A Brief Analysis of Marilyn’s Identity in Everything I Never Told You from the Perspective of Liberal Feminism_英语论文

摘要

女性主义一直是中西方文化研究的热点，即使经过多次的女性主义运动，女性在政治、经济、文化等各个领域仍处于与男性不平等的地位，基于此背景，女性产生身份认同焦虑。本文主要从自由女性主义的视角对美国华裔文学《无声告白》中的女性人物玛丽琳的身份认同过程进行解读，证明女性身份认同是追求家庭与事业动态平衡的过程。《无声告白》是华裔女作家吴绮诗的作品，出版后作品广受世界多个国家读者的喜爱，被翻译成20多种语言。本文以玛丽琳的四个阶段的身份认同作为研究对象，从自由女性主义角度探讨女性在家庭和理想的矛盾中如何处理好自我认识的问题。本文对玛丽琳四个阶段的身份认同进行解读并且得出最后结论：女性身份认同问题的处理需要家庭的共同努力。第一阶段，即结婚前，玛丽琳是一名独立且有主见的女性；第二阶段，即结婚后，玛丽琳是一名“幸福的家庭主妇”；第三阶段，即玛丽琳离家出走后，玛丽琳是一个矛盾体；第四阶段，即莉迪亚的死亡后，她是一位独立而又负责的女性。四个阶段均运用自由女性主义与贝蒂弗里丹的理论对文本进行分析解读。

关键词：自由女性主义  贝蒂‧弗里丹  身份认同 

Abstract

Feminism has always been the research hotspot in the study of cultures. And even after experiencing several female liberal movements, women are still in an unequal position with men in the field of politics, economy and culture. Based on this background, women generate identity anxiety about themselves. This thesis mainly focuses on interpreting the different identity of the female character Marilyn in the American novel Everything I Never Told You from the perspective of liberal feminism and proves that female identity is a process of change. The novel was one of the best works finished by Chinese-American writer Celeste Ng and translated into more than 20 languages. This article takes Marilyn’s identity as the research object and discusses how women can handle their self-recognition problems when they are facing with problem between family and career. This thesis interprets Marilyn’s different identity and then reaches the conclusion that the handling of female identity issue needs the joint effort of family. Before marriage, Marilyn was an independent woman with rationality. After marriage, Marilyn was a “happy housewife”. After leaving home, Marilyn was a contradiction. After Lydia’s death, she was a responsible family member and an independent woman. The theory of liberal feminism and Betty Friedan are used to analyze and interpret the identity.

Key words: Liberal feminism  Betty Friedan  identity   

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Research Background and Significance 1

1.2  Research Objectives 3

1.3  Research Questions 4

1.4  Research Methodology 4

1.5  Structure of the Thesis 4

Chapter Two  Literature Review 6

2.1  Previous Studies on Everything I Never Told You 6

2.1.1 Domestic Researches 6

2.1.2 Overseas Researches 7

2.2  Previous Studies on Identity 9

2.2.1 Domestic Researches 9

2.2.2 Overseas Researches 10

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 12

3.1  Development of Feminism 12

3.2  Liberal Feminism and Betty Friedan 13

3.2.1 First Stage of Betty’s Feminism 15

3.2.2 Second Stage of Betty’s Feminism 16

Chapter Four  A Case Study of Everything I Never Told You 18

4.1  Feminine Mystique of Marilyn 18

4.1.1 Before Marriage 18

4.1.2 After Marriage 20

4.1.3 After Leaving Home 22

4.1.4 After Lydia’s Death 24

4.2  Beta Model on Marilyn’s Identity 25

4.2.1 As a Mother 26

4.2.2 As a Wife 26

4.3  A Summary of the Transition of Marilyn’s Identity 27

Chapter Five  Conclusion 29

Bibliography

Acknowledgements