An Analysis of Minnie Cooper’s Laughing in William Faulkner’s Dry September from the Perspective of Feminism_英语论文

摘要

《干燥的九月》是美国作家威廉·福克纳的短篇小说代表作之一。作品主要讲述了老姑娘明尼·库伯小姐因为一则她被黑人强奸的谣言而重新获得人们的关注，但在看到年轻男女们在一起时，她才忽然明白这些关注都是虚假的，她的青春已失去和梦想不可实现，所以她发出了难以停下的大笑。与此同时，白人男性却因为这则谣言杀害了无辜的黑人。不少的学者关注其中的种族问题，人物形象和象征手法，但对明尼·库伯的大笑很少进行具体的分析。本文旨在在女性主义的视角下，围绕明尼·库伯的大笑，从白人男性、白人女性、明尼•库伯本人三个维度阐释她的大笑进行分析，进而思考内战后女性自身追求被扼杀的问题。

关键词：大笑  明尼·库伯  女性主义

Abstract

Dry September is one of the representative short stories of American writer William Faulkner. The work mainly tells the story that the old maid Miss Minnie Cooper regains the attentions of people because of a rumor that she is raped by a black man, but when she sees young men and women together, she suddenly realizes that the attentions are false. Her youth had been lost and her dream can not be realized. So she cannot stop laughing. At the same time, white men kill the innocent black man because of the rumor. Many scholars pay attention to racial issues, characters and symbolism, but they seldom analyze Minnie Cooper’s laughing in detail. From the perspective of feminism, this paper aims to analyze Minnie Cooper’s laughing from three dimensions white men, white women and Minnie Cooper herself, and then to think about the issue of women’s pursuit stifled after the Civil War.

Key words: laughing  Minnie Cooper  feminism

Contents

Chapter One Introduction 1

1.1  A Brief Introduction to William Faulkner 1

1.2  A Brief Introduction to Dry September 2

1.3  Purpose of the Thesis 3

1.4  Structure of the Thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 5

2.1  Previous Studies on Dry September 5

2.1.1 Previous Studies on Dry September Abroad 5

2.1.2 Previous Studies on Dry September at Home 6

2.2  Previous Studies on Feminism 6

2.2.1 Previous Studies on Feminism Abroad 6

2.2.2 Previous Studies on Feminism at Home 7

2.3  Summary 8

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 9

3.1  Definition of Feminism and Its Developments 9

3.2  Evaluation of Feminism 10

Chapter Four  Feminism Analysis in Minnie Cooper’s Laughing 12

4.1  Laughing: the Ridicule on the White Male 12

4.1.1 Anxiety 12

4.1.2 Snobbery 14

4.1.3 The Hypocritical Protection for White Female 15

4.2  Laughing: the Ridicule on the White Female 16

4.2.1 Marginalization 16

4.2.2 Retaliation 16

4.2.3 Release of Their Depressed Emotion 17

4.3  Laughing: the Ridicule on Minnie Cooper Herself 18

4.3.1 Character 18

4.3.2 Family and Friends 19

4.3.3 Marriage 21

4.3.4 Insanity 21

Chapter Five  Conclusion 24

5.1  Major Findings 24

5.2  Limitations And Suggestions for Future Study 25

Bibliography

Acknowledgments