Anna Burns' "The milkman" portrays the 18-year-old female protagonist's desire and rebellion for independent space in the oppressive environment of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland. The novel is set in the 1970s, during a period of severe factional conflict in Northern Ireland, where the community was shrouded in a totalitarian and closed social environment. The authorities construct a pyramid shaped power structure through surveillance, forming a "panoramic open view" disciplinary network to achieve complete control over the monitored. This vertical surveillance leads to a sense of isolation and apathy among the masses, with everyone feeling insecure and concealing their true feelings, becoming disseminators of collective rumors and forming a horizontal rumor public opinion network. Rumor and public opinion networks infiltrate communities in a covert manner, reinforcing traditional disciplinary networks and forming a comprehensive encirclement that interweaves horizontally and vertically. Burns emphasized that the issues reflected in 'The milkman' are not limited to specific historical periods in Northern Ireland, but exist in any authoritarian, closed society. This article analyzes the birth and composition of the vertical hierarchical disciplinary network and the horizontal flat disciplinary network in the novel, as well as the formation process of the self disciplinary mechanism of the female protagonist's language silence, thought silence, and ultimately subject silence in the intertwined community disciplinary network of the two networks.

The birth of community surveillance and the "panoramic open view" network

Explored the application of Michel Foucault's "panopticism" theory in Anna Burns' novel "The milkman". Foucault's theory holds that modern society is a surveillance society, where people are subject to disciplinary power control, as if living in a large prison. In "The milkman," the Catholic neighborhood is depicted as a "panoramic open view" society, where community members are monitored by government authorities. The government establishes detailed records for each person through tracking, photography, and other means, and subjects them to training, education, punishment, exclusion, and other treatments. Even if community monitors are not present, they can effectively control and regulate the behavior of community members through this vertical hierarchical network. The protagonist "I" is very sensitive to government surveillance and dislikes the feeling of being seen as a disease, anti-government faction, or infectious disease patient. This unusual reaction leads to "me" being placed in a "prison cell" on the edge of the community, under comprehensive surveillance by the government, family, and dairy workers. As the most fundamental interpersonal relationship and power model, family relationships directly affect individuals and constitute the most thorough monitoring of individuals. In 'The Milk Delivery Worker', the mother daughter relationship represents the family relationship. The mother internalized social expectations and demanded that 'I' obey social norms and fulfill the obligation of marriage from the perspective of community habits, forming the most direct and thorough power monitoring over 'me'. Faced with my mother's direct control, 'I' chose to resist with silence. The milk delivery worker is an elderly male, rumored to be the highest anti-government intelligence collector. He monitors and inspects "me" with a condescending gaze, mastering everything in "my" life, and intervening, disciplining, and controlling "my" lifestyle habits and spiritual pursuits through power discourse in an implicit and even "benevolent" way. The surveillance of the milkman is a prolonged and slow gaze, reflecting the power dominance relationship inherent in Foucault's theory, endowing the milkman with the power to dominate and rule over the 'me' for a long and deep period of time. Although the milkman ultimately died, it does not mean the end of the harassment that "I" suffered. The milkman has become a metaphor for the long-term political and gender oppression of women in a chaotic society.

2 Community Rumors and the Formation of a "Crowd Watching" Network

Explored the forms of community and self-regulation in "The Milk Delivery Worker," particularly through the formation of community rumors and a "crowd watching" network. In this network, community members feel constant surveillance and discipline, leading to mutual distrust and an inability to establish sincere interpersonal relationships. Rumors have become an alienated way for community members to share information and ideas, hiding personal thoughts and personalities, and expanding the spread of disciplinary discourse. Kroos' rumor circulation formula indicates that as the audience's critical ability decreases, the influence of rumors will expand. Rumors meet the conditions for bypassing conflicting tensions and become a prerequisite for violence to occur. In the novel, rumors have made "me" the new focus of the community's attention, constructing a "multi paired" "co scene prison". This' crowd watching 'training network is a horizontal pressure structure that puts the onlookers in complete exposure. Community members surround and suppress' me 'with their gaze and rumors, cutting off the intimate relationship between' me 'and causing the breakdown of' my 'family, friendship, and love as rumors spread. I have confessed three times in the rumor network without success, and my intimate relationship has collapsed one after another. My sense of trust in society continues to decrease, and I lose the courage to explore the outside world and establish relationships. Eventually, in the interwoven community training network, I lose both individual independence and connection with the outside world. Although there have been cases in history where women have successfully escaped from community disciplinary networks, "I" chose to stay in the community and face the complex disciplinary network in my own way due to lack of determination and courage, unwillingness to abandon my family, and other reasons.

The Self Discipline Mechanism of Women in the 3 Community Training Networks

Explored the self-regulation mechanism experienced by the female protagonist "I" in the community training network of "The Milk Delivery Worker". The female protagonist maintains independence through silence amidst the oppression and fear of isolation in the community, but this silence ultimately leads to the silence of thoughts and subjects, forming self-regulation. She maintains her personality and independent space by rejecting community norms and intimate relationships, but this avoidance and anger reflect a fear of women's living conditions. The female protagonist believes that silence can protect herself and avoid being distorted by the community discourse system, but this silence also makes her a "daughter" identity under power suppression, and at the same time, an active resistance. However, the complexity of silence lies in its inclusion of both resistance and avoidance consciousness, leading the female protagonist to passively evade community discipline, selectively obey social discourse, internalize tradition, and intensify self-regulation. The silent resistance of the female protagonist's emotions and expressions ultimately led to her loss of emotional and psychological expression ability, and her life became numb. Under the gaze of the milkman, she internalized community norms, deepened her self-regulation, gave up her emotional world and ideal personality, and ultimately surrendered to the community's disciplinary network. Although silent resistance isolates the outside world, it also harms oneself, allowing the female protagonist to complete self-regulation. The mother of the female protagonist, by pursuing personal happiness, provides a possibility to escape community discipline, eases the mother daughter relationship, and brings new hope to the family.

4 Conclusion

The community training network in 'The Milk Delivery Worker' comprehensively surrounds' me 'with the aim of bringing' me 'into a controllable domain. I attempted to resist with silence, but developed from linguistic silence to intellectual silence, unable to escape the fate of being disciplined and self disciplined. The fate of 'me' reflects the survival dilemma of young women in the community, exposing the inclusion, control, and attack of female 'others' who deviate from the community's disciplinary power. Faced with the community's disciplinary network, neither my silent resistance nor my second sister's evasive departure can truly break free from the constraints. In the special social and historical context, women can only realize their self-worth and life meaning by daring to face life and emotions, establishing spiritual beliefs, bravely expressing their thoughts and pursuing their loved ones, and breaking free from community rules spiritually, and becoming a spiritual force for others.