On Female Images in Little Women.doc

毕业论文（设计） On Female Images in Little Women 1.Introduction11.1 Traditional definition of female21.2 The feminist definition of female32. The Social Circumstances of Little Women42.1 Louisa May Alcotts thoughts42.2 Background of Little Women63. Female images on different roles in Little Women73.1 As a daughter103.2As a sister113.3As a wife124. Female images established in modern society124.1 Changes in society134.2 Changes in females mind134.3 The importance of female images in Little Women to modern society145. Conclusion15References161.IntroductionAccording to Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary, image is “general impression that a person, firm, product, etc gives to the public; reputation”(738). Female images are womens representation made up of character, thought and behavior, which are affected by a certain era, having relationship with females status.Some scholars have studied about images in Little Women. They lay particular emphasis on self-dependence and self-discipline in Little Women (许绮，2004：122). From the studies, we can find out that different personalities reflect different outlooks on value and life. The studies only describe what the female images in Little Women, while this thesis is to explore the way to build up female images in Little Women.Before analyzing of the female images in Little Women, to study the traditional definition of female and feminist definition of female that influence on female images, is the first step of analysis the theme. Then, through the analysis of characters of the females in Little Women and what they have experienced and thought, we can find the way that how they build up their fine females images. Women in modern society should take their characters in Little Women as examples to build up their images.1.1 Traditional definition of female Religion has governed the thoughts of West and Bible affects western countries deeply. The stories in Bible bring about the gender stereotype that provides society and males a basis to set up females images and limit their status.“From now on youll have to scratch a living from the soil.Youll need to make clothes and grow food. Nothing will come easily - not even childbirth.And one day, you will die” (Net.1) - God said to Adam and Eve for their sins. The constructed social relationship between women and men in the West is rooted in the Genesis story of Adam and Eve. For the last 2,500 years it has underpinned our perception of sex and gender and thereby influenced how women and men are represented in art. Any discussion of images of women and men must therefore be prefaced by an examination of the opening chapters of Genesis. God created man in his own likeness that was given dominion over “every living thing”, equally significant is the prominence given to men; God is male and his most important creation is male. The story stresses the primacy of man and the centrality of his place in the universe, while making it clear that women play a subordinate role. Throughout the Christian period, the story of Eve has provided men with the reason why they should restrain and restrict the social, sexual, religious, political, and economic freedom of women. It has also given men the justification to hold women responsible for all the misfortunes suffered by mankind. All women are like Eve, and their only chance of redemption is to become a person like the Virgin Mary, another patriarchal fantasy, who represents absolute obedience and purity. The story of Eve and its many misogynistic interpretations have over the centuries defined the image of woman in Western civilization. Weak, subordinate, and obedient these words are the adjectives to describe the traditional image of female. They dont want to be the representative of these adjectives any more. Under the influences of the male dominated society, females status is inhibited and subordinate to men. Therefore, they want to change.1.2 The feminist definition of female Since the word “Feminism” appeared first in France in the 1880s, Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910, Feminist movement has had more than one hundred years history (Bartkowski, 1989). Females tell their demand through speeches and articles to all over the world and let others hear their voices. “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And aint I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And aint I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And aint I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mothers grief, none but Jesus heard me! And aint I a woman?” (Truth, 1851)Inequality between men and women is the root cause of the right to private ownership and male social repression (Chapman, 1976). In the 19th century, with the development of modern western industrial civilization, society, economy and culture gradually change. In this social context, women in the family request equal status with men increasing, the feminist movement began to grow. For building-up females images, Feminism is a new direction which provides a basis for women to be self-set up. Female images are not limited by their status any more.2. The Social Circumstances of Little Women2.1 Louisa May Alcotts thoughts Louisa May Alcott is an American writer in the 19th century. Alcotts thoughts are subject to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau influences, who are the closest friends of her father. In Boston and Concord, the Alcotts were intimates of the great transcendentalist thinkers and writers of the day (Brook, 1984). Emerson encouraged Louisa to spend hours in his library. On excursions at Walden Pond, she studied botany with Thoreau. The Hawthornes lived next door. The two great thinkers would be the objects of teenage Louisas intense romantic yearnings. Her childhood would be peopled with the most important activists of the abolition movement as well as the eras leading intellectuals (Ednah, 1889). Alcotts childhood poverty was tempered by family unity and intellectual riches (Brook, 1984). She was taught to cultivate an open mind and a social conscience, and to revere nature as Gods best work. Louisas first earnings came from endeavors far less glamorous than acting or writing. By her late teens she had worked, for pitiful wages, as a governess, teacher, seamstress, laundress, and live-in household servant. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Louisa found a new purpose, reporting to Concords town hall to sew Union uniforms and bandages. As soon as she turned thirty, old enough to enlist as an army nurse, she prevailed upon family friend Dorothy Dix to waive the ban on admitting single women (Brook, 1984).She once campaigned for womens suffrage, successfully petitioning door-to-door for the vote in the Concord school committee election of 1879 (Ednah, 1889). She was politically active and cared deeply about the social and ethical issues of her time. She includes only the subtlest of references to womens suffrage, abolition of slavery, the temperance movement, educational reform, and social welfare programs.Therefore, we can find out that Alcott is as the pioneer of the early feminism. She thinks that work was important to women, which is not only the way to provide money for family, but also the presentation of self-respect and independence. Alcott gives the ideal images to Mrs. March and the March sisters in Little Women, and creates unusual character for nineteenth-century didactic fiction. Alcotts feminist sympathies are expressed through the character of Jo March in Little Women.2.2 Background of Little WomenIn 1868, Alcott used her memories of childhood and stories about sisters and herself as a base for her novel Little Women. There is the same social circumstance between the time of the story and the time the novel was written. At the time when Alcott composed the novel, womens status in society was slowly increasing. As with any change in social norms, however, progress toward gender equality was made slowly. Under the influences of the male dominated society, the traditional belief was that women were inferior to men not only in physical part but also in psychological aspect. They were considered lacking in consciousness of leading their own lives. In addition to this, in an era when marriage was the only sanctioned framework for the fulfillment of romantic love (Ednah, 1889), as a wife woman could have no economic or legal identity and motherhood was incompatible with earning a living. Little Women is a 19th century novel, it reflects the time when the first feminism movements took place in America. The society built by the Puritans was stern and repressive, with no individualism for Women. For women, they must turn to be the so-called good women and met the need of the society and take care of their reputation. At that period, women were just starting to notice how they can gain their deserved rights, equalities and freedom. They started to do some simple fighting for their rights. The story begins during the American Civil War in the eighteen sixties with the development of modern western industrial civilization, society, economy and culture gradually change. When many males in American took part in the army and fought for this war, and then females took on much of the burden of families and earned for their living. In this special social circumstance, females in Little Women attempt to break free from these constraints and walk the way to naturalize their individuality.3. Female images on different roles in Little Women Little Women has shown to us female images in the 19th century American society in which womens status was slowly increasing and let us know what kind of images women should have. Based on the analysis of the characters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, the thesis will explore the way they build up their images.Being the main character of Little Women, Jo is an outspoken tomboy with a passion for writing. Her character is based in large part on Louisa May Alcott herself. Jo refuses Lauries offer of marriage, despite the fact that everyone assumes they will end up together. In the end, Jo gives up her writing and marries Professor Bhaer, which can be seen either as a domestic triumph or as a professional loss, since Jo loses her headstrong independence. As she displays good and bad traits in equal measure, Jo is a very unusual character for nineteenth-century didactic fiction. Jos bad traitsher rebelliousness, anger, and outspoken waysdo not make her unappealing; rather make her unique. Jo is a likely precursor to a whole slew of lovably flawed heroes and heroines of childrens books, among them Mark Twains Tom Sawyer.Being the third March sister, Beth is very shy and quiet. Like Meg, she always tries to please other people, and like Jo, she is concerned with keeping the family together. Beth struggles with minor faults, such as her resentment for the housework she must do. Beth resembles an old-fashioned heroine like those in the novels of the nineteenth-century English author Charles Dickens. Beth is a good person, but she is also a shade too angelic to survive in Alcotts more realistic fictional world. With Beths death, Alcott lets an old type of heroine die off. The three surviving March sisters are strong enough to live in the changing real world.Beth is close to Jo; outgoing Jo and quiet Beth both have antisocial tendencies. Neither of them wants to live in the world the way it is, with women forced to conform to social conventions of female behaviors. Similarly, it is not surprising that Meg and Amy are particularly close to each other, since generous Meg and selfish Amy both find their places within a gendered world.Being the youngest March sister, Amy is an artistic beauty who is good at manipulating other people. Unlike Jo, Amy acts as a perfect lady because being a perfect lady pleases her. She gets what she wants in the end: popularity, the trip to Europe, and Laurie. Amy serves as a foila character whose attitudes or emotions contrast with, and thereby accentuate, those of another characterfor Jo, who refuses to submit to the conventions of lady hood. Both artists struggle to balance societys expectations with their own natural inclinations. The more genuine of the two and the more generous, Jo compares favorably to Amy. Both characters, however, are more lovable and real for their flaws.Being the oldest March sister, Meg battles her girlish weakness for luxury and money, and ends up marrying a poor man she loves. Meg represents the conventional and good; she is similar to her mother, for whom she was named. Meg sometimes tries to alter who she is in order to please other people, a trait that comes forth when she allows other girls to dress her up like a rich girl at her friend Annie Moffats house. She becomes an agreeable housewife, pretending to like politics because her husband does, and forgoing luxury because her husband is poor.The four March sisters have totally different character, but they have something in common: warm-hearted, self-restrained, independent, optimistic, and adoring family. Even though in that era when women were considered that their responsibilities were to serve their children and husbands in their entire lives, and womens status was much lower than men, the March sisters worked hard and use these action to prove their self-values. They longed for work that they must do, as they wanted to keep their social obligation.There are both advantages and disadvantages in the four girls. However, they have been self-restrained successfully.Being daughter, being sister, being wife, and being mother all these identities are the roles they play in lives. 3.1 As a daughterSince the civil war broke out and Mr. March joins the army, the circumstance of the March family has gone downhill more and more. They have to adapt themselves to a new life, which is a hard one for them.Due to the familys poverty Meg works as a governess for wealthy friends, the King family, and Jo goes to take care of aunt March for get some pension.They become independent and responsible through working, and never look down upon themselves. Through working they find their self-value and the meaning of paying and gaining. They want to make some efforts to share the responsibility of the family and they do so.The March girls love their parents very much. Even when the four ladies get the money as the Christmas gift given by aunt March, they give up the chance to have their loved things that are wanted very much before. Eventually, they spent the money to buy some gift for their mother, which can make her mother feel warm from body to heart.“Mrs. March was both surprised and touched; and smiled with her eyes full as she examined her presents, and read the little notes which accompanied them”(Alcott, 2005:16). When Jo hears the news that her father get wounded in the civil war, Jo cuts off her long , chestnut brown hair “her one beauty”(Alcott, 2005:127) as Amy calls it and sells it to a wig shop to get money for her mother to visit their father.Actually, Jo could have not sold her hair to get money, she could have borrowed money from her aunt who doesnt favour Jos father with joining the army. Jo prefers to make effords by her own ability, which tells us that receiving others help is not the good way to solve problems which should be solved by ones hands. To learn independence and self-respect is the most important thing in growing up.3.2As a sisterThe March sisters love each other, despite their different characteristic. Quarreling cannot be avoided in daily life, but they always try to accept others opinion and show mercy to the faults they make. Jo is very regretful for her selfish behavior that she let Amy almost dead in the deep frozen water, because Amy did something bad to Jo. Therefore, Jo makes efforts to let herself be under restraint, and learn how to show mercy to others, and be patient.Beth is very shy and Jo always protects her little sister. Although Beth is afraid to be connected with the outside world, she still cares the people around her and helps the people who are in troubles. She is not only the sister of March family, but also love to be the “sister” of the poor children next door. While her mother is nursing their father, she gets scarlet fever from the poor family. She survives the illness but is weakened greatly. However, illness and death does not threaten her at all.“For nothing could change the sweet, unselfish nature and even while preparing to leave life she tried to make it happier for those who should remain behind”(Alcott, 2005:382). Beth is a little girl but with strong-willed. She is a selfishless girl who sacrifices herself to her family and other people needing help even in the short life. Her sacrifices without any purpose of getting benefits is a way to present her love to famliy.3.3As a wifeMeg is the first one to marry of the March sisters.Weakness for luxury and money, is the flaw in her characteristic, but this flaw is be cleared up after having bad experiences with some rich people (first, the Kings eldest son is disinherited for bad behavior, and later she visits her friend Annie Moffat and discovers that her family believes Mrs. March is plotting to engage her to Laurie for his family s wealth), Meg learns to tolerate being poor, and eventually discovers that true worth does not l