A COMPARISON OF THE TWO HEROINES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FEMINISM
IN THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
BY
CHENG XIAOJING SUPERVISOR: LV XIA
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES SHENYANG LIGONG UNIVERSITY
JUNE 2012
Acknowledgements
On the completion of the paper, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who assist me and support me to successfully finish the paper.
My sincere gratitude and thanks are due first to the supervisor of my paper, Lv xia, who guided me to the right direction towards the accomplishment of this work, gave me valuable instructions and encouraging comments through the process of completing the paper. She has spent enormous time and energy in my research design and revising my drafts patiently and carefully. Without her generous and tremendous help and guidance the paper would otherwise be very difficult for me to finish. Without her valuable insight and constructive suggestion, the accomplishment of the paper would be impossible.
My cordial gratefulness also goes to the student, Hu yaxu in Xiamen University, who offered me large amount of relevant materials to fulfill the paper.
I am also grateful for my family, who provide me financial and spiritual support, and my friends and classmates, for their discussion with me and encouragement on me.
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Abstract
As one of the most influential female writers in America at the end of 19th century, Edith Wharton wrote many works of different genres, such as novels, poems, critic essays and so on. As a female writer, Edith Wharton is aware of the status and role of women at that time. The Pulitzer-Winning The Age of Innocence is a novel which concentrates on women’s fates under the strict conventions of the Old New York society.
This paper gives a comparison of the two heroines from the perspective of feminism in The Age of Innocence. It is composed of three parts: Chapter one gives an introduction to Edith Wharton, the novel of The Age of Innocence, and the theory of feminism. Chapter two discusses the two heroines May and Ellen, separately stating how May transfers from a victim who is silent to surroundings and suppressed by the social confinements to a woman with considerable strength, and Ellen, from a brave warrior breaking the rule of silence on social occasions and fighting with social confinements to a self-sacrifice woman. At the same time the paper discusses the two causes of arduousness of woman’s struggle. One is daring social conventions and the other is Patriarchal principles. From all above a conclusion can be drawn that in the society where patriarchal influence is still the main stream, feminism seems to be unattainable and needs a far-flung process to come true.
Key words: feminism; confinement; self-sacrifice; patriarchy
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摘 要
作为二十世纪末美国最具影响力的女作家之一，伊迪丝·华顿著有许多题材繁多，风格迥异的作品，从小说，诗歌到文学批评等。作为一个女性作家，华顿对那个时代女性的地位和在社会以及家庭中的角色进行了深入的了解和剖析。而获得普利策奖的《纯真年代》更是一部关注“旧纽约”时代下被严格束缚的女性命运的作品。
本篇论文从女性主义的角度对比分析了《纯真年代》中两个女主人公。论文共分为三部分，第一部分分别介绍了作者伊迪丝·华顿，小说《纯真年代》和女性主义的理论。第二部分分别讨论两个女主人公。从中我们看到梅是怎样从一个对周遭环境沉默和受社会传统束缚的受害者到为捍卫婚姻和家庭拥有强大勇气的新女性；同时我们也看到了一位敢于打破沉默、同传统束缚作斗争的新女性到一个拥有自我牺牲精神的女性角色。同时也指出由于受父权社会压迫和可怕的社会制度束缚，女性意识觉醒的艰难。综上所述，在第三部分我们得出在父权思想占据社会主流思想的社会，女性主义的实现是艰难的，是需要经过长期奋斗才能实现的。
关键词：女性主义；束缚；自我牺牲；父权
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