On the Duality of Women’s Silence in MengKe

Abstract

The famous Chinese writer Ding Ling’s short story Meng Ke centers on urban intellectual women in the 1930s and, through multiple narrative strategies, reveals the dual nature of female “silence” under the disciplining forces of various power structures—both as a product of patriarchal oppression and as a site for potential resistance. Building on previous feminist and socio-historical critiques of Meng Ke, this paper adopts Michel Foucault’s theory of disciplinary power and feminist narratology as analytical frameworks. Through close textual analysis and comparative study, it explores the complex representations and narrative strategies of female silence in Meng Ke, as well as its significance in literary history. Furthermore, it extends the discussion to contemporary women’s writing, examining how Ding Ling’s narrative experiment has been both inherited and transformed.