Female bonding in Lisa See's Shanghai Girls

Abstract

This research paperexamines Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls to highlight the bondingbetween two sisters Pearl and May and their struggle for selfhood and self-definition in a man’s world. In this process, this studyscrutinizes their search for strength in their woman-to-woman relationships, their common victimization and their shared identities.By taking insights about female solidarity as proposed by Simon De Beauvoir, Kate Millet and Nancy Chodorow, this research reflects on victimization the female protagonists go through and the bonding they develop to overcome the hardships. The research illustrates the strong relationship between women based on giving and receiving emotional,psychologicaland moral sharing and caring and nurturing each other. Keywords: silence, female bonding, freedom, patriarchal domination, self identity