely that when Christopher touched his brother’s arm, he mistook it for his own. However, as Ward mentioned in a previous article, the twins have very different personalities despite their similar appearance.  

And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If (if) it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her…two manner(manners) of people shall be separated from thy bowels. (pii) 

Different character results in different decisions, which in turn result in different life experiences. Joshua found a job at the docks, while Christophe did not. Due to economic pressure, he chose to engage in drug trafficking. Because of social exclusion and lack of guidance from his parents, he lost himself in the behavior of acquiring money quickly, which caused him great suffering. However, Christophe gradually recognizes himself and emerged from the shadows with the help of Joshua and his grandmother, establishing a sense of subjectivity along the way. 

2.2 Salvage the Bones: Self-reconstruction in Love

The pursuit of “love” permeates Jesmyn Ward’s entire novel. “Love” causes people to lose themselves but also constructs the subjectivity. Although the blind love for Manny and the lack of father’s love severely damaged Esch’s self-esteem in Salvage the Bones, she reconstructed her subjectivity in the other two “loves”, one of which is “self-love” taught by Medea. Another is the “maternal love” learnt by China and her mother’s memory. These two forms of love helped her resist oppression of patriarchy and escape the blind pursuit of Manny to develop a subjective consciousness gradually.

2.2.1 Revenge of Medea

The story of Medea guides Esch throughout the novel and shapes her perception of female. Esch, the only female in this predominantly male environment, constantly indulges in her imagination to escape her impoverished surroundings and utter solitude. Esch was captivated by the Greek mythology she studied in school, particularly the Jason and Medea myths. Medea betrayed her family and gave up everything to marry the heroic Jason. However, when she was betrayed, she murdered their two children in revenge and fled the scene of the crime riding in the chariot.

When Esch fell in love with Manny, she wondered if Medea felt the same way about Jason “like a hard wind come through her and set her to shaking” (7). Manny in her eyes is as bright as the sun, and whenever he appears, he absorbs the surrounding light and then emits it from himself, making it impossible for Esch to see herself standing in the dark. In blind love for Manny, she becomes unconfident. “I looked in the mirror and knew the rest of me wasn’t so remarkable: wide nose, dark skin, Mama’s slim, short frame with all the curves folded in so that I looked square” (7). Manny’s interactions with his girlfriend caused her unfathomable suffering, which caused her to lose herself. 

Chapter Three Strategies for the Construction of Black Subjectivity in Jesmyn Ward’s Nove本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。