韶关学院
毕业论文
题目：从女性主义角度对比分析《一个陌生女人的来信》和《冬儿姑娘》
学生姓名：冯敏华
学号：12106011063
二级学院：外语学院
专业班级：英语2012级3班
指导教师：曾畅怀讲师
起止时间：2015年9月—2016年5月
（教务处制表）
A Comparative Analysis of Letter from an Unknown
Woman and Lassie Donger from the Perspective of
Feminism
错误！未指定书签。
by
Minhua Feng
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Foreign Languages in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts
at
Shaoguan University
April 2, 2016
诚信声明
我，冯敏华，郑重声明：除了参考文献所标明引用的资料和内容之外，本论文中不包含有任何已经被其他高等教育机构所接受的学位或学历论文资料，也不包含有其他任何人已经正式出版的资料内容。本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果由本人承担。
签字：冯敏华
日期：2016 年3月2日
Declaration of Academic Integrity
I, Minhua Feng错误！未指定书签。, the undersigned, hereby declare that this dissertation does not contain any material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any institutions of higher learning and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this dissertation does not contain any material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the dissertation. I am fully aware of the legal consequences of this statement.
Signed: Minhua Feng
Date: April 2, 2016
从女性主义角度对比分析
《一个陌生女人的来信》和《冬儿姑娘》
摘要：本文以《一个陌生女人的来信》和《冬儿姑娘》为分析文本，结合女性主义批判理论对两位女主人公进行比较和对照分析，旨在探讨其不同的个性以及女性主义影响下女性意识的觉悟。
笔者认为斯蒂芬?茨威格塑造的陌生女人与冰心塑造的冬儿姑娘反映了不同的女性意识，因此，对此二者进行对比研究对于作品的进一步探索以及女性主义理论的丰富发展具有重要意义，本文的主体部分从两个方面对两位女主人公进行分析比较，首先是陌生女人对于爱情与生活的消极被动，再是冬儿姑娘的坚强勇敢，在她身上显现出了值得广大女性学习的精神。
通过对两位女主人公的比较分析，笔者意在探讨研究其身上的女性主义精神，以两位人物的命运和遭遇以及结局，表达对男女两性和谐的殷切愿望以及以及为现代女性勇于追求平等的权利敲响了警钟。
关键词：女性主义；爱；主动；理性
A Comparative Analysis of Letter from an Unknown Woman
and Lassie Donger from the Perspective of Feminism
Abstract: The thesis attempts to conduct a comparative study between an unknown woman and Donger girl----heroines in the two novels A Letter from an Unknown woman and Lassie Donger through analytic contrast and comparison with the help of feminism, aiming at analysis their different characteristics and female consciousness under the influence of feminism.
The writer considers that Stefan Zeig and BingXin ’s creation of the two images the unknown woman and Donger girl is of different reflection in feminism thought, thus the comparative of the two characters is of great significance for further discussion of both the theory and the work. The main body of the thesis is divided into two part, first is the unknown woman passive submission and pessimistic attitude towards love and life, the second part is describe Donger’s positive resistance and optimistic attitude which set an example to thousands of women,
The writer intends to study and explore feminist spirit of the unknown woman and Donger girl reflected in the two novels via comparison and contrast between the two characters, from their destinies, sufferance and the endings, as a wake up call to the modern and express the ardent hope for gender harmony in the society.
Key words: feminism; love; active; reason
Table of Contents
摘要.............................................................................................. 错误！未定义书签。Abstract ........................................................................................ 错误！未定义书签。
1 Introduction ............................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
2 Feminist Awakening---The Theoretical Framework of the Thesis (3)
2.1 Foucault ’s Theory of Power Discourse (5)
2.2 Feminist in May Fourth Movement (6)
2.3 Feminism in The Second Sex (7)
3 The Comparative Analysis of the Two Protagonists (8)
3.1 Unknown Woman'S Passive Submission and Pessimistic Attitude (8)
3.1.1 Her Inferior Position in Love (8)
3.1.2 Her Pessimistic Attitude towards her Love and Life (9)
3.2 Donger’s Positive Resistance and Optimistic Attitude (10)
3.21 The Harsh Living Conditions (10)
3.22 Donger’s Optimism towards Life ......................... 错误！未定义书签。
4 Conclusions (12)
References (13)
Acknowledgments (14)
A Comparative Analysis of Letter from an Unknown
Woman and Lassie Donger from the Perspective of
Feminism
Author: Fengminhua M ajor: English Grade: 2012
Advisor: Zengchanghuai
1 Introduction
Stefan Zweig(1881-1942),a famous writer in Australia in 20 century ,has make contribute in novel ,poem, essay and many aspects in literature creation ,especially in the field of middle and short novel. What’s more, as a male writer, he has outstanding achievement in portraying female psychology, complement from Gorky Maxim is known as“The most understanding woman writer in the world”.A Letter from an Unknown Woman, collection in Stefan Zweig’s best beloved stories, described a poignant and heartbreaking tale of strength and madness of unrequired love, in the form of a letter. There is no sign and address in the letter, just statement ,statement of a pe rsist and no strings attached love from a woman to Mr R, who haven’ t recognized her all the time, but she did not regret it ,not to mention complain it, only when her son die did she show herself to Mr R, of everything she has done for him., she just want him to understand her, through a letter. It is said that the figure of the unknown woman is the figure of a perfect woman in Stefan’s heart, he showed his sympathy to the unknown woman, he actually has some kind of the humanism of caring woman ,but still can not get rid of malelism he owned.
On the other hand, Bingxin(1990-1999),who was known as a great poet, writer, translator and children psychologist in modern China, her early works were based on praising love of mothers, children and nature ,however, under the influence of the May 4th movement, she began focusing all kinds of female figures who have strong consciousness ,in her works, they are not only gentle and virtuous, but also have different consuming of lives .A girl name Donger is one of the female figure in Bingxin’s work, she is girl full of braveness, although living in laboring class, she seemed fear nothing in her life, even when in her childhood, she behaved
extraordinary, trying to comfort her mother when lost her father in her 7,evidently,she is a model of modern woman’s encourage and braveness created by Bingxin. Obviously, Stefan Zeig and Bingxin are writers with feminism ideas, more or less, they realized woman is as important as man in society, and they should be concentrate on an d educated, like Simon Bo V ova said in the Second Sex“woman was not born but made, and woman was not a nature, would rather to say a journey of the process”. Nevertheless, the two authors point of views are not totally in common, their feminism extent is also different, one is to pity while the other standing against the unfairness ,A Letter From an Unknown woman begin with“To you, who have never know me” expressed her sadness and helpless, also, her love to Mr R is a kind of autosadism, she watched him, watched his habits, kissed the door-handle he had touched, picked up the cigarette-end he had thrown away, all in all she had done for him, she kept in silence, she is too weak to speak herself ,not because she doesn’t want to. In the opposite, A Girl Name Donger, described a daughter figure from a mother, and her life is seems plausible ,due to her strength ,she can always make her tough life a little fluent, her appearance is just like her character “round head big eyes, black skin, completely as a boy” ,ho wever, she comforted her mother to depend on her when lost her father in 7,she helped her mother sold product in the market in her 8 to 9,and never let the solider own the money ,her love and marriage is also plausible too, in a word ,her life is worth learning. my object, through giving a bound of comparison between the two leading characters(the unknown woman and Donger),about their characteristic and experience, including analyzing their different outcomes, as a wake-up call to the temporary woman who should rethink their issue and status of woman in the present age.
2 Feminist Awakening---The Theoretical Framework of the Thesis
2.1 Foucault ’s Theory of Power Discourse
The society own a great debt to Foucault in feminism development after Marx and Feud S igmund ,as a great philosopher ,Foucault’ theory have offer many tips to feminism researches ,Elizabeth groz has ever said ,Marginal and Depress discourse of Foucault presented a pluralistic concept of power ,which is helpful for women to resist the male d iscourse on the micro level ,it can see that Foucault’ s theory of power discourse is a theory work to the feminism culture and it can also be use to
analysis the two literary creations :A Letter From an Unknown Woman and A Girl name Donger.
In Foucault’s book Madness and Civilization, Foucault has found such a situation, in the madhouse, no one seem to concern about the madmen’ s word, even the doctor of the madhouse were not willing to listen to them, to know what they said and why they say so, because their words was treated as meaningless, it is the same to the woman, in man power society, male as the first sex own the priority power to talk, in the contrary, female lost their power to express themselves ,which would put some kind of press to the weakness to press them speak it bravely, or just keep silence, in the beginning of A Letter from an Unknown woman, Mr R received a letter with an unfamiliar handwriting, no sign ,no address ,a woman’s love to a man turn into script, but when Mr R read this letter, unknown has pass away ,she won a chance to speak herself only in the end of her life, in a hand script ,suppose she dare to speak out earlier ,would she end up her life this way? In the opposite ,Donger girl would like to speak to the point ,shapely and appropriately, like condemning her neighbor for stealing her mother’s corn, although her mother didn’t care about it, and when her neighbor admitted it, she responded with a smile“if you want it, just told my mother, she would give it to you, an honest person doesn’t do anything underhand, it would become even worse if we child have seen you do that...”it follow that if you wanted to be understand ,you must speak yourself ,especially for woman.
2.2 Feminist in May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement is a national anti imperialist patriotic movement in China, thus, the female in China reacted an unprecedented patriotic enthusiasm and decisive courage to fight ,especially the female students .
Bingxin is one of the patriotic woman in May Fourth Movement, actually, the May 4th movement has also changed her life in return, which help her come out of the small family and become a consciousness new female, at the meanwhile, her writing style was also effected, after the May 4th Movement, she began to get focus on feminism and its development .A Girl Name Donger, under Bingxin intentionally portrayed ,a brave ,strong and kind- hearted female figure appeared, it is totally different from what she had written before and it can be obviously understand that in modern period ,feminism is a thoughtful issue for the reader and critic.
2.3 Feminism in The Second Sex
Simon Bo V ova(1908-1986),the author of the Second Sex, who is acclaimed by French pre-president Mitterrand as“ the most outstanding writer of French and th e world,” is well known as one of the most important woman in 20th century, as a vanguard of feminist literary criticism ,she has been concerned and studied by her peers and later generations, her feminist thought and literary theory have a far reaching influence on the development of woman movement and feminist literary theory throughout the world ,and Second Sex is divided into three part, the first part is criticizing the traditional concept that woman is regard as the second sex in the patriarchal culture, in the social history and reality, woman, the passive object ,is always inferior to man ,furthermore ,female is defined as the“castrated male”between male and asexuality in the male standard patriarchal society ,and that is exactly why the unknown woman afraid to show herself to Mr R, she convinced that she is in the lower place somehow, her mother is a widow, but she refused to change their fate herself, instead, she choose to remarried a man and depended on him, what made the unknown woman believe that the man is whom controlling the world, and the woman is in the second place .
The second part is the equal female value theory that initiate individual .woman, as the other equal sex of human being ,is such an independent individual as man, she has the same capability and potentiality to develop and surpass self, there is no innate, popular and fixed woman value ,her value should be judged by each woman’s reality and specific behaviors, like Donger girl, such a brave ,kind -heart girl should be respected and taken as a model of woman, she always keeping her hope and trying to change her life ,which is difficult for woman who were subordinate in many aspects ,in a word, what is done by Donger girl is of great value for woman to learn from.
The third part is to explore woman’s ideal living situation on the base of the former two aspects, under the precondition of the changed social system and concepts of all the mankind, the woman should be get rid of the man-center concept, develop herself all sidedly and freely, and realize her individual value in an equal capacity and surpass the special woman situation, through comparing unknown and Donger girl ,feminist spirit as well as feminist thought reflected, ardent hope for gender harmony interpreted in the two works ,it is believed that through struggling all the
time ,woman would finally get their equal right.
3 The Comparative Analysis of the Two Protagonists
This thesis intends to present a detailed analysis of the two protagonists from the perspective of feminism, so as to explore the significance in the two works.
3.1 Unknown W oman’s Passive Submission and Pessimistic Attitude
As for the unknown woman, throughout the novel the protagonist presents the audience a submissive and obedient woman who is waiting for the man’s attention and love, while also possessing a pessimistic attitude for life, which has undoubtedly let to her final endings.
3.11 Her Inferior Position in Love
As is known to all ,love begin with two equal hearts，However ,unknown woman is such self-abased that she didn’t realize it, she has always carried a torch for Mr R since 16,her love begin with illusion and adoration ,before Mr R came into her life ,it has been a tough one to her, she described it as“gloomy and confused ,a memory as of a cellar fill with dusty ,dull and cob-wedded things and people ”she has no concern ,not the surrounding she live in, as well as her widow mother, she lost her father when she was young and she thought her mother could think of nothing but herself trouble, she had little in common with a growing girl, also, the fact that her mother remarried another man have affected her. The Lack of paternal love lead to her strong longing for a father’s love, s o, she was full of adoration when she found her new neighbor has so many books she never seen, she thought about him the whole evening and began to conceit Mr R as an old man with spectacles and long white beard a kind ,nice-look and gentle man ,just as her ideal father figure exited in her imagination, this is the illusion of the unknown woman to Mr R before she meet him. However ,when she found Mr R is different from the imagination she conjured up ,when she found Mr R was a handsome ,bright and lively big boy, she felt surprised and astound, on the other hand ,she felt in love with him ,in a more slavish way. Though Stefan zweig, through the letter, reveal the maltreatment women has undergone in a male-ruled society and shows his sympathy towards the woman, this inferior status of woman is actually what they desire.
3.12 Her Pessimistic Attitude towards her Love and Life
It is widely accepted that love and marriage are most common and the most important concerns in life ,especially for woman ,it is also true to the unknown woman ,but she denied it, she didn’t follow her heart, instead ,she desired for the so call true love and even spent her whole life to pursue it .In the letter , for seven times she repeated“you didn’t recognize me”, and competed for five times she repeated her boy’s death ,which make people feel the omnipresence of her grief and complaint all the time, ,but she denied it ,again ,she really ready to meet her fate ,although it is unfair to her, she was too afraid, afraid that Mr R woul d misunderstand her ,so “I am not accusing you ,believe me ,I am not coming ,you must forgive me if for the moment, now and then ,it seems as if my pen had been dipped in gall, you must forgive me...”she would never forget to explain herself, her selfless intention to him“I ask your forgiveness for speaking of these thing ,I shall never speak of them again...”such kind of explain keep emerging in the letter, like a blamed litter girl beg her mother’s forgiveness, also, she has done many other things for Mr R and asked for no reward ,in so long time, she never cease her love to Mr R, being three years one side love to him，she waited him for the whole cold and darkness night just want him to keep her when she knew she was to leave him ,she torment herself the days she far from him ,she gave birth to their baby after their three nights roman ,in order to give her baby a costly upbringing ,she sold herself, as a prostitute ,but she never accept any admirers love ,even she know if accepted ,her life would be guaranteed, the only reason is to wait him ,wait for his summon although maybe it is just one more night...her love to Mr R is always keep in silence ,it is not until her boy die did she turn out her love to Mr R ,and what she need is Mr R patience to read the letter and every year in his own birthday get some rose and put them in the vase ,just as she done for him those years...
Simon Bo V ova has ever said in the Second Sex“the battle of the sexes is not implicit in the anatomy of man and woman ,the true is that when one evokes it, one take it for granted that in the timeless realm of ideas a battle is being waged between those vague essence the Eternal feminine and the eternal Masculine ,and one neglect the fact that this titanic combat assumes on earth two totally different forms, corresponding with two different moment of history...”clearly, as a male story maker
Stefan’s understanding of woman couldn’t be complete bounded by his gender, he placed the unknown woman into such a selfless position, by no means she should devoted her whole life to the man she loved, he neglected woman also have right to pursuing love and being love ,in addition, as a new woman ,their value of love and marriage is seen develop with the development of the culture and society.
3.2 Do nger’s Positive Resistance and Optimistic Attitude
On the contrast, Donger has presented an image who is positively fighting for her life, who is always trying to seek the hope for life and finally become an indomitable fighter in the pursuit of her own happiness.
3.21 The Harsh Living Conditions
Similarly, Donger girl, character in Bingxin ’s work, was also have a hard time in her childhood, in that not so peaceful year, her father was missing at her age of 4, at that time, her mother has crying for the hole three nights but have nothing to do with it, after all ,her mother refused her uncle’s help for his own life was not that easy too, from then on, she and her mother began to hit the rock into power to mix with the rice so that it can get a better profit ,in the bitter winter, tears would freezing in their faces, and Donger was just 4 years old, she had already had to take care of herself ,most of the time, she can play with no one but herself, she often climbed to the kang( a heatable brick bad in north China)for fun ,sometimes, she fell from it, then she cried, if her mother saw it ,they would cry together. Growing to the age 7,she can sold things like chicken and ducks, to make a living, she must carried to the market, every day she has to walk about almost 7 kilometers, but she never complain it ,she always said to her mother“father has abandoned us ,its no use to cry for the spill milk ,just forget him, you can count on me ,I can sell chicken, tomatoes, carrots to support our life, it must be strong er than when he was here...”
She can make it ,it seems that she has already has a deep understanding in life , she knew exactly she herself is the person who should depend on ,her active position won her life and also her love .Bingxin in the thirteen of last century short story A Girl Name Donger is different from her early creation of the “philosopy of love” ,in this narrative, she made major adjustment, showing a complete plain, simple and positive features, it is particularly notable that A Girl Name Donger writes on the life of laboring class and the underlying concerns of women . what even worth concern is.
Donger girl’s figure is described from a mother’s voice, which make it easily to understand her hardship and dreariness ,and her active position in life showed most vividly, she represented the modern women ’s spirit of self –reliance and self –confidence, is worthy of our learning paradigm. obviously, during this time, Bingxin, as a female writer, has rethink the woman’s issue, as a daughter ,a woman and a mother, which she has a more profound understanding about it.
3.22 Donger’s Optimism towards Life
Donger girl always tried her best to defend her right bravely in front of her rough life ,when she sold things ,she sold it to the soldier, particularly, whom the vendor afraid of, because sometimes they couldn’t get the money, even be condemned it, but she does have a way to sell it ,if the solider scared her, she would scared them back ,which make them felt fun and gave her the money ,and if she thought she has sold enough that day, she wouldn’t sell it anymore, even still someone want to buy it. One day, she got sufficient and refused to sell it anymore, two soldiers followed her home, the neighbor saw the soldiers then all escaped to their house, the soldiers laughed and said“Donger girl, please sell us two more tomatoes”, she put down the pole ,answer with her hand on hip“i won’t sell it to you, there is no way i would sell it to you, don’t trifle with me, just get away here quickly...”her mothe r was trembling that time ,however, the soldiers leave it happily. Besides the other time ,she asked the soldiers to put the forage in the backyard and promise to offer them a drink that night ,the soldiers did as she asked for, but she ate her word and escaped to her aunt, thus it can seem Donger’s braveness earns its reputation.
Frank has ever said“if you were a crowded then you become the biggest enemy of yourself, if you were the brave, then you become your sincerest friend of you own” unlike the unknown woman, Donger really adhered her braveness all the time, she couldn’t ignore the existence of the reality the only thing she could do is to live it, do her best to change it, such a doughty woman worth a better life, it was a good character ,her decision and action, to a great extent, standing for the author and millions of woman in the world, the plot of the novel might be not realizable in the society, at least it was an expression of the narrator’s wish, to live freely and bravely.
4 Conclusions
The thesis explores the feminism issue through a comparative analysis of the two protagonists as well as the two works. In stark contrast, Zweig and Bingxin have settled a totally different heroine in their works, with Bingxin presenting a brave, sharp and kind-heart girl figure while Zweig creating a passive, inferior and weak woman. As a woman, Bingxin could not bear the inequality of and woman in the society ,she believed that woman can also hold up half of the sky in a family, even in a country, Donger girl fulfilled her long-cherished dream; but as for Zweig, he had privileged force that given by the society to reveal and complete such a poor and tragic role who is worthy of the audience’s commiseration. Maybe they all intend to convey their concern for the female issue, yet in different ways do they put their values and ideas in their stories, thus creating two different images.
The thesis intends to arouse the attention for woman, promote the realization of real equality and harmony between the two genders, for there exists undoubted inequality between the two genders. Donger presents the female temperament in Bingxin ’s heart and her hope for the vanishing of the unfairness between man and woman, at last it shows the female consciousness of the two authors, as they come from different times and countries, they have created two different leading characteristics. However, they also have something in common to some degree, with both of them having realized the inferior position of woman, yet, due to their different genders, they have different attitudes toward the feminism idea. This is provoking enough for women to ponder that it is only through their own effort can they really become independent. The thesis intends to awaken the woman to the realization of the equality and harmony issue between the two genders, so it is of great significance to analyze the different woman characters in contrast and comparison, especially created by different genders; the comparative study between the unknown woman and Donger girl is essential to the issue of gender equality.
References
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A girl name Donger ,Bingxin, publishing house of Nanjing University 1999 140-147页.
Bo V ova, Simon. 2004. The Second sex[M]. Interpreted by Li Qiang. XiFan publishing company.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all the people who make it possible for me to focus on the thesis.
Firstly, my deepest thanks will first go to my supervisor, Miss Zeng, for her excellent guide in the process of producing this thesis, enlightening me with suggestive ideas and creative perspectives, polishing the manuscript of the paper. Besides, I also want to thank her for giving us the valuable advises of paper writing and the excellent article format.
Secondly, other thanks also go to all the teachers in the Department of English, whose courses have expanded my scope of knowledge and improved my English.
Last but not least, I would also express my thanks to my friends and my family, for their spiritual and practical support during my study.