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This is a self-narrative thesis of a fisherman’s daughter. First I gathered bits and pieces of my life stories. I, then, tried my best to string them together and weave them into a net of life which spans to include the past, the present, and the future of my life.
In this particular net, we can see that various strands of life—such as the threads of gender, city-country difference, ethnicity, language, culture, society, community, environment, human relationships, value system, history, education, class, politics, and nationalism—are woven and intertwined.
By telling my own life stories, I penetrated into my inner life, exploring and savoring feelings of inferiority complex, passion, self-censure, fear, friendship, frustration, curiosity, etc. Upon witnessing Taiwan history and life, the rupture of culture, the alienation from ocean culture, and the collision of different cultures, all these experiences helped expose the feelings of uneasiness, attachment, anger, nurture, and self-reflection, re-define my own existence, and re-fashion my subjectivity.
In the Section “the founding moment,” I recounted the moment I entered the graduate program of Life Studies, revealed my motivation of writing a self-narrative thesis, and gave reasons to my choice of methodology.
In the “Prologue,” I gave an explanation of the thesis title—“‘Fish•Sea’ Life.” In Chapter One, I wrote about my growing environment and family in my childhood. In Chapter Two, I examined the formation of my self-identity under the influence of culture, language, education, and society. In Chapter Three, I looked back on the stories of my life and described the major events I have experienced in my life. In Chapter Four, I wrote about my motherhood and pre-school education work experiences. Chapter Five is about the practice of the non-profit organization “StoryCorps” that I have encountered in the United States. In Chapter Six, I looked into my life stories by using the perspective of narrative discourse. In the meantime, I reflected upon the formation of my life narrative during the whole writing process. In the end, I was able to develop a unique “Fish‧Sea” narrative perspective. In Chapter Seven, I revealed my intention to keep on my odyssey of life discovery by means of not only reading and writing but also listening and speaking.
The purpose of this thesis is to experiment with the writing process of self-narrative. My conclusion is as follows: I have a better grasp of my life and my life value by way of self-narrative. At the same time, I am better equipped with the ability to march to the future to the beat of my inner drummer. Through my life story, I was able to see the tie between outer context and my life. Through my life story, I was able to generate a wish—that is, the need to cultivate the ability to listen to each other in Taiwan’s society; to create the environment for general public to recount the life stories with respect to their individual life, family, ethnic groups, social groups, and national identity.
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