A Feminist Approach to Josephine March in Little Women 从女性主义视角解析《小妇人》中约瑟芬·马奇的形象文献综述

 2023-05-06 09:47:02

文献综述

1.Introduction1.1 Research backgroundLouisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is one of the most famous American female writers. Under the influence of her father, she developed an early interest in writing. To help support her poor family, Alcott had to earn money as a maid, governess and seamstress before becoming a professional writer. Her father, Bronson Alcott, was such a utopian from Concord, Massachusetts that throughout his life he can not support his family. The burden of making ends meet fell first to his wife and then to his enterprising second daughter, Louisa Alcott, who studied at school, worked as a seamstress and a nurse, did laundry and at the age of fifteen served as a servant. Alcott was largely influenced by her mothers strong personality and spirit. She received higher education at a young age and then went to university. In this context, Alcott formed the thought that women should become independent and pursue freedom not only at home but in society. As she grew up, she developed her own view on the world and her feminist ideas sprouted therein.In the 1840s, the first womens movement began in the United States. The movement focused on fighting for equal rights, that is, to give women equal status and freedom so that they could obtain both economic and psychological independence. This phenomenon was also reflected in the field of literature. At that time, female writers made attempts and extended the pursuit of equality to the social and cultural field. In 1868, a publisher suggested that Alcott write a book for girls, so Little women came out and it was based on her childhood memories. When serving as a nurse during the Civil War, Alcott was treated with dried mercury for typhoid fever, thereby resulting in mercury poisoning that plagued her for the rest of her life. Little women centers on the life of an ordinary family in New England. In the story, she describes herself as Josephine March. Margaret March, Amy March and Elizabeth March respectively epitomize her three sisters. As for Laurie, his prototype is a young musician whom Alcott met while accompanying a lady on a trip to Europe in 1865 and with whom she had a romantic affair but in failure. To some extent, the image of the writer Alcott is more or less reflected from the protagonist, which integrates her pursuit of family affection and love apart from her dialectical thinking about social classes and existing contradictions in society. She describes the psychological growth and emotional process of the four heroines in detail, singing highly of loyalty, selflessness and equality, etc. Little women symbolizes the peak of Alcotts feminist thought. The main line of the novel is the emotional entanglement among family members. The four daughters of the March family struggle for love and life, and their different personalities lead to different life outcomes. Meg longs for pure love and marries a boy in her twenties and lives a poor but happy life. Josephine March is independent and self-disciplined, fond of writing and reading. The traditional female image is diluted on her, and she is not willing to be a housewife. Through hard work, she later becomes a writer. Beth shows more philosophical thoughts on life, death and survival. She is tough, brave, not afraid of death, and can face life calmly and directly. However, she passes away in her twenties. Amy is happy to help the weak and later establishes charities. After marriage, she and her husband respect each other. Although their pursuit differs from each other, these four sisters attach importance to family and love whilst showing independence, strong will, self-discipline and self-improvement in the process of chasing ideals. In Little women, Alcott breaks through the description of traditional female images and advocates womens self-reliance. The significance lies in the fact that, firstly, female consciousness and female perspective permeate the whole novel. Secondly, it subverts the traditional stereotypes and concepts of women, which is innovative. Thirdly, womens unique survival and life experiences have a conscious disclosure. Little women reflects womens psychological consciousness to certain extent and is an innovative attempt of womens construction of self-expression in the literary world. In this context, the thesis is to analyze Josephine March in Little women from the perspective of feminism. 1.2 Literature review Since its publication in 1896, Little women has been translated into dozens of languages and won the admiration of numerous readers. for instance, Linda Grasso (1998) argues that its charm lies in the fact that the author shows us the life of an ordinary family full of love. Judith Fetterley (1979) points out that it is a model of home education, allowing children to freely develop their curiosity and imagination.Over the past decade, both foreign and Chinese scholars have conducted research on Little women. Foreign scholars discuss the novel in aspects of womens survival (Damani, 2017; Yunanda, 2017), womens struggle against gender inequality (Desmawati, 2018), womens contribution to feminism during its formative period (Biswas, 2021), etc. Chinese scholars focus on the analysis of its four heroines (Pi, 2015), feminist consciousness (Jia, 2016), and feminist values (Zhu, 2017). There are three essaysstudyingLittle womenfromtheperspectiveoffeminism.Among them, Pi (2015) analyzes female characters from four perspectives: background of feminism, American cultural ideology, family education and comparison of characters life experiences. By depicting heroines precisely, Alcott displays American culture, tradition and social life. The March girls are common in some aspects whilst differing in many ways. Different from previous studies, Zhu (2017) combines Michel Foucaults theory of power and discourse and Virginia Woolfs theory of fighting for a room of oneself with the story content in the aspect of feminist value. Although its settings seem to be simple and conceptional, she considers this work a classic and reflection of early feminism in literature. From her point of view, Little women is cutting-edged when it comes to the view on marriage, love and gender.It is noted that Jia (2016) analyzes Alcotts feminist thought on independence, self-reliance, love, wealth, freedom and equality in Little women. He focuses on the analysis of four heroines characters and their life experiences from three perspectives: feminism and feminist literature; feminism and the author; feminism and Little women. However, this thesis concentrates on Josephine Marchs feminist thoughts reflected in her marriage, the society she lives in and her work.However, some problems still deserve further study. On the one hand, most of the studies are phenomenon-oriented and lack a thorough exploration on the explanation of varied causes. On the other, these essays do not provide a possible solution for women who are faced with sufferings in life. As far as the author of this thesis can figure out, almost no scholar has analyzed Josephine March in aspects of her marriage, the patriarchal society she is in and her work, which will be the focus of this thesis. 1.3 Need of the studyThis thesis aims to interpret Josephine March in Little women from the perspective of feminism. The studyhas both practical and academic meanings.On one hand, the study can offer readers the access to Alcotts feminist ideas through the portrait of Josephine March. On the other hand, through deconstructing the patriarchal society and further interpreting Josephine Marchs female consciousness, it can encourage modern women to pursue equal status and emancipation of mind.2. The theory of feminismFeminism is an interdisciplinary approach to issues of equality and equity based on gender, gender expression, gender identity, sex, and sexuality as understood through social theories and political activism (Day, 2016).2.1 Origin and development Feminism derives from Renaissance and Religious Revolution in 14th century. Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio first proposed the idea of pursuing equality between the two different sexes. In response to man-dominated society, the feminist movements come to womens rescue. Scholars have constantly enriched the study of feminism and divided it into three phases. First-wave feminism took place in the late 1700s and early 1900s. It refers to womens liberation movement in the later 19th century, calling for their rights to vote. Women claimed for the treatment on civil rights, political rights, opposed aristocratic privileges and polygamy and emphasized that there was no difference between men and women in intelligence and ability.Second-wave feminism started from 1960s to 1980s and America was considered the cradle of this wave. Campaigners emphasized the elimination of the unequal pay between men and women for equal work. Various feminist schools have emerged and female consciousness has turned mature. In literature, they reconstruct imaginary reality in their own words, so they have the right to express their feelings. Kate Millett (1934-2017) points out in her book Sexual politics (1970) that men have oppressed women for a long time. Female consciousness is gradually developing as feminists advocate that should women improve their own rights or question their frustrated lives.Third-wave feminism arguably responds to the previous waves. It was proposed that women should respect, examine, love and care themselves. The movement required men to assist women in getting rid of ignorance and oppression so as to enjoy the same status. In all, the three waves have played an indispensable role in demanding for womens rights and paved the way for the emergence of other feminist movements.2.2 Key conceptsFemale consciousness is an important concept in the theory on feminism. It means womens consciousness of equality and determination to resist inequality, encompassing equality, independence and self-respect, etc., which will be the focus of review in the following paragraphs.2.2.1 Consciousness of equality Hughes (2002) defines equality as sameness, the legislative impact of liberal perspectives of equal rights, the access to education and conditions in the workplace. Consciousness of equality includes that in marriage, work, social status, etc. In the first wave feminism, consciousness of equality was womens suffrage. But when it comes to the second and the third wave feminism, the term becomes more widespread and expands to other dimensions, especially class equality and work equality. For instance, after being beaten by John, Jane Eyre fights back whilst contemplating why she faces injustice and oppression, and finally rebels under the consciousness of equality and independence against John who is an incarnation of male authority.2.2.2 Consciousness of independence Yanay (2010) suggests that independence is associated with self-reliance. It means accomplishing things based on ones own efforts in response to ones own interests and in an attempt to reach self-fulfillment. Womens consciousness of independence is reflected in every field, including politics, economy, literature and work, etc. In The second sex (1948), Beauvoir points out that economic independence is a prerequisite for women to achieve true emancipation. Only when they go out of the family to participate in social labor can they have independent personality, take control of their own life and be responsible for themselves. Similarly, only through labor can women achieve development in all aspects and improve their own value.2.2.3 Consciousness of self-respect According to Dillon (1992), self-respect is a rich complex of beliefs, attitudes, and expectations with regard to oneself, as well as certain modes of acting and reacting. It includes appraisal self-respect and recognition self-respect and its core is a kind of valuing of oneself: the self-respecting person has a keen appreciation of her own worth. Women can only get fair treatment if they firstly respect themselves. For instance, what Jane Eyre insists on doing makes readers realize that when facing temptation, women can make suitable choices by virtue of self-respect.2.3 Significance Feminist literary criticism emerged with the development of feminist literature in Western countries, thus bringing new vigor and vitality to western literary criticism. Firstly, feminism has introduced once-shadowed areas: gender, gender, body and desire into the field of literary criticism; it has also broken the old mode of literary criticism and provides vast thinking space. Secondly, feminism is conducive to the improvement of gender harmony and development of civilization. Thirdly, it advances the development of women and safeguards their rights, which can further elevate their status and ultimately help them achieve equality. ReferencesAlcott, L. M. (2005). Little women. Qingdao: Qingdao Press.Dawson, J. (2003). Little women out to work: Women and the marketplace in Louisa May Alcotts Little women and work. Childrens literature in education, 2,111-130.Day, L. (Feb. 18, 2016). What is feminism?'Women amp; gender studies at eastern Kentucky university. Retrieved Feb 5, 2022, from https://wgs.eku.edu/what-feminism-0Desmawati, E. (2018). Analysis of feminism in the novel of Little women by Louisa May Alcott. The journal of language amp; literature 2, 91-96.Dillon, R. S. (2020). Toward a feminist conception of self-Respect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Fetterley, J. (1979). Little women: Alcotts civil war. Feminist Studies 5, 369-383.Gilman, C. P. (2010). Women and economics. New York: Cosimo Classics.Grasso, L. (1998). Louisa May Alcotts magic inkstand: Little women, feminism, and the myth of regeneration. A journal of women studies 19, 177-192.Hughes, C. (2002). Key concepts in feminist theory and research. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.Lefevere, A. (2006). Translating literature: Practice and theory in a comparative literature context. New York: Modern Language Association of America.Edward, N. (2018).The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Stanford：Stanford University Press.Olga, C., 莱辛女性意识再探，《中国文学研究》，（2）：19-33。

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