摘要

《纯真年代》是美国女作家伊迪丝•华顿的重要作品。该小说真实地展现了19世纪旧纽约上流社会的风貌。同时表现了那个时代的旧习俗对个人的影响和限制。作者结合自身的人生经历，生动地再现了一个男性在社会中居主导地位，而女性在各方面处于劣势的社会状态，并通过性格鲜明的各个角色将自己的女性意识表达出来。作者的女性意识在《纯真年代》中的人物的塑造过程中起着重要作用。小说中三个女性角色：女主角埃伦•奥兰斯卡,梅•韦兰,以及明戈特家族的权威家长----曼森祖母，将伊迪丝•华顿在当时社会条件下的女性梦想张显出来。这三个角色在小说中的地位和身份各不相同，但她们有一个共同点，就是在男性权威对自身利益的压迫下，在传统和反叛之间做出平衡的抉择，用最适合自己的方法追求自己的梦想，最终三人都冲破男性权威的限制，过上自己追求的生活。本文将通过对这三个女性角色的性格和观念的分析，探究伊迪斯华顿的女性观念，即在男权社会，女性通过寻找自己的社会定位，就有可能在一定程度上超越男权社会的规则，实现自己的自由理想。

关键字：《纯真年代》，人物形象，男权社会，女性意识，社会定位

ABSTRACT

The Age of Innocence is the masterpiece of Edith Wharton, which truly exhibits the styles and features of the aristocracy of Old New York in the 19th century, and reveals how the old social convention influences and restrains individuals. Combined with the life experience of her own, Edith Wharton depicts a society in which men are in a dominate position while women are in inferior status. And she tries to express her opinions about women’s social value. The feminine consciousness of Edith Wharton plays an important role in figuring the characters of this novel. The three women characters: Ellen Olenska, May Welland and the female head of the line—old Mrs. Manson Mingott, manifest the female ambition of Edith Wharton under that social condition. These three characters are different in their identity and social ranks, but they are similar to each other in that under the oppression of male authority, they all make the suitable decisions and finally make a stand in the fields of their own.  The paper intends to make an exploration into the feminine consciousness of Edith Wharton, through a detailed analysis of the above three female characters, to reveal that a patriarchal society has its rules, single influence of a woman is not sufficient to change society. But if she can find a proper way to disengage herself, she will be free in some fields.

Key words: The Age of Innocence, character images, patriarchal society, feminine consciousness, social status

1  Introduction

Edith Wharton is the most famous woman of letters in America, and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize. She was born into one of the last “leisured class” families in New York in 1862. Educated privately, she loved reading and writing as early as in her childhood. In 1885 she married to Edward Wharton and they spent some time in the high society of Europe. It was in Europe that Wharton first met Henry James, who was to have a profound and lasting influence on her life and work. Wharton’s first published book was a work of nonfiction, in collaboration with Ogeden Codman, The Decoration of Houses. But from early on, her marriage had been a source of distress, and she was advised by her doctor to write fictions to relieve her nervous tension. In 1920 The Age of Innocence was published, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize.