论文标题:“家庭天使”与“新女性”的对垒
House Angels Versus New Women
论文作者
论文导师 李美华,论文学位 硕士,论文专业 外国语言学及应用语言学
论文单位 厦门大学,点击次数 152,论文页数 69页File Size1047K
2007-04-01论文网 http://www.lw23.com/lunwen_1053687/
House Angels;; New Women;; Feminism
凯特·肖邦是一位风靡世界文坛的美国女作家。迄今为止,她的作品已受到无数读者的青睐。国内外众多专家学者都从不同角度对其作品进行广泛的学术研究。本论文旨在结合女性主义批评理论,探讨肖邦在《觉醒》这部小说中体现的女性觉醒意识,希望能以此丰富对这位文学家的研究。 《觉醒》写于19世纪末。由于经济迅速发展,社会发生巨大变革,人们的意识形态也随之发生转变。作为女作家,肖邦的思想具有一定的复杂性和争议性。虽然她从未公开批评过传统文化,也没有公开支持过妇女解放运动,但她的内心深处却对男权社会的传统对女性的束缚提出了强烈的抗议。通过《觉醒》中对两类女性形象,即“家庭天使”和“新女性”的刻画,肖邦的女性主义意识得到了充分的展现。 本论文由五部分构成。绪论部分概述了19世纪末的女性主义文学及肖邦的生平和《觉醒》的社会影响。第一章综述了女性形象的历史,详细分析了“家庭天使”和“新女性”两类女性形象产生的历史背景及各自的特征。第二章着重分析了传统家庭主妇无意识的生存状态和具有反叛精神的新女性为实现自我而做的努力。第三章旨在探讨小说中采用的象征手法。通过一系列从静态到动态以及相互对比的象征手法,“家庭天使”与“新女性”的生存状态得到了进一步的揭示。最后一部分是文章的结论。 《觉醒》中的女主人公埃德娜虽然已意识到女性作为独立个体的重要性并为之付出了努力,但她却缺乏为女性独立自由奋斗到底的决心。这不仅是肖邦个人思想的局限,也是特定社会背景下历史的局限。“家庭天使”的形象在当时的社会里已是根深蒂固,而“新女性”要想冲破这种形象的约束并取得最终的胜利还需要很长的一段时间。
Kate Chopin is one of the most celebrated and remarkable writers in the world literature. Her works have attracted numerous readers and a great many scholars all over the world who have spent much academic energy on them from different perspectives. With the hope of enriching the research of the great litterateur and with the help of feminism, this thesis is aimed to explore Chopin’s feminist awareness in The Awakening. This novel was written at the end of the nineteenth century which was a time of tension between the old and the new, the traditional and the modern. Due to the rapid economical and theological change in this transitional period of time, Chopin became a complex feminist writer. She never criticized the traditional culture in a public way, nor did she directly applaud the women’s movement, while deep down she more or less resisted conventional doctrines. Her conflicting thought is well interwoven in the writing of The Awakening, a novel which displays two main kinds of women—the house angels and the New Women, as well as an indicative description of their conflict. This thesis mainly consists of five parts. Part One is the introduction, which summarizes the women’s writing in the late 19th century as well as the influence of The Awakening. Chapter One not only surveys the images of women in history but also analyzes the historical background and respective features of the house angels and the New Women. With a detailed study of the unconscious state of existence of the housewives and the protesting women’s struggle for self-realization, Chapter Two delves into Chopin’s characterization of the house angels and the New Women. While the house angels are content with their self-sacrificing family life, the New Women are trying to seek a way out with a confused but continuous process of awakening. Chapter Three is devoted to exploring the artistic technique of symbolism applied in this book. With symbols ranging from static objects, such as continent, houses etc., to living creatures, such as human beings, birds, the contrasting and conflicting existences between the house angels and the New Women are further illustrated. Last but not least, the thesis comes to a conclusion. The study of the thesis demonstrates that Edna, the protagonist in The Awakening is not a determined fighter for women independence and freedom when confronted with social condemnation. This is more than a limitation of Chopin’s thought; it is a limitation of the epoch. The ideal of the house angels was so deep planted in the patriarchal society in the 19th century that it remained an onerous task for the New Women to poke the bubble of the feminine myth and achieve final success.
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