本論文援引傅柯(Michel Foucault)以及巴巴(Homi K. Bhabha)的觀點，旨在探討阿蘭達蒂•洛伊的小說《微物之神》中，女性的中界位置，並分析小說中的愛慾、身份認同與主體形塑。在洛伊的刻畫之下，《微物之神》深刻地揭示出霸權體制對人性的壓迫與束縛。以印度南方小鎮為故事背景，《微物之神》不僅觸及印度種性制度的禁忌，更勾勒出印度人民於面對西方文化衝擊之下的矛盾與疏離。歷經傳統文化、殖民主義與西方現代化的層層衝突之下，印度人民的身分認同(identity)與主體性(subjectivity)，再再呈現出破碎分離的不完整性與流動性。生存於傳統父權體制中的掙扎與文化交錯下的拉扯，印度女性的認同與主體建構，更彰顯出文化雜揉中的弔詭與悖離。然而，命運的枷鎖並非完全主導愛慾的纏綿，生命的糾葛賦予了主體自我追尋的動能，文化的差異建構出更多的可能性。本論文企圖展現此種不可命定的中界位置，將小說中所呈現出的模稜地帶，視為發展諸多可能性的中界地帶。
    第一章援用傅柯的觀點，探討印度種性制度對人性的壓迫與宰治。此外，本章試圖詮釋洛伊小說中的逾越母題，藉此呈現出主體建構過程中的不穩定性(instability)與變化(becoming)的可能性。第二章借用巴巴的觀點，進而發展主體建構中的流動性(fluidity)，意圖探討印度人民，尤其女性，在文化雜揉與衝突之下的認同矛盾以及中界位置。在此脈絡之下，第三章討論主體於矛盾衝突中所產生的弔詭與疏離，企圖探索其中諸多蛻變轉化的可能性。

This thesis aims to investigate the in-between subject position of the Indians, especially women depicted by Arundhati Roy in The God of Small Things.  It attempts to contextualize the dominant forces including the caste system, patriarchy, colonial hegemony and Western modernity in India, so as to trace the loss and difficulties that Roy presents in the novel.  In light of Michel Foucault and Homi K. Bhabha, this thesis discloses the fluidity and instability of subject formation under the influence of diverse social and cultural discourses.  It reveals the ambivalent and even in-between identity of the Indians who suffer oppression, displacement, loss and alienation as a result of transitions in contemporary cultural flows.  However, instead of regarding the dilemma of struggling with these forces as Indians’ doomed life, this thesis explores the possibility of transformation for Indians.  It takes the state of ambiguity caused by cultural hybridity as the opportunity of freeing from the suppressive manipulation.  
     Chapter One makes clear that subject formation and women’s sexuality are results of cultural construction.  In addition to unveiling the oppression of patriarchy, this chapter deconstructs the absolute truth by exemplifying the theme of transgression in the novel.  Chapter Two investigates the in-between identity and discrepant subject position caused by cultural hybridity of the nation as a whole in a shifting society.  It conducts the tensions inside Hindu and those with its Western conqueror.  Chapter Three discusses the unresolved tension resulting from cultural impacts in post-independent India, showing the sense of alienation caused by Indians’ traumatic memory.  Taking the form of hybridity, it explores the possibility of emancipation in the floating cultural space.

Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................1
Chapter One
Subjection and Subject-becoming: The Caste System, the Love Laws and Transgression..............................16
Chapter Two
In-between Identity: Indianness vis-à-vis Englishness in the Hybridized Post-Independent India....................35
Chapter Three
Unresolved Tensions: Indians’ Traumatic Memory and the Experience of Alienation.................................59
Conclusion...............................................77
Works Cited..............................................82

Works Cited
Abraham, Taisha. “An Interview with Arundhati Roy.” ARIEL. 29.1 (1998): 89-92.
Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York and London: Monthly Review Press, 1971. 127-86.
Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large: Cultural dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis London: Public Worlds, 1996.
Ashcroft, Bill, et al. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures. London and New York: Routledge, 1989.
Barsamian, David, and Arundhati Roy. The Checkbook and Cruise Missile: Conversations with Arundhati Roy. Cambridge: South End Press, 2004.
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1994.
- - -. “Locations of Culture: the Postcolonial and the Postmodern.” Postmodern Debates. Ed. Simon Malpas. London: Palgrave, 2001. 136-44.
- - -. “The Third Space: Interview with Homi Bhabha.” Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. Ed. Jonathan Rutherford. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990. 207-21.
Bristow, Joseph. Sexaulity. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.
Chand, Sarvar V. Sherry. “Caste, Gender and Subjectivity in Contemporary India.” Women: A Cultural Review. 5.1 (1994): 25-33.
Chatterjee, Partha. “The Nationalist Resolution of the Women’s Question.” Recasting Women: Essays in Indian Colonial History. Ed. Sangari, Kumkum, and Sudesh Vaid. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press,1990. 233-53.
Danaher, Geoff, Tony Schirato and Jen Webb. Understanding Foucault. London: Sage Publications, 2000.
Dasan, M. “Arundhati Hits the Social-Political Ball.” Ed. Jaydipsinh Dodiya and Joya Chakravarty. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1999. 21-36.
Dodiya, Jaydipsinh. “Arundhati Roy— The Woman and the Writer.” The Critical Studies of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Ed. Jaydipsinh Dodiya and Joya Chakravarty. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1999. 1-9.
Dube, Leela. “Caste and Women.” Gender & Caste. Ed. Anupama Rao. London and New York: Zed Books, 2003. 223-48.
Dumont, Louis. Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Erikson, Kai. “Notes on Trauma and Community.” Trauma: Explorations in Memory. Ed. Cathy Caruth. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. 183-99.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage Books, 1977.
- - -. The History of Sexuality, Vol. Ⅰ: An Introduction. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage Books, 1978.
- - -. “The Subject and Power.” Trans. Robert Hurley. Power. Ed. James D. Faubion. New York: The New Press, 2000. 326-48.
Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny. Trans. David McLintock. London: Penguin, 2003.
Frumkes, Lewis Burke. “A Conversation with Arundhati Roy.” The Writer. 111.11 (1998): 23-24.
Hall, Stuart. “Introduction: Who Needs ‘Identity.’” Questions of Cultural Identity. Ed. Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay. London: Sage, 1996. 1-17.
- - -. “The Local and the Global: Globalization and Ethnicity.” Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation, and Postcolonial Perspectives. Ed. Anne McClintock, Aamir Mufti and Ella Shohat. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1997. 173-87.
Huddart, David. Homi K. Bhabha. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Liddle, Joanna, and Rama Joshi. Daughters of Independence: Gender, Caste and Class in India. New Brunswick and New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1986.
Malik, Nazma. “The God of Small Things: A Study of English influence on Indian Culture.” Ed. Indira Bhatt and Indira Nityanandam. Explorations: Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. New Delhi: Creative Books, 1999. 163-67.
Mills, Sara. Michel Foucault. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
Needham, Anuradha Dingwaney. “‘The Small Voice of History’ in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.” Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies. 7.3 (2005): 369-91.
Papastergiadis, Nikos. “Tracing Hybridity in Theory.” The Turbulence of Migration: Globalization, Deterritorialization and Hybridity. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000. 168-213.
Pillai, C. Gopinatha. “Aesthatics of Post-Colonial Feminism: A Reading of The God of Small Things.” Ed. Jaydipsinh Dodiya and Joya Chakravarty. The Critical Studies of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1999. 87-92.
Routledge, Paul. “The Third Space as Critical Engagement.” Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. 28.4 (1996): 399- 419.
Roy, Mohit K. “Locusts Stand I: Some Feminine Aspects of The God of Small Things.” Arundhati Roy’s Fictional World: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. A. N. Dwivedi. New Delhi: B. R. Publishing Corporation, 2001. 64-81.
Sangari, Kumkum, and Sudesh Vaid. Recasting Women: Essays in Indian Colonial History. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press,1990.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Ed. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg. Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. London: Macmillan, 1988. 271-313.
Tickell, Alex.  Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. London: Routledge, 2007.