Formation of a new rural power structure and the failure of gender in utopia: lesbian image and its metaphors in Wildcat Lake

Abstract: Chen Yingsong created Wildcat Lake not just for telling a story about lesbians but also by describing how Xiang’er, a rural woman, becomes a lesbian in the villages. We can see the “richness” and “metaphorical meaning” of the lesbian symbol. As far as Wildcat Lake is concerned, it is more worthy of discussing how Xiang’er becomes a lesbian, which is not only about sex or gender, but also about political and economic oppression. Therefore, the so-called gender in Utopia will inevitably fail. Furthermore, the loss of rural subjectivity during modernization and transformation, the subsequent new power structure, and the resulting oppression and exploitation are the fundamental reasons for Xiang’er to become a lesbian and eventually “kill her husband”.