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1、-The_Feminine_Consciousness_in_The_Yellow_Wallpaper_and_The_Story_of_an_Hour英语毕业论文-第 19 页The Feminine Consciousness in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour ByWang LiSupervisor: Wang JingminA ThesisSubmitted in PartialFulfillment of the RequirementsFor the Bachelor Degree of Arts in theColle
2、ge of Arts, Hebei University of EngineeringJune, 2015摘要凯特肖邦和夏洛特伯金斯吉尔曼是19世纪女性主义文学创作的先驱。本文以她们各自的代表作一个小时的故事和黄墙纸为例，分析作者的女性主义追求。在人物设计上，两篇小说的主人公同在父权制和婚姻的束缚下失去自由；在故事情节上，场景都设置在房间中，主人公于屋内不拘形迹，于屋外克己复礼；在写作手法上，两篇小说都别具匠心地综合运用反衬、烘托、象征等多种艺术手法。本文通过对作品的创作背景、主要内容、主题思想、表达技巧以及社会意义的综合分析，从女性主义思想与文学表达方式两个层面阐述了19世纪女性的困境与自我
3、救赎。关键词：女性意识；黄强纸；一个小时的故事 AbstractKate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the pioneers of feminist literature, both instilled the pursuit of feminism in their works. This thesis tends to discuss the masterpieces: The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper. In the two short stories, both of the he
4、roines are suffering from such agony under patriarchy and matrimony that they have lost their freedom. It is in a room that the plots are arranged. Staying inside, the heroines can enjoy a world of their own; outside the room, however, they are in sharp contrast to the traditional “Victorian” women.
5、 Besides, both of the writers have shown unique ingenuity on writing techniques, such as contrast, decoration, and symbolism. This thesis is meant to state the subordination and self-redemption of the females in the 19th century and expound the artistic techniques applied to illustrate the theme. Ke
6、y Words: Feminism; The Yellow Wallpaper; The Story of an HourContentsIntroduction1Chapter I The Background and Narrative Strategy of Feminist Literature31.1 The Male Discourse and the Yoke of Matrimony31.2 The Narrative Strategy of the Selected-pieces4Chapter II The Dilemma of Heroine and the Releva
7、nt Artistic Expression82.1 The Oppressed “Mrs. Mallard” and “the Madwoman”82.2 The Artistic Expression Adopted in the Description of Oppression11Chapter III The Resistance and Compromise to Patriarchy 163.1 The Awakening of the Self-consciousness of Heroines163.2 The Cost of Self-awakening173.3 The
8、Social Meaning of Feminist Literary Creation17Conclusion19References20Acknowledgements21IntroductionKate Chopin (1851-1904) is particularly interested in works dealing with womens position. Under the control of patriarchy, American society could not endure the independence and liberty of women. “Wom
9、an question”, such as condition, matrimony and profession, has been measured by Chopin. In At Fault, her first novel, she comes to the conclusion that no one should submissively leave the fate to the exacting and ignorant rule of what he termed moral conventionalities. The masterpiece The Story of a
10、n Hour is classical feminist literary creation. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), an outstanding American feminist writer, was born in Connecticut. Many a social reformer, who gained considerable fame in Gilmans Beecher family, inspired her to contribute to the equal feminine right. The Yellow W
11、allpaper was created according to her bitter encounter, as mentioned in the short novel: she was within an inch of madness under the oppression. The work is written to satirize the patriarchy and matrimony.The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper were two representative short stories at the end
12、 of the 19th century. The feminist trend is vividly reflected to search for the identity and female inner strength. The Story of an Hour tells us that the love that deprives the women of liberty is no more than the death. With the same theme, The Yellow Wallpaper expresses the ignorance of womens di
13、stinctive feeling and emotional appealing under the loving manner of men. The authority of males makes it difficult for females to liberate from the constraints and oppression. Short as the stories are in length, they provoke the readers further consideration.Actually, many scholars have already mad
14、e a great deal of exploration about the two masterpieces. However, most of them focus on the feminist thought. In this situation, this thesis tends to discuss the masterpieces from their common ground. The main content involves literary creation background, main content, theme, and writing technique
15、s, so as to give readers a comprehensive view of feminism. In this term, the readers can further understand the two short stories from the relationship between the theme and its literary expression.The thesis consists of three chapters. All chapters and their content are progressive. Chapter One giv
16、es a short introduction to the creation background and the narrative strategy of the masterpieces. The prevailing social value limits the narrative mode, but the authors ingeniously choose different narrative strategies to make the feminism prominent. Chapter Two comes to the dilemma of heroines and
17、 the specific expression by analyzing the writing techniques. On one hand, the dilemma of feminine foreshadows the awakening of feminine consciousness; on the other hand, the skillful use of expression techniques makes the dilemma of heroines vividly shown. In Chapter Three, we conduct the womans se
18、lf-redemption under unequal subordination and analyze the cost of self-awakening to highlight and sublimate the theme of the thesis. Chapter IThe Background and Narrative Strategy of Feminist LiteratureIn the 19th century, the authority of the patriarchy dominates America and the traditional moral c
19、ode of “True women” was recommended. The common central creed is to imprison the women to actas daughter, wife and mother, the roles designed by society. It is intangible chains hindering the individual liberation of women. Feminism concentrates on the gender difference to explore the possible equiv
20、alence. With the advancement of feminism, the relevant literary creation emerges at the right moment. The feminism consciousness is reflected in two aspects: one is the literary criticism in the pure sense. The feminist trend is presented in the text content. The other is the literary creation itsel
21、f. Female writing is regarded as a kind of subversive and resistant power.1.1 The Male Discourse and the Yoke of MatrimonyThe cultural disfigurements such as the male discourse, gender stereotype and gender bias were prevailing in the 19th century. The dominant patriarchy culture is typical evidence
22、. Patriarchy culture is a kind of tendering culture with the representative characteristic of male chauvinism believing that men are superior to women. In the gender relations, males value is dominant; meanwhile, females are subordinative (Zhu Li 2011). This is a systematic, structured and inequitab
23、le institution where females are the accessories for males. With its historical origin and realistic condition, patriarchy as a kind of mighty culture makes it difficult for women to realize the social value. Consequently, it contributes to the resistance of women.In marital relations, the wife is d
24、efined as a character that stays at home to take care of family and housework. “Wealth, power, social distinction, fame, not only these, but home and happiness, reputation, ease and pleasure, her bread and butter, all, must come to her through a small gold ring” (qtd. in Hu 27). The traditional wome
25、n leech on to men who in turn restrict the movement and actions of them. In the marriage bond, the social status of each is obviously unequal. Husband is the head of the family, and the wife, however, is considered as the slave. For the material wealth belongs to the husband, just as the twice-told
26、saying: the economic basis determines superstructure. The economic capability facilitates the dominant position of male. To ensure smooth progress of work performance, the strong backup force is indispensible. It is taken for granted that the wife becomes the victim of domestic affairs.To summarize,
27、 the traditional notion, as stumbling block on their self-saved way, brings women a great deal of sorrow. And women become the victims to be manipulated for pleasure and benefit. As an individual, she receives no respect from the society; as a wife, she receives no equality in the marital relation;
28、as a woman of independent mind, she receives no freedom to express herself. The immoderate suppression finally contributes to the revolt of women. The feminist literary creation, under such social background, has to conform to the trend and have accurate orientation.1.2 The Narrative Strategy of the
29、 Selected-pieces The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper are two representative short stories in America in which the feminist trend is vividly reflected. With special social condition, the feminist creation is under pressure from all sides. As a result, the proper narrative strategy is indisp
30、ensable: male discourse is skillfully challenged by the reasonable choose of narrative person; with weak foundation, the expression of both is vague to some extent to avoid confrontation; the narration of plot is replaced by the description of surroundings and internal monologue to add information t
31、o the awakening of female consciousness. 1.2.1 Ambiguous Expression and Insane NarrationAt the end of the nineteenth century, womans liberation movement was of small scale. Thewritersunder the oppression of male discourse have no courage to publicly express the dissatisfaction of patriarchy in their
32、 works, so the ambiguous expression and insane narration are applied to convey the suffering of women under male-domination.The self-awareness of the heroine in The Story of an Hour, from insensitivity to awakening and final evaporation, occurs in an hour. The length of the story is no more than two
33、 thousand words, but the tragedy of “Mrs. Mallard” is described fully. Without too much description about the oppression, the author just concentrates on the mental activities of “Mrs. Mallard”, but the suffocating and inequitable oppression is most incisively expressed. The ever-changing inward wor
34、ld shows us a series of life bits, full of imagination, thought and sub-consciousness. The author even describes the male character as a scrupulous and considerate gentleman. However, pondering the description of the character, we can conclude that the praise is actually sarcasm. Furthermore, the na
35、rration about the shackles of marriage is ambiguous. “Free, free, free”, the repeating word becomes the most powerful denouncement. It is not only the call of freedom but also the denouncement of marriage. From beginning to end, the author does not employ any details about the “powerful will”, but s
36、he skillfully provides enough imaginary space for readers. Between the lines, the ambiguous expression makes the resistance thrown on females disclosed clearly.“The nature of actual spiritual freedom itself can be understood and experienced only through a phenomenology of ones thinking” (Hu 14). In
37、The Yellow Wallpaper, without discourse power, madness becomes a kind of undisguised resistance. Only then can “I” hear the inner monologue, if not, keep silent. Meanwhile, the writing is furtively proceeding so that “I” can communicate with the fantastic character. In the downtrodden status, the pa
38、ssion for freedom and meaningful life is grafted on the fantastic character. Finally, the “angel in the house” becomes “the madwoman”.In a society that women are deprived of discourse power, no one will be fussy about what a madwoman says. Therefore, the state of madness happens to be a powerful too
39、l. Different from the common mental confusion, madness is direct rebellion to paternity oppression. Since the insane narrator has no responsibility for her utterance, she can say whatever she wants. From the process of struggling with the wallpaper, we conclude that the locked door and the arbitrary
40、 husband are nothing else than the well-knit wallpaper that “the madwoman” tries to breach. The woman behind the wallpaper is the heroine in the mirror, an expression of her. Without discourse, to express the tragedy of life, the only instrument is wordsregrettably, the insane babbling. 1.2.2The Thi
41、rd Person Narration and the First Person Narration The literary criticism in the twentieth century is language-centered, so feminist literature, affected by this trend, connected gender with language to conduct research. To some degree, the authors have compromised with the narrative method. When it
42、 comes to the narrative angle, the incisive point-cut is employed to be a direct objection against the male authority. The third person narration consists of two aspects: in the terms of subjectivity, it involves emotion and thought, and for objectivity, the mental activity is included. The Story of
43、 an Hour begins with the limited third person narration describing the plots from the sidelines. As Spenser said, one of the functions ofthe third person narration applied in feminism literature is to enable the heroine to observe the roles and events beyond herself, by which the feminism consciousn
44、ess and identity are built (Hu Aihua 2014). The author applied the third person narration neatly at the beginning of the story, using thebystanders limited observation to narrate the content of the story from outside. “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble.” (Gilman 42). From
45、the objective perspective, the setting of the story is introduced succinctly. From the angle of a spectator, it is impossible to understand the inner life of “Mrs. Mallard”. The author successfully shifts from the limited perspectives to omniscient perspectives. The description of the psychological
46、activities indicates that “Mrs. Mallard” is different from the traditional women, indicating the awakening of the feminist consciousness. The limited perspectiveof the thirdperson narration demonstrates the weakness of female discourse in edgewise. To provide the readers with necessary information a
47、nd enough imaginary space, the writing focus is distributed on psychological description. As for the heroine, benefited from the thirdperson narration, she becomes an individual with thought, personality, as well as pursuit. In this way, the feminism is built.In contrast, in The Yellow Wallpaper, Gi
48、lman arranged a female as narrator to represent the story, which is a kind of challenge of masculine words. “Even the moment of speaking, we are inescapable in some certain of restrictions produced by male desire” (Xu 27). In traditional narrative fiction, men are regarded as instructors, so women a
49、re instructed. As a result, the feminist consciousness is misread or even obliterated. The first person narration in feminist literature endows women with discourse power to express themselves actively. The sentences, for instance, “I believe”, “I will proudly declare” and “I dont like” are pouring out the emotion and desire