Illness and Femininity in Hilary Mantel's Giving Up the Ghost

The paper analyzed Hilary Mantel's memoir, "Giving Up The Ghost," highlighting how family life influenced her bodily perceptions and female gender identity. Mantel's experiences were depicted as primitive perceptions of familial relationships, with changes in these relationships manifesting physically. The memoir revealed a conflict between her body as an autonomous entity and her psychological strength derived from family identifications, complicating her acceptance of femininity. This unresolved conflict hindered her ability to achieve 'psychosomatic normality,' exacerbating her endometriosis symptoms. The memoir illustrated the lasting impact of early life on subjective disease experiences.