Abstract

    Edith Wharton is one of the most famous American writers. The Age of Innocence helped her won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1921. This study mainly focuses on four aspects. Firstly, it introduces the novel and the author briefly. The age of innocence mainly illustrates a sad love story between three people. Newland Archer, who engaged with May Welland, but fell in love with May’s cousin Ellen Olenska. However Archer and Ellen failed to live together in the end. The second section is a systematic introduction about the theoretical framework—Feminism. We can simply define it into liberal feminism, radical feminism, Marxist feminism, etc. The third part is an analysis of Ellen’s character. Ellen represents those independent, brave new women who against male-dominated society. The last part comes to a natural conclusion of the study. This dissertation uses Ellen’s new woman image as an entry point, analyzing feminism, aiming to arouse people’s sympathy for women’s fate at that time, appealing readers to learn the spirit of free and independent from Ellen, purchasing their love bravely and having a happy marriage.

Key word: Edith Wharton   feminism   independent   social convention

摘 要

伊迪斯•华顿是美国文坛上最有名的作家之一。她的小说《纯真年代》在1921年获得了普利策文学奖。本论文主要由四个部分组成。第一部分，是对这部小说及作者的简要介绍。《纯真年代》主要讲述了一个凄美的三角恋故事。在纽兰•阿切尔与梅•韦兰订婚之际，阿切尔却与梅的表姐埃伦•奥兰斯卡坠入爱河。经过一系列的感情波折与挣扎，纽兰阿•切尔最终还是没有和埃伦•奥兰斯卡在一起。第二部分，是对本小说的理论框架——女性主义的系统介绍。女性主义可简要分为自由女性主义、激进女性主义、马克思女性主义，等等。第三部分，是对艾伦的性格分析。埃伦代表着独立，勇敢，抵制男权社会的新女性形象。最后一部分，是对本次研究的总结。本课题用艾伦的新女性形象作为切入点，分析女性主义，目的是引起人们对当时妇女命运的同情，呼吁读者们学习艾伦身上那种自由独立的精神，勇敢追求自己的爱情并拥有美满的婚姻。

关键词：伊迪斯•华顿  女性主义  独立  社会传统

1 Introduction
Edith Wharton is one of the most famous American writers from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. She was born on January 24,1862 in New York City. Edith Wharton had the talent for literature creation when she was young. She published a collection of poems called Verses with the help of her parents when she was only 16. The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence and The Custom of the Country were three of her most famous and popular novels. In 1902, her first novel called The Valley of Decision was published, which was the beginning of her literature creation. She was awarded with Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence in 1921. Two years later Yale University awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Letters.