（英语语言文学专业论文）论卡森·麦卡勒斯《婚礼的成员》的成长主题.pdf

iv 提要 卡森? 麦卡勒斯是一位才华横溢而颇有争议的作家。她 的主要作品包括 心是孤独的猎手(1940)、 金色眼睛的 映像(1941)、 婚礼的成员(1946)、 伤心咖啡馆之歌 （1951）和没有指针的钟 （1961） 。 婚礼的成员是一部较为典型的成长小说。通过一个 名叫弗兰淇的少女三天的生活经历和情感体验展现了作家 对女性成长之难的深切关注。在麦卡勒斯的笔下，弗兰淇是 一位极具个性和独立意识的女孩，她努力寻找自我，但由于 受到社会和自身性别的限制， 她无法成长为自己所期待的角 色。在其内心深处，弗兰淇希望自己像假小子一样生活，但 又必须屈从于社会对女性的种种限制。 本论文共有五部分。第一部分为引论，简单介绍卡森? 麦卡勒斯其人其作以及国内外的研究现状并简述论文的研 究内容。 第二部分指出， 引路人缺失是导致弗兰淇孤独和不能顺 利成长的一个重要原因。她没有母亲，缺少来自家庭的严格 管教，同时也没能得到应有的爱与温暖。她唯一的朋友玛丽 也不能给她相应的爱和指引。 十九世纪四十年代的美国青少 年缺少理想，弗兰淇也不例外。她没有偶像，生活很空虚。 第三部分聚焦弗兰淇为超越性别限制而做出的种种反 v 抗。她像个男孩子一样，她梦想着战争，想到外面去闯出一 片天地， 可是社会的种种限制和自身性别的局限使她不得不 放弃幻想。 内心的愿望和社会的要求之间的反差使她体会到 作为女孩的无奈。 第四部分阐明了在性和爱方面的幻灭对弗兰淇成长的 影响。天真的她梦想着一种不同于一般男女之爱的完美之 爱。她选择她哥哥的婚礼作为爱的寄托，可是她最终还是成 了被冷落的对象。另外，一次未成功的性经历也最终使她意 识到女性在性方面永远是处于被动地位的。 这种认识使她产 生了作为女孩的自卑感，这势必给她的成长带来负面的影 响。 第五部分是论文的结论部分。 在总结文章的主要观点的 同时， 指出弗兰淇失败的成长再次凸显了作家对青少年成长 和孤独问题的关注。 关键词：卡森麦卡勒斯； 婚礼的成员 ； 成长主题 i synopsis carson mccullers （1917- 1967） was a talented but controversial writer who published eight novels and some short stories, essays, and poems. her major works include the heart is a lonely hunter (1940), reflections in an golden eyes (1941), the member of the wedding (1946), the ballad of the sad cafe and other stories（1951） ，and clock without hands (1961). the thesis focuses on the initiation motif in the member of the wedding. through exploring the three- day life of a sensitive girl called frankie, mrs. mccullers presents us with her cultural reflection on the girl s growing experiences. frankie fails to grow into the expected role as she wishes herself to be. she struggles to free herself from the limitation of being a girl and from conventional restrictions imposed upon her, but she fails. her failure results both from social and familial environments and her perverse character. this female adolescent functions as a vehicle to reveal the main concern in most of carson mccullers works, that is, “ people being caught but at the same loose” (mccullers 115). the thesis is composed of five parts. part one is “ introduction” , which includes a brief introduction to carson mccullers works, literature review and what is to be done in the ii thesis. part two points out that in frankie s growth, she lacks guidance from parents, friends and idols. she does not receive strict supervision from her parents and at the same time she is devoid of love from her parents. it seems that she will get no support and love from her only friend as well. living in the 1940s, she lacks the worthwhile idols to give her good examples of healthy growth. lack of guidance is one reason that makes frankie feel lonely. without appropriate guidance, it is difficult for her to develop into the role she has expected herself to be. part three figures out that frankie is a perverse girl who refuses to accept her gender as a woman. she is a tomboy who shows her gender insubordination everywhere in the story. she has the inward desire to be a boy, but she has to follow the social norms so as to be more ladylike. she struggles to free herself from the limitation of being a girl and from the conventional restrictions imposed upon her, but she fails. she struggles in the cell of loneliness and confinement. she can not grow into the role she has expected herself to be because the society is not tolerant enough to accept her. part four points out that love and sex play a great part in one s initiation. in the story, frankie tries in vain to search for her iii ideal love, w hich may free herself from the world of loneliness and restrictions. she also experiences an abortive sexual experience, from which she knows well that sex is dominated by men. part five is “ conclusion” of the thesis. through analyzing the unfulfilled growth of frankie, the main concern that “ people being caught but at the same loose” (mccullers 115) has been vividly revealed. . key words: carson mccullers, the member of the wedding, the motif of initiation 原创性声明 本人声明兹呈交的学位论文是本人在导师指导下完成的研究成果。 论文写作中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究内容， 如参考他人或 集体的科研成果，均在论文中以明确的方式说明。 本人依法享有和承担 由此论文所产生的权利和责任。 学位论文作者签名： 日期： 学位论文版权使用授权声明 本人同意授权华侨大学有权保留并向国家机关或机构送交学位论 文和磁盘，允许学位论文被查阅和借阅。 论文作者签名： 指导教师签名： 签 名 日 期： 签 名 日 期： 1 part one introduction 1.1 carson mccullers and her works carson mccullers was a novelist from the american south, who was born on february 19, 1917 and died on april 24, 1967. during her life, she published eight books, and a collection of short stories, essays, and poems. the heart is a lonely hunter was her first novel published in 1940 when she was only 23 years old. this novel established her reputation as a famous and important southern writer who technically explored the alienation and profound loneliness of human beings. another widely- read and successful work by her is the member of the wedding, a novel about the initiation of a young sensitive female adolescent. the other two novels are reflections in an golden eyes (1941) and clock without hands (1961). one of her famous and widely- read short story collections is the ballad of the sad cafe and other stories (1951). besides fiction, mccullers published a play called the square root of wonderful (1958) and a collection of poems named sweet as a pickle and clean as a pig (1964). a posthumous collection of writings, the mortgaged heart, was published in 1972 and her unfinished autobiography, illumination and night glare, was published in 1999, 30 years after her death. 2 1.2 literature review carson mccullers is quite a controversial writer in america. “ the controversy began in 1940, with the publication of the heart is a lonely hunter and has continued ever since” (bloom 21). the controversy comes from some professional critics and some mainstream novelists, but among some black poets and novelists and homosexual critics such as tennessee williams and gore vidal, she is viewed as a talented and special writer. in spite of these controversies, “ carson mccullers individuality and originality as an artist” (bloom 21) has never been doubted. spiritual isolation is the main concern of mrs. mccullers works, so in early time, most critics especially those of the new criticism focused their criticism on this theme of her works. they paid close attention to the theme and the poetic expressions in mrs. mccullers works, but they almost ignored the cultural and historical connotation of her works. in 1959, hassan published carson mccullers: the alchemy of love and the aesthetic of pain which firstly associated mrs. mccullers works with the setting of the tradition of the american southern culture. then, in 1977, jr. louis d. rubin published carson mccullers: the aesthetic of pain that further connected mrs. mccullers works with the customs and culture of the southern society. with the development of literary criticism, critics try to interpret 3 mrs. mccullers works from different kinds of perspectives, such as feminism, postmodernism, and the queer theory, among which the most prominent is feminism. emily miller, sandra m.gilbert, susan gubar, and gayatri chakravorty spivak have contributed a lot to the feminist interpretation of mccullers works. in 1996, lori j. kenschaft published homoerotics and human connections: reading carson mccullers as a lesbian which has become a pioneer in studying mrs. mccullers works with the application of the queer theory. with these theories, the critics reveal modern people s spiritual isolation, the main theme of mrs. mccullers works, in new and deep ways. as the focus of the thesis is the initiation theme of the member of the wedding, a summary of the criticism at home and abroad on mrs. mccullers adolescent novels will be given in the following paragraphs. in carson mccullers s works, she has created a group of vivid adolescents. thus, in the 1950s, interest in the sensitive youth dominated the criticism on mrs. mccullers works. many critics grouped mrs. mccullers s initiation stories as typical initiation stories, and they tried to classify the adolescents in mrs. mccullers stories together with some typical male adolescents in modern american initiation stories. it is true that the adolescents in mrs. mccullers stories share almost all characteristics of the modern adolescents, but there are some big differences existing between adolescents in mrs. mccullers works and those in other writers works. 4 however, it is strange that there was no representative critical works on this subject before the 1960s. in the 1960s, the 1970s and onward, some critics started to notice the uniqueness in mrs. mccullers initiation stories. they paid more attention to the female adolescents in the stories, and “ tackled female adolescence as a category in need of its own terms of description and experience” (glesson- white 7).the first and most prominent one was elaine ginsberg s female initiation theme in american fiction. sarah glesson- white s gender and identity in the novels of carson mccullers (1965) is an excellent book on the grotesqueness in carson mccullers initiation novels. barbara a. white s loss of self in the member of the wedding (1985) fits the most critics focus that “ the fiction of female adolescence becomes identified with the novel of initiation into acceptance of female limits ” (glesson- white 8). and in the 1980s, some critics readopted the 1950s approach of typical initiation story, but what they applied was the theory of modernism. they grouped the representative characters such as mick in the lonely heart is a hunter and frankie in the member of the wedding as the typical adolescents in the pattern of modern initiation stories. ann ruth carlton s pattern in carson mccullers portrayal of adolescence and mary alice whitt s a study of the adolescence in carson mccullers fiction are two typical works in this period. in china, it was not until 2007 that most of mrs. mccullers works 5 were translated in chinese. few critics had paid enough attention to mrs. mccullers works in china. the only published critical book on mrs. mccullers works is lin bin s spiritual isolation and textual transgression: a post- feminist study of gothic motifs in carson mccullers novels of the 1940s in 2006. lin bin is a great contributor in the study of mrs. mccullers in china. as more mccullers s works have been translated in chinese, more scholars and graduates start to pay close attention to this controversial writer. in the previous 2 years only (2008- 2009), there are twenty more published thesis and essays on mrs. mccullers s works. the author of this thesis focuses on the motif of initiation in the member of the wedding. through exploring the three- day life of a sensitive girl called frankie, mrs. mccullers presents us with her cultural reflection on the girl s growing experiences. she can not grow into the role she has expected herself to be. she struggles to free herself from the limitation of being a girl and from conventional restrictions imposed upon her, but she fails. her failure results from social and familial environments and her perverse character. this adolescent functions as a vehicle to reveal the main concern in most of carson mccullers works, that is, “ people being caught but at the same loose” (mccullers 115). 6 part two lack of guides in frankie s initiation 2.1 introductory words “ from the perspective of sociology, a person is always influenced by others in his or her process of initiation. these people have both positive and negative impact on the life and social experiences of the protagonists” (rui yuping 125). those people who have positive impact on the protagonists can be called guides. they offer reasonable and acceptable suggestions in the process of the protagonists growth. sometimes they function as models i n the protagonists initiation. if the protagonists get enough support and love from these guides, they usually could grow into the roles as they have expected themselves to be and get accepted by the society easier. in many instances the protagonists live with these guides, such as parents and siblings, and in some instances, the protagonists just have some connections with these guides, such as teachers and friends. in the member of the wedding, there are also some characters influencing frankie s initiation, but they fail to function as guides for frankie. 2.2 lack of parents strict supervision and reasonable guidance in the member of the wedding, berenice sadie brown is a black 7 servant in frankie s home, who is responsible for frankie s three meals. except for this physical function, berenice seems like a spiritual guide for frankie as well. some critics point out that berenice functions both as the servant and the mother. in this novel, “ berenice performs a motherly function in initiating frankie into her expected role” (white 129). berenice gives frankie advice on dressing and behaviors. berenice says, “ y ou ought to fix yourself up nice in your dresses. and speak sweetly and act sly” (mccullers 78). berenice persuades frankie to give up her fantasy and find a “ nice little white beau” (mccullers 77). white ever pointed out, “ no real mother could do a more thorough job of socialization” (white 129). these critics such as white have noticed berenice s effort to model frankie into a traditional southern belle, but they ignore the fact that what berenice suggests is not fit to frankie s character and at the same time berenice does not provide frankie with concrete and detailed guidance on how to become a belle. frankie is a tomboy, so it seems that berenice wants to force frankie to accept what she hates. what berenice does associate the writer with the real mother of mrs. mccullers, marguerite smith, who had totally different attitude towards a girl s distinctive character. “ from carson s earliest infancy, marguerite supposedly announced to all who would listen that the child would be a musician, a famous one, and that the whole world know her name” (savigneau 14). then, throughout most of carson s life, no 8 matter what mrs. mccullers did, mrs. smith was always on her daughter s side. she never blamed her daughter for anything and contributed all her life to this eccentric but talented daughter. marguerite smith discovered and encouraged a talent, but at the same time unconsciously encouraged her daughter s alienation from the mainstream society as well, which in some degrees resulted in carson mccullers s abnormal and unhappy life. in the member of the wedding, berenice is an opposite character of marguerite smith, who persuades frankie to accept the social norms. what berenice does and says seem to force frankie to accept the inferiority of being a girl and to obey the social norms that are set for the girls, but at the same time she has completely ignored the distinctive character of frankie. thus, although she tries to model frankie into a southern belle, she plays a negative role in frankie s independent initiation. in the story, berenice is a husband- obsessed woman who ever had four husbands and now has a lover, so she can not really understand the spiritual isolation in frankie s tomboy character. in the story, there are other details that show frankie lacks berenice s real guidance. throughout the story, except that she is at home with berenice and john henry (frankie s cousin), she always acts on her own will and acts alone. “ in the sameness of her tracks that summer, the old frankie had somehow resembled that country mule. in town she browsed around the counters of the ten- cent store, or sat on the front row of the 9 palace show, or hung around her father s store, or stood on street corners watching soldiers” (mccullers 44). she lacks strict supervision from her family, which reveals that berenice is not qualified to be the substitute for a real mother. another important detail revealing frankie s lack of real guidance from berenice is frankie s clumsy imitation of the lady s dressing. frankie plans to buy a ladylike dress for her brother s wedding and she goes to the store without anyone s company including bernice s. without bernice s guidance, frankie fails in her first attempt to be like a lady: “ f.jasmine turned to look in the mirror, and she still thought the dress was beautiful. but berenice had a sour and stubborn look on her face, an expression like that of an old long- eared mule” berenice continued, “ here you got on this grown woman s evening dress. orange satin. and that brown crust on your elbows. the two things just don t mix.” “ i m not accustomed to human christmas trees in august” (mccullers 87). 2.3 lack of friends support and guidance the adolescents have stronger desire to have friends than children. in this stage, it seems that they begin to separate from their parents and they are eager to find some new connections to replace their parents. friends at the same or near age have the same life experiences, so it is easy for them to build a close and reliable relationship. some friends have greater influence 10 than parents. they function both as friends and guides of the adolescents. in the story, frankie has no friends before the appearance of mary littlejohn who is a symbolic character in frankie s life. however, mary littlejohn functions only as temporary friend of frances (frankie s new name), and she can not become frances guide in the future. in the story, mary littlejohn “ has long braids that she can very nearly sit on, braids of a woven mixture of corn- yellow and brown, fastened at the ends with rubber bands and, on occasions, ribbons” (mccullers 150).all these descriptions show t