From Sex Prisoners to Female Revolters: Feminist Narrative in Norman Mailer’s Novels

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Norman Mailer, a Pulitzer Prize winner and a chronicler of his time, devoted his literary career to the representation of the western culture and the reality of America by putting his trust in sex and illustrating the gender relationship. In his writings, male are often created as robust, violent and powerful while female are often being bullied, humiliated, and defeated. Thus, Mailer has become one of the prime targets of feminist literary critics, being accused as a “prototypical male chauvinist”, a “warrior for male supremacy”, and a “militarist”. However, what these feminists fail to trace are Mailer’s development of feminist thoughts in his writings: The Naked and The Dead models women as prisoners of sex, having no chance to air their voice; The Deer Park exhibits female as passive angry fighters, trying to be heard but failed; finally, Tough Guys Don’t Dance constructs the dynamic female revolters, claiming the initial feminism success. Thereby, Mailer exhibits his positive exploration of feminism thoughts, his view that reality is not sex but personality and individuality, and his desire for a balance between man and woman. This paper is grounded theoretically on psychoanalysis and feminism with textual analysis of the female characters in Mailer’s three novels, progressing from The Naked and The Dead, through The Deer Park, to finally Tough Guys Don’t Dance.