Abstract
Before 21st century, the usage of animals as symbols in Taiwanese female fictions mainly presented women in positions of devaluation and domination through "dehumanization" owing to the similar senses of marginalization shared by animals and women. However, in 21st century, animals in female fictions have unfolded different symbolic meanings. This study focuses on Taiwanese female fictions published in 21st century (2000-2022), attempting to depict the common characteristics of animal imagery within them. This thesis begins with studying John Berger's Why Look at Animals, by interpreting projection and transference with Object Relations Theory, it explores how narrators’ emotions were evoked by animals in female fictions, and further categorizes the animal imagery generated through the lens of women into three themes: female body, self-identity, and family relationships, with the aim of examining how women write about animals to present their gender predicaments and life situations. Firstly, the second chapter, "Animals as Symbols of Female Body," discusses how women see animals as projections of their bodies, dealing with the traumas and stigmas hidden within the female body through the imagination of transforming into animals, thereby granting themselves the powerful strength of animals. Subsequently, in the third chapter, "Animals as a Path to Self-Identity," women project their solitariness onto the living environments of animals, reflecting on the predicaments imposed by society on women through the existence of animals, with animals being the openings for women to find self-identity. Finally, the fourth chapter, "Animals as Mirrors Reflecting Family Relationships," analyzes how narrators transfer their feelings towards mothers or partners to animals, allowing the interactions between humans and animals to reflect family relationships, hence revealing the lack of subjective emotions through animals. Through discussing the animal imagery in 21st century Taiwanese female fictions, this study aims to point out that through writing about animals, Taiwanese women writers express the predicaments women still face in modern society, the issues are not limited to only gender-related ones but also self-oriented ones. In Taiwanese Female Fiction, animals are no longer marginal metaphors, instead, they express meanings of agency, desire for freedom, and emotional connections.