Abstract：In her novella I Lock My Door Upon Myself, American female writer Joyce Carol Oates represented to her readers an unusual white woman named Calla. Through telling Calla's life story, Oates disclosed the problem of subjective crisis that has been ignored by many feminist writers. Applying the theories of psychological analysis, this paper will analyze why the deconstruction of a series of binary relations and the total refusal of“the others”cannot lead to the wholeness of identity. It also discusses whether the female writing can help to construct female identity from the experience of Oates and her view on writing.

Keyword：Joyce Carol Oates;I Lock My Door Upon Myself;identity;female writing;