Fragmented Bodies, Fractured Identities: Womanhood and Body Politics in Breasts and Eggs

Abstract

—This article employs feminist theory to explore the theme of fractured femininity in Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs. Through the three female characters in the novel, Kawakami highlights the scarring of womanhood in a contemporary, postmodern context. However, the concept of scarring follows Cixous’s metaphor in which literature becomes a liberating and transformative act that vindicates the wounding of womanhood through the imposition of repressive ideals. This is shown as each of these women comes to represent the resilience of women in the face of conventional definitions of femininity. Natsuko’s reluctant following of convention, Makiko’s pursuit of feminine body ideals, and Midoriko’s struggle with her biological self represent women's struggle to realize femininity in the 21st century. Ultimately, these women manage to sustain a level of empowerment by rejecting the socially constructed concept of femininity. Kawakami puts the concept of femininity to the test to prove that it is the result of nurture rather than nature, thus suggesting that constructing a feminine identity in a postmodern setting is much more complex than in theory.