Between Reality and Fantasy: Rebecca West\u27s The Return of the Soldier and Harriet Hume

Based on Rebecca West\u27s The Return of the Soldier and Harriet Hume, this thesis examines West\u27s reconsiderations of the conventional roles for women and the suggestion of new roles for women in a context that connects the public and the private spheres. The changes in women\u27s roles underscore women\u27s agency and their subject positions that allow them to reconstruct the emotional and sexual order and participate in the restructuring of civil society. West places both her female characters and male characters in the center of her narratives. Through examining insignificant domestic events, West reveals a panoramic picture of British society-the declining patriarchal structure and the weakening imperialistic and colonial powers. Through disentangling the relation of reality and its alternative-delusion and fantasy, West forcefully foregrounds the social reality. Her presentations of women\u27s roles are securely located in this changing social context