Abstract

Alice Munro is the most renowned female writer in Canada who won the Nobel Prize in 2013. She is remarkably good at short story writing and so enjoys the reputation of “the modern Chikov”. One of her masterpieces Runaway is a collection of 8 short stories. It fully represents Alice Munro’s veiled but simple narrative style as well as her brilliant writing skills. The main characters are all ordinary females in rural Canada, with different life experiences but the similar theme: runaway--running away from their dilemmas in life. Every spark of runaway flaring in them is a result of the complex inner world against their trapped life.
This thesis tries to explore their escape from an angle of women’s self-awareness and analyze how it comes into awakening and silence. 3 chapters are included in this thesis. Firstly, it gives an introduction of the conception of women’s self-awareness and its distinction with feminism. Then it deals with the women’s self-awareness in family relationship from three aspects including love, marriage and parent-kid relationship. The third part exemplifies the awakening and silence of self-awareness in personal pursuits. The last chapter focuses on social, family and personal factors to analyze the reason of its awakening and silence, combined with the writer’s view on female. Through analysis, this thesis indicates the close connection between women’s self-awareness and the irreversibility of the destiny tragedy, showing that the ordinary women without a strong self-awareness cannot fight against their predestinated destiny in the process of self-fulfillment.

Key words: women’s self-awareness; awakening; silence; destiny

摘  要

爱丽丝门罗是加拿大最负盛名的女性小说家，于2013年获得诺贝尔文学奖。她工于短篇小说，有“当代契科夫”之称。短篇小说集《逃离》是爱丽丝门罗的代表作之一，由8个短篇故事组成，充分体现了爱丽丝门罗隐晦却简约的叙事风格和高超的写作水准。书中均以加拿大小镇的普通女性为故事主角，主人公不同的生活经历却有着相同的主题：逃离——即逃离生活的困境。每一次一闪而过的念头都是主人公复杂的内心世界与生活困境抗争的结果。
本文试图从女性自我意识的角度探究故事中主人公的逃离行为，透过主人公隐秘的内心世界分析小镇普通女性的自我意识是如何觉醒与沉寂的。全文分成三个部分。第一部分概述女性自我意识的概念及其与女性主义的区别。第二部分从爱情，婚姻，亲子关系三个方面介绍家庭关系中的女性意识。 第三部分从女性个人追求的角度阐述其女性意识是如何觉醒与沉寂的。第四部分分析背后的深层原因，如个人性格原因、环境背景原因以及作者本人对女性的观点。通过分析，指出女性意识的觉醒与沉寂与女性无法逆转的命运悲剧相互关联，自我意识不够强大的普通女性想要完成其自我实现却终究难逃充满变数的生活与命运的摆布。

关键词:女性自我意识；觉醒；沉寂；命运