ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to find out the connection between memory and gender oppression as experienced by the female protagonist in The Teardrop Story Woman (1998), a novel written by a Singaporean author, Catherine Lim. Using Kate Millett’s concept of sex/gender and Daniel Schacter’s memory theory, the analysis shows that memory serves as a means of internalising gender-oppressive social constructions that eventually prevent the female protagonist from rebelling against gender oppression. However, at the same time, memory—through a selection process—also serves as a defence strategy that helps the female protagonist to cope with gender oppression in a situation where real actions of resistance are not possible. In relation to this, memory can also be seen as a form of female subjectivity. By consciously using her memory as a defence strategy, the female protagonist positions herself as a subject that has the right and ability to choose—thus performing her subjectivity as a woman despite living under the constant pressure from gender oppression.
