下载文档原格式
美国文学作品中女性形象研究美国文学中，女性形象是一个极其重要的研究对象。
女性形象不仅是文学作品中的主要人物之一，也是反映作者对女性问题和社会角色的思考和表达。
本文通过分析美国文学中几个经典的女性形象，探讨了女性在文学中的独特表现和意义。
1. 艾米丽·狄金森（Emily Dickinson）艾米丽·狄金森被誉为美国诗歌史上的一个里程碑，她的诗歌在个人、思想、感情等方面具有非凡的独立性和原创性。
狄金森的诗歌中大量地强调了女性自我意识，她批判了女性应该被动、虚弱和无助的传统形象，把女性主体性和独立性展现得淋漓尽致。
她的《没有物质美》表达了女性对物质和表面美感不屑一顾的批判态度；《力量的活力》中写到“我的思想和我的举止都是自由的”，展现了女性独立自主的精神。
通过狄金森的诗歌，我们可以看到女性在文学中刻画自我意识和自我解放的形象。
2. 斯嘉丽·奥哈拉（Scarlett O'Hara）《飘》的女主角斯嘉丽·奥哈拉是一个极具争议性的女性形象。
她的个性坚强、果敢、自信，却也容易被视为虚伪、利己和不道德。
她在小说中经历了家族的沦落、个人的挫败和爱情的离奇曲折，最终通过自己的努力摆脱了困境。
斯嘉丽的形象被看作是对当时美国南方妇女形象的极端扭曲和反叛，她展现了女性自信和独立精神的另一面。
而同时，斯嘉丽的形象也被批判为过分崇拜权力、金钱和男人，对于女性自我定位的反思和质问仍然存在。
3. 伊迪丝·惠顿（Edith Wharton）伊迪丝·惠顿是美国文学史上最具代表性的女性作家之一，她的小说中塑造了很多精致而复杂的女性形象。
惠顿的小说反映了当时美国社会的种种变化和矛盾，她的女性形象则展现了女性在那个时代中的各种角色和命运。
例如，在《纯真年代》中的榜样女性莉莲是一个勇敢的独立者，她不屈服于世俗的眼光和传统的限制，通过自己的努力获得了独立的经济地位。
而《红房子》中的莉莲则是一个情感空虚而迷茫的女子，她在爱情和婚姻中受到了现实的压迫和伤害。
Emily Dickinson艾米莉·狄金森(1830 - 1886)1.The usual beginning : her life1) Born to religious, well-to-do New England family•Well-behaved, well-educated, obedient•Expected to become a graceful woman, marry well, and settle into a life of church service2) Heartbreak :•Heartbreak At 24, travels with her father to Washington D.C. Escaping her love of an older lawyer, who was married, and would die of tuberculosis that same year•On the journey, falls in love with Charles Wadsworth, a married pastor of a church in Philadelphia In 1862, Wadsworth leaves for San Francisco, and Emily falls into despair3) The Nun of Amherst : 阿默斯特的女尼•Emily withdraws from social life – except for immediate family gatherings•Dresses all in white – like the wedding gown she would never wear •Communicates mostly through notes4) A Published Poet :•During her period of recluse, Emily send a few poems to be published.•Her poetry was never widely admired during her lifetime•and she assumed her audience would only be her family and few close friends. •Dickinson asked that upon her death, all of her poems be destroyed.5) After her death :•She wrote altogether 1775 poems, of which only seven appeared in print in her lifetime. •These were eventually published and Dickinson has become one of the most widely known of the American poets.2. Themes in her poetry1). The largest poetry concerns death and immortality.For Dickinson, death leads to immortality.•E. g: ―Because I could not Stop for Death‖因为我不能为死神止步Because I could Not Stop For Death因为我不能为死神止步•Beause I could not stop for Death—因为我不能为死神止步•He kindly stopped for me—他却慈祥地为我驻足.•The Carriage held but just Ourselves—那辆马车只能容下我们两个•And Immortality.还有不朽.•We slowly drove— He knew no haste,我们徐徐而行—他不慌不忙. •And I had put away•My labor and my leisure too我也把我的劳与闲统统丢掉一边，•For His Civility —为了他的礼让—•We passed the School where Children strove 我们路过学校,孩子们你推我搡，•At Recess —in the Ring —在休息时间，在圆形广场•We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—我们走过在田间凝眸的麦田—. •We passed the Setting Sun—我们路过夕阳-•Or rather— He passed Us—或毋宁说，他走过我们身旁•The Dews drew quivering and chill—寒露降，身子冻得打颤•For only Gossamer, my Gown—因为我只披着薄纱长袍—•my Tippet —only Tulle—我的披肩如丝网•We paused before a House that seemed 我们停步在一所房子前•A swelling of the Ground—那是隆起的土地一片—•The Roof was scarcely visible—屋顶几乎看不见—•The Cornice —in the Ground—屋檐—在地里—•Since then — `tis Centuries— and yet离那时—已是几个世纪—然而•Feels shorter than the Day感觉却比一天还短•I first surmised the Horses' Heads•我开始猜想着马车•Were toward Eternity—•正驶向永恒—该诗的核心意象是通向永恒的生命旅程.Journey of life：•the School--childhood•the Field --adult/maturity•the Setting Sun - old age•the grave - end of life’s journey-death--EternityDetailed analysis of the poem•The first line hints that death is not the final stopping place or terminus of existence.•i had...too:figuratively I put behind me the labour and toil of worldly existence. Literally, as a courteous passenger she puts aside her work, possibly her knitting ("labour") and gives all her attention to the coach driver (Death).•where...ring: they pass children at playtime ("recess") actively engaged in playing a game (symbolic of the world, and/or of meaningless worldly striving).•fileds of gazing grain: cornfields,perhaps suggestive of harvest, or the cycle of the seasons, the natural world she is leaving behind. ("Gazing" is nicely alliterative but difficult to explain to expain-may mean simply something gazed at through the carriage window).•The dews: in the English culture, drew is traditionally associated with transience and also, because of a dew-drop's pearl like shape, with the soul.•My tippet only tulle:my fur was only soft fine silk (I wore little to protect me from the cold). •We...ground: a grave or tomb. ("paused"implies that burial in a grave signfied no more than a temporary restinplace before the soul attends to heaven).•Since then 'tis centuries:time is meaningless in terms of eternity,and therefore it seems no time at all since she first suspected("surmised")that the horse drawing Death's carriage were heading for Eternity. •"Surmised"is a beautifully apt word in this context because it tactfully suggeste something less than a certitude, but someting more than guess or conjecture-the sound of the word with its long drawn out second syllable counts for a good deal here(possibly about Cortez the explorer first viewing the continent of South America:"...and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmise..."). •Other poems dealing with death:•My life closed twice before its close在我生命结束之前已经结束过两次•I heard a fly buzz—when I died我死时听到了苍蝇的嗡嗡声She began to conceive of the process of dying.2). She regards nature as both kind and cruel•Extol the magnificence of sunrise in ―I’ll tell you how sun rise‖我将告诉你太阳如何升起,•In the meantime, reveal the cold indifference of nature.•In ―Apparently with no surprise‖显然地并无伴随惊讶, Frost kills a happy flower without being punished while both the sun and God look on.3). On the ethical level she emphasizes free-will and human responsibility.•In ―To fight aloud‖•The individual’s highest duty is to resist anything that will do harm to man’s self-respect and spiritual heritage.4). Like Emerson, she holds that beauty, truth and goodness are ultimately one.•In ―I died for beauty‖(我为美而死), discusses beauty and truth, concludes that the two are one.I Died for Beauty— But was scarce•I died for Beauty — but was scarce我为美而死—但还不怎么•Adjusted in the Tomb适应坟墓里的生活，•When One who died for Truth , was lain这时一位为真理而死的人被安放在•In an adjoining Room —隔壁墓室里—•He questioned softly"Why I failed?―他柔声问：―我为什么而亡？‖•"For Beauty ",I replied —―为了美‖，我回答说—•"And I — for Truth — Themself are One —―我—为了真理—美和真是一样的—•We Bretheren, are", He said —我们两是兄弟‖，他说•And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night —就这样，像亲人在夜里相遇。
