（英语语言文学专业论文）性别与种族的两难困境——多丽丝·莱辛《野草在歌唱》的文本解读.pdf

iv 摘摘 要要 多丽丝莱辛，出生于伊朗， 是当今世界上杰出的英国女性作家。她的小 说以开阔的视野、敏锐的洞察力和犀利的笔触记录了二十世纪的多变。战争、爱 情、两性关系、种族及其他社会现实都被她编织到自己的作品中去。 野草在歌唱是她的第一部小说，出版于 1950 年。因为莱辛六岁就住在 非洲，直到二十九岁才离开非洲大草原，非洲的生活在她的心灵上留下了深深的 烙印。因此她的处女作野草在歌唱就是以非洲南部为背景，深刻记录和描述 了那块土地上白人和黑人的种族政治以及黑人、妇女和穷苦白人的悲惨命运。 野草在歌唱描述了一个无助、软弱、深深依恋其黑人男仆的白人女性 玛丽特纳，以及她与黑人男仆摩西发生暧昧关系的故事。然而，当这种暧昧关 系暴露时，玛丽的白人优越感的本性就流露出来，内心的排斥使玛丽不能坦白与 摩西的关系，她喝斥摩西离开。玛丽的羞辱激怒了摩西，燃起了他心中的怒火， 于是他举起了愤怒的利刃砍向玛丽。 玛丽和摩西这种复杂又微妙的关系正是白人 女性和黑人男性关系的体现。他们都陷入了性别和种族的两难困境当中。在二十 世纪五十年代，白人和黑人的暧昧关系是不被允许的，死亡是玛丽和摩西无法逃 避的命运。也正是因为这种性别和种族的尴尬困境，他们都迷失了自我，无法认 识到自我身份的失衡，因此，白人女性和黑人男性的关系也必将走向终结。 论文分为四部分。第一部分简要介绍了多丽丝莱辛的生平及创作，回顾 了野草在歌唱的内容及相关评论，并提出本论文的研究目的及意义。同时详 细介绍了性别研究及后殖民主义的相关理论。 包括西蒙娜 德 波伏娃 第二性 中关于“女性气质”的探索，康奈尔男性气质中关于“男性气质”的论述以 v 及爱德华萨义德东方学中关于主观的“东方主义者”注视和无声的“他者” 的研究。 第二部分从性别和种族的对立关系角度，结合野草在歌唱中男女主人 公的悲剧命运，探讨了白人女性和黑人男性的关系问题。这种对立的产生是由殖 民者的偏见和被殖民者的悲惨， 以及女主人公玛丽脆弱而又白人中心的矛盾女性 气质和男主人公摩西 “他者” 的边缘化男性气质决定的。 第三部分分别探析了 野 草在歌唱中男女主人公自我身份的失衡以及这种失衡的根源，即性别和种族的 两难困境。 最后是论文结论。基于以上分析，结论部分综述了全文论述的主要观点， 即因为性别和种族的两难困境，白人女性和黑人男性的关系必将走向终结。 关键词：关键词：性别；种族；对立；困境 ii abstract doris lessing, an iranian-born british writer, is famous as one of the most important woman writers in the world. her novels concentrate on a diverse range of the twentieth-century issues and concerns. war, love, sex, race and other social realities are all reflected in her novels. the grass is singing, her first novel, was published in 1950. since doris lessing lived in the african veldt from six to twenty-nine years old, africa impresses her a lot. thus the novel the grass is singing is africa-based and it depicts the racial politics between whites and blacks in that country and analyses through the description of the tragic destiny of the blacks, the women and the poor white colonists. in the grass is singing, mary turner, a helpless white woman, loses her authority over her black houseboy, moses. besides, a personal sexual relationship develops between mary and moses. however, when mary denies this and their relationship is disclosed she tries to send moses away. finally, he murders her. their complicated and intricate relationship is a reflection of the relationship between the white female and the black male. they are both lost in the predicament of gender and race. sexual relationship between a white and a black is not allowed in the age of 1950s. death is destiny for mary and moses. because of this embarrassing gender and racial dilemma, the loss of equilibrium of both mary and moses self-identity is inescapable, so is the destructive relationship of the white female and the black male. iii the thesis is composed of four parts. firstly it goes an introduction to doris lessing and the grass is singing, together with the purpose and significance of the thesis. also it introduces gender studies of “femininity” in simon de beauvoirs the second sex and “masculinity” in r.w.connels masculinities. in addition, the subjective gaze of “orientalist” and the silent “other” in edward saids orientalism are also introduced. in the second chapter, it analyses the conflicting opposition between the colonizers prejudicial ideas of the colonized and the miserable life of the black natives, and depicts the relationship between the heroine mary with her fragile femininity and central “self”, and the hero moses with his marginalized masculinity and silent “other”, from the perspective of the conflicting relationship in gender and race. in the third chapter, it describes how the details in the grass is singing reflect the loss of equilibrium of both mary and moses self-identity as a result of gender and racial dilemma. finally it comes to the conclusion of the thesis. summing up the main points stated in the thesis, the conclusion reiterates the destructive relationship of white female and the black male due to the gender and racial dilemma. key words: gender, race, conflict, dilemma 学位论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的硕士学位论文，是本人在指导教师的指导下， 独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不 包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。对本文的研究做出 重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确的方式标明。本人完全意识到本 声明的法律结果由本人承担。 作者签名： 日期： 学位论文使用授权声明 本人授权沈阳师范大学研究生处，将本人硕士学位论文的全部或部分内 容编入有关数据库进行检索；有权保留学位论文并向国家主管部门或其指定 机构送交论文的电子版和纸质版，允许论文被查阅和借阅；有权可以采用影 印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存、汇编学位论文。保密的学位论文在解密后 适用本规定。 作者签名： 日期： i acknowledgements i would like to take this chance to express my sincere gratitude to professor wang jianhui, my supervisor, for his patient guidance and helpful instructions to all aspects of my thesis. in the past three years of my postgraduate time, he has always been ready to give me his warm-hearted encouragement and support. i also owe my classmates and friends a lot, who have shared my happiness and frustrations during the research of my thesis. and my special thanks to all the teachers and professors in the school of foreign languages at shenyang normal university. their lectures embark me on the field of the english literature studies. finally, i am grateful to my parent. without their support, it would be impossible for me to complete my study, and without their earnest instructions and moral influence on me since my childhood, i would not have had the resolution to dedicate my life to the educational undertakings and pursue my study till now. 1 chapter i introduction a. a brief introduction to doris lessing and the grass is singing doris lessing is an iranian-born british writer, author of more than ten novels, seventy short stories, two dramas, one collection of poems, many papers and reminiscences. in 2007, lessing won the nobel prize in literature. she was described by the swedish academy as “that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny” (/wiki/doris_lessing). lessing is the eleventh woman to win the literature prize, and also the oldest person ever to win the prize. the grass is singing, her first novel, was published in 1950. it describes whats happening in rhodesia (now zimbabwe), in southern africa, during the late 1940s and deals with the racial politics between whites and blacks in that country (which was then a british colony). the novel created a sensation and became an immediate success as soon as it was published. the grass is singing is a bleak and terrifying analysis of a failed marriage, a description of the tragic destiny of the blacks, the women and the poor white colonists, due to gender and racial discrimination and the law of jungle. written in a relentless but devastatingly powerful prose, the novels treatment of the tragic decline of mary and dick turners fortunes becomes a metaphor for the whole white presence in africa (/wiki/the_grass_is_singing). therefore, in the grass 2 is singing, lessing presents the readers a picture of the colonized land, offering the outsiders an opportunity to get a better understanding of the colonies during that period. b. a brief introduction to gender studies and postcolonialism theoretically, gender studies and postcolonialism belong to cultural studies. cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory, which combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies (/wiki/cultural_studies). the researchers of cultural studies often focus on how a particular phenomenon has something to do with matters of ideology, nationality, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, and gender. in literary field, cultural studies concentrates on an analysis of the new voice which makes them into three approaches to literary theory and practice: postcolonialism, african american criticism, and gender studies (bressler 199). so gender studies and postcolonialism are important approaches to provide new ways to see and understand the cultural forces in society. 1. gender studies gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyzes the phenomenon of gender (/wiki/gender_studies). sometimes gender studies is about the studies of class, race, ethnicity, sexuality and location. 3 gender here refers to socially constructed roles that indicate what is masculine and what is feminine. gender is usually premised on the sexed body as its starting point and this is different from biological sex which is a given. in gender studies, the term “gender” is considered as the social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities, not as the state of being male or female. a. “femininity” and simon de beauvoirs the second sex femininity refers to qualities and behaviors judged by a particular culture to be ideally associated with or especially appropriate to women and girls (/wiki/femininity). femininity is different from femaleness, which belongs to a biological and physiological classification concerned with the reproductive system. femininity mainly refers to the behaviors and features generally considered as being more prevalent and better suited to women. the features such as gentleness, patience, sensitivity and kindness are all femininity principles in traditional western culture. the modern social stereotype of a woman is viewed as the complementary opposite of a man. however, theories of femininity explored in the field of gender studies declare that femininity and masculinity are essentially constructed through a process of social construction. besides, general feminists believe that there are positive and negative characteristics of femininity and most of feminists hold the view of negative effects to a woman, which was mentioned in simon de beauvoirs the second sex. with the publication of the second sex in1949, the french philosopher simone 4 de beauvoir becomes a forerunner of feminism and at the same time, the second sex is heralded as the foundational work of twentieth-century feminism. she says: “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” (beauvoir 273). in this book, she declares that the western societies are patriarchal, controlled by males, and she believes that the male in these societies defines what it means to be female and what it means to be feminine: “no biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society; it is civilization as a whole that produces as feminine” (beauvoir 273). in the second sex, in the chapter “the married woman”, simon de beauvoir argues a lot about what it is defined to be feminine for a girl at that society and culture. she says: “for girls marriage is the only means of integration in the community, and if they remain unwanted, they are, socially viewed, so much wastage” (beauvoir 417). thus a girl must plunge into marriage in order to be considered normal and feminine by social standard. marriage, for almost all women, is a crucial point in their life. from the perspective of beauvoir, “marriage is the destiny traditionally offered to women by society” (beauvoir 415), and being married is a necessary feature in feminine principle. then, “she takes his name; she belongs to his religion, his class, his circle; she joins his family, she becomes his half. she follows whatever his work calls him and determines their place of residence; she breaks more or less decisively with her past, becoming attached to her husbands universe” (beauvoir 419). after married, a girls happy single life has announced its end and she has to 5 play another role as a wife, a housewife and even a mother, though it is totally strange and unfamiliar to her, and she has to be used to endless housework. beauvoir argues: “in domestic work, with or without the aid of servants, woman makes her home her own, finds social justification, and provides herself with an occupation, an activity, that deals usefully and satisfying with material objects” (beauvoir 437). however, their husband may not be satisfied with their inappropriate behavior in dealing with daily business. at that time, their pride and confidence will collapse with the complaints of their husband and lead their feminine self to a distorted individual. b. “masculinity” and r.w.connels masculinities primarily, people only concern with feminist theories in literature and criticism. but gender studies broadens traditional feminist criticism to include an investigation not only of “femaleness” but also of “maleness” (bressler 208). generally speaking, masculinity is manly character. it specifically describes men and boys, which are personal and human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can also be used to describe noun classes (/wiki/masculinity). according to australia socialist r. w. connell, there is a binary opposition between masculinity and femininity and they exist by the others existence. masculinity varies from race to race and from class to class, besides it has differences in different social communities. according to this diversity, connell divides the masculinities into four types: hegemony, subordination, complicity and marginalization. connell defines “hegemony” as “the configuration of gender practice 6 which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of men and the subordination of women” (connell 77). comparatively, “subordination” refers to those who are under oppression and discrimination, such as homosexual men. “gay men are subordinated to straight men by an array of quite material practice” (connell 78). however, in reality, not many men can meet the normative standard, that is to say, hegemonic masculinity. so in this way, connell believes “the majority of men gain from its hegemony, since they benefit from the patriarchy dividend, the advantage men in general gain from the overall subordination of women” (connell 78), and these features meet the standard of “complicity”. hegemony, subordination and complicity are just internal relation in gender order, while “the interplay of gender with other structures such as class and race creates further relationships between masculinities” (connell 80). here, connell explores a term “marginalization” to describe “the relations between the masculinities in dominant and subordinated classes or ethnic groups” (connell 81). one of the best examples of marginalized masculinity is the black athletes in the united states. he says “thus, in the united states, particular black athletes may be exemplars for hegemonic masculinity. but the fame and wealth of individual stars has no trickle-down effect; it does not yield social authority to black men generally” (connell 81). “conversely, hegemonic masculinity among whites sustains the institutional oppression and physical terror that have framed the making of masculinities in black communities” (connell 80). therefore, simply to say, black males belong to the 7 fourth type marginalization. although black males have the quality of hegemony because of their masculine body, they cant enjoy the hegemonic privilege due to their social and racial status. hence they are classified into marginalization. 2. postcolonialism postcolonialism can be defined as an approach to literary analysis that particularly concerns itself with literature written in english in formerly colonized countries (bressler 199). however, with the development of postcolonial theories, there appears a great man who has contributed a lot to postcolonialisms theory, and he is edward w. said, with his orientalism becoming a key text in the establishment of postcolonial theory. a. the subjective gaze of “orientalist” in edward saids orientalism according to said, nineteenth-century europeans tried to justify their territorial conquests by propagating a manufactured belief called orientalism: the creation of non-european stereotypes that suggested so-called orientals were indolent, thoughtless, sexually immoral, unreliable, and demented (bressler 203). the western orientalists believed that they were accurately describing what they called the “east”, but they failed to realize that all human knowledge can be viewed only through ones political, cultural, and ideological framework. no theory, either political or literary can be totally objective, so their gaze of describing the “east” must be subjective. at the very beginning of edward saids orientalism, he quotes karl marks sentence “they cant represent themselves; they must be represented” to accurately describe the miserable condition of the people in the colonies, which indicates the 8 west superior stereotype to the east. according to said, “orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between the orient and (most of the time) the occident” (said 2). because of this subjective orientalists point of view, the westerns shape an image of east which is inferior to them. further he explains that “orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the orients dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it; in short, orientalismas a western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the orient” (said 2). in this way, with the effect of this subjective orientalists gaze, the west shapes their central image the superior self in the society, because the “east” is not like them and for tha